Do you dive with Cruise Line's overpriced dive excursion or book your own diving?

[KaC-Cruiser]

Navycruiser ..... dove with BlueHa back in Nov. (off Grand Princess) and Tanya was very nice. As for Cozumel - check with 'Scuba with Alison' - she has been very flexible with rearranging her schedule to our odd port times last 2 cruises. In Nov. we docked at 10 - too late for all the AM boats, and departed to early to risk the PM boats. She took us out at 11:00. In Feb. our arrival time changed 3 times due to ship schedule changes and she still worked it out. In fact we did 3 tanks that day, 2 in the AM, and then 1 of the 2 PM dives. She just dropped us at the Marina between PM dives. Along with being so accomodating - she's a real blast to dive with. And for Grand Cayman - if fitting in a boat dive is too tight - grab a cab (or the bus) up to DiveTech, next to the Turtle Farm. They have some great shore diving .....

 

As noted above, we almost alway book our diving independent, unless (like once in Belize) it was impossible to do so, so we bit the bullet and paid the cruise line.

 

And check out DAN .... we carry a family membership .. it never hurts to have assistance that's specific to divers ....

 

Happy Diving!!:D

[NavyCruiser]

Did blue ha diving in Costa Maya. Great diving.

Just remember to to catch a second taxi to the dive shop, after the first taxi from the cruise pier at costa maya. I stupidly dragged my gear over a mile after I got off the first bus to majahual. stupid, stupid.

Remember, costa maya is the cruise ship's fake name for "cruise ship shopping center", which is 10 minutes away from the "true" fishing village called mahajual, & blue ha is another 1.5 miles further south from mahajual, & not just "on the south end of mahajual town".

 

Glad I didn't set up scuba diving trip in Grand Cayman on my own. Due to high winds, our Grand Princess couldn't anchor/tender into GC on Wed, Mar 9. The ship simply just cancelled all excursions & headed to Cozumel.

I'm glad we decided to go w/ the ship's excursion to Stingray city, since it was automatically cancelled w/o charge.

[bruce-r]

In Grand Cayman, neptune's divers won't charge you anything if you ship doesn't stop there as scheduled. They are a pretty good dive operation too.

[scubaRN]

We have always gone with private companies that we have booked through the internet, and have had wonderful experiences. At times my husband and I are the only divers, and on the other dives it was only one couple with us.

We dove in Puerto Vallarta, Cozumel, Roatan and most recently Barbados. Yes we carry Dan insurance, I think every diver should have it.

[Latitude 20]

Due to high winds, our Grand Princess couldn't anchor/tender into GC on Wed, Mar 9. The ship simply just cancelled all excursions & headed to Cozumel.

I'm glad we decided to go w/ the ship's excursion to Stingray city, since it was automatically cancelled w/o charge.

 

Most of the better dive operations won't charge you if your ship doesn't dock. Everyone we've dealt with has specifically said their deposit/cancellation policies don't apply if we never get to port.

 

After all, if the weather is so bad the ship can't make it in, it's not very likely that dive boats are going to go out. But it's probably good to ask the operator this specific question when you're researching your trip.

 

Kathi & Leo

[deeinaz]

I have a suggestion regarding Belize...

we went with the cruise's shore excursion for diving...and 2-tank on the Turneffe Atoll. It was pricey....but it was WORTH it, in my opinion. The boat was rather full (it was our one experience with a "cattle boat"--I want to say that there was about 25 people on board). But the dive op--it was Hugh Parkey...was terrific. They broke us up into skill set groups. So not only did we get more focused attention regarding our skill level (intermediate)...we also did not see the other groups at all until we came back to the ship...and the diving was phenomenal!!!!

Going through the cruise line is the only way we could have made the Atolls...and that is the REAL diving in Belize in my opinion...we did the barrier reef and were quite disappointed, comparably.

Normally, I would recommend going on your own. We have regular ops we go with on GC (Neptune divers) and Coz (Eagle Ray)...but for Belize, the better diving is quite a way from the cruise ship and was only accessible to us from the cruise ship's excursions.

HTH

--Dee

[Corigan]

I second what Dee has posted about diving in belize off of the atoll. I booked through the cruise as well there so I could dive the atolls. It was worth it even though it was a crowded boat. Also like stated, hugh parkey's was great and did what they could to try to minimize the cattleboat experience. We didn't return to the cruise ship till after the ship was supposed to sail. We were the last excursion to get back. There would have been no way possible to have made these dives in the time aloted if it was not through the cruise ship. Of course the atolls were beautiful and the marine life was abundant.

 

I am trying to book off the cruise ship for my next cruise. Going to be looking for divers on the adventurer of the sea 1/16/06 out of San Juan. If you are on this cruise and want to dive off-ship please drop me a PM so we could schedule some charters away from the cruiseline.

 

Matt

[NavyCruiser]

I aggree w/ you dee, the diving in Belize off the Norwegian Sea was awesome when it was $95 each. But Grand Princess charges $149 each for 3 of us, that's getting pretty hefty. Being from Houston, it's probably cheaper to fly down & stay for a long weekend & do multiple dives in Belize will be a better value.

[scubaRN]

I also agree about Belize. There are a few ports where diving through an excursion would be safer time wise to make sure you get back to the ship and Belize is one of them.

[w&k]

I have to agree that the shorex atoll trip, while pricey, is worth every penny.

 

That being said, RCCL seems to be canceling their atoll dive trip with regularity on the Splendour.

 

From tips on this and other boards, I contacted and booked with Sea Sports Belize. We have 4 divers in the group, so were able to confirm immediately.

 

Unfortunately, we have to tender in, but can be dropped back off at the ship. Will review when we get back.

 

Has anyone here been with Sea Sports?

 

Wendy

[KaC-Cruiser]

From tips on this and other boards, I contacted and booked with Sea Sports Belize. We have 4 divers in the group, so were able to confirm immediately.

 

Unfortunately, we have to tender in, but can be dropped back off at the ship. Will review when we get back.

 

Has anyone here been with Sea Sports?

 

Wendy

 

Dove with Sea Sport Belize a few years back. Had a terrific time, and they were able to drop us directly back at the ship. would have used them for our November cruise, but the port times were too short to risk. So we did the ship's Hugh Parkey deal and also had a great time.

[Tarkus]

my one and only trip to belize was a cruise ship stop (on the old premier seabreeze) - where i too used hugh parkey's operation, and loved it!