PADI open water dive certification course

[Melweaver2]

I have purchased the open water dive certification course for my upcoming sailing (Late Feb) on Allure of the Seas.  Does anyone know when they will tell me anything about doing the home portion of the course?  I have emailed royaldiver, but have not heard anything back.  Appreciate any info on this.

[livingonthebeach]

12 minutes ago, Melweaver2 said:

I have purchased the open water dive certification course for my upcoming sailing (Late Feb) on Allure of the Seas.  Does anyone know when they will tell me anything about doing the home portion of the course?  I have emailed royaldiver, but have not heard anything back.  Appreciate any info on this.

 

When on Odyssey recently the PADI folks were nowhere to be found. Very limited hours.

[Melweaver2]

I wonder if it was because they were busy with the classes?  I already had to pay a rebooking fee because the first trip I booked did not have the excursion and I was told by the person on the phone that they could not see the excursion unless they booked it, Grrr.  Then a second person was able to see the excursion before I booked this one but I still had to pay $100 pp.  The ONLY reason I am going on this cruise is for this course.  I thought I might as well earn points while I do the course that I would be doing on land for about the same price.  

[livingonthebeach]

8 minutes ago, Melweaver2 said:

I wonder if it was because they were busy with the classes?  I already had to pay a rebooking fee because the first trip I booked did not have the excursion and I was told by the person on the phone that they could not see the excursion unless they booked it, Grrr.  Then a second person was able to see the excursion before I booked this one but I still had to pay $100 pp.  The ONLY reason I am going on this cruise is for this course.  I thought I might as well earn points while I do the course that I would be doing on land for about the same price.  

 

That's a great idea and I hope it works out for you. Keep trying and I'm sure you're likely to get a response before your cruise. Happy cruising and diving!

[Capt_BJ]

IME you want to just go to the PADI web site and signup for the e-learning course. Do the work and at the end you get a certificate of completion. You present the certificate to the 'referral' shop doing the checkouts.  DD completed OW this way. The referral shop (not a ship) gave her a written test to verify she'd done the coursework - simple stuff, nothing new.  She then had one pool session and two two tank boats trips (two dives a day maximum for checkouts per PADI rules.  We did the whole thing in two days in the Keys.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/topics/padi-scuba-courses-and-excursions

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY

 

1

PADI eLearning®

PADI eLearning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into a busy schedule. Learn about scuba diving principles and terminology whenever, wherever it's convenient for you.

 

It's your course on your time. Study offline, or online using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor whenever you have a question.

 

• eLearning time commitment: 5-10 hours

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Capt_BJ

[Capt_BJ]

 wonder if it was because they were busy with the classes?

 

I sailed ODY' for 8 days over Thanksgiving, Lauderdale to Aruba and Curacao and other places and the cruise did not offer any courses and very very limited diving excursions even in these two decent dive ports. I saw folks in the 'dive shop/booth' once during the entire trip but can't say I was looking for them . . . 

[Melweaver2]

1 hour ago, Capt_BJ said:

IME you want to just go to the PADI web site and signup for the e-learning course. Do the work and at the end you get a certificate of completion. You present the certificate to the 'referral' shop doing the checkouts.  DD completed OW this way. The referral shop (not a ship) gave her a written test to verify she'd done the coursework - simple stuff, nothing new.  She then had one pool session and two two tank boats trips (two dives a day maximum for checkouts per PADI rules.  We did the whole thing in two days in the Keys.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/topics/padi-scuba-courses-and-excursions

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY

 

1

PADI eLearning®

PADI eLearning makes it easy to fit scuba lessons into a busy schedule. Learn about scuba diving principles and terminology whenever, wherever it's convenient for you.

 

It's your course on your time. Study offline, or online using a computer or mobile device. Connect with your instructor whenever you have a question.

 

• eLearning time commitment: 5-10 hours

 

Problem is that the online course is already paid for through the excursion.  But thanks for the info.  

[LeeW]

The Royal folks will send a link and code to the PADI site for your online stuff about 3 months out.  You will sign up for the pool and open water on the first day.  I took the refresher course on Allure.  Was hoping they would use the deep pool but training was all done in the 4' deep sports pool before it opened to passengers in the morning.  Was cold even with wetsuit and a lot of swimming around.

 

Other folks have suggested taking courses at home and getting a referral to dive shops in islands for the open water part.  But since you are planning on taking this cruise for the course you are not worrying about how much time it will eat up on the cruise. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/24-scuba-and-snorkeling/

[bruinsdevils]

@Melweaver2 When did you end up hearing from them? I have emailed royal diver many times and have never heard back for my early April cruise, as I would like to know what port the dive will be taking place in to make plans for the other ports.