Cozumel on 8/27

[vegeta82]

Hello All.

God bless you all and I am glad all is well on the island after this most recent Storm. Frankly I thought you all were in for it but I and many others were wrong.

i will be arriving on a cruise ship for one day of diving on Monday August 27th. (Carnival Ectasy porting from Galveston). I am planning to dive with Bottom Time Divers. They are a small outfit but are of high quality and like thier name will allow you to use your bottom time to your limits (not the weakest link in the group). I am trying to get someone either off that Cruise or someone who's is going to be down to dive with me to avoid making the Dive Op take me out by myself (frankly I would feel bad as it would not be a winning proposition for them). Check out thier site and PM me if you are interested. I am not sure what the cruise dive excurision is all about but i typically have heard terrible reviews about them...


http://www.bottomtimedivers.net/

[csky217]

vegeta82 -- good luck finding a dive buddy! If you haven't already, you might try posting on the Cruise Critic message boards (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/) to see if you can hook up with anyone from your ship. IIRC, depending on the cruise line, the cruise ops are usually Cozumel Snorkel Center or Sand Dollar, though I heard Dive with Martin gets some cruise traffic as well.

Having dived with Raul on two different trips, I can definitely second the recommendation for Bottom Time. I'm not affiliated in any way, except for thinking Raul is an awesome divemaster and runs a great dive boat. Lest I gush too much, feel free to PM me for details.

[parrotheaddiver]

Hello All.

God bless you all and I am glad all is well on the island after this most recent Storm. Frankly I thought you all were in for it but I and many others were wrong.

i will be arriving on a cruise ship for one day of diving on Monday August 27th. (Carnival Ectasy porting from Galveston). I am planning to dive with Bottom Time Divers. They are a small outfit but are of high quality and like thier name will allow you to use your bottom time to your limits (not the weakest link in the group). I am trying to get someone either off that Cruise or someone who's is going to be down to dive with me to avoid making the Dive Op take me out by myself (frankly I would feel bad as it would not be a winning proposition for them). Check out thier site and PM me if you are interested. I am not sure what the cruise dive excurision is all about but i typically have heard terrible reviews about them...


http://www.bottomtimedivers.net/

Have you emailed your dive op to see if anyone else will be on the boat at the same time?? I doubt if you will be the only one on the boat not worth it to just take one person out.......you can always buddy with the DM, they are great buddies they find all the cool stuff and are usually one of the last back in the boat....

[Christi]

Hello All.

I am trying to get someone either off that Cruise or someone who's is going to be down to dive with me to avoid making the Dive Op take me out by myself (frankly I would feel bad as it would not be a winning proposition for them).

You are right, one diver doesn't even (or barely) cover the fuel, so he will actually be spending money to take you diving. Are you sure he has no one else booked that day? If you are the only diver, you could help him out by requesting to dive somewhere closer in, rather than Palancar or Columbia. I only suggest that because you do seem to be genuinely concerned about his expenses of taking only one diver out.

Have fun and I hope you're able to gather up a few more people!

[vegeta82]

I think as of yestrday i was his only one. But that may change before monday. I am definetly sensitive to folks making money. In fact I told him if I or he could not get anyone else to go that he could pass me off and he may do so if he has to. We will see diving from the cruise ship is kinda tricky as we do not port till 9:00 meaning 9:30 is about as early as I could expect to be getting on a boat and most ops have left before then. I intend to recruit a diver hopefully from my cruise ship. Firgure I would go to the sign up for excursions and grab a diver or two from their...

[vegeta82]

Hello all.

Just got in yesterday from my cruise. As if you didnt know do not cruise unless you have to (meaning a wife or G/F is making you). Had a good time did ended up doing the Cruise Excursion Dive as I never found anohter diver. On the whole boat thier were only 4 people who dove I found that strange. Dove with Sand Dollar. Did two dives one at 80' on Santa Rosa Wall which is always a good dive. The other was St. Clemente ( i think). Ok dive but did not see anything to out of the norm other than a large moray Ell. In the end had about 80 minutes of bottom time and a good time. Had 2500 psi in my two tanks together after the two dives but what can you do. I do not blame the dive opp if I had strangers I was going to see for one day I would be conservative as well. The Dive Op was helpful enough and did thier jobs so what more could I expect from a cruise ship dive. In the end the trip cost me about 1000 dollars per tank (total cruise bill) so not sure if it was worth the utility but what can you do.

Anyway hope to see and STAY with you all again soon.

[driftin' by]

On the whole boat thier were only 4 people who dove I found that strange.

Strange? You mean fewer than you expected? FWIW, I think many divers avoid cruises based on the experience you had with conservative profiles and limited options as far as dive ops go.

Glad you had a good trip!

[georoc01]

Strange? You mean fewer than you expected? FWIW, I think many divers avoid cruises based on the experience you had with conservative profiles and limited options as far as dive ops go.

Glad you had a good trip!

Well, I can tell you my last 2 cruises had over 100 divers on board. One a western Carribbean out of FL and another out of Galveston.

I will agree that Cruise vacations are far different than Diving vacations. When you have 2000+ passengers on a caribbean cruise, usually you do have more than 4 divers on a ship. My ship wouldn't have devoted 2 crew, both Instructors, if there weren't more divers on board.

[raviepoo]

As if you didnt know do not cruise unless you have to (meaning a wife or G/F is making you).

Word to you mother! Only in my case it would be the husband making me. And it ain't gonna happen in this lifetime. Cruise ships are ecological nightmares (to say nothing og norovirus outbreaks waiting to happen!)