Question Diving in Cozumel NOT through the cruise line.

[BigDaddyGlad]

Post-COVID, I've noticed the cruise lines do not offer diving anymore. Don't know why, but we live in an upside down world now, and nothing is as it was pre-COVID.

Well, I've got a cruise to Grand Cayman and the ABCs coming up in two weeks, and I've got ship excursions booked for two ports and direct with local operators for the other two.

Maybe it depends on the cruise line?

 

[chrisjur]

Post-COVID, I've noticed the cruise lines do not offer diving anymore. Don't know why, but we live in an upside down world now, and nothing is as it was pre-COVID.

I’ve had no issues. I’ve done Virgin Voyages, Royal Caribbean and Windstar post-COVID and all offered diving.

 

[Cenotes]

The reason has nothing to do with Covid. It's a longstanding issue with most of the greedy cruise lines squeezing the dive operators so hard that the operators cannot make money (and because the operators make more money booking on their own). The operator is promised dozens of divers each week and that he is going to make a fortune. When it doesn't happen, the operator bails. The cruise lines then tell the cruise patrons that it is an "insurance issue." That is what the minions at the cruise ship excursion desks are trained to say.

This has been ongoing for years. I've spoken to cruise line management which has informed me that the puppeteers who are pulling the strings won't back down. As an aside, frequently, the dive trip cancellation for "insurance issues" happens the morning of the cruise, when only one or two divers have signed up -- and not enough incentive or revenue exists for the operator to pick up only one or two divers. Simply, it's greed, and it's not going away anytime soon.

On a more positive note, there are a few operators who won't back out for only one or two cruise ship divers and are very reliable. Anthony's Key in Roatan is one. But, be prepared not to have any complimentary "surface interval fruits" and the like, as NCL's excursion details have stated to the contrary for years. The brothers who run the Roatan show won't provide them!

In Cozumel, The Dive Shop Cozumel used to get all of NCL's business -- until the shop disbanded. I spoke to Ulises, the "Gerente Cozumel" (manager) a while ago about what happened and if I recall, NCL squeezed that dive shop too hard as well. Anyway, here is a great tip: if you want to dive from a cruise ship in Cozumel and something falls through, as a last resort, show up at Marina Fonatur (particularly if you are on Carnival or another line that uses that port that is very close) and solicit a seat on any available boat that can get you back to the marina in time -- but like others have said, most boats leave earlier than you will get there. However, some shops take their boats out later, like at 09:30, and if it is a bigger boat -- not a "fast boat," there are decent odds that you'll find space on it. This is not a preferred method, but if you're in a pinch and get dumped by another operator, and don't have any contacts in Cozumel, that is the last-minute methodology I would use. Problematically, the operator won't be expecting you, so there may be some last-minute adjustments for your equipment and, if no suitable extras onboard exist, someone may be driving back fast to their shop to get whatever you are missing.

 

[living4experiences]

The reason has nothing to do with Covid. It's a longstanding issue with most of the greedy cruise lines squeezing the dive operators so hard that the operators cannot make money (and because the operators make more money booking on their own). The operator is promised dozens of divers each week and that he is going to make a fortune. When it doesn't happen, the operator bails. The cruise lines then tell the cruise patrons that it is an "insurance issue." That is what the minions at the cruise ship excursion desks are trained to say.

This has been ongoing for years. I've spoken to cruise line management which has informed me that the puppeteers who are pulling the strings won't back down. As an aside, frequently, the dive trip cancellation for "insurance issues" happens the morning of the cruise, when only one or two divers have signed up -- and not enough incentive or revenue exists for the operator to pick up only one or two divers. Simply, it's greed, and it's not going away anytime soon.

On a more positive note, there are a few operators who won't back out for only one or two cruise ship divers and are very reliable. Anthony's Key in Roatan is one. But, be prepared not to have any complimentary "surface interval fruits" and the like, as NCL's excursion details have stated to the contrary for years. The brothers who run the Roatan show won't provide them!

In Cozumel, The Dive Shop Cozumel used to get all of NCL's business -- until the shop disbanded. I spoke to Ulises, the "Gerente Cozumel" (manager) a while ago about what happened and if I recall, NCL squeezed that dive shop too hard as well. Anyway, here is a great tip: if you want to dive from a cruise ship in Cozumel and something falls through, as a last resort, show up at Marina Fonatur (particularly if you are on Carnival or another line that uses that port that is very close) and solicit a seat on any available boat that can get you back to the marina in time -- but like others have said, most boats leave earlier than you will get there. However, some shops take their boats out later, like at 09:30, and if it is a bigger boat -- not a "fast boat," there are decent odds that you'll find space on it. This is not a preferred method, but if you're in a pinch and get dumped by another operator, and don't have any contacts in Cozumel, that is the last-minute methodology I would use. Problematically, the operator won't be expecting you, so there may be some last-minute adjustments for your equipment and, if no suitable extras onboard exist, someone may be driving back fast to their shop to get whatever you are missing.

You make some good points. The travel industry changed so much after COVID, that I think the operators just had enough with the cruise lines and don't want the headache anymore. What I was told most often pre-COVID from the cruise line was that there was a lack of participants and it was cancelled. The sad thing is that the cruise guest is not allowed to cancel within 24 hours, but the cruise line has cancelled on me the night before and there's no way to make arrangements on my own at that late hour.

You are absolutely right about AKR in Roatan. I've been there on a cruise stop as well as a regular diving vacation, and the cruise ship divers get nothing for a surface interval snack or drink, except water.

Sand Dollar Sports in Cozumel was the dive operator that was used by Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises before COVID, but I don't know if that's still in place.

 

[Wants2divemore]

That's good to know about AKR in Roatan. I'm booked with them on a cruise in April 2024. Ever since I had an official cruise excursion cancelled 2 weeks before the cruise, I've always booked a back-up local dive op just in case the cruise ship cancels. So far, the times when I've had Royal Caribbean cancel has been at least 2 weeks before the cruise.

 

[Cenotes]

You are absolutely right about AKR in Roatan. I've been there on a cruise stop as well as a regular diving vacation, and the cruise ship divers get nothing for a surface interval snack or drink, except water.

While the world was in Covid dire straits with businesses imploding, coupled with the brothers' own staff taking personal loans and maxing out credit cards (according to the staff), the brothers built a beautiful new dive shop/gift shop with the savings from your interval fruit that they did not serve for the last 30 years. It looks really nice (not the fruit -- the gift shop). But, the workers now complain about constantly having to squeegee the floor-to-ceiling 1.5-story windows (of that new shop) that face the pier. The salt-water mist blows against them from the bay. Sadly, nobody thought of that before erecting those large windows to face the wind that comes off the bay.

With the recent improvements the brothers did, I was hoping they'd put a hot water line to the two outdoor showers with the pull string lines. Didn't happen. My favorite joke, the 30 or so times I've been there, is to smile and act very relaxed while loudly saying underneath the frigid water (or at least it feels frigid when outdoor temp is 90F with 80% humidity) as usually being the first one under at the end of diving, "That hot water sure feels great." I then leave while interested divers scurry over to "warm themselves" under the two showers. I usually hear at least a small exclamatory shriek thereafter.

 

[zarlor]

Just got back from a Carnival cruise with a dive in Cozumel. I completely didn't realize that Cozumel was on EST all year round (I could have sworn they were on CST) which meant that there was simply no possible way I would be able to catch the morning boat dives I had scheduled on my own with Blue Note Scuba. I did stay in contact with them and I was lucky the wind had died down enough that they opened the harbor, but I'd had to make arrangements for them to just get me guide for a shore dive since I certainly wouldn't expect them to hold their boat when the ship I was on wouldn't even be docked until the time their boat was scheduled to leave.

Thankfully they did arrange for a guided shore dive, although it was only for a single-tank shore dive off of the Tikila Beach Reef, which is fairly close to the port but still a good walk with a roller-bag of gear (not so bad at all if you had rental gear waiting, though). My guide was a woman originally from Brazil named Carol and she gave a fairly good brief for where we would go on this relatively shallow dive (we hit 29' at the deepest, averaging just 16' across the dive). She was obviously quite experienced at dealing with the mild current and particularly the surge so she kept up a tad higher pace than I'd say I was normally used to so my SAC rate wasn't as good as I would have liked, but still plenty to see including an incredibly large pair of Porcupinefish that we saw from a distance initially but then decided to come back circling us twice and going right under me within touching distance (which, of course, I did not touch! Did get some nice video, though.)

Overall fighting the current and being less experienced at timing my kicks to let the surge pull me in instead of fighting it when it was pulling me out I was huffing and puffing at the end of the dive. Still, it was a very nice dive and a very good guide showing me just a ton of stuff down there.

Unfortunately I couldn't say much about Blue Note. I paid for a 2-tank boat dive with Nitrox (and no gear rental) but had to have them arrange for a separate guide for me for a 1-tank shore dive on Air, and of course I paid extra to Carol as a tip. I expect the cost difference would be a wash for those (or possibly it cost them a bit more to arrange for the guide) and I certainly appreciate their accommodating me on that front, but it also means I didn't have much experience with their usual operation to give an opinion on what they may be like otherwise. I've heard good things, though!

Still, like a lot of operators their boats leave around the same time as the cruise ships are just getting into port so it would be hard to recommend them otherwise for cruisers just for that reason alone. Better to either find an operator with times that leave after your ship gets to port, or arrange locally for a guide for shore diving. I know shore diving may not be optimal for some, but for a relatively new diver like myself I just love getting under the water and seeing anything and everything so it was all fantastic for me!

 

[Cenotes]

Sand Dollar was the operator Carnival hired in Cozumel for years. Then, they parted ways. I don't miss Sand Dollar. The last two-tank dive I did with it, I was sitting on a very warm engine cover because all seats were taken.

If you were fortunate to get onboard early, you'd think, "This is great. A huge dive boat and only four of us!" Then, the captain would make a stop to pick up divers from another ship. Then squeeze onboard the Try Scuba bunch. Then, some snorkelers. Then, divers from another resort. And then, another resort. Both upper and lower decks were always packed.

You would have been better off hiking a 15-minute brisk walk on the side of the highway to Marina Fonatur, not far from Carnival's pier. Or, there are always cabs waiting inside the pier to take you, which is much easier -- and cheap. You would have found someone at the marina with a seat for you on their boat. And then, on to Santa Rosa, Palancar Gardens, Paso del Cedral, or the like. Also, all of those operators know each other. If someone can't do it, they know someone who can, because . . . you're in (arguably) the dive capital of the world.

 

[yle]

Just got back from a Carnival cruise with a dive in Cozumel. I completely didn't realize that Cozumel was on EST all year round (I could have sworn they were on CST)

The entire state of Quintana Roo, which includes Cozumel and Cancun, used to be on Central Standard time (which makes sense... geographically, it's at the same longitude as the Central time zone). Some years ago -- I'm going to guess about 10 -- the government decided to change the entire state to EST. When it happened, there was much speculation that it was to synchronize Cozumel with the cruise ships from Miami. But they don't do daylight saving in QR... so during the winter they're on the same clock as Miami, and from March through October they're on the Texas clock (i.e. EST is the same as Central Daylight time.)

Just one of those quirky things you have to know about visiting Coz.

 

[zarlor]

The entire state of Quintana Roo, which includes Cozumel and Cancun, used to be on Central Standard time (which makes sense... geographically, it's at the same longitude as the Central time zone). Some years ago -- I'm going to guess about 10 -- the government decided to change the entire state to EST. When it happened, there was much speculation that it was to synchronize Cozumel with the cruise ships from Miami. But they don't do daylight saving in QR... so during the winter they're on the same clock as Miami, and from March through October they're on the Texas clock (i.e. EST is the same as Central Daylight time.)

Just one of those quirky things you have to know about visiting Coz.

Yeah, exactly, which is probably why I thought it was on Central time because the last time I was there I think it was CDT, so their time matched mine and I just never realized it. Still always a good thing to know for folks on cruises is to always see if you can find out what "ship time" is going to be for those docking schedules and verify it against the local time at that location. Now if only we stuck to one time instead of always flipping the clocks twice a year my sleep schedule would be a lot happier!