Carnival Liberty June 16, 2012

[meangene757]

Booked a 7 Day Western Caribbean Cruise from Miami, Fl. June 16, 2012. Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay, and Grand Cayman. Heard about the excellent diving in Belize and Grand Cayman, do we stick with the ships recommendations or book elsewhere? We are going to stay with the ships recommendation for Cozumel. [h=2][/h]

 

[diversteve]

On Grand Cayman the Carnival (most other cruise lines also - mentioned since your ship may be 1 of up to 4 in port) dive operator is Don Fosters. They have a lot of big boats. But will only have 8 divers/DM. Welcome to Don Foster's Dive Cayman Come Dive with Us

A nearby option is Lobster Pot Dive Center, they book Off the Wall, Wall to Wall and a 3rd operator. All are 8 divers max trips.

http://www.otwdivers.com/index.htm
The Lobster Pot Dive Center | WalltoWallDiving.com – Personally Guided Grand Cayman Diving at it's Best!
Something is currently wrong with the Lobster Pot website link on the WalltoWall website - it reports as an attack site.

If you're diving on Roatan, the cruise operator is Anthony's Key Resort. They'll shuttle you to their side of the island and back.

 

[TommyG74]

I just came back from same itinerary last week, Stick with the ship in Belize we went with the one local shop, he told us we were going down to 70ft, he had us at 130. When it came time to head back to the pier we had to press him to actually get moving, we made it with 5 minutes to spare for the last tender. And as you are aware, not a carnival excursions, ship won't wait. Another diver we met did the ship excursion in Roatan, he said it was great. Grand Cayman, we walked down the road to Don Foster and did a shore dive. There are 3 places up the road, Eden Rock, Don Foster, and Sunset House. They are all pretty much on the same reef for a shore dive, priced very good, Carnival wanted 70 per person for a shore dive, wife and I paid 60 total and was well worth it, great people at Don Foster. The other diver we met did the excursion dive to a wall then reef, he said it was ok.

 

[BluewaterSail]

Any time you do an activity not sponsored by the cruise line, you risk missing the ship. If the cruise line sponsored the trip, they will hold the ship for you.

So many things can go wrong to cause a delay, one should consider what it would cost you to get to the next port on your own.

 

[mrx3000]

I just went on this cruise recently. Dove Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Roatan.
Tommy, I think we were on the same cruise

On Grand Cayman I went somewhat out of town to do a shore dive with Divetech. There are lots of options there.
On Cozumel Carnival no longer offers dive trips (may be will again by June) because of an accident that happened to a cruise passenger with official dive op. I dove with Alex scuba (found him last minute) which turned out to be a great choice.

On Roatan Anthonys Key is currently the dive operator for Carnival. They were ok, but according to what others say, there are better choices.

Other than in Belize which is a tender port, and *very* slow (because ship anchors quite far from shore), other ports are either at a dock or a very quick tender ride (GC). Most local dive operators are well aware of cruise ship conditions and will accommodate you accordingly. On Belize ship's dive op will pick you up at the ship directly, which cuts down a lot on travel time and makes missing a ship impossible.

If I did it again, I might have chosen another operator on Roatan (only because Anthonys Key op is a bit haphazard when it comes to cruise ship passengers, their boats for their own divers looked better organized). On the other hand, might have gone with the official dive op on Grand Cayman to get more diving done. Shore dive on GC took a fairly long swim, which meant that by the time I got to the "good stuff" it was almost time to turn back.

Either way - it's a great trip with lots of good locations to choose.

 

[JRICKEY]

Meangene on the same cruise in June who do you plan on diving with in Roatan cruise ship or private operator?

 

[sparky923]

We used Barefoot in Roatan, and I look forward to using them again next year. They are first class all around.

 

[Kryssa]

In Roatan, we had a great experience with West End Divers during our Carnival Dream cruise in March.


They picked us up from right outside the port area and took us on 2 great dives. One guy in our group had bad air consumption on the first dive so they gave him a bigger tank on the 2nd dive- really nice of them! What's great about West End Divers is the shop and the boats are located on this cute little street full of small shops and restaurants. Between dives the boat comes back to the dock so you can shop around or grab a snack. Try the soft tacos at the little yellow hut- the woman made the tortillas while we watched... mmm


Also- we wound up docking an hour early and I called the shop from the ship ($1.99/min.) The sent the driver over early so we didn't have to wait when we got off the ship.


In Cozumel, we dove with Scuba with Alison and had a good time. She doesn't provide transportation, though. We took a 5-10 min cab ride.


In Belize, my husband dove with the ship's op, Hugh Parkay, and had a good time. I went on a cave tubing excursion with my family and didn't dive in Belize.

 

[meangene757]

cruise ship JRICKEY!!!!

 

[meangene757]

CARNIVAL LIBERTY 6-18 COZUMEL - YouTube
CARNIVAL LIBERTY 6-20 ISLA ROATAN - YouTube