hipvirgochick

Throwing out a question for those who have done either or both. I have 4-6 tours planned for my daughter and I and pricing comes out better for us to go with PACZ, even though we'll be staying at MRC (Chaa Creek). Many of the tours at MRC are priced for 1-4 people and there are only 2 of us. So my question is, has anyone that's stayed at Chaa Creek experienced their tours and do they try to coordinate people from different groups to help save on per person costs, or were you stuck paying the group rate if there were just 2 of you?

Also, PACZ uses Jungle Lodge for their Tikal overnight tour. Do you know who Chaa Creek uses?

Thanks!

ShellD

We did our tours through Chaa Creek, but they were included in our package, so we didn't pay extra for them. It saved us a bundle doing it this way. Chaa does try to coordinate with other guests so you don't have to pay the full per person cost. It's a lot like BDC that way - the bulk of the cost is the transportation, that's what you end up splitting. We were there in August, which is low season, and there were a few people who wanted to do tours and didn't because they couldn't find people to share costs with. So I'm pretty sure you do have to pay the full price, even if there are only 2 of you.

I'm not sure who Chaa uses for the Tikal overnight, but for the Tikal day trip, we went with one of their own guides, and when we were close to Tikal picked up a Guatamalan guide. We were told that Tikal doesn't allow Belizan guides to give tours. So, I'm not sure how PACZ works that out. For the ATM cave, Chaa used PACZ.

You're going to have a great time!

hipvirgochick

Thanks Shell that's helpful. I looked at so many options but I will check again on packages. Last I checked it worked better for what we were doing to just do the nightly rate with breakfast/dinner. But the prices have all went up since I printed everything out too (at least for tours). We also might be staying only at Macal River Camp and not the cottages...still not sure.

ShellD

We did the Inland Package - I believe that's what it was called. It came with 2 full day tours, a half day tour, all meals, the zoo tour either coming or going, transfers to and from the airport and all taxes. When I priced that out it saved a bundle - but we were staying in a cottage - we just went with a standard cottage though, not one of the bigger or deluxe ones. It was still really nice though! I'd love to go back, with the kids this time!

hipvirgochick

Thanks again Shell. I will look at that one. Really trying to keep cost down since we'll have about 15 nights. Originally I was going to spend 3/n MRC and 3 nights in a cottage. There are so many things I want to do in that area! Now I'm not sure if we will even switch to the cottage...we'll see. . Daughter only costs $60 (may have went up now) for the cottage with meals, so not too bad. As it stands we'd take the tours that include lunch while staying at the camp, and the others while at the cottage. I don't think we'll use their transfers either and we're probably going to do the overnight at the zoo on our own...so many decisions!

PMJ

We did a Christmas package at Chaa Creek with our family of five and did day trips to Barton Creek Cave, zip lining, Tikal, Xunantunich and Belize zoo. The guides were awesome. Extremely knowledgable, professional, and friendly. They really added a depth to our tours- we were really impressed with the wealth of information they shared with us. We've done a lot of private tours throughout the Mediterranean- cruise ports. Chaa Creeks guide are as good or better than any we've had before.

volcanogirl

We used both Pacz and Chaa Creek for tours. Chaa's guides were wonderful. I did think it was pricey though; we paid the full price of the tour because there weren't that many people staying there when we went. They did offer free birding every morning while we were there.

hipvirgochick

Thanks for your feedback. Pacz has raised their rates a bit since I last checked, plus I know there would be $10 extra for transport, so now both are getting closer in price. I'm not questioning the quality of the guides for either, as no doubt both are wonderful, I just don't want to spend extra cash where it's not necessary. We want to overnight at the Zoo, overnight in Tikal, ATM, Caves Branch, Caracol (or Mountain Pine Ridge)with Rio Frio pools plus a few other things on the property so I think I will just write up my itinerary and see what type of discount I can get for multiple tours staying 5 or 6 nights.