Belize

[chillyinCanada]

Don't know your budget but since it's an anniversary I'm going to recommend Xanadu and Victoria House. Beaches aren't doing well on Ambergris Caye this year due to the sargassum washing up all over the Caribbean.
I've recommended these two places because they're lovely and close to town.

If you share more parameters with me, perhaps I'll be able to help more.

FYI though the diving is much better out at the Atolls (the Turneffe resorts) there's nothing else to do out there.

---------- Post added August 27th, 2015 at 07:10 PM ----------

Liquid Diving Adventures suggests Blue Tang Inn. Cute little place, decently situated to town. If you can get one of the front rooms on top (3rd) floor, I think you could be very happy. I've stayed there a few times but when it was under different ownership. I'm familiar with almost all of the rooms.

 

[jscan1]

Does the Blue Tang Inn have a pool? If I remember correctly the reason I didn't stay there is that they didn't (I may be mistaken) but with the lack of beaches at the very least I'd want a pool

 

[gina&peter]

Thanks for the posts. I did not see this on page 2 - sorry. OK - its our 38th anniversary and my husband's 60th birthday. His bucket list is to dive the blue hole. With that being said, we just love the beach and snorkeling, doing some exploring, possibly doing mayan ruins. But the most important thing is being on the beach. I have realized now that the beaches on AC are not all that nice. I would be ok with that if I knew that a little way out there would be fantastic snorkeling. I looked at Turneffe - which looks awesome - but we like more of a place we can do more and it is spendy. I looked at Hamanasa in Hopkins which I liked. I have looked at Xanadu and Victoria House also. I am also looking at Pelican Reef. I like that it's only 2 miles out of San Pedro and we can take the golf carts into town. They say they have a pier that goes out to the reef for snorkeling. And hopefully Peter can get a dive shop to take him to blue hole one day. So if you have any further recommendations, I would appreciate it. I have never had such a hard time deciding on a place to stay before .... And I booked our flights yesterday already Oct 24 - 31 as the flights were going up ...

 

[chillyinCanada]

Does the Blue Tang Inn have a pool? If I remember correctly the reason I didn't stay there is that they didn't (I may be mistaken) but with the lack of beaches at the very least I'd want a pool

It does have a pool but it's more of a dipping pool.

 

[gina&peter]

I am also looking at Ramon's Village if anyone has stayed there before ?

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thanks for the posts. I did not see this on page 2 - sorry. OK - its our 38th anniversary and my husband's 60th birthday. His bucket list is to dive the blue hole. With that being said, we just love the beach and snorkeling, doing some exploring, possibly doing mayan ruins. But the most important thing is being on the beach. I have realized now that the beaches on AC are not all that nice. I would be ok with that if I knew that a little way out there would be fantastic snorkeling. I looked at Turneffe - which looks awesome - but we like more of a place we can do more and it is spendy. I looked at Hamanasa in Hopkins which I liked. I have looked at Xanadu and Victoria House also. I am also looking at Pelican Reef. I like that it's only 2 miles out of San Pedro and we can take the golf carts into town. They say they have a pier that goes out to the reef for snorkeling. And hopefully Peter can get a dive shop to take him to blue hole one day. So if you have any further recommendations, I would appreciate it. I have never had such a hard time deciding on a place to stay before .... And I booked our flights yesterday already Oct 24 - 31 as the flights were going up ...

Pelican Reef is a nice place but it's very far south of town. If someone told you that their dock goes out to the reef, they were seriously misinformed.

What people do is snorkel off the end of docks, not just at Pelican Reef. There are two reasons, the first being that even when there's no sargassum around, there's still a great deal of turtle grass near shore. The second reason is because to get to the reef to snorkel, you need to take a boat unless you stay farther up island (north), where the reef starts to curve into the island. It can be very pretty up there and there's some very nice resorts with large pools, but again, you've lost the ease of reaching town.

I see you're only staying for one week, so breaking up the holiday won't work either. Hmm, tremendous beach at Placencia but dive ops there don't run regular day trips out to the Blue Hole and if they do it's my understanding that the trip is even longer than from San Pedro. Hamanasai gets good marks but the town's not much and local dives are 45 minutes from shore instead of fifteen (as at San Pedro ).

You shouldn't have to make a decision on accommodations quickly because you're going in low season and I'd bet once you make your choice, you'll be able to negotiate an even better price than what's set out for low season on their website.

 

[lthomas132]

I am also looking at Ramon's Village if anyone has stayed there before ?

We have stayed there a couple of times. Rooms are fairly small & pricey. We started staying next door at The Palms, The Palms Oceanfront Suites - Come stay with us.... Privately owned condos, very nice. A pretty good map below of the town area:

 

[chillyinCanada]

Jscan, I'm confused. You told us that you didn't stay at Blue Tang because it didn't have a pool. Whereas you did stay at Mata Rock's that has even less of a dip pool than Blue Tang.

That said, if we leave sargassum out of the equation, I like Mata Rock's, especially the beachfront rooms. The little beach bar (Squirrel's Nest ) is quiet and a great place to stop for a drink or two with friends on a sunny afternoon. And the hammocks strung between the coconut trees at water's edge, well, isn't that all we really need?

lthomas, you just took the words right out if my mouth, er, off my page, eh whatever. The Palms could be the perfect answer because it has lovely units, excellent management, a pool in the back and it's next door to Ramon's , so you can enjoy the tropical ambiance of Ramon's, and snorkel off Ramon's dock, and buy yourself a drink tipping the Ramon's waiter so that you can sunbathe on what is effectively the only "good" beach in town.

Ramon's is overhyped. Even after the recent rebuild, rooms are still small and overpriced. But their dock is great.

 

[gina&peter]

Thanks for the help and the map - that really helped me. It has been quite a relief to get your feedback on this and it has made it clear to me now that we need to be near San Pedro so we can see the town and the restaurants, find a place with an oceanview and hopefully open my doors and put my foot in the sand. We will also still be able to do diving and snorkeling trips and hopefully Peter makes it out to the blue hole. I will just pray this sargussum will be gone by end of Oct. I have emails into Victoria House, Mata Rocks, The Palms and Ramon's and see what they come back with.

---------- Post added August 28th, 2015 at 02:34 PM ----------

OK - can I get your thoughts on these resorts and help me decide which one to book. As this is a special occasion, I don't mind spending the extra money to get exactly what we want. 1. Xanadu ocean view loft. It looks very nice and I am leaning towards this one. As ocean view is very important, I hope it is a good view. It is not the one that says ocean front. 2. Victoria House - has a plantation room which he says faces the ocean/beach - but is 80 feet away with palm trees. It's hard to tell how much of an ocean view that you have. 3. The Palms has a 2 bedroom oceanfront - which is much cheaper than the other 2. 4. MataRock has oceanview balcony superior - which is definitely much cheaper. However, I don't mind spending the money to have the best. So taking into consideration the location and the service, oceanview, beach, etc. if you could help me decide which would be best - probably between Xanadu and Victoria House. Thanks so much for all of your help.

---------- Post added August 28th, 2015 at 02:57 PM ----------

 

[jscan1]

I am also looking at Ramon's Village if anyone has stayed there before ?

I didn't stay at Ramon's, but I did end up doing most of my dives with them. I actually booked with Belize Dive Adventures and they mostly only had a couple of students diving, so rather than stick me with new divers, they dropped me off at Ramons, several times...The grounds are pretty much the best in the area,and they have a ton of staff. The people I dove with were very happy with their rooms , overall I was pleased with the dive op. Seriously though if you want the beach, you need to rethink Ambergris Caye, you will not be happy. Sorry to be blunt, but you can't swim out off the docks fr enough to escape the grass (With the exception of Ramons, because they have it groomed and sanded! Maybe consider something like Grand Caymen, or Cozumel, and save the Blue Hole for when you can swing Turneffe! I don't want anyone to take this as that I didn't enjoy Ambergris Caye, we had a blast in the town, dining and most importantly diving, but I travel with a non diving spouse, and the beach just is not enough to keep a non diver happy for more than a few days


The Sargussum and Grass will not be gone

---------- Post added August 28th, 2015 at 01:02 PM ----------

Jscan, I'm confused. You told us that you didn't stay at Blue Tang because it didn't have a pool. Whereas you did stay at Mata Rock's that has even less of a dip pool than Blue Tang.

That said, if we leave sargassum out of the equation, I like Mata Rock's, especially the beachfront rooms. The little beach bar (Squirrel's Nest ) is quiet and a great place to stop for a drink or two with friends on a sunny afternoon. And the hammocks strung between the coconut trees at water's edge, well, isn't that all we really need?

lthomas, you just took the words right out if my mouth, er, off my page, eh whatever. The Palms could be the perfect answer because it has lovely units, excellent management, a pool in the back and it's next door to Ramon's , so you can enjoy the tropical ambiance of Ramon's, and snorkel off Ramon's dock, and buy yourself a drink tipping the Ramon's waiter so that you can sunbathe on what is effectively the only "good" beach in town.

Ramon's is overhyped. Even after the recent rebuild, rooms are still small and overpriced. But their dock is great.

Yes, Mata Rocks Pool was tiny, but on a plus there was almost never anyone in it! Blue Tang did look good and I like that area if I ever go back to dive