PADI Scuba Course Liberty of the Seas

[tony@stanton19.freeserve.]

Has anyone taken the PADI Scuba Diver Course?

How many people do they take on the course?

How much classroom and pool dive time is there before arrival at St Maarten for the open water dives?

What are the open water dives like and is there any time left to see the island?

 

Has anyone upgraded to the full Open Water divers accreditation and what did that involve?

Do they do any Try Dives on the ship to get people to sign up to the course?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Tony

[grounded]

This link has some answers to some of your questions

[tony@stanton19.freeserve.]

Thanks for that, that is a useful link

[SteveB48]

Hi Tony,

 

My son and I did the courses in Aug on Liberty's western route. There are 2 courses on western. I'm not sure if they offer both on the eastern route. The first is a Scuba Diver certification. This is a limited certification which allow you to dive to 40' but only with an instructor. You will spend a lot of time on the cruise doing bookwork, classwork and 7:30 am pool dives. So much for sleeping in! My son and I got the book from a friend so we were able to read it before we arrived. That saved us a lot of study time on board. I think there were 10 or so in the class.

 

We dove in Grand Cayman. You spend some time exploring but you do have to demonstrate skills during the dive as part of the course. My son hated having to remove his mask underwater!

 

They offer a follow on which is the rest of the course needed for the full Open Water certification. We only had 3 in our group that continued on. More pool dives, more classwork, big test and then we dove in Cozumel.

 

We had a great time but my recomendation would be to take the course before you board the ship and then take dive excursions on board. It worked OK for us but it did take a lot of time away from the cruise.

 

If you do decide to go, please tell Mari that Kenny and Steve say hi.

 

Steve

[tony@stanton19.freeserve.]

Hi Tony,

 

My son and I did the courses in Aug on Liberty's western route. There are 2 courses on western. I'm not sure if they offer both on the eastern route. The first is a Scuba Diver certification. This is a limited certification which allow you to dive to 40' but only with an instructor. You will spend a lot of time on the cruise doing bookwork, classwork and 7:30 am pool dives. So much for sleeping in! My son and I got the book from a friend so we were able to read it before we arrived. That saved us a lot of study time on board. I think there were 10 or so in the class.

 

We dove in Grand Cayman. You spend some time exploring but you do have to demonstrate skills during the dive as part of the course. My son hated having to remove his mask underwater!

 

They offer a follow on which is the rest of the course needed for the full Open Water certification. We only had 3 in our group that continued on. More pool dives, more classwork, big test and then we dove in Cozumel.

 

We had a great time but my recomendation would be to take the course before you board the ship and then take dive excursions on board. It worked OK for us but it did take a lot of time away from the cruise.

 

If you do decide to go, please tell Mari that Kenny and Steve say hi.

 

Steve

 

 

Thanks Steve,

You have answered all the questions that I had anticipated.

I had guessed that the pool work would probably be carried out early morning before most people are about. Also that we would be spending most of the first couple of days doing classroom work as the dives are in St Maarten on Day 4 of the cruise.

I think I will probably take a rain-check on this this time, ( we are sailing on 20th December) as I don't really want to pay for a cruise, then spend all my time doing something that I could do at home. I have already booked DD on this course so may be swayed when we get onboard. She will find it easier as she has already done a BSAC course but didn't complete her open water dives. Good to hear that she may be able to upgrade her certificate to Open Water Diver either onboard or later as she is in the final year of a Marine Biology degree and this may be a useful addition to her CV.

 

I love snorkelling but am not sold on diving but would like to have it under my belt to keep DD company if she wants to dive whilst on vacation. We saw lots of diving in Lanzarote this year and it would have been nice to have a go. The Scuba Diver cert would be perfectly adequate for me.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it was spot on

 

Tony

[barbie5401]

It's Barbara from your upcoming Liberty cruise - check with your travel agent or RCCL prices have dropped a lot - getting $1500 back!:D

[tony@stanton19.freeserve.]

It's Barbara from your upcoming Liberty cruise - check with your travel agent or RCCL prices have dropped a lot - getting $1500 back!:D

 

Hi Barbara,

Funnily enough, yesterday I looked at the prices on the UK Rccl site for the first time since we booked, and they seemed to be the same. Will look again, although it's not as easy to get a refund in the UK, especially after final payment. Last time we booked NCL, we used their US site and saved a fortune. Thanks for the tipoff, but I don't hold out much hope. :confused:

Tony

[barbie5401]

sorry about you not getting the reduced price. :( Would love to meet you - did we ever say where and when?

[tony@stanton19.freeserve.]

sorry about you not getting the reduced price. :( Would love to meet you - did we ever say where and when?

 

Hi Barbara

Some time ago, you did say the Crown & Anchor at 1100, first sea day.

I am not familiar with either the RCCL ships or daily routine.

I assume we are not going to make a M&M group.

Why not repost it on the roll call to see if anyone else is interested?

Although there has not been a lot of dialogue, I am always interested to put names to faces and it's nice to know a familiar face when going around the ship.

Tony