Snorkeling Equipment through Princess

[gettingmarried]

Just wondering what the hygiene/safety is when booking snorkeling equipment for the stop at Princess Cays? Don't mind using others fins but the mouthpiece and pipe? Are they new for each customer?

Thanks

[CaptainKlutz]

I haven't been to Princess Cays, but everybody I've seen soaks the equipment in some sort of sterilizing agent. You can always take your mask and snorkel with you (that's what we did) and just use the provided fins. If you don't have one, they sell some nice stuff on the ship and what we bought was reasonably priced. Of course, there's always Costco!

 

Cheers,

Bruce

[phonejock]

Before last cruise, Dh and I went to local Dive shop and bought our own equipment. I thought it mde a BIG difference. I found that it was much easier to hold the month piece between my teeth. ( maybe because a 100 people had not used it before me) Also the masks fit better. Since we try to snorkle a couple times each cruise, it was a good investment.

[katisdale]

I love to snorkel and the best investment I made was having a fitted snorkel mask from a dive shop. It is so much better than the Sam's warehouse special I had been using.

[gettingmarried]

Thanks for the snorkeling tips. It has made up my mind to buy my own.....yeewww the thought of 100 other people using the same mouthpiece is just not my thing! Yep, Costco sounds good....

[Times Prince]

They claim the sterilizer is adequate.

 

We ended up buying our own equipment - starting with getting a dive mask with prescription lenses. And what a difference it made! The gear does take up luggage space but it has allowed us to

• Take a ship's tour from St.Thomas to St. John's Trunk Bay and to be in the water at least 15 minutes sooner than the rest of the people on the excursion.
  
• Take our own excursion in Cozumel to the beach at Dzul Ha where, for the cost of a cab ride and some refreshments we were snorkeling for well over an hour while various excursions drifted by.
  
• Take a cab to a beach in Roatan where we snorkeled to our heart's content while other tours came and went.

We bought not only the masks but snorkels with anti-splash features. Compared with the soda straw type that one can rent, they are much nicer and I haven't drowned yet.:D The the fins we bought work with coral shoes and have a quick release which is helpful for getting back on the boat, if on an excursion to an offshore reef, as one has to take off the fins while in deep water before getting on the ladder.

 

So for the cost of some good equipment we save money, time, and a lot of hassle. And we gained a lot of freedom to do what we want, and just plain FUN.

[Colo Cruiser]

Good idea to take your own. :)

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We all have our own, sometimes if the 4 of us are cruising we will just take 2 to save on space and share.

When we were in AU at the barrier reek they give each person a new sealed mouthpiece and that is your souvinir. It was cool to not have to worry about using a mouthpiece others had used:D

We have had years of use from ours and it was well worth the $$.