Scuba as a "Shore Excursion" or do it myself?

[tennisdude03]

Hello! I am sailing on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas in late March, my schedule is as follows:

 

March 27, 7am to 4pm in Cozumel

March 28, 10am to 5:30pm in George Town, Grand Cayman

 

RC offers their standard "shore excursions" as add-ons to the cruise...if I wanted to do some diving in Cozumel or George Town, should I just book the shore excursion dive trip, or should I go diving with some other company? If so, do you have any suggestions on what company I should go diving with in those areas?

 

Thanks!

Casey

[SorrentoCruiser]

If you don't want to do a mass market boating experience. We were told that it was over-used, but as we are casual divers, it was perfect. Lots of coral and fish, and very unusual areas of fresh/salt water with baracuda. Paid $25 pp and had a guide take us on an hour dive. Take a taxi to the park, about $10 one way, it's a good park for a great day.

[RammerJammer]

I've done the cruise organized dives in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. While I wouldn't call it bad, it definitely was not as good as those times I've booked on my own. I don't feel that you get the personal service on the ones booked through cruise lines. You know how it goes - they get their bucks and wait on the next ship to come in. We spent more time boat riding than we did diving, especially in Cozumel. Be prepared for short dives. In both GC and Coz my buddy and I had over 1300 psi left when the DM made us come up - after 20 min deep dive and 35 min shallow 2nd dive. Was deeply disappointed in that as I usually get 70-75 min on a shallow dive. Up side of going through the cruise line is they take care of the details - like making sure the operator has you back to the ship on time! Personally, I think I'd risk it and book independently - if you make good contact with the operator and are iron clad sure about departure and return times. Either way, it beats NOT getting wet. Have fun. I'm doing the 11 day eastbound Hawaii cruise in October and will have to book it myself if we dive as RCCL doesn't have it as tour option on that trip.:confused:

 

Can't remember who we used in either - I can look it up if you want. Also, check the "Rodales Scuba Diving" boards for recommendations on dive operators. The members there will really give you the true lowdown

[bruce-r]

start by reading This and I'll write some more tonight.

[sea-jay]

In Cozemel I dove with Alison and she was great. You can reach her thru her email at this site and she will promptly return your email. She uses a small 6-pak boat so you get more individual attention and her dives are limited by air not time like most of the ships operations. http://www.scubawithalison.com/

 

Check out my photos at the site in my signature and see some of those I took on my trip with her.

 

There are also a lot of dive operations in Grand Caymen that will meet you requirements for arrival/departure times. I have not dove there yet so can't make any specific recommendations. Bruce-r will fill you in later. I have found his advice to be good.

[jetskier]

Personally I dont like the herded like cattle with booking a ship excursion. In Cozumel we also used scubawithalison.com We had an excellant dive where we had just 4 divers plus Alison. With the tendering, figure on taking 1 -1 1/2 hours to get to the marina. Also when they say you depart at 4pm, the last tender going back to the ship probably will leave at 3:15pm.

 

Dave

[biensur]

Aren't we fortunate to be able to draw on such great advice from other posters. I was in the same position, do I dive with the ship, don't I?? We did do independent dives in Tahiti, based on hearing from previous cruisers on our roll call that dives got cancelled by Princess (not sure always why).

 

Now we are going to Coz and GC, I asked questions/ read threads on diving there. I got some great feedback and have booked with Alison Alison@scubawithalison.com in Coz and Neptune's Divers neptunes@neptunesdivers.com in GC. I must say I was impressed with their very prompt and informative emails. We may not be sailing until April, but I feel very comfortable with my decision.

[RammerJammer]

start by reading This and I'll write some more tonight.

 

Nuff said.:cool:

[billeelou]

also you might try Dive with Martin or Aqua Del Mar, both have excellent reps....but Dive with Allison definately has her fans....

[bruce-r]

OK, here goes:

 

In Cozumel, my personal first choice is http://www.bluextseadiving.com. Christi is just great. If she is full, which often is the case with popular small boat dive operators, Alison is someone Christi recommends. Two others to check out are http://www.scubatony.com and Blue Angel.

 

There are plenty of choices for diving in GCM. http://www.neptunesdivers.com is easy to recommend. They have a small boat, 8 divers max, flexible schedule which will be important for a cruiser, and best of all (at least for me) is they will let you do your own dive. If you are experienced, you'll be able to dive your computer, but if you just want to follow a guide, Casey will take care of you.

 

If you are interested in a lower cost alternative to a boat dive, shore diving in GCM is definitely worth while. Eden Rock is very close to the where the tenders dock, but probably due to this location, the site gets a lot of inexperienced divers and snorkelers. A couple of blocks past Eden Rock is Sunset House dive resort. They have an on-site dive shop and a decent shore dive. It is likely to be less crowded. An even better shore dive is at http://www.divetech.com 's Turtle farm site.

 

A word about shore diving in GCM. It is my understanding that dive shops there won't rent tanks and weights to solo divers, so you'll either have to have your own buddy, find one at the shop, or hire a guide.

 

Do remember, it isn't an unforgivable sin to go with the ship's dive excursion, as long as you know what to expect.

 

Hope this helps,

Bruce

[infopaul]

After reading all the above, the bottom line is, what is your comfort level and have a great time...Paul:)

[bruce-r]

......In Cozumel, my personal first choice is www.bluextseadiving.com. Christi is just great. If she is full, which often is the case with popular small boat dive operators, Alison is someone Christi recommends.

It is my understanding that from reading some other posts, that Christi has had some problems with scheduling with cruisers, so in order to go with her, you basically need to a minumim sized group of 4 (or more).

 

And regarding Chankanaab as mentioned in this post:

If you don't want to do a mass market boating experience. We were told that it was over-used, but as we are casual divers, it was perfect. Lots of coral and fish, and very unusual areas of fresh/salt water with baracuda. Paid $25 pp and had a guide take us on an hour dive. Take a taxi to the park, about $10 one way, it's a good park for a great day.

This might have been a good choice before wilma, it certainly wouldn't be my choice now. I wouldn't expect the part to reopen before the end of March, and even then, the snorkeling or shore diving there won't be nearly as good as it once was.

[JMikeC]

Hello! I am sailing on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas in late March, my schedule is as follows:

 

March 27, 7am to 4pm in Cozumel

March 28, 10am to 5:30pm in George Town, Grand Cayman

 

RC offers their standard "shore excursions" as add-ons to the cruise...if I wanted to do some diving in Cozumel or George Town, should I just book the shore excursion dive trip, or should I go diving with some other company? If so, do you have any suggestions on what company I should go diving with in those areas?

 

Thanks!

Casey

 

Both of those places have lots of dive shops with better and cheaper services than the ship. One advantage of using the ship's excursion in a tender port is that they may load you directly onto the dive boat from the ship before letting the mass of passengers off (did that in Belize) and bring you directly back to the ship, saving you about 2 hours of hassle getting on and off. That alone may be worth the extra $50 or so you'll pay to dive with the ship's program.

[diverearl]

Hey Paul how was your trip and did you post a review?

[Gonz]

Has anyone here had trouble or heard about folks having trouble getting to Neptunes for the 9am dive if your ship is scheduled to be there at 7:30? That's my only concern about not booking with the ship vs. using a private operator.

[bruce-r]

Has anyone here had trouble or heard about folks having trouble getting to Neptunes for the 9am dive if your ship is scheduled to be there at 7:30? That's my only concern about not booking with the ship vs. using a private operator.

I didn't have any problem and we didn't get there until 8:00 am. You can email Casey and get reassured that you can make the 9:00 departure with no problem.

[Gonz]

How about the afternoon 2 tank with Neptune's? If they are scheduled at 1:00, would I be pushing it to be back on the boat for a 4:30 departure?

 

Also, for those familiar with Caymans diving conditions, would the morning or afternoon dive have better light? This is next week we're talking about too.

 

Thanks!

[bruce-r]

How about the afternoon 2 tank with Neptune's? If they are scheduled at 1:00, would I be pushing it to be back on the boat for a 4:30 departure?

I think that might be pushing it. Usually a 4:30 departure means be back on the ship at 4:00

 

Also, for those familiar with Caymans diving conditions, would the morning or afternoon dive have better light? This is next week we're talking about too.

In my experience, morning dive conditions are often a bit calmer. Sometimes the wind will pickup a little in the afternoon.

[jetskier]

I think that might be pushing it. Usually a 4:30 departure means be back on the ship at 4:00

 

Bruce,

With the tendering, the return time is 45 minutes prior to sailing instead of 30 minutes. This was on the Elation in January. Like you, I dont believe the person will have enough time to get back.

Dave

[Seanchai Crew]

We booked an independent dive with Dive with Cristina in Cozumel last week. When we left for the cruise, we were the only ones booked that day and Cristina indicated that she would meet our ship's schedule, and she didn't give us a deadline for arriving at the marina. Although the Century arrived in Cozumel on time, it had difficulty docking and, despite our best efforts, we arrived at the marina 45 minutes later than we had expected (although we were sending emails to Cristina to keep her up to date). When we got to the marina, we discovered that Cristina and her boat had left 15 minutes earlier. No worries, we thought - the marina called to the boat and we were told that the boat would come back for us in ten minutes, so we let our taxi go. Several minutes later, the boat called the marina to say they weren't coming back for us after all. We were stranded at the marina, with all of our dive gear, for quite some time while we tried to get a taxi back to the ship. We wouldn't be so upset if we had been given a specific time by which we would have to be there or risk losing the time, but we weren't. Of course, the fact that Cristina said she would return and then didn't made it quite a bit worse. The bottom line is that, not only would I not recommend booking with Dive with Cristina, but I probably won't try to book an independent dive again, since I can't control the ship's precise schedule.