Belieze - Ship's tour or Private Arrangements???

[sea-jay]

I will be in Belieze in May on RCI's Explorer of the Seas. Plan to do a dive there but don't know whether to book a private arrangement or just sign up with the ships tour. There will be at least two other divers I met on the roll call thread that are signing up with the Ship's tour so we could at least have a three buddy group. On the other hand, I really don't like cattle car operations.

 

Any suggestions? What have you done? If private operation, who do you suggest and why?

 

Appreciate any help and/or suggestions from all you experienced cruise divers.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Hilary]

I've heard that when you book the ship's excursion that the dive boat picks you up from the ship (since you don't dock). Many people have recommended taking the ship's tour because of this fact and that the dive sites are a distance from Belize City where the ship anchors.

[NavyCruiser]

On our 3/5/05 Princess cruise line charges $149 for a 2 tank boat dive in Belize. We have 4 people, that's pretty expensive. Also, dive starts at 6:30am so ship can take off by 12:30pm. We'll probably do the diving in the other 3 ports in Cozumel, Costa maya & Grand Cayman, where it only runs $55 -70.

[Crockett]

We went on the Explorer in Oct. We dove the ships dive op. I forgot the name- but they were from San Pedro. Two dive boats picked us up at the ship and we went to the Turneffe Atoll for two dive and lunch on the small island. The dives were OK not like Coz. The water was clear and warm with slight current. We had a shark sucker follow us the entire first dive- I was alittle freaked out at firstas he tried to latch onto everyone but he was friendly.. that was a first for me- I will never forget that! I thought it was worth it- expensive but lunch was included and the staff was great and very helpful. We picked the ships dive op because we had never been to Belize before and we knew about the time factor and how long it takes to get to the dive sites.. We barely had enough time to get back to the ship, drop off our gear and hit the tender for 1 1/2 hr quickey tour of Belize City. We went to the craft center and then walked around town and had drinks at a little bar near the tender pier.. It was a great day... Jane

[Latitude 20]

We were in Belize on the Coral Princess a couple weeks ago and, like some others on this thread, were scared off of diving because we didn't want to do the ship's excursion and didn't know if using a shore-based operator would get us back in time (we were in port from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.). Everything we'd read made us think it was a long tender ride from the ship to Belize City. However, we probably could have easily gone with a shore-based dive operator. Princess uses fast, shore-based tenders in Belize and the trip took maybe 10 minutes tops. Pretty similar to tender times in other ports.

 

As it seems like Belize is becoming a more and more popular cruise stop, the local dive operators will probably adjust to serve the ships. Right now, their clients are mainly land-based divers. But cruise-based divers are always going to be limited to close-in dive sites. That's probably a good thing as it'll keep the pressure off of most of the reef.

 

Kathi & Leo

[w&k]

Sea-jay-

 

If you can do the shorex dive - the atoll is awesome, even if it is a bit pricey.

 

Here's a link to another discussion.

 

Have a great trip & some wonderful diving!

 

Wendy

next up

Splendour of the Seas 04/23/05

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=140220

[sea-jay]

Wendy - I decided to do the ship's excursion since I have met a couple of other divers on my roll call thread that will also be diving there. Its always nicer to dive with someone you know (even if only a little) than complete strangers. At least they might be aware you are not back on the dive boat before it leaves.

 

 

Thanks for everyone's input.

[mnsawyer]

We're doing a ship's excursion just to be safe...we are picked up right from the ship and returned back to the ship. We're doing a snorkeling excursion to Goff's Caye which will give us time to do the excursion in the am, come back to the ship for lunch and then tender into town to check out the shops.