volcanogirl

Hi, guys! Thanks to all of you who have been so helpful with all our Belize questions. I'm looking at Chaa Creek and am really confusing myself with all the different room/tour/package combos. I would love to know what type of room you stayed in and if you did a tour package - the tours look expensive, so is a package the way to go? We probably would want to stay about 4 nights and visit Tikal and the ATM cave and do some bird watching.

Regarding the rooms, what size beds do they have, and which ones would have a nice view? Are they close together, or do they offer some degree of privacy? And are the windows screens?

We're not interested in the river camp - leaning toward a cottage, garden suite, or garden jacuzzi suite and would love your guidance! If possible, I would love a deck that we could sit out on and a nice view. Thanks for any guidance you can give us!

Katie_Valk

tree top jacuzzi suites are my favorite

ShellD

We got the inland adventure package, standard cottage. It was gorgeous. I can email you pictures if you'd like. Send me an email at [email protected] and I'll email you back. We had two queen beds I think, but they also have some with a king bed, I'm not sure why we didn't have a king bed - we probably could have asked for it. We had a view of the jungle and a small patio with two chairs and a hammock, or maybe two hammocks. The best was lying on the hammock at night and looking at the stars - never have I seen so many stars! The windows have screens and the doors do lock when you're inside, but when you leave you don't have a key - you only lock the room when you're inside. There's a separate bathroom area - very nice, and big with a shower, and also an outdoor shower. Very private - although you are attached to the cottage next door, there's a privacy wall next door and if we had guests next to us, we never even saw them.

As for the package part, we chose the inland package, because it came with 2 full day tours and 1 half day tour - so that paid for Tikal and ATM and one other 1/2 day tour. And it included all our meals and transportation to and from the airport. As well as the taxes. It was very cost efficient. We met many people at Chaa Creek who didn't get a package and they didn't end up doing tours because of the cost. Seemed like a let down to them.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Shooie

Katie knows her stuff. I'd take her advice.

ShellD

I think the Tree Top Jacuzzi rooms would be very nice - however, for us it would have added $800 to our price for the two of us, so we decided to go with the standard cottage which was still really nice. This way we used the money we saved on the room for excursions and spending money.

If we had the money, we probably would have gone with the Tree Top room though!

shillmac

We enjoyed the standard cottage. Double beds, don't remember if queen or not. The porch/deck was fabulous--huge, overlooking the river, lots of birds up close and personal, 2 great hammocks! The cottages are attached to one another, so a little sound/noise might be possible, but we were next to an active family, and there wasn't enough noise to bother us.

I think the tree suites would be fabulous, but for probably less $$, the standard cottages were quite impressive.

volcanogirl

I love the look of the tree top room, but the $ might be too high for us. It does look gorgeous though. It sounds like the standard cabins are a hit too. I would love a view of the river.

volcanogirl

I meant to also ask about the food - did you guys eat all of your meals there? How was it? Dinner seems kind of steep at $32 per person - are there any restaurants within walking distance, or is it fairly isolated? I supposed you're paying for the convenience of being able to eat on the spot.

ShellD

We ate everything there, except when we were on an excursion and even then our meals were paid for with the package. NOTHING is within walking distance. The ride from Chaa Creek is a few miles down a very bumpy road out to the main road. You can canoe down the river into the town and have lunch and then get picked up and driven back to the resort. Even with a car, I can't imagine wanting to make that drive out to the town more than once or twice - again it was a deciding factor for us to go with a package that included our meals there. In Ambergris - we didn't get a package that included all meals.

Oh, and the food at Chaa Creek was really good! Breakfast and lunch are off a regular menu. Dinner is set each night. From what I remember, there's a small appetizer, a salad of some sort that varies every night (it's not always lettuce), a soup and then a choice of one of three entrees with sides, and then a choice of one of three or four desserts. Of all the nights we were there (5) I don't think there were any repeats on any of the menu choices for dinners. And I'm really picky and always found something I liked.

ShellD

volcanogirl - if you can, email me regarding Chaa Creek - I have some info for you. [email protected]