Diving Belize off of a cruise ship

[flots am]

Go with the ship. They're probably using Hugh Parkey, who does a very nice job. It's a long ride to the dive site, and HP uses a pretty big boat, but splits up the dives into small groups according to ability so you're not stuck in a mob dive.

I'd use them even if I wasn't there on a cruise ship. An added advantage is that they pick you up and drop you off at the ship so there's no screwing around or worrying about being late.

They're a little more money, but I'll happily blow it in exchange for not having to worry about when I have to be anywhere or who is on which time-zone.

flots.

 

[Diver Kat]

I've done both - used Seasport Belize when we had a long time in port and used the ship excursion (Hugh Parkey) when we had a very short time. The dives with Hugh Parkey were fine, but I think I enjoyed the small 6 pack of Seasport Belize more. When we went with Seasport we tendered in and walked a few blocks to their shop but they were able to drop us off directly at the ship when we were through. The craziest one we did was one cruise with a really long stop in Belize we tendered in, taxied to the airport, and hopped a small plane out to San Pedro to dive with Ambergris Divers. Had a couple great dives, a relaxing lunch overlooking the water then hopped a plane back to Belize City. Made it back to the ship with time to spare. A friend set it all for a group of us and surprisingly, with everything we did it came to about the same price as the ship excursion.

 

[Tim Tina Callanan]

Go ahead and use the ships tours.You will get priority and will get off sooner and be in the water quicker .I live in Belize and you don't want a hiccup and be left at the port. Sometimes snorkelers can go along with divers.

 

[Laurie S.]

Actually, the dive excursions get off the ship about a whopping 10 minutes ahead of the others, if you're down there early to get a ticket. Last month, while on Carnival Legend, they said to be in the lounge at 8:00 if you wanted off the ship early. We got there at 7:45 and were on the first tender off the ship. Should have waited, however, because the ship was two hours ahead of local time. LOL I prefer HAL ships since they match local time. We're going back in December and January on Legend again and definitely will check for the time difference.

I'm simply not into paying $40 more for the privilege of taking a ship's excursion. That buys a lot of beer!