Site entrance fees, taxi/watertaxi fares, and public transportation fares on BelizeSpecialists.com are for reference purposes only, and are subject to change without notice.
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Site entrance fees, taxi/watertaxi fares, and public transportation fares on BelizeSpecialists.com are for reference purposes only, and are subject to change without notice. |
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Toll
Free: 1-866-4-BELIZE (423-5493)
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| Places: Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, Placencia , Belize City, Cayo & Western Belize , Corozal District |
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Letters & Comments From Travelers
I want to thank you for making my trip to Belize both wonderful and memorable. The Banana Bank Lodge was a great experience and we met some wonderful people. Ambergris Caye was beautiful and once we got our accomedations straightened out, most hospitable and accomodating. We were very pleased that most of our excursions were booked with the local people and benefitted the local economy instead of big tour companies. Manuel and The "Reef Runner" Glass Bottom Boat gave us a personal tour of the reef and took great care of us. We were his only passengers. Other, faster boats had big tour groups and seemed to be in a hurry. Also, Manuel was the only tour operator to given a bucket of fish heads to lure the fish to us. We had a marvelous time and would reccommend Belize Specialists to anyone planning a trip. Next year we are considering exploring Placencia and Punta Gorda. Thanks again, EP, California
Hello Belize Specialists: We both I had the time of our lives in Belize! We loved Banana Bank and Ambergris. It was like two vacations in one. We both ended up getting our open water dive certificates. We loved scuba diving. I'm so glad we made our arrangements through you. The lady at Crown of the Sea upgraded us to a ocean view room with a balcony, Lovely, lovely. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge, kindness and humor.
Dear Belize Specialists staff, Just a quick note
to say "well done". Hotel upgraded me to ocean front. Next
time I will book an ocean front apartment at Crown of the Sea. Diving
was great. Good operator. Maya Island Air was good choice as well. Better
for me than water taxi. Keep me on file.
 January
, 2010Subject: Our wonderful holiday Just a note to thank you so much for arranging our wonderful holiday. I cannot begin to tell you how much we enjoyed it all. Our accommodation at both Blancaneaux Lodge and Turtle Inn was outstanding. The trips were wonderful, with friendly, informative and helpful guides. All the transfers worked like clockwork - not one single glitch. We certainly hope to return to your lovely country, and will be bringing some friends with us.
THE DIVES WERE GREAT; The dive masters, boats, Blue Hole trip, Turneffe trip was especially enjoyable. The water taxi from Belize City to Ambergris was fine( saved a lot of money doing that & got a mini-tour of town). The golf cart came in real handy to go & do as we please. People at Moncho' s very nice. Never had any mechanical problems & we would pick up locals as we were going from Mata Rocks to town. Elvi's Dinner was a good restaurant. Beach BBQ dinner was real tasty. Very friendly people everywhere. All in all the trip & everything was better than could be expected. I am
recommending your service to my friends.
Thanks Belize Specialists! We had a good time thanks to your assistance. We especially enjoyed the Carrs' at Banana Bank and the cave tubing was spectacular. One thing that could have been a little smoother might have been to clue us in on the San Pedro water taxi.... the one that ties up a few feet away from the SpinDrift Hotel, rather than the Caye Caulker water taxi which was way up by Wet Willie's. Aqua Dives Belize was very professional which is important when you're diving in water up to 100 feet deep. We actually did an upgrade at the SprinDrift and ended up in a room right over the water. They are very nice people as well. We enjoyed all the action right from our deck and could use the air conditioner to drown out any noise later during the night.
I just wanted to express my sincere thanks for a superbly planned holiday and a wonderful opportunity to see the local culture and lifestyle facilitated by your suggestions and recommendations. The food in Belize is the best I've tasted anywhere, I kid you not! The weather was awesome and the diving was out of this world. This holiday has to be one of my best yet and I cannot thank you enough for your assistance!
Greetings from Happy Traveler We wanted to tell you what a marvelous trip we had last week. The itinerary you put together allowed us to experience and really see the diversity of the country. We are all filled full of fantastic memories! Maruba is not to be missed. Great service, great food. Again, thanks for all your helpful emails and phone conversations leading up to this great trip. I will not hesitate to recommend you to future Belize adventurers.
We just got back home after a long day of traveling. I wanted thank you for a well planned, exciting trip. We especially enjoyed our visit to the 2 islands ; the nicest people and fantastic clear water. Meals included were just right. The car was just right. Easy to find everything thanks to the documents/vouchers you provided. Loved the Cave Tubing. Thanks again.
Hi folks, Just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you so much for arranging our fantastic trip! We had a wonderful holiday, largely thanks to your great ideas. We just loved Exotic Caye (and we're putting a note on Trip Advisor with 5 stars for it!); we loved Elvi's; Casa Picasso was perfect; the Maruba Jungle Spa was out of this world; you were absolutely right about the golf cart! And it was worth flying to the Caye instead of water taxi. What a great view! We did the Holiday Hotel Beach Barbecue on a Chicken Drop night, so it was great fun. The dives were great - and so we'd definitely recommend you to everyone, and would be happy to be a reference for you if any other Brits are, like us, a bit skeptical of booking and paying directly over the internet. We can assure them that they can you delivered everything and more, and that we're delighted with everything you did to make our dream holiday come true!
We have returned from our wonderful trip to Belize, and I must thank you for your wonderful planning. We loved every moment. The places you recommended for us were terrific. We loved Banyan Bay, and thought the restaurant there was great. Our snorkeling
guide was great--It was the first time in all of our travels that the
guide actually accompanied us in the water. It made a huge difference
in what we saw and what we learned. We loved the guide from Searious Adventures
who took us to Altun Ha. He was pleasant and very knowledgeable. He was
also extremely patient as we loaded our luggage onto the boat. We thought
being at Maruba was like being in a dream. The people and the food and
the facilities were perfect.
Dear
Belize
Specialists, You put together a fantastic trip for us. We had unique and exciting adventures every day. The lodging, excursions and ideas for exploring Belize by car were excellent. I didn't realize how much time and aggravation you saved us from enduring until we spoke to other tourists who really regretted some of the itineraries they followed. We're
back
a
week
now
and
still
have
this
"high"
from
the
10
day
experience
you
created
for
us.
Thank you Belize Specialists, With your help and good planning, our trip was a delightful experience. The diving in San Pedro was wonderful! All your vouchers were accepted graciously. Just for your general information: Aqua Marina was nice and the people there very helpful; certainly worth the price. The dives were wonderful. The restaurant at the Sun Breeze was terrific. We both really enjoyed Hamanasi. The room in the tree house was exquisite. So thanks again. Hope you will help us plan another trip next year.
I just wanted to touch base with you now that we have returned from our wonderful holiday in Belize.
We fell in love with the
country and it's people
and really felt like you
gave us a good overview
of what Belize has to
offer. The main thing I want to say is that we are very happy with the results of using Belize Specialists. You went above and beyond with your input and personal interest in my family's 3 week vacation to a country we had never visited, using a tour operator we found on the Internet. It was a pleasure to work with you & you do a great job. You
deserve mucho kudos! Thanks again and all the
best to you.
Hey you guys,
Wanted to let you know what a GREAT time we had
on the Jungle
Monkey Lodge CBS (Community
Baboon Sanctuary) River Tour by pontoon boat
last month. By far, it was the highlight of our
cruise and everyone (three generations - 8 people)
were very excited about the excursion. Our guide,
Russell was fantastic. He was so accommodating
and waited for us in the rain when our ship was
late. He awed everyone with his skills communicating
with the monkeys we saw along the river.
Just
I am still not over the trip. Best vacation ever. I plan to go
back next year. Thanks again
We had a wonderful
vacation to Belize. I am from a city in midwest and the travel agent
here knew very little about Belize and those that did, didn't recommend
going there.
Just wanted you to know we had a great trip. Everything went so smoothly it was hard to believe. We DID do the dive to the Blue Hole and it was the highlight of the trip. The people at the dive shop were really great. And the places where we stayed were excellent. Just thought I'd let you know everyone talked very highly of you and I feel that was very important to the great time we had. I would like to go back and one thing I would like to do if you know anything about it is on the way to the blue hole there were islands where the guide said were lodges. Do you know anything about them? Again thanks
Thank
you for planning a wonderful vacation for me and my wife. San Pedro
and Ambergris Caye are amazing places. The people are very friendly
and You certainly were right about how the GOLF CART would enhance our trip. I am so glad we took your advise and did the classroom work for dive Certification near our house. Doing the Refferal "Open Water Dives" was so much nicer than in Chesapeake Bay
I just wanted to let you know that D and C.P. made it back safely on their trip and they had a WONDERFUL time. They said this was their first vacation that they WERE NOT ready to come back home. EVERYTHING WENT GREAT. PLANES AND FLIGHTS ALL ON TIME AND HOTELS WERE SUPERB. He loved the Jungle Lodge in Tikal. Said it was fantastic. Probably would have added another night on there, he said...but maybe next time. They raved about Tikal. The tour you set up was just wonderful. Carol went bird watching and D. saw the ruins that he wanted to see. The screeching monkeys were interesting... they enjoyed them. Belize was just as good. Ramon's gave them one of the best rooms. They were in the garden area, secluded and they said that they could sit on their porch and still see the ocean. THE MAYAN BUFFET AT ELVI'S WAS GREAT. Good good food and drinks. I think C. had one too many drinks. Ha Ha Everything was just perfect. I wanted to let you know that you did a great job for us. Even with the million and one questions they had. They dropped off the computer battery at Jaguar Inn -- to the right person, too. They
had a fantastic time. Thank you again. I appreciate all of your help.
We are sadly back at home after our amazing introduction to Belize. The next trip will be longer, I hope! To give you feedback on our stay: Maruba was wonderful! Desiree, Jerry and the staff met our every need. We got to Altun Ha before all of the tour buses, which made a huge positive difference in the quality of that experience. Jerry not only told us about the history, but also about some of the plant uses. Our riding was also enhanced by the knowledge of plants and birds of our guide. The suite and food were outstanding. It almost felt like we were the only people there a lot of the time. The Caye Caulker Condos are perfect. We had just enough room, along with the laid back atmosphere and quiet. Barb helped us with transportation & info on the area, supplied beach towels and even arranged for my massage. The manatee trip by Star Tours was well run Shark Alley was great. Banana Beach is nice. Breakfast was very nice; landscaping is beautiful. The trip to Hol Chan was excellent. The dive shop is very aware of safety and ecology. After other places in the Caribbean, we were pleasantly surprised at the warmth of the people. We met many hard working, smiling people. The trips, taxis and everything ran on time. I'd never booked a trip on-line from an unknown company. If you need a reference, use me. Belize Specialists really came through with an unforgettable trip for us. Thanks to all of you,
We had such a great
time in Belize.
We
are back and it was a great trip! It is hard to say what was the highlight
as everything was amazing. Belize is just a great small country with
so much to do and the people are very friendly. I am glad we had a chance
to see it before it becomes overrun with tourists. This was also a great
time to go as it seemed we hit a lull in tourism.
George at the Coral Beach is amazing and I'm not sure that his boss realizes how cool he is. He is one of the hardest workers I've met, extremely reliable, and knowledgeable. The hotel was simple, plain, but very clean and located in a perfect part of town. There was air-conditioning. They have this large room that is to be a restaurant and isn't ready yet. The people at Aqua Dive were incredible! Laid back and nice, hard-working, very conscientious dive-instructors. Made me feel at home since I spent most of my time there. Maya Island Air, the "puddle jumper" wa reliable and efficient. I found the food in San Pedro to be very good, but I'm not a very picky gourmand. Essentially, as you told me, the people in San Pedro are very good people. If you are nice to them, they'll be nice to you. I suspect even if you were not nice to them, they'd be nice to you. If someone is single and looking to meet somone or fall in love, they should probably be a drinker, because that is where the singles seem to hangout - at the pools with a Pina Colada. I do not drink. Speaking of pools: Both the Aquamarina Suites and Ramonfs pool were excellent, especially Ramon's Village Pool. Finally, hanging out at the Sun Breeze Hotel, by the pool before diving is a good thing, as no-one bothers you, etc. and it's a good thing because you are right by Aquadives. Oh yeah, you get pretty good value for your money - but clearly BELIZE has higher prices the stores -- maybe because they know the tourists are trapped. Some stuff was quite a bit more money there than in USA, specifically toilet articles. So that's it. Let me know if you need any other information. Keep me informed of future great deals.
Dear Belize Specislists, Our trip to Belize was absolutely wonderful. I can't say enough nice things about Caye Caulker. Tropical Paradise was a very typical hotel accomodation for the island. The room was small, but adequate. The people were helpful and friendly. Because we had booked both snorkeling excursions as part of the package, we didn't need to worry that there was the required minimum number of people for the trip to make. Our second day of snorkeling it was just Larry and I and the guide. We visited the larger island, Ambergris Caye, where most other tourists go, and were glad we were on Caye Caulker where it was easy to meet and get to know the island residents. If we had been there much longer, we would have gotten know almost everyone who had a business. The food was fabulous. We had grilled lobster and shrimp most nights. We spent more on food than we probably should have. The island did not typically adds a 4 - 5% fee tacked on to purchases with credit cards. (Most places do not accept Master Card - just Visa) The rental car was a 2 door Suzuki Jimmy. It was small, got good gas mileage and maneuvered well over the roads. It was easy to pick up and drop off. The Banana Bank Lodge was a more than wonderful experience. The owners and staff treat you like family and cater to all your needs, sometimes without you having to ask. Meals are eaten family style and there is always a delicious dessert at the end. I can't say enough nice things about Banana Bank Lodge. The
people who operate that place are exceptional. John & Carolyn Carr
ate almost every meal with us; every dinner and lunch our first day.
I was ready to quit my job and work for them after a couple of days
of being at their place. Banana Bank is in the jungle on the Belize River. There were monkeys and exotic birds, fragrant flowers and everything positive associated with the jungle. The night sounds were like one of the meditation tapes people buy to help them relax. The morning sounds were the squawk of all the exotic birds and monkeys. We did not have problems with mosquitos, except when hiking in the less traveled areas. The Carrs helped us plan several day trips, telling us the best sites in the area. We visited the Mayan ruins near San Ignacio one day (Cahal Pech). They
arranged for someone to meet us in Guatemala one day to take us to the
ruins at Tikal (which were very excellent). Thank you for all you did to make our vacation perfect. We will do business again. Sincerely,
Just wanted to let you know that we returned from our Belize trip. We had a great time. Barbara & Sally with Hummingbird tours are wonderful! I would recommend these folks to anyone. The rental car folks from were also great. We liked the Tropical Paradise Hotel on Caye Caulker and Windy Hill Cottages were also nice. Thanks for arranging the trip.
To our friends and Belize Specialists: Our
Belize Fly Drive Package Caye Caulker. As you heard we were too sunburned to do more snorkeling so we were allowed to change to a "Sunset Cruise". Very nice. Barbara is a very nice person and helped us make the change. The car Rental experience with John and Judy was a real delight. They are super nice people and very accommodating. The drive to Placencia is 110 miles using the "dirt road short cut". We got to see many more things. This road, known as the coastal road, doesn't allow that much view of the coast from the road. I guess they call it that because it is the road closest to the coast. We liked the Placencia Cabanas better the longer we stayed. Very quiet and OK. On our first day I could not understand what we would do in such a small, quiet town. On the last day I said to my wife, "Love, I think I could spend another couple of days here." She agreed, "Definitely". We stopped at the Inland Blue Hole and St. Herman's (Blue Hole National Park) on our way to San Ignacio. Eva's is the place for directions in San Ignacio. Windy Hill Cottages was real nice. The staff was wonderful. Took us five days to meet Bobby and he, like his staff, make you want to return. The first day we drove to the 1000-foot falls. In Belize, the "all weather roads" are just so... but don't get that much renovation. They are sometimes rough on car and driver. The drive itself was an interesting experience. We used the lodge full day tour of Tikal. We will never forget that day. I climbed the temples as my wife watched. As you may know, we hit a real hot spell. That goes with travel. Good to have the A/C in the car. At night it was cooler and the ceiling fan was fine. We then drove to Caves Branch for the River/Caving. We somehow expected boats but realized it was on inner tubes. Cool clean water... Nice Lunch. This morning I re-visited the web site and the first line reads "5 - 7 Miles of Underground River/Cave tubing." The bus trip to Corozal was trying because of the weather. The "Punta Rock" playing on the bus speakers was something else. Tony's place was very nice. I decided to upgrade to an air-conditioned room. As you know we had to get Mexico City. The bus to Chetumal was OK and we took a taxi to the Chetumal Airport. Great trip but glad to be home.
Hi.
I just wanted you to know that our trip was wonderful! The rooms, food,
excursions, etc. was just as you advertised. We are extremely pleased.
We didn't close the back of the car
Dear Beize Specialists: Here are some belated thoughts from our stay in Belize. Fortunately I wrote down some notes directly afterwards so I'm not operating entirely from memory. You gave us a good cross section of the country considering the limited time we had to spend. We were very lucky with regard to the weather because we were almost never rained out. Bermudian Landing was the only place we got the experience of the "rainy season". The following is a play-by-play of the places we stayed. Caye Caulker is a good introduction to the country because it's so loose and relaxed. Especially after the shock of Belize City which is much bigger and more urbanized than I expected. It seems the people at Caye Caulker are becoming used to tourists but aren't jaded yet. It's a good place for a "bar-goer" such as myself. Mosquitos were bothersome sometimes but not most of the time. The Jimenez Cabanas probably wouldn't work for everyone but they were fine for us. The people were very nice and Max, our 10 year old, made good friends with the boys. It took us a while to figure out that Gina and her sister were not the same person. The Belize Diving Services people were great. They squeezed in the certification dive for Max on short notice, and they went to a lot of trouble to retrieve some of our gear which had been temporarily lost by the airline. The SCUBA dives were good. I hope all the confusion due to our last minute changes got sorted out and all the suppliers were adequately paid. If not, let us know. The manatee/snorkling trip was great we had an excellent guide. San Pedro. The Caribbean Beach Front Hotel room we got was excellent, although we switched to the rooms with private bath, mainly because they were windward and much cooler. It's hard to imagine a better arrangement for the price than the 3rd floor rooms facing the ocean. The town is not that 'touristy' but we like the totally deserted ones best. I guess tourism is being a big boost to the Belize economy but it might get more dominant like most nice quiet places to travel. A lot of people will be trying to sell something. Also, the restaurant prices are higher than expected. There were several places we liked: The Reef (on a back street), Estel's bar, Ruby's little cafe. Max again made friends with a couple of local boys and disappeared for hours with them; fishing, scavenging pop bottles, and probably hustling tourists. The SCUBA dives were better here (for us) for a couple of reasons: much quicker access to the reef and more variety. The dive shop was efficient and we were on a small boat with no other divers. All in all I think we would have preferred a day less there in exchange for a day longer at Caulker or Placencia. The
Manatee Highway and Southern Highway are still somewhat unfinished,
but we never needed to use the 4-wheel drive. Placencia was even more
relaxed than Caulker at the time we were there. We got flagged down
to give the local policeman (named John) a ride into town, so learned
some local politics from him. The Placencia Cabana on the beach was
amazing, in fact we were pretty sluggish about doing anything but sitting
around with a bottle of rum and watching the weather change. We went to the Jaguar Preserve but sorry to say we didn't do a very good job of it. Did not leave early enough and didn't stay long enough. Should have taken the guide from Maya Center - so cheap! Had a good jungle hike. Western Highway - not much to report, but the market in Belmopan has the world's best tamales. We went to the Inland Blue Hole. It seemed more green than blue that day. San Ignacio - There couldn't be a better person to stay with anywhere than Chena of Clarissa Falls Cottages. Besides the good food and accommodations (and the resident zoo) she was always ready for a conversation and went out of her way to help us; as in arranging a trip to Tikal. Interesting clientele too. We ended up going to Tikal instead of Belizean ruins, mainly because the road to Caracol was closed and then we ran out of time. I don't have to describe it to you, but in addition to the amazing ruins we saw more wildlife there than anywhere else. Spent a day on Mountain Pine Ridge. Our favorite place was the pools at Rio On, but we didn't see everything. Would certainly go back there to explore more. The elegant hotels along the side roads seemed a bit incongruous. Concerning the town of San Ignacio, we were surprised at the "international community" and atmosphere at Eva's cafe. I guess this would be a logical place to go for your first homestead if you were a norteamericano moving to Belize. Land prices were about an order of magnitude lower than on the coast. Finally, Bermudian Landing. John and Madeleine are friendly and accommodating people and we had a good social visit with them. For some reason it seemed to rain a lot more there than elsewhere. We had our mosquito lotion which we needed. Canoeing on the river was OK. We really enjoyed the canoe trip despite the rain, and were lucky enough to have Follet Young for a guide. It's a great place. You probably got a lot more than you wanted out of this. If I've missed anything send us a message. Thanks again for the knowledgeable arrangements.
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