BELIZE: "Private Island Beach Break" REPORT - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

LuLu · 03-04-2006, 12:00 PM

--> Note: Sorry, I do know Belize is a country in Central America ... BUT,BUT,BUT it was on our Western CARIBBEAN itinerary so this seems as good a place as any to post the report!

BELIZE: "Private Island Beach Break"

Our tour met at the assigned lounge on the ship. We were taken as a group to the tender area. A tour boat picked up up DIRECTLY from the ship and tendered us to Bannister Island. (About a 20 minute ride)

Very pretty island! There were tons of beach chairs (no need to chair-hog

) and an endless supply of sturdy floats for our use. Very HOT ... so the thatch covered huts and shade from the palm trees were put to good use. A large playground for the children was located at one end of the island and there were a couple of volleyball courts on the beach.

Beer, foo-foo drinks, etc. were sold at the beach bar which played Island music throughout the day. Also, there's a small gift shop and a restaurant.

Pedal boats and kayaks could be rented. Snorkel tours to the barrier reef were offered (think $30 pp).

No PESTY vendors! Except for the island staff, only other cruisers were there. Three ships were in port. Never once did Bannister Island seem crowded. Had fun talking with many cruisers from other ships!

The beach was VERY clean and the water was completely free of seagrass. DO TAKE YOUR WATER SHOES! No rocks, but LOTS of shells.

The float was my favorite thing! Just floating aimlessly around in that beautiful warm blue water was total paradise!

Great place for "Beach Lovers"!

Any comments and questions are welcomed.

canarymoon · 03-04-2006, 12:09 PM

This sounds delightful!
Did you do or hear any feedback about the snorkeling?
Did the boats get the snorkelers to a coral reef of any kind?

LuLu · 03-05-2006, 11:11 AM

Canarymoon ... Belize and ROATAN are both along that same "barrier reef". Since you love Roatan, thought that might help ... even though different places along the reef are probably not exactly the same. (We did snorkel in Roatan, but not Belize.)

At Bannister Island two couples we had met on the ship left their beach bags with us while they went out on dive boat to snorkel. They were away about two hours. Mostly, they talked about the amazing number of colorful fish they saw. All four seemed quite happy with their snorkeling.

Hope this helps a little....

LuLu · 03-22-2006, 06:20 PM

Also, worth considering are the excursions offered by the ship that spend half of the time snorkeling and the other half at Bannister Island.

Great and easy way to do both!

LuLu · 05-22-2006, 05:03 PM

Tourist Robbed in Belize!

Thought some of you going to Belize might be interested in reading a report djgifford was nice enough to post in another section here on CLF about a tour visiting archaeological sites being robbed!

http://www.cruiselineforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12623

At least Bannister Island was very SAFE!

canarymoon · 05-26-2006, 08:08 PM

Thanks for the snorkeling info, Lulu!

LuLu · 09-23-2006, 11:55 PM

Pulling this up for virtuous14 ....

gottabecruisin · 09-25-2006, 09:49 AM

LuLu do you have any pictures ? or a link to where you may have pics posted ?

Would lve to see pics of this beach break..

LuLu · 12-02-2006, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gottabecruisin

LuLu do you have any pictures ? or a link to where you may have pics posted ?

Would lve to see pics of this beach break..

While I have pictures, I have no clue of how to use my scanner!

This site has some good pictures ... probably better than the ones I took:

http://www.bannisterisland.com

localady · 12-03-2006, 02:35 AM

Lulu-
That looks like a beautiful Island! I can see why you recommended it, it's lovely!!