Scuba Excursion through Celebrity Questions

[hevnsprncs]

Good Morning -- We depart on the Apex this Saturday and DH has booked a small group scuba excursion through Celebrity in Grand Cayman. Has anyone done this excursion and can provide a review? Also, it states wetsuit not provided but doesn't mention if there will be any available for rent or if so, the cost etc.,. This lack of information has my DH questioning if he wants to cancel his reservation, so hoping someone here can advise of any personal experiences. Thanks in advance!!

[someguyfl]

Did you try calling to get more specific details?

 

And, personally speaking, given what Celebrity charges for excursions, I'd look for an independent scuba shop and pay for a 1:1 dive instructor. I did this in Bonaire, saved a bunch of money compared to Celebrity's pricing, and I'm sure I had a way better experience, too.

[jcpelly]

1 hour ago, hevnsprncs said:

Good Morning -- We depart on the Apex this Saturday and DH has booked a small group scuba excursion through Celebrity in Grand Cayman. Has anyone done this excursion and can provide a review? Also, it states wetsuit not provided but doesn't mention if there will be any available for rent or if so, the cost etc.,. This lack of information has my DH questioning if he wants to cancel his reservation, so hoping someone here can advise of any personal experiences. Thanks in advance!!

We did the excursion through celebrity in GC a couple years ago.  Wetsuits will be available for rent and they were $10 then.  It is an ok dive but if he is an advanced diver you are better to arrange diving with a private company. They cater to the least trained diver in the group and everybody else has to dive at that level. If there are enough divers they sometimes split the group into advanced and beginners so you get more wreck penetration and more bottom time than the beginner group.

[hevnsprncs]

Thank you for your reply -- super helpful!!

[Team Stag]

We have not done the Grand Cayman scuba excursion specifically but have done ship scuba excursions in the past.  Their tends not to be a lot of information before the cruise.  At some point (normally a day before), they will ask you to come down with your cert cards to prove you are certified.  They may also ask you for your sizes of equipment to help get it staged.  We find the most cruise excursion dives to be on the beginner end.  They tend not to go deep and they don't last long.  Our most recent cruise excursion dive, we were in the water for 45 mins and returned to the ship with 1700 psi left in air.

Last time we were in Cayman (March 2023), the water temps at 80 degrees.  We didn't need a wetsuit.  Also, when we cruise into Cayman, we use Just Dive.  Their shop is about 100 yards from where tenders let off.  Take a look at the scuba & snorkeling page (under Cruise Discussion Topics) and you may find additional information.  

[Mauidiver]

We did a dive Excursion through Celebrity in GC in 2020.  We liked the dive operator and the boat and gear were in excellent condition. Crew/dive masters were very good.  We did 2 dive sites that were between 30-50’ deep and both dives were 45 min to an hour.  We are advanced divers (1000+ ocean dives) and found the dives to be enjoyable, typical reef exploration type of dives.  We felt the excursion met our expectations of what typical “cruise ship diving” is and had a good time.

 

We’ve had much better charters by booking ourselves, like diving the Vandenberg from Key West and the Rhône in Tortola, but we’ve also had worse experiences in Cozumel and St. Thomas.  We feel that managing expectations definitely help when approaching cruise ship excursions, especially dive ones.

[LB_NJ]

Not to the very specific question however my experience is that Celebrity has no clue about the excursions they offer.

 

There have been times when the description was outright wrong.

 

If there is something that matters to you I would try to find out who is providing the excursion and try to talk to them directly.

 

Not sure I would trust any answer coming directly from Celebrity.

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, hevnsprncs said:

Good Morning -- We depart on the Apex this Saturday and DH has booked a small group scuba excursion through Celebrity in Grand Cayman. Has anyone done this excursion and can provide a review? Also, it states wetsuit not provided but doesn't mention if there will be any available for rent or if so, the cost etc.,. This lack of information has my DH questioning if he wants to cancel his reservation, so hoping someone here can advise of any personal experiences. Thanks in advance!!

 

Reach out to X/Celebrity on X/Twitter, they have POCs on every ship and will most likely speak to someone at Apex's shore excursions.  No wetsuits are very uncommon, I believe you won't be able rent them the day of because its a smaller boat or something but can be arranged a day or two before by asking shore excursions to reach out to the dive operator

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, someguyfl said:

Did you try calling to get more specific details?

 

And, personally speaking, given what Celebrity charges for excursions, I'd look for an independent scuba shop and pay for a 1:1 dive instructor. I did this in Bonaire, saved a bunch of money compared to Celebrity's pricing, and I'm sure I had a way better experience, too.

 

A private instructor/guide may be cheap in Bonaire because many just dive without one but it can get quite expensive in other locations.  Some may have luck joining dive clubs where you can dive with other locals for free who know where the marine life like to hide

 

Edit to add, often the ship dives are included during flash sales, could save up to 40% off

Edited December 6, 2023 by NutsAboutGolf

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, Mauidiver said:

We did a dive Excursion through Celebrity in GC in 2020.  We liked the dive operator and the boat and gear were in excellent condition. Crew/dive masters were very good.  We did 2 dive sites that were between 30-50’ deep and both dives were 45 min to an hour.  We are advanced divers (1000+ ocean dives) and found the dives to be enjoyable, typical reef exploration type of dives.  We felt the excursion met our expectations of what typical “cruise ship diving” is and had a good time.

 

We’ve had much better charters by booking ourselves, like diving the Vandenberg from Key West and the Rhône in Tortola, but we’ve also had worse experiences in Cozumel and St. Thomas.  We feel that managing expectations definitely help when approaching cruise ship excursions, especially dive ones.

 

Same with St Thomas and some other locations.  With ship dives at least you'll 100% receive a refund if it doesn't happen, receive free transportation, and generally won't take long so one could still explore the port on land.  All those are wild cards with booking yourself and we were burned in Puerto Vallarta as the ship arrived an hour late due to a medical emergency; no refund or even a rain check.  Specifically in St Thomas, we did JJ Shark Divers, they weren't doing transportation at the time and it was around $60/each round trip which included the taxi's "baggage fee" for the dive bag

[pete1681]

I also did the scuba excursion in GC,it was with cayman divers right near the port. They only reason we did this was because we were able to use OBC,lesson learned!

 

the experience was mediocre at best,very rushed,no wall dive,all

they cared about was the tip. They barely gave us enough surface interval to be safe,no margin for error. They offered only lukewarm water onboard. Will never dive with them again.

i wrote my concerns to both Cayman Divers and Celebrity,I never received a reply.

they don’t care. Get a private company or rent gear at Eden rock and do a great shore dive.

Edited December 6, 2023 by pete1681

[NutsAboutGolf]

20 minutes ago, pete1681 said:

I also did the scuba excursion in GC,it was with cayman divers right near the port. They only reason we did this was because we were able to use OBC,lesson learned!

 

the experience was mediocre at best,very rushed,no wall dive,all

they cared about was the tip. They barely gave us enough surface interval to be safe,no margin for error. They offered only lukewarm water onboard. Will never dive with them again.

i wrote my concerns to both Cayman Divers and Celebrity,I never received a reply.

they don’t care. Get a private company or rent gear at Eden rock and do a great shore dive.

 

The time to complain is when on board, shore excursions will usually give you back credit, and if you complain to guest services, possibly an OBC

 

With an independent dive operator, you do have to research to confirm the dive operator you're booking isn't the same one the ship uses.  Often the dive shops all know each other in the same location so one could call any of them and ask if they know which operator does the cruise ship dives because you're trying to avoid them

[hevnsprncs]

Thank you everyone for your advice and input. Ultimately he's decided to forego this shore excursion. 

[bruzin_for_a_cruizin]

I did the GC/A/B/C itinerary a few weeks ago, diving in each port. For GC I used the ship excursion, as it is a tender port and I didn't want any issues. I also used the ship excursion for Aruba because of our late arrival in port, but Bonaire and Curacao I booked privately.

 

In Grand Cayman, the operator was a short walk from the pier. The boat was in good repair, and the group was only 6 divers, which is what I would consider my upper limit for a "small group" excursion. 

The diving was satisfactory (Meridian Drop-off and Lonestar Ledge), and if the excursion could be had at a decent price, I wouldn't hesitate to book it again.