Poor Belize City. It’s becoming something of a punching bag for yours portly. I wanted to like it so badly, but it was really the most disappointing stop on our recent cruise.
That doesn’t make me a heartless monster. We tipped our tour guide, Omar, and bus driver, as we do for all of our excursions. It was cool seeing a city and a country that I’d never visited before. I appreciated how Omar and our driver improvised to deal with the heavy rain that hit when we made landfall.
But, as I’ve noted ad nauseum, the city itself was a letdown. That’s the heart of a review I completed at Omar’s urging (he came around with a QR code on his phone that we all took a picture of). I’m still not sure I’ve actually reviewed the correct service and/or tour, as the QR code wouldn’t scan properly, but, hey, I tried my best (and gave Omar a shout-out; he was, after all, the man who inspired the genre-defying megahit “Drink the Rum“).
So, with a dearth of better content to share, here is the full text of my TripAdvisor review (which you can also read here):
Great Guide, Disappointing City
We booked the “Best of Belize” bus tour through Royal Caribbean. There was lots of rainfall, so some folks who’d booked a carriage ride hopped onto our bus ride; the tour operators were very accommodating, and, to my knowledge, the carriage folks still got their ride after the bus tour. Because of the weather, one of the stops in a seaside park had to be skipped and we took some alternate routes due to flooding (Belize City is very low-lying and right next to the coast, so that’s normal). I was impressed with how the tour guide, Omar, handled the changes and thought on his feet.
The tour was fine, and nothing against the tour operators—they were great—but Belize City is disappointing. It’s like every other ramshackle Caribbean port city, but somehow worse. I thought the connection with Great Britain would give it a different flair to the former Spanish colonies, but the only real evidence of British involvement is a street named for Princess Margaret and an Anglican cathedral built from London bricks used as ballast for returning lumber ships.
Also, poor Omar had to keep dealing with calls from his supervisor throughout the tour. To his credit, he kept his rhythm going nicely, but, dang—let the poor guy work! Our bus driver was impressive handling the flooded streets. When we got back, the boss babe running the tours was scolding Omar in the local Belizean Creole; it gave the impression of two lovers in a spat, with Omar just being chill and the chica giving him a full hands-on-hips, Afro-Caribbean tongue-lashing.
Price was solid at around $48 per person. The tour is about 90 minutes on the bus, with a stop at a rum distillery (where you can try rum for $1). If you want to get the general impression of Belize, this excursion is best for you; sadly, there’s just not a lot to Belize City to recommend.
There you have it, friends. Let’s hope Omar and his supervisor/possible girlfriend made amends.
Before I go, though, here are some pictures from Belize City:
