New divers- NCL Sun to W. Carribean

[mdod]

We've done a lot of snorkeling but my husband mentioned scuba so I decided to get scuba lessons for Christmas. Then I got the bright idea of combining a a 2 day OW certification course in Crystal River, FL with a visit to my in-laws in New Port Richey, followed by a cruise on the NCL Sun from Tampa to Roatan, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel to get some practice.

 

I was looking for info in the port forums on CC and at Scubaboard and just found this special scuba section here on CC today. I've gone through the past year's worth of posts and I've got a bunch of notes but few comments were from NCL cruisers so I had a couple of questions relating to NCL.

 

Roatan

There were several recs for private operators in Roatan but it sounded like they were docked at Mahogany Bay and NCL uses Coxen Hole. Are there any ops that would be better for that dock?

 

Also, does anyone know if the SUN uses ship time or local time? It says 10-6 for Roatan. Barefoot had dives at 8:30, 10:30 and 2 so I'm afraid we could only make the 2:00 dive if they use local time.

 

Belize

Many people recommended the ship excursion with Hugh Parkey because Belize is a tender port and gave it good ratings. Can anyone confirm that that is who NCL uses in Belize?

 

Finally, the Feb 8th sailing fits our schedule best and I need to commit pretty soon so that we can start with the classwork and it will take me some time to contact various dive shops. Will I be able to book dive trips with good ops at this late date? I don't want to book the class and cruise and then find out all the good options are already booked.

[omeinv]

In Roatan, The ship's excursion uses Anthony's Key Resort. They arrange for transport from the pier to the resort and back. We've dove with them several times. They are a very good operator, and probably one of the few times I'd select the ship's excursion over booking independently.

 

We'll be in Belize on RCCL Navigator of the Seas the end of this month, and decided to book the ship's excursion there, just to avoid the tender issue. I also noted the prices of the local operators there seemed to be no bargain.

 

In Costa Maya, try and contact Gypsea Divers. We dove with them and they were very reasonable and quite friendly.

 

Cozumel, there are countless good options. We'll be diving with PapaHogs on our upcoming trip, they were recommended by a friend here, so I don't yet have my own experience with them to offer a personal recommendation. I've done independent shops and ship's excursions there. there is no reason or benefit to using the ship's excursions there.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[mdod]

Thanks for the info omeinv. I went ahead and booked the cruise last night. I'm not a big fan of ship excursions but it's good to know the operators in Roatan and Belize are good options if I need them. I've got emails out to several places. My husband may regret saying he wanted to get into scuba diving. It's not a cheap hobby. :)

[smokymtnman2]

Hello, will be taking the NCL Sun on Feb 8th out of Tampa also. I am a diver and am thinking about the excursion in Belize also. I haven't read anything bad about Hugh Parkey's. Are you sure that is who we will be diving with. See you on board.

[cruzinisgood]

Would love to hear your reviews when you get back. We are on RCCL in April and trying to decide whether to use the ships excursions or private. They sound like the same operators.

I do know we will use the ship for Belize for the ease of tendering and heard the dive operator is good, but Roatan goes I've heard pro's and con's.

[omeinv]

I'm just back from a similar itinerary on RCCL Navigator of the Seas.

 

We booked Anthony's Key, through the cruise line. They were not near as good as on our two prior times there. That being said, the diving there is quite nice, and since it's a ship excursion, they do take care of all the transport issues. In the future I'll book independently at Roatan. The biggest issue I had was they broke 26 people from the ship into two groups of 13, each with two dive masters. This puts a lot of people on each dive site. In short, they no longer provide service that justifies the added expense of a ship's excursion.

 

Belize was a different story. First the only way you can dive Turneffe Atoll, while there on a ship is through the ship's excursion. This is because they can pick you up at the ship. If you book independently, you'd have to tender into Belize City (a long tender trip), then get to the dive shop, then go right back out, past the ship and out to the atoll. There just isn't time. The Hugh Parkey staff did a nice job splitting us into small (5-6) groups. I would recommend this, and would definitely dive this excursion again next time in Belize.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[Dabaras]

My experience with Belize and Hugh Parkey was pretty good. They came through and grouped everyone by experience. There was about 30 people, but the experienced group only had 7. Officially my buddy was the DM, but in reality my camera is my buddy. They dropped us in first, then the intermediate, then the beginners and we all came up at the same time, so we got longer bottom time in the first group. That being said, $169 for two dives that are good but not great isn't all that great a deal. I'm going to pass in the future.

 

In Roatan, I used Subway Water Sports, and was really unhappy with their dive boat. Something wasn't right and unless you sat on the bow, you were sucking diesel fumes. Came back with a wicked headache after that. Pricewise, every place I've seen (including the ship) are right at $100 including transportation (bringing my own gear). I don't really think the ship excursion is a premium costwise, so I think I'm going to give them a shot on my next cruise in April just so I don't have to haul 100 pounds of stuff all the way out the front gate and down the hill.

[mdod]

Being a new diver I really didn't want a ship excursion. We ended up booking with West End Divers in Roatan, Nomad Divers in Costa Maya and Eagle Ray Divers in Cozumel. Since Belize was a hassle and more expensive we went cave tubing and to the Belize Zoo with a private guide (Ivar Marchand) and hate a great time.

 

West End Divers was easy to deal with and the only place that worked with our 10 AM port time. They promised they would do a separate trip for us if we missed their regular boat and they did. They promptly responded to my emails, required a minimal dep (via a Pay Pal Invoice, no PayPal acct required) and they were the only place that accepted a credit card for the balance (also through PayPal and no foreign transaction fees). They had a driver pick us up and bring us back to the ship (although we were a little apprehensive because it was not who they said it would be and did not have a "West End Diver" sign like they said).

 

It ended up being just the two of us and the divemaster, Bryan, which was great since it was our first official dive after getting certified 4 days earlier. Bryan asked what we had the most trouble with and we said buoyancy control so he gave us tips and worked on that at the beginning of our first dive. He also brought his camera and took pictures of us underwater (which reminds me, I need to email him about them again).

 

The two sites that we went to were probably only 5 min from the dive shop and he suggested getting a quick snack and going back out for the second dive so we'd have more time to look around afterward. Both dives were close to 60 feet deep with the dive boat hooked to a mooring ball. We didn't see a big variety of fish and they were all small but we did see a moray eel, a sea turtle and lots of coral, sea fans and purple sponges.

 

He gave us tips after each dive and we felt much more confident on our second dive. We don't have much experience but the equipment seemed fine. Everything was set up for us on the boat and all we had to do was rinse out our wetsuits in a barrel when we returned. By the time we changed into dry clothes and filled out our dive log the driver was waiting to take us back.

 

We dove with Selma with Nomad Divers in Costa Maya. She was also very prompt with her email replies. It was less than a 10 min taxi ride to Hotel 40 Canones where we met her and the boat. We could use the rest room and showers at the hotel there and the nice lounge chairs on the beach after the dives. They also had $20 massages on the beach.

 

We lucked out again with just the two of us on the dive. The equipment seemed good. Our BCDs looked new. They took care of all the equipment before and after the dive. Both dives were drift dives just under 60 feet deep. We saw a lionfish, crabs, spiny lobsters, spotted eel, and a barracuda. We picked up delicious fish tacos from a place she recommended on the beach during our surface interval and then we just hung out in the lounge chairs for a couple of hours until it was time to go back to the ship.

 

Unfortunately, the small boat harbor was closed due to high surf in Cozumel so we didn't get to go diving with Eagle Ray Divers there. We were supposed to be at the marina at 9. Antonio showed up about 10 min before that and told us the harbor was closed but they would have an update at 10:30 if we wanted to call him back. We didn't have anything to do in town so we just walked around the marina and over to a nearby cenote with some crocodiles. It was still closed at 10:30 so we asked if there was anywhere that we could snorkel nearby. Antonio drove us to the Money Bar just down the road and said he would come back and pick us up if they opened the harbor at 12 so we could least one dive in, maybe two, but it stayed closed so we had lunch at the Money Bar and did some snorkeling then took a taxi back to the ship.

[omeinv]

Mdod,

 

Thanks for returning with those reviews. It sounds like you had good dives for your early "career".

 

Harris