Has anyone tried the "Try Dive" while on Board?

[Rockledge]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone tried the one hour "Try Dive" on board during the sea days?  How was the experience?  When is it done?  Worth it?  Any information is greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

[Xtentions]

I've not tried it but am booked for the "try dive" on Liberty of the Seas in Dec.  so I am interested in any responses you get.

[icsys]

Being only available on sea days, I've often wondered where the 'try dives' are carried out.

[Rockledge]

Exactly!  I was wondering if it was very early in the AM because how can they take up the pool?  I may try calling RC today to see if I can get more info...

[Xtentions]

When I look on my calendar for my sailing in December it is scheduled for 9 to 10 am on the first sea day and I believe these are done in one of the pools.

 

This is from my calendar but edited out our names

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Xtentions
added pic

[ownedbypets]

My husband and adult son did this on Oasis last December and enjoyed it.  It was done in one of the main pools with half of it being roped off.

[maryred]

I had it scheduled for my cruise on the Adventure back in Sept '18. For that it was on the last seaday at 8am. Unfortunately I was ultimately denied participating because when filling out the waiver I had experienced 1 of the 30+ ailments, reactions, or medical procedure in the last 2 years and was told I should of visited the official PADI website prior to boarding to see what the list that causes exclusions and if a doctors note stating I was fit anyway would of allowed me to do the Try Dive. 

[Judyrem]

I am a certified PADI diver who has not been diving for over 18 years.  I have over 100 dives at least.

I am wondering if this would be similar to a "refresher" course?  I would love to start diving again.

[lucy12]

I tried it on Anthem a few years ago, only 2 of us signed up,  it was early, maybe 8 in the morning, they had it in one of the pools, not many people in the pool at that time. It was fun, but on no way prepared you for a real dive.

[bobmacliberty]

Watched (didn't participate) this on Freedom a couple of weeks ago.  They were in the Solarium pool at about 9:00.  Guessing it will be similar for Liberty.

[icsys]

56 minutes ago, Judyrem said:

I am a certified PADI diver who has not been diving for over 18 years.  I have over 100 dives at least.

I am wondering if this would be similar to a "refresher" course?  I would love to start diving again.

I would say no..... this is just a very basic introduction for those who have never done the sport before.

If you want to get back into diving, and you haven't dived in several years, book a proper refresher course, which will reinforce the skills you were originally taught. Plus a lot will have changed in eighteen years.

Edited June 8, 2019 by icsys

[Cruising Latitude]

It was held on a sea day morning in one of the pools close to the PADI shop.  

 

Very simple course.  Fun for those who have never dived before but would be a little boring and not very useful if you want to get certified. 

[Judyrem]

2 hours ago, icsys said:

I would say no..... this is just a very basic introduction for those who have never done the sport before.

If you want to get back into diving, and you haven't dived in several years, book a proper refresher course, which will reinforce the skills you were originally taught. Plus a lot will have changed in eighteen years.

Yes, very true and I have changed too!😉

[mac66]

Haven't done the Try Dive, but did a Discovery Dive in Grand Cayman.  A Discovery Dive gives you a pretty good orientation and the basics and then lets you do a real dive with a guide. It was a lot of fun. 

 

You can do it through the ship or privately. Most ports have dive shops with Discovery Dives available.  I did mine through Eden Rock dive shop in GC  which is a short walk from the pier.  I've since gotten certified.

Edited June 9, 2019 by mac66

[October17]

I did this in April this year on Harmony. I have never snorkeled or dived. 

 

We met at a quarter to nine on the first sea day (Eastern Caribbean). We had to go to the dive shop on embarkation day to sign the health declaration.  There were five of us in our group and we started off by getting fitted with the fins, the instructor then got out gear for us and we went to the pool next to the dive shop (the sport pool, a “regular depth pool, maybe 5ft deep).  We started off  with a short instruction about the breathing  gear, sitting on the edge of the pool with our tanks of air. And the OK, and UP hand signs. Then helped into the water, held on to the edge, face down, and tried breathing the “canned air” underwater. Next step was to kneel on the pool floor and get comfortable breathing underwater. After that we could swim along the bottom of the  pool in a circle. And then we were done, the time in water was a total of half an hour.

 

There was two other (private?) classes in the same pool, one student and his instructor times two, so the swimming underwater was a bit crowded.

 

it was perfect for us (me and 14yo) to try to see if we could handle the mask and mouthpiece and breathing underwater. One of our group aborted after trying the face under water. We loved it, and I will definitely sign up for a dive certificate class!

 

 

I’m adding a picture of the group after us, they are just stRting in the water, at 9:30. Our time was at 9, we were to arrive a quarter to, so we were in water around 9

Edited June 10, 2019 by October17
Added photo, group after us at 9:30.

[Rockledge]

Thanks so much!  This information is so helpful!

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Depending on your port stops, I would suggest trying out a dive shop or a resort.  We were at an AI about 6 years ago and they had a "dive sample" in the pool.  You could tryout the mask, airline, & fins and swim around the pool for free.  Then, if you wanted more, you could go to their dive shop and sign up for classes.  

[9olivia]

My husband and I did this on Oasis in October and we had the whole pool for our class of 5 (the one closest to dive shop). It was a good introduction for the discover scuba dive I did later in the cruise in Cozumel but of course not anywhere near as in depth. It's a really great, inexpensive way to see if the gear is overwhelming of just too confining before paying more money for an excursion in port. It helped my husband decide that scuba was probably not for him. 

[whyrlygig]

I was booked for this on Navigator but when we filled out the health forms we were disqualified. Me for back problems and my friend for high blood pressure. 😕

[xpcdoojk]

On 6/8/2019 at 9:12 AM, Judyrem said:

I am a certified PADI diver who has not been diving for over 18 years.  I have over 100 dives at least.

I am wondering if this would be similar to a "refresher" course?  I would love to start diving again.

 

Yes.  I am an SSI diver with a couple of hundred dives.

 

Lots of things that are not really likely to cause you to die will disqualify you from most diving options.  That said, the chance of dieing in a 6 foot pool with a scuba tank on are something infinitesimally close to zero.  If a person goes under water they have the same chance of dieing in a pool.  Good lord.

 

jc