Dive Knife on RCCL-Bring It???

[bdklein]

I would really like to take my dive knife with me on an RCCL cruise; I will be diving at Cozumel via the ship's Dive Excursion (Navigator leaving Fort Lauderdale on 12-20-08). I know I need to check it in my luggage for the airplane flight, but what about the cruise. If I stick it in my dive fin, will it be found by the ship's security. I have not been on a cruise in 10 years, and I didn't dive on that cruise. I know shears are an option, but I have never used them, and I really like having a knife better than having shears-maybe a comfort thing. Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts.

[mamasue]

bd.... you really have no reason to bring a dive knife in the Caribbean. What do you plan to use it for? There's really nothing you should be needing it for.

It'll probably get confiscated as you try to bring it back on the ship after your dive.

I'd leave it at home in this instance.

I've done almost 3,000 dives all over the world.... never needed a knife!

[bruce-r]

I would really like to take my dive knife with me on an RCCL cruise; I will be diving at Cozumel via the ship's Dive Excursion (Navigator leaving Fort Lauderdale on 12-20-08). I know I need to check it in my luggage for the airplane flight, but what about the cruise. If I stick it in my dive fin, will it be found by the ship's security?...

 

Yes.

 

Also, it is against the Marine Park rules to dive with a knife and/or gloves in Cozumel.

 

Leave the knife at home. You do not need it.

[The Flying Pirate]

I agree with the previous two posters, you don't really need a knife in the caribbean. On our last cruise on RCCL's Jewel of the Seas there were several of us divers on board and a couple of them brought knives with them. The ship was very good about it, when they returned to the ship they turned their knives into security and registered them. Security kept the dive knives and the divers were able to check them out at the next port. But the easiest thing is to save the weight and leave it at home!

[BuzzF117]

Knives and gloves were not allowed while diving in St Lucia but they said nothing about my shears that were planely visible attached to my BCD. Princess also did not question or confiscate the shears they are simply a pare of Stainless Steel EMT shears for the purpose of cutting line or any other entanglement. I am guessing the banning of the dive knife is because you can use it to pry corral and other objects free from reef.

[bdklein]

Looks like that's the way to go. Thanks all.

[diverearl]

I would really like to take my dive knife with me on an RCCL cruise; I will be diving at Cozumel via the ship's Dive Excursion (Navigator leaving Fort Lauderdale on 12-20-08). I know I need to check it in my luggage for the airplane flight, but what about the cruise. If I stick it in my dive fin, will it be found by the ship's security. I have not been on a cruise in 10 years, and I didn't dive on that cruise. I know shears are an option, but I have never used them, and I really like having a knife better than having shears-maybe a comfort thing. Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts.

 

I bring a very small knife with a 2 inch blade. It is insurance I would not do without. If you did get caught on fishing line or something similar not many divers will be able to swim against the Cozumel current to give you a hand (try a short against the current swim on your next wall dive).

 

It is a protected area but tell me you haven't seen fishing line on the walls or shallow coral. Have I ever really needed it, well not YET, but if you do it could be worth your life.

 

Heck silly ol me I even have an octopus but have never needed it either. For me the knife is carried for the same reason I carry insurance on cars, motorcycles and even life. I also carry shears but .............. well back to that old insurance thing.

 

The ship will not give you any problems if the blade is 2" or less.

[bruce-r]

I bring a very small knife with a 2 inch blade. It is insurance I would not do without. If you did get caught on fishing line or something similar not many divers will be able to swim against the Cozumel current to give you a hand (try a short against the current swim on your next wall dive).

 

It is a protected area but tell me you haven't seen fishing line on the walls or shallow coral. Have I ever really needed it, well not YET, but if you do it could be worth your life.

 

Heck silly ol me I even have an octopus but have never needed it either. For me the knife is carried for the same reason I carry insurance on cars, motorcycles and even life. I also carry shears but .............. well back to that old insurance thing.

 

The ship will not give you any problems if the blade is 2" or less.

Shears are a MUCH better and SAFER choice than a knife if you are concerned about fishing line, and they are allowed in Cozumel and the Cayman Islands.

[dabear]

Read my post a few years ago about my dive knife and Celebrity (owned by RCCL). DOn't bother taking it unless you like risking not receiving your luggage, being labled "high risk", having your luggage separated from others w/o warning on debarkation, etc.

[bdklein]

Is staying home. I'll bring a pair of shears instead.

[scubaran]

Is staying home. I'll bring a pair of shears instead.

 

A dive knife will only do you good on a cruise to cut a steak at dinner. Leave it at home and really, the shears are unnecessary as well. In a lake where it's murky and lots of fishing from shore I'd never dive without one or the other. The Caribbean, just so much extra weight to carry around. Really! Hundreds of dives in the Caribbean in 10-130ft. of water on reefs and wrecks and narry a fishing line, hook, or reel to be seen. If in the 10 million/1 chance you run across one and it hooked you, you have your dive buddy, dive master, fellow divers, and emergency actions like BCD removal and donning after fixing it. Heck if you get hooked, most likely a friendly shark will come along and bite the line off you, just about same chances for both. :p

 

Randall

[diverearl]

A dive knife will only do you good on a cruise to cut a steak at dinner. Leave it at home and really, the shears are unnecessary as well.

 

I'm still going to say this is not good advice at all. If you Google dive accidents you can find many times a knife or shears have come in very handy to a diver, if not a life saving tool. I am yet to find a story where a knife was a detriment to the diver.

 

Surely a competent diver can make this decision (of whether to carry a safety device or not) without someones opinion, Honestly if someone can't figure this one out they might be better off not diving at all. We are not talking about whether the food is good at a local restaurant or not here.

 

If anyone finds a story where a dive knife was a detriment to a diver or the result of a tragedy as opposed to being an asset on a dive, or where it would make sense to stop carrying one please post it so I can reevaluate my opinion, please just post the article.

 

Bottom line here is you don't know anything about any poster's physical or mental abilities except for what we all write and maybe a picture or two that we post (that might be of someone else anyways). I would not recommend making life or death decisions as the result of reading anything on Cruise Critic (IMHO).

 

In a lake where it's murky and lots of fishing from shore I'd never dive without one or the other. The Caribbean, just so much extra weight to carry around. Really! Hundreds of dives in the Caribbean in 10-130ft. of water on reefs and wrecks and narry a fishing line, hook, or reel to be seen.

 

If you can physically handle the extra few ounces :confused: a small knife or shears weigh, it could be the difference of life or death.

 

Also just how deep does the water have to be for someone to drown? Maybe 10 foot isn't enough ? ? ? ?, I can tell you on that last breath 10 feet would be a little nerve racking for me.

 

And I will tell you all for a fact there is fishing line all over the Caribbean Reefs, whether they are protected areas or not. Please do not be lead to believe there are NOT fishing lines in these waters.

 

If in the 10 million/1 chance you run across one and it hooked you, you have your dive buddy, dive master, fellow divers, and emergency actions like BCD removal and donning after fixing it.

 

Where did you get this statistic ("If in the 10 million/1 chance you run across one and it hooked you",) people might mistake this for facts not just an opinion.

 

If you rely on someone else to take care of you while diving, AND / OR don't have the skills or TOOLS to make a safe dive, PLEASE DON'T OFFER TO BE MY DIVE BUDDY OR EVEN GET ON OUR DIVE BOAT PLEASE. Is it just the people I talk to and dive with or do others that dive also want safe, competent, well prepared and equipped divers with them.

 

And another thought that might run through someones mind before a dive might be "if you are the unlucky one that happens to get into an ENTANGLEMENT it probably won't matter if it has never happened before or never happens again you will be very glad you had the tool. I find it hard to understand it would not have been worth the effort" :rolleyes:.

 

Heck if you get hooked, most likely a friendly shark will come along and bite the line off you, just about same chances for both. Randall

 

Finally we pretty much agree whole hearted. Your chances of getting entangled and needing a tool to help you get out of the situation OR being helped by a shark are very rare. :rolleyes:

 

I guess the other divers will just have to decide if they want to carry a safety tool (as I do) or count on a " friendly shark " (as you apparently do :eek: )

 

Sorry to the original poster that we got so far away from your question. Fact is, if the knife is over two inches they will probably take it when they first scan your luggage or almost always as you come back to the ship from your dive. They WILL return it on the last night of the cruise to your cabin. Earl

[scubaran]

Where did you get this statistic ("If in the 10 million/1 chance you run across one and it hooked you",) people might mistake this for facts not just an opinion.

 

You are absolutely correct, this was not the statistic. I looked to DAN on entanglement injuries and deaths. According to DANs dive accident report for 2007 (which published data from 2005), there were 5,645 calls concerning injuries and 167 deaths worldwide. Of these no injuries and 3 deaths were reported worldwide due to entanglements. That same year the international shark attack file organization reported that 61 unprovoked shark attacks occured with 4 deaths.

 

However, the total number of active scuba divers is unknown; estimates range from 1.5 million to 3.5 million in the United States alone. Therefore, valid estimates of risk using traditional methods are not possible. But 3 via entanglement is statistically below shark attacks and way below problems like DCS, heart attack and accidental drowning.

 

I guess the other divers will just have to decide if they want to carry a safety tool (as I do) or count on a " friendly shark " (as you apparently do :eek: )

 

Do you carry shark repellent as well as your chances of being attacked by a shark are statistically higher than being injured or dieing by fishing line?

 

I've seen too many, what my instructor calls "christmas tree divers", because between the air horns, dive knives/shears, saftey sausages, noise makers, cameras and strobes, flash lights, slates, dive computers, watches, and everything else they hang on themselves they look like they're decorated with ornaments and actually are a hazard to themselves and the reef (dangling all that stuff and trying to maintain good bouyancy skills).

 

Keep it simple and carry the necessary saftey equipment that is relivant for your dive conditions (like I said, I never dive in a murky lake with active shore fishing without my knife). In the Caribbean, unless you dive on your own, you'll be in an area that is frequented by rec. divers twice a day with locals who don't want to put their customers in conditions where they may have to rescue them. Again, just leave the knife at home.

 

Randall

[diverearl]

You are absolutely correct, this was not the statistic. I looked to DAN on entanglement injuries and deaths. According to DANs dive accident report for 2007 (which published data from 2005), there were 5,645 calls concerning injuries and 167 deaths worldwide. Of these no injuries and 3 deaths were reported worldwide due to entanglements. That same year the international shark attack file organization reported that 61 unprovoked shark attacks occured with 4 deaths.

 

What 3 deaths isn't enough unless one of them is you? Come on admit it those three could have simply carried a knife to give themselves a better chance of survival.

 

Do you carry shark repellent as well as your chances of being attacked by a shark are statistically higher than being injured or dieing by fishing line?

 

No sir, I don't. But if someone develops a reliable repellent (which there isn't) and I was diving off the coast of South Africa, Galapagos Island or parts of Australia I would probably carry it.

 

I've seen too many, what my instructor calls "christmas tree divers", because between the air horns, dive knives/shears, saftey sausages, noise makers, cameras and strobes, flash lights, slates, dive computers, watches, and everything else they hang on themselves they look like they're decorated with ornaments and actually are a hazard to themselves and the reef (dangling all that stuff and trying to maintain good bouyancy skills).

 

I don't see the problem .......................

 

 

And silly ol me I carry many of the items you mentioned dive knives and shears, a saftey sausage, a camera, a flash light (2 at night), dive computers, and even a watch.

 

Keep it simple and carry the necessary saftey equipment that is relivant for your dive conditions (like I said, I never dive in a murky lake with active shore fishing without my knife). In the Caribbean, unless you dive on your own, you'll be in an area that is frequented by rec. divers twice a day with locals who don't want to put their customers in conditions where they may have to rescue them. Again,

 

This is really way to easy Randall. How long is a tank going to last (I'll let you pick what depth you are at when the entanglement happens) if you just missed the first one by or worse yet the last one by?

 

You really think a dive knife wouldn't be safer? Really? Really?

 

just leave the knife at home. Randall

 

This is advice you would hopefully regret posting if one person (God forbid) has an accident with an entanglement issue. I assume your certification level is not at a professional level or you would know the legal implications of advising divers not to bring a cutting tool on a dive (I mean right here in writing).

 

No matter how many times you suggest leaving a safety device (any safety device) at home I will always disagree, I promise.

 

I'm telling everyone who dives - Do not leave the cutting tool at home (IMH-professional diver-O), Earl

[diverearl]

To chop up a quote

 

1 - simply click on the posters quote.

 

2 - highlight only the start or end of a quote - [ quote=diverearl;16078732 ] or [ /quote ] - and move it ahead or in this case [ /quote ] at the end of the Quote to the place you want to divide the statement. Then simply put

at the place you want to start again. Then put [ /quote ] the end at the point you want to stop, and so on and so on.

 

I wondered what I was going to do as Hurricane IKE entertains us for the next few days (here in Houston)