cruise diving...ugh...but it's better than no diving

[jhspb]

I am probably going to be on a cruise, next spring, w ports of call in Nassau, St Thomas, and St Martin.

Of the three locations I definitely want to dive Nassau. Does anyone have any experience making this work, logistically, with an arrival at 8am and a departure of 2pm? Any suggestions about operators would be appreciated too; I plan to book dives independently of the cruise excursions?

What is the diving like at St Thomas and St Martin? I may want to dive one or both if they are good dive destinations. I have not read much about either island, here or elsewhere, suggesting that either is a must dive location. Also if anyone has perspectives about excellent small ops in either location, that would be great info too.

Thanks

Joe

 

[richhagelin]

Cruise Ship diving can be fun. It can be a good way to explore multiple dive locations in a short time and still keep your better half happy/occupied.

I have done the diving both ways (book through the ship's operator and set up your own).

The biggest advantage (and don't discount the value of this) is that if something happens and you are late getting back to the boat, they will wait for you if it is a ship-sponsored dive. The quality of the diving that you get with this method varies a lot by location and by cruise line. It can be a cattle boat operation to a relatively benign location or it can be a decent dive. Almost impossible to predict.

The advantages of booking your own dives is that you do have some control over the operator and the dive site. But, if you don't know much about the location/operator, you could also get into a cattle boat and/or lousy dive location.

If you are an experienced and current diver and you are going to be disappointed by a mediocre dive experience, then research the operators and/or dive sites (relatively easy to do on this site) and then book your own. However, I would recommend that you be conservative in your "end of dive operation" time to allow plenty of time for unexpected surprises and still make the boat.

OTOH, if you are a relatively new diver or if it has been a while, then the cruise ship operator will probably be fine. I have had a wide range of experiences with the cruise ship operator (everywhere from lousy to pretty good). But, the best experiences I have had have been through booking my own.

Rich Hagelin
Rich Hagelin

 

[jhspb]

Rich

Great point about the late return to the ship! I'm not a newbie diver, but I will be a newbie cruiser. Any experiences with St Martin or St Thomas?

Joe

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Dove with the ship sponsored operation in St. Thomas while cruising Celebrity a few years ago. We did the Navy barges in the harbor and a spur and groove coral formation for the second dive. It was actually pretty good. A bit of a cattle boat operation but the dive was interesting and once the DM saw that I was a competent diver I had quite a bit of leeway to do my own thing. Note that the cruise ops will limit your depth and are apt to be focused on getting you in and out quickly. You will also be in a group with divers of all ranges of experience. Not the best diving but better than being dry!

 

[RICHinNC]

as far as St T. goes....do an internet search for the Chris Sawyer dive ops there .

they do a nice job and within 10 miunutes of their boat dock is also a shore dive....coki beach.

 

[jhspb]

Thanks Tim,

I think St Thomas is my 2nd choice of location after Nassau. I may find other activities for St Martin. They do an Americas Cup sim in St Martin where you crew a 12 meter after some basic training. That sounds pretty cool.

I just need to figure out if there are dive excursions for Nassau w a 6 hour port call. Doing that one with the ship may make more sense given the tight time limit.

In St Thomas I may try to find a "non-cruise" dive operator.

Thanks and I hope others have some opinions as well. All ideas are helpful ones!

 

[Norda]

Joe,

We just did the Nassau trip last weekend via cruise ship. We used Stuart Cove. I believe they have an 8:00am pickup at the cruise dock, but check their website, I know they have a schedule posted. Your problem with arriving at 8:00am is being able to get off the ship in time to make the pickup. If the ship is delayed at all, or you have a long line getting off you'll miss it. On the other hand, we skipped the morning dive because of an 8:00am arrival, but the ship ended up docking at 7:00am! We could have made the morning trip. Anyway, bottomline, cruise ship arrival times seems to be somewhat flexible.

Bill P.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

You have to remember that if the cruise ship is scheduled to dock at 8:00 a.m. you may not be able to get off until 9:00 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. Also don't forget that the cruise ship excursions get off the ship first. If you want to arrange your own charter I think the best way to do it is to arrange for a charter of your own boat. Try and find a few other divers on Cruisecritic.com and charter your own boat to be wating for you when you get off at the cruise pier. We did that in Cozumel and it was awesome.

 

[dashto]

If your ship is on St. Maarten long enough, go to Pelican Bay and take the Edge over to Saba. You can do two great dives there and get back to St. Maarten with time to spare, depending on the ship's schedule. The Edge and Saba have lots of links on the internet. The Edge can make the dive arrangements also.

 

[Tractor Tom]

...get in touch with the guys at Blue Island Diving, via the internet. They have a special deal for cruiseship passengers where they come out to the pier and pick you up and make two dives in the morning. Still have time in the afternoon for a couple $1 beers at the Crewz Inn just outside the gate to the cruiseship terminal. I was there in January and we dove the navy barges and a reef just outside the harbor and had a GREAT time. Went back to the shop and settled the bill and had a couple beers ($9.00) at the pub next door, then went back across town and found the cheaper places to drink. When I was there, they had a 25' diveboat and kept the number of divers down to six or less. The boat is a little humble, but them coming out to the cruise pier is a great time saver and lots of fun.

Check the Google for their web site and tell them I send my reguards if you go!