rickccp
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My wife and older daughter don't dive . My twin daughters and I do. I'm looking for a cruse ship where the whole family will enjoy a vacation. Any suggestions.
Cruises and diving
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Eastbayfe
Contributor
My wife and I booked a western Caribbean cruise on Disney Magic. Ports of call Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Castaway Cay. I plan to dive in Coz.
any cruise ship is a good time for a family. I have been on a couple of really enjoy the Royal Carribean Line. Pretty much any of them will be fine for divers, the shore excursions will probably be separate though, you and your twin daughters will go off diving, and the rest go do something else, you'll probably be able to meet back up with them in port half way through the day and do something as a family, but this time will be fleeting, as the ships often leave port by about 4pm.
I highly recommend Western Carribean for diving spots, as these often include Jamacia, Grand Cayman, and Cancun or similar Mexico stop that all have fantastic diving oppurtunities.
Your biggest problem will be luggage, they normally only allow 2 bags per peson onboard, so your dive gear will have to be highly limited, I recall I took my regs, computer, fins and mask. Renting the remainder of gear.
I highly recommend Western Carribean for diving spots, as these often include Jamacia, Grand Cayman, and Cancun or similar Mexico stop that all have fantastic diving oppurtunities.
Your biggest problem will be luggage, they normally only allow 2 bags per peson onboard, so your dive gear will have to be highly limited, I recall I took my regs, computer, fins and mask. Renting the remainder of gear.
Dragon Eye
Contributor
My husband and I just booked our Western Caribbean Cruise- we plan to dive in Roatan and Cozumel. I hadn't heard about the two bag rule, though we are flying to get to the port, so I'm already motivated to pack as much stuff with my gear as I can, and carry on what I have to.
Dragon Eye
Contributor
I just double checked our cruise- it says up to 200 lbs per person. It also says no weapons- So I guess my dive knife will be staying home, though I'd rather dive with it.
You don't really need a knife to dive in the Caribbean. If you are concerned with entanglement issues, get yourself a pair of shears. They are much better than a knife.
Personally, I'd AVOID any cruise that stopped in Jamaica if your interest is scuba diving. My preference is a Western cruise, but there are some good Southern itineraries that stop at islands with good diving; Curacao and Bonaire are the two that come to mind.
It depends on your budget, and your diving expectations. We did the tour of the South Pacific on the Paul Gaugin (a Regent cruise ship) this fall. The ship is elegant and incredibly pampering. The food is fabulous. There is a spa on board. Diving is available at many of the ports of call (and, as we found out, actually available at ALL of them, if you contact the dive ops directly ahead of time). The diving was not extraordinary, except for Rangiroa, which blew us away, but it was pleasant. As a combination of cruise for non-divers and diving trip, it was a pretty good one. But it was expensive.
The 7 day cruises out of Florida/Texas tend to end up with 2 or 3 potential dive stops. Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and maybe Belize for Western Caribbean. Nassau, St Thomas, and St Maarten for the Eastern Caribbean. Jamaica, Key West, and San Juan are pretty tough for diving.
Going out of Puerto Rico or with a 10-14 day trip can get to some more exotic locations. Bonaire, Dominica, St. Lucia, St Kitts, maybe even Tobago, etc. If you get to pick the cruise, these are really interesting ports, and a little different from the major ones which tend to look the same after the 3rd or 4th duty-free strip mall.
IMO, the cruise lines really push their shore excursion dives (probably because of the hefty commissions they make on shore excursions), but I've have much better experiences arranging separately, at least in the ports where the ship docks rather than tenders. It's cheaper and the odds of avoiding cattle boats are much better. There are some ports like Belize where this isn't very feasible. But often if your group is big enough or you solicit buddies on forums like cruisecritic, sometimes you can even get a large enough group to charter your own dive boat, for the same price you'd pay for a tour.
Hope this is useful for someone.
Going out of Puerto Rico or with a 10-14 day trip can get to some more exotic locations. Bonaire, Dominica, St. Lucia, St Kitts, maybe even Tobago, etc. If you get to pick the cruise, these are really interesting ports, and a little different from the major ones which tend to look the same after the 3rd or 4th duty-free strip mall.
IMO, the cruise lines really push their shore excursion dives (probably because of the hefty commissions they make on shore excursions), but I've have much better experiences arranging separately, at least in the ports where the ship docks rather than tenders. It's cheaper and the odds of avoiding cattle boats are much better. There are some ports like Belize where this isn't very feasible. But often if your group is big enough or you solicit buddies on forums like cruisecritic, sometimes you can even get a large enough group to charter your own dive boat, for the same price you'd pay for a tour.
Hope this is useful for someone.
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