Cruise Ship Diving - Hit or Miss Situation

I'm just back from a cruise vacation. I was planning to experience my first warm water dive in Grand Cayman. I was really looking forward to great vis, warm tropical waters and all the great wall and reef diving available there.

Well things don't always work according to plan. Day two of the cruise we hear an annoucement that the ship is turning around so that a crew member can be evacuated to a hospital in the states (heart attack). We lost a day on shore because of this. By the time we turned around the weather had changed in the Caymans and they couldn't land the tenders due to choppy waters. So we sailed on to jamaica. I really didn't want to dive of Ocho Rios and besides, I didn't feen comfortable leaving my non-diving spouse to explore the island on her own. So I skipped Jamaica. One of our traveling companions was an instructor from Chicago. He decided to hook up with a local dive center for a few dives. They left them on the pier for 2 and a half hours and returned to tell them that due to low (30 ft) vis, they were aborting the dive. To a Lake Michigan diver anything over 10 feet is great he told me!

All in all the food was great, on-board activities were ok....but not getting in those dives priceless loss. I think the bottom line is a one day window is not enough.

Jim

I have done cruise ship dives on two trips and have to say they were suprisingly good and well ran. I guess it happens and on your trip it did. Go again, hopefully It'll be better.

Aquageek, I definately recommend trying those dive locations again, but unlike oversea I wouldn't recommend doing them from a cruise ship. I look at cruise ships as a vacation buffet... you can get a taste of a lot of different places and activities, but if you know what you want you can probably get a much better experience for the price.

I did first time dives in Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize from a cruise ship (we missed Cancun due to high seas), and while I might go back to any of those spots for diving, there's no way in hell it would be from a floating hotel. As you said, a (less than) one day window is not enough.

Don't feel that bad about missing Grand Cayman. I just got back from a cruise two weeks ago and i had the chance to dive Cayman. It was certenly not what I expected and read about over the years. The vis was good however there was nothing to look at. The past hurricanes really did a number to the Island and the surrounding reefs. There wasn't even that much marine life to look at. I went with Red Sail scuba who is a well known shop in the area its not their fault it is just that the hurricane decimated the area thats all. So summing up my story you really didn't miss anything at Grand Cayman!

Never been on a cruise ship, but I've seen the 'Norwegian Dawn' in Florida from close range. That thing is HUGE. I felt like I was looking at Titanic from a New York harbor of 1930s. I love big ships. I really should go on one.

A little off topic, but I recently found out the neither Titanic or Lithuania were the greatest marine disasters. 3 German ships sunk by subs at the end of WWII had much bigger loss of life. So was the Bismarck.

Chebby:

Never been on a cruise ship, but I've seen the 'Norwegian Dawn' in Florida from close range. That thing is HUGE. I felt like I was looking at Titanic from a New York harbor of 1930s. I love big ships. I really should go on one.

A little off topic, but I recently found out the neither Titanic or Lithuania were the greatest marine disasters. 3 German ships sunk by subs at the end of WWII had much bigger loss of life. So was the Bismarck.

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I have been on the Dawn and the sister ship, Star. They are nothing short of awesome. They have an azipod and bow thruster system which enables that big thing to turn on a dime. In Maui, I watched the Star do some amazing manuevering going in and out of the port.

We've been on two cruises to dive locations. The 1st time worked fine with our friends getting their first taste of Coz and us of Roatan. The staterooms are a bit crowded when you gear is laid out to dry though. This past fall we left Galveston planning to dive our first time in Belize. Some moron got on the ship less than two weeks after major surgery and started hemmoraging. We turned around to evacuate him and lost Belize. Calica is not an acceptable substitute. We got off the boat to try to find some cenote diving. A guy told us he "knew a cabbie who knew a guy a few miles south who knew someone who could take us." Got back on the boat and laid out at the pool.

Danny D. I was wondering how badly the hurricane had damaged the dive sites in Cayman. Did you dive Little Cayman or Cayman Brac as well? This is only my second cruise. My first one several years ago went according to schedule and we had great weather. I just really think that diving via a cruise vacation must be considered as only a possibility after my last experience and to not rely on it. The same could be said for planning a weekend dive in New England waters. The odds are in your favor however, if you spend several days at a dive location.

Yikes, talk about bumming you out before you go on a cruise. I'm taking my family during NH Winter vaca on Norweigan Sun out of Miami on Western Carib cruise. We're making stops in Gr. Cayman, Roatan, Belize and Coz. That would suck having to have to miss a port if some person had to be evacuated!

I'm planning on doing some diving. Beliz, hooked up with Cruises operator (Hugh Parkey) and in Coz, going on my own based on Matt's recommendation. Papa Hoggs.
Will probably do discover scuba with my 11 year old in Roatan and Snuba with my 8 and 11 year old in Grand Cayman. So looking forward to it.