Interesting Cruise

[Ber Rabbit]

Students can read about buoyancy control and surge in their book, but, there's nothing like describing a guy who looks like he had a motorcycle accident in a cheese-grater factory to explain why bouyancy control and awareness of surge is really important.

It sounds macabre, but going on a cruise dive is like signing up to watch one of the "close brush with death" articles in DAN or the other SCUBA mags while it's happening.

Terry

Nah, getting pictures is macabre Nothing drives the point home to students like a picture of the surge related injuries

Great story, thanks for sharing!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Web Monkey]

We used Bonaire Dive & Adventure. It was a short taxi drive from the dock and they were absolutely fantastic.

We did some amazing wall dives right behind their shop.

Terry

I leave on the EXACT same Princess Cruise on Saturday. Glad to hear your report. I am keeping my wife happy as well and only diving in Bonaire. Can't wait. The rest of the time will be snorkeling with her. Did you book the dive trip in Bonaire through the ship? I didn't see that in your report. I was told that the only good reason for booking the dive trips through the ship was IF anything caused a delay and for some reason you weren't going to get back to the ship for the scheduled departure they will accomodate that. Otherwise, you are on your own. We booked Bonaire through the excursion planner and I am wishing we didn't but we'll see........

Thanks again,
Greg

PS. You can cancel the ship dives once you get to the ship. I beleive you can cancel on the first day with no penalty.

 

[Web Monkey]

I leave on the EXACT same Princess Cruise on Saturday. Glad to hear your report. I am keeping my wife happy as well and only diving in Bonaire. Can't wait. The rest of the time will be snorkeling with her. Did you book the dive trip in Bonaire through the ship? I didn't see that in your report. I was told that the only good reason for booking the dive trips through the ship was IF anything caused a delay and for some reason you weren't going to get back to the ship for the scheduled departure they will accomodate that. Otherwise, you are on your own. We booked Bonaire through the excursion planner and I am wishing we didn't but we'll see........

FWIW, that's not completely correct. They may wait for you depending on how late you are, but they aren't required to wait.

When our dive boat almost sank, we were about 45 minutes late getting back to the ship. If it had been much more than that, I beleive they would have left us.

Terry

 

[Scubastud16]

I did my whole OW certification on a Princess ship to the Eastern Caribbean. St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and the Princess-owned Bahamas island.

We had a fantastic instructor (Allison was her first name, she is on the Caribbean Princess for the time being; I would HIGHLY reccomend her), and the diving was pretty good. Keep in mind, I'm giddy to just get in the water, let alone see stuff. I'm still pretty green about "good diving," but my family and I had a blast. On St. Maarten, the seas got pretty rough, so we went to an anchored (permanently) sail boat, and dove off that. Max depth of about 35 feet, with lots of ships/submarines/etc. to see. This was all in a corner of a bay.

St. Thomas had great (shallow..max depth of 45 or so) diving as well. A barge that had been split in half, lots of life, etc.

Now that I've had more diving experience since then, I'll probably be a little more skeptical, but I still had a blast through the Princess Cruise line.

 

[Clearwater]

I generally avoid booking dives through the cruise line. As others have posted, you usually pay a premium price, and often you will find the operator does not have very good review in SB or cruisecritic.com.

The only exception is when there is a ridiculously short time in port, as was recently the case for us in Cozumel where the ship docked at 7 a.m. and left at 2 p.m. The one advantage to booking a dive through the cruise ship in a case like this is that you will not run the risk of the ship leaving without you if the dive boat is running late for some reason.

FWIW, that's not completely correct. They may wait for you depending on how late you are, but they aren't required to wait.

When our dive boat almost sank, we were about 45 minutes late getting back to the ship. If it had been much more than that, I beleive they would have left us.

Web Monkey, I'm curious as to your statements here. Did any of the ship's crew specifically tell you they would not have waited if you had been further delayed? I'm no lawyer, but it would seem to me if the ship leaves you in the care of one of their contractors, they are still bound by the terms of carriage even if that puts some burden on them.

 

[Web Monkey]

Web Monkey, I'm curious as to your statements here. Did any of the ship's crew specifically tell you they would not have waited if you had been further delayed? I'm no lawyer, but it would seem to me if the ship leaves you in the care of one of their contractors, they are still bound by the terms of carriage even if that puts some burden on them.

The contract that comes with the cruise ticket makes it very clear that the tours are actually outside vendors and you're on your own.

As for being left, when our boat called the ship on the radio, there was no indication that they would wait for us. Their response was "keep us informed."

They leave people for all sorts of reasons. On the Carnival Paradise (a non-smoking ship) the tossed a pasenger out in Cozumel for smoking.

I wouldn't want to rely on them waiting, regardless of whether I booked on my own or through the ship.

Terry

 

[cowjazz]

I have always been a member of the "I will never book through a cruise ship" club. I always thought the money I saved booking on my own was worth the hassles and worries of doing it on my own.

Until my cruise last week with stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel were I decided to be fair, and gave the cruiseship an opportunity to win me over.

Booking through the cruiseship was only $15-$20 more that what I have booked on my own in these locations. I did not have to pay for transportation to and from the dive operators. The removal of stressing over tender assignments, disembarking, and getting back on time were removed. All I had to do was relax, and dive. A concept that has escaped on my last few cruises when I booked on my own. Had two great dives in each location, at great dive sites, with two wonderful operators. Each operator divided the divers into groups based on expirience, and the dive profiles were appropriate based on each groups experience. I was never in a group with more than six divers. The other groups were at different depths, or other parts of the dive sites to prevent a crowded dive.

Yep, I'm a turncoat, and have gone to the other side.

Case in point: It took me 90 minutes to disembark in Cozumel. Since I booked through the ship, the operator was aware of the problems clearing Mexican customs, and the slow tender service. They waited for two hours on the dock for all of the customers to arrive. It seems unlikely a "book your own" operator would wait that long with no ability to communicate with their client.

Just my $.02.

 

[rocketry]

First of all, you are very funny. I was laughing for a while.

I did 2 dives on Royal Carribean's Enchantment of Seas last february, with Red Sail Sports in caymen, and an anonymous dive op in Ocho Rios Jamaica. I agree, divers should be grouped by experience level, but, however, they are not. When I have to CONVINCE my insta-buddy to plan our dive on my tables instead of just 'us relying on his computer,' you know something is wrong.

I am optimistic, however. I am booking 2 2-tank dives with Cunard when the Queen Mary 2 takes me to bon-aire and Grenada. I called the cruise line, and they separated divers into experience groups. To me, its less of a matter of being a 'scuba snob,' and more of a matter of safety. I didnt sign up for a solo dive, I want to know that if I need you, you will be competent and prepared to help me.

 

[scubaaaronh]

Web Monkey have you been to bonaire before the one day visit on the cruise?

 

[Web Monkey]

First of all, you are very funny. I was laughing for a while.

Thanks!

It was great training, and I'm happy everything turned out OK, but the guy with his air off could have turned into a Really Bad problem if he was negative.

Nobody was watching him, he didn't know how to handle the turned off tank and had no buddy that I was aware of. If he had done his backroll and sank, he'd have been toast.

Looks like Yet Another Reason to have a good buddy, even on the surface.

Terry