Dive gear thru ship security?

[cwc9001]

What type of bags will hold your dive gear and still fit thru the security machine when boarding and returning to the ship. Carnival says they limit carryon size to 11 x 17 I am sailing on coral princess and cannot find a size of bag given. Can anybody reccommend an bag that works or will the cruise line open your bag and inspect it? Thanks, Craig

[w&k]

If your bag is too large to fit in the machine, it will be hand-inspected.

 

We've had the same bag for awhile, and it has usually been hand-inspected. Usually, it's a cursory look after we tell them no dive knives.

 

Have a great trip!

 

Wendy

[bruce-r]

I wouldn't worry about it. If your bag is accepted by the airline, then it should be good enough for the ship's security.

[cmdchiefthom]

I use an Armor dive suitcase to transport two sets of gear while flying to and from the ship, or dive resport. I picked up a couple of part mesh duffle bags with shoulder straps from a local dive shop for maybe $30.00 ea which pack down to nothing. They're around 36" tall and 24" wide and have a water resistant pocket as well. Any good dive shop should have something pretty similar. There's plenty of room for your BC, reg, mask, fins, wetsuit etc. Once on the ship, I transfer the dive gear to the mesh duffles. I've never had a problem going through security and the mesh allows security personnel check my stuff without having to take it out piece by piece.

[billeelou]

I put it in the suitcase, they looked it up and laughed and no bg deal....

[Hilary]

I also have mesh boat bags for transporting my gear to and from the boat. For flying we have a large Akona dive bag on wheels that both sets of gear fits into.

[wannblowbubbles]

Same thing here. I have a mesh bag I transfer everything into once on board. I have a bag for my reg and computer that I carry on the airline.Seeing how they (the airlines) "toss" the luggage around I don't want something that important damaged intransit.:eek:

 

Never had any trouble with ship security after telling them I did not have a dive knife.

 

Does any one carry their knife? Have you had any problems?

[bruce-r]

Does any one carry their knife? Have you had any problems?

I have a small, blunt nose dive knife that I take everywhere with me, but never on a cruise. I really don't need it in the Caribbean and prefer to eliminate the chance of a stupid hassle from the ship's security.

[skypilotks]

We use an Akona bag with wheels and handle for both our gear, I thinks is model number AB146 (something like that) never had a problem, the only problem is keeping it at 50lbs for airlines! It just fits in the security machine! We do carry our dive knives, and had 2 cruises where they didn't say anything, last RCCI cruise, they held the knives, and I retrieved them going for the dives at the security gate, the last Princess cruise they checked (just looked at them) on our first day coming back on, and remembered me the second day so didn't have to do anything

[mere08]

My husband and I are traveling on the Valor on 3/5/06 specifically because of the ports - Belize, Roatan, Cayman, Costa Maya - all great diving ports. Actually, that was our compromise - I wanted to go on a cruise, he wanted to go diving and now we can do both!

 

Anyway, we are planning on packing all our dive stuff in a Tusa BP-2 rolling backpack for both the airplane to Miami as well as to and from the ship and ports. The bag is big enough to hold all equipment for both of us and is definitely bigger than carry-on size. We just figured that with close to 50 lbs of equipment, mesh bags would be a little too much to handle over those long port docks and through the towns to get to the dive shops. Ok, I figured it was too much for me to handle my stuff - I'm a weakling!!

 

Any thoughts on this?

[oldmedic]

we also use a rolling dive bag, big enough for two sets of gear. We use paramedic shears(attached to bc's via velcro straps) never had a problem getting thruogh security.

[biensur]

I know there are steak knives onboard, so it sounds kind of silly that the cruise line security confiscates dive knives but they do.

 

This is Princess' policy:

 

If it is in your checked baggage, they will page you onboard, make you come shoreside to identify your bag, then open it and ask you what you are doing with a knife. Shoreside security officials, possibly the sherrif's deputy and the ships security officer will want to interview you. Depending on the ship's Senior Security Officer, they may hold your knife for you onboard and you can retrieve for diving later, but in some cases, they will make you leave it behind with shoreside security. If they find it in your hand luggage, you will be detained, interviewed and may not be given any other option than to leave it shoreside.

 

It's not worth the hassle to try and bring it aboard.

[scubaran]

I know there are steak knives onboard, so it sounds kind of silly that the cruise line security confiscates dive knives but they do.

 

This is Princess' policy:

 

If it is in your checked baggage, they will page you onboard, make you come shoreside to identify your bag, then open it and ask you what you are doing with a knife. Shoreside security officials, possibly the sherrif's deputy and the ships security officer will want to interview you. Depending on the ship's Senior Security Officer, they may hold your knife for you onboard and you can retrieve for diving later, but in some cases, they will make you leave it behind with shoreside security. If they find it in your hand luggage, you will be detained, interviewed and may not be given any other option than to leave it shoreside.

 

It's not worth the hassle to try and bring it aboard.

 

Hi,

 

I've had two cruises where the knife went through with no hitches but on the last one, after two ports where I dove, they collected my knife when I got back on board the third time (the day before we disembarked). That night I had to go to the pursers desk where they gave it back to me to pack in my luggage. No rhyme or reason in my book. To be safe, I bought a pair of underwater safety shears. Now no problem (It's not like I was going around chasing after fish trying to stab them with my knife anyway, just didn't want to run into any monofilament line left over from someone's failed fishing attempt). :O)

 

Randall

[biensur]

Scubaran,

 

Glad you didn't have too many troubles with your dive knife in the past, and I really like the suggestion of shears. I think, though you have been fortunate. Coast Guard, not TSA is in charge of the laws relating to weapons passage aboard a vessel, and whereas TSA allows them in checked baggage, Coast Guard does not. Dive knives are considered a weapon. I understand the need for such laws but I couldn't help thinking that the steak knives on board were just as much a potential "threat", and much more plentiful and accessible......go figure......

[scubaran]

Scubaran,

 

Glad you didn't have too many troubles with your dive knife in the past, and I really like the suggestion of shears. I think, though you have been fortunate...Dive knives are considered a weapon. I understand the need for such laws but I couldn't help thinking that the steak knives on board were just as much a potential "threat", and much more plentiful and accessible......go figure......

 

Hi,

 

I guess there's something to be said for my blunt nosed dive knife, they probably don't consider them as much as a threat than the pointy ones. I think the main thing I've seen, and I travel for my job, is the inconsistency on how security is handled as a whole. You go to airports, some have everyone take off their shoes, some have 'potentially dangerous' shoes only taken off, some put a metal detector in a box and you place your foot on it before proceeding. I've also seen deli shops in secured concourses with large metal knives to cut sandwitches in half for customers, and things in the confiscated drawers like children's clear plastic ray guns that could never be seen as a weapon by mistake. I think the transportation agencies not only have to have clear guidelines on what and what is not cleared for travel, but also have to have standardized training in the field so we don't have to guess as to what we can "get away with". {He then gets off his soapbox. :)}

 

I also agree about knives on board. A steak knife is a lot more deadly than my blunt nosed dive knife (but shears are a go anywhere right now).

 

Randall

[biensur]

You make such a valid point......

 

I don't know about you but I could never be a screener - the job's just way too boring for me, though others may be better suited than me. Also the pay is pretty poor I understand, so you get what you pay for....boredom + low pay = inconsistencies, IMHO

 

My latest peeve - lighters are banned onboard flights, yet if you put them in your pocket they rarely go detected. Combine a lighter and an aerosal like hairspray (which I always carry on to keep it pressurized) and you have a serious flame shooter.

 

Also my husband recently had an expensive cigar cutter taken that he had in his brief case....only threat could possibly be to one's finger or nose tip!! I could rant forever - thanks for the use of your soap box!:)

[CountessP]

I guess my response to your initial question is why are you carrying it on? Why not check your dive gear in with all your other checked baggage? We dive off cruise ships regularly, my bag on wheels is pretty big, my husband's is enormous. We've never had a problem just checking it all in, and it's in our cabin waiting for us with our other checked bag. We both have shears attached to our BCs, and we've never had a problem getting the bags on and off the cruise ship after each dive. FYI, even when we check these bags on flights, we've never had a problem or extra charge. Hope this helps!

[scubaran]

I guess my response to your initial question is why are you carrying it on? Why not check your dive gear in with all your other checked baggage? We dive off cruise ships regularly, my bag on wheels is pretty big, my husband's is enormous. We've never had a problem just checking it all in, and it's in our cabin waiting for us with our other checked bag. We both have shears attached to our BCs, and we've never had a problem getting the bags on and off the cruise ship after each dive. FYI, even when we check these bags on flights, we've never had a problem or extra charge. Hope this helps!

 

Hi,

 

I normally check my scuba gear except for my mask, regulator and fins (those things I can't live without if they get lost in transit). BTW, I did have my bags lost on the way to a cruise two years ago. The cruise company had a lot of people coming from the northeast to florida for a cruise so they chartered a jet from Continental and put us all on it. At the time I thought it was great since I normally have to connect to get there. Unfortunately they went one step further and decided that it would be great if they could pull up the baggage truck to the plane (since all the baggage was destined for the ship anyway) and unload from the plane to the truck. Unfortunately they didn't realize that the long shoreman's union drove the truck but the airline union unloaded the plane. The baggage handlers for the plane refused to unload it and everyone on the plane didn't get their luggage before the ship sailed. Most of our bags showed up at the next port (with a day at sea in between) but out of the 8 bags in our party, only 5 showed up during the cruise (the other three bags were waiting for us at the cruise terminal when we returned). That was one of the cases where I was glad I'd carried my essential dive stuff since that was one of the bags that didn't make it.

 

Randall