The first stop on our Royal Caribbean cruise was in Belize. Because of the size of the Explorer of the Seas, the ship could not dock on the port so we had to take the shuttle boat to get to the land. The shuttle took about ten minutes and was by far the bumpiest moments we had during the entire week.

Just like every stop, the first thing you see is the market surrounding the dock. We chose the all day tour to Cahal Pech which quickly departed before giving us time to trinket shop.

Some of the activities worth doing in Belize involve visiting the ruins, visiting the underwater caves, hanging out at the beach and wandering around Belize City.

Ruins

We went to Cahal Pech which is a relatively small Mayan ruin way across the country. The bus ride took several hours. The trip out was an interesting exposure to all the variety of life Belize has to offer but we did not actually stop anywhere until we arrived at the ruins.

There are several different ruins that you can visit, some with pretty large pyramids. If you are interested in one of those tours, I would recommend signing up for it well before you get on the boat since they fill up pretty quickly.

A couple recommendations for an excursion to any of the ruins. Bring food and water because you probably will not have as many opportunities to pick them up on the way as you might prefer. Book the excursion through the ship. Most of the ruins are very far from the boat. If you book the excursion through the ship, they will wait for you to return if there is a traffic delay. If you wait until you get to Belize City and try to make your own arrangements, the ship will not wait for you if you are not back in time.

Underwater Caves

The other excursion that I considered involved drifting through the underwater caves. Now that I have seen Cahal Pech, if I end up back in an area like Belize, I will definitely try to take this kind of a gentle adventure excursion.

Beach

There is a private beach right where the shuttle boats drop you off that you can pay to hang around for the day. The water is crystal clear and makes an excellent place for scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming and eating. The couple that sat at our dinner table had a great day swimming at this beach.

Belize City

Belize City is an interesting city but feels very run down. While driving through the city on the bus to Cahal Pech, it reminded me of the border towns in Mexico where there are very few people that look like they are doing much better than just getting by and if the tourists left, there probably would not be much of an economy left behind.

If you want to spend time exploring one of the cities for one of your day excursions, I would recommend waiting for a different day. Between the history of the ruins, the tranquility of the underground caves, or the solitude and fun of the beach I think the city itself is definitely the worst option for spending the day.