(My) Truth about Belize & Victoria House

[Townsend]

I know some of you are not going to like this and flame on if you like. I'm not "ragging" I'm simply providing my experience.

Some more introduction about my perspective. I travel for business. I spend over 250 nights a year in a hotel (I don't know why I pay a mortgage :11: ). This means I eat 2 -3 meals per day in a restaurant and I've got an expense account so I don't skimp on accomodations or dining. I've been doing this for 10+ years now. My wife and I typically take 2 out-of-the-country trips per year.

My wife and I just got back from 9 days in Belize. We had a great time. BUT.

Pluses :thumbs_up
+ Belize is very easy to get to. 2:50 from Charlotte - Piece of cake.
+ The Victoria House is nice and the people are reasonable. This is NOT a LUXURY resort as it was sold to us or described by many.
+ The food at Victoria House is very good and not much more money than food in town (worth the $'s comparatively)
+ The Dive shop/pier is about 20 steps from the Victoria House pool
+ The Dive operator, the Berkley (Barkley?) Brothers - Rene and Jacinto are two of the most pleasant and skilled dive masters/instructor I've ever met. They receive my highest recommendation.
+ We felt safe and the people are generally very friendly
+ No accosting by timeshare/trinket vendors was a very nice change of pace
+ The reef is very healthy!

Minuses
- Belize is unbelievably expensive for a 3rd world country. It boarders on being a joke and I feel very sorry for the people who live there - it must be very difficult to make ends meet.
- There is not much to do in San Pedro without it costing a fortune.
- The food SUCKS and it's EXPENSIVE (I'm not going to list our dissapointments. Suffice it to say that after a few terrible meals we simply ate at the Victoria House as it was good and reliable)
-The Victoria House casitas are NOT air conditioned even though they are sold that they are (fortunatly for us, they had an available room with AC which they did move us to after 2 nights)
- It's very hot and the mosquitos are ferocious!
- Although the diving was great and we saw some interesting creatures (Spotted Eagle Rays) there was not the amount of life I would have expected on a reef so healthy.


Next time we go back (we'll go back to dive) we will stay at the Banyan Bay condos (we have a RCI timeshare so could easily trade). They are very nice 2 bedroom w/ kitchen.

Taken with a grain of salt/sand and the other reviews on this board and other I hope that your vacation, where ever it is, is fantastic!

-Townsend

 

[tvictory]

If you're going back to Belize, check out the resorts on the offshore atolls such as Lighthouse, Glovers, Turneffe, etc. The diving is better out there and the packages are generally all-inclusive with good food but no night life.

 

[SCUBAMedicBill]

I was there at the end of August and I agree about the food and expense. The service was also extremely slow. The diving was good, but I think I liked Grand Cayman better.

I stayed at the Banana Beach Resort and found them to be very accommodating. The people were very nice and couldn't do more for you. The restaurant was ok, but service was slow and food wasn't bad, but definitely nothing special.

The two dive operators I used were both excellent (Amigo Del Mare and ProTech). Most of the dive sites were good.

For the amount you spend there, I think I can say that nothing goes back into the community. For the amount of money dropped there by tourist, the kids still only have one pair of shoes and need to work the summer to buy school books. My wife got to spend time with the native kids as she was asked by for a ride and wound up driving 13 home.

Bill

 

[Hank49]

Pluses :thumbs_up
+ The Dive operator, the Berkley (Barkley?) Brothers - Rene and Jacinto are two of the most pleasant and skilled dive masters/instructor I've ever met. They receive my highest recommendation.

Minuses
- Belize is unbelievably expensive for a 3rd world country. It boarders on being a joke and I feel very sorry for the people who live there - it must be very difficult to make ends meet.
- There is not much to do in San Pedro without it costing a fortune.
- The food SUCKS and it's EXPENSIVE (I'm not going to list our dissapointments. Suffice it to say that after a few terrible meals we simply ate at the Victoria House as it was good and reliable)

I believe it was the Bradley brothers. They have two more brothers, Roberto and George who work out of Vicotria House doing fishing charters I agree San Pedro is very expensive. About like Hawaii for land and food etc. BUT regarding the food...with the amount of traveling you do, you should have learned this basic rule. When in Rome, or Belize, eat what the Belizeans eat. Don't go to Thailand and expect to get a good hamburger or spagetti. Belizeans eat rice and beans and stewed chicken. Corn or flour tortillas with refried beans for breakfast. It's quite good. The beef here is tough and there is a ban on US beef right now.
I learned this living in other countries. Eat their food. They're good at cooking that. Hank

 

[Townsend]

Hank - right on. Eat their food is indeed a great strategy and typically what my wife and I follow as we are vegetarian (thus my post a couple of weeks ago looking for veg recommendations). Bali was incredible eating for us, not so in Belize.

I was actually quite suprised at the lack of "local" vegetarian faire as it typically is what the (very) poor eat. Local Belizian was lard/chicken based in almost all instances.

 

[Cudabait]

Belize/San Pedro....

Good post, Townsend. I was last in San Pedro in December, 1985. We also stayed at Victoria House. We knew what it was and at that time it was what we expected. We did the all-inclusive thing so we were not eating locally. Even at that time it was pretty expensive. We were with our son and daughter (both divers) My wife and daughter actually ended up saving the life of a young dive guide who was taking us diving. (another story) Bottom line...We have not been back and have no intention of going back at this time. Too many other nice places around where you can get a lot more bang for your buck. Also, at that point in time the marine life on the reefs was dismal even thought the reefs seemed to be in good shape. We also travel 4-6 times a year on dive trips so we don't like the rip offs an do our best to aviod them.

Regards,

 

[SueMermaid]

I was in Ambergris caye in about 1994, and remember thinking that it would soon be spoiled by tourism. Seems I was right about that. It was such an incredibly cool, non-touristy, laid-back place where you could get a Belikin for 50 cents BZ, and a fab dinner of ceviche and lobster for $10 BZ. How sad that it has changed as it has.

 

[Mako Mark]

- The food SUCKS and it's EXPENSIVE (I'm not going to list our dissapointments. Suffice it to say that after a few terrible meals we simply ate at the Victoria House as it was good and reliable)
-Townsend

I have to agree with HANK49.

The best food on the island is the midnight burritos down by the main dock, and the conch fritters at some of the little cafe's in the back streets.

 

[roni]

Townsend,

I am sorry to read about your experience. There are quit a few restaurant on the island which are quit expensive. However, like many other destination, in Belize you will be better off by going to the restaurants that the locals eat in.

There are about six restaurants I rerecommend people to go. all of them serve very good food, with a meal cost of about $8 to $14 US per person, which in my eyes is quit reasonable.

If you or any one else want the names please email me.

Bye

 

[dbosullivan]

You might want to try Caye Caulker next time. When I was there (2000) it was still underdeveloped, and it was cheap.
Not a lot to do, but the locals were friendly, and the dive shops were solid.