Cozumel/cruise ship

[eowens]

Hi Guys!
Has anyone been to Coz. on Carnival cruise lines and been diving with the shore excursion offered? I would like to take my 16 yr old daughter diving (SSI cert. 2004) but dont want to through her into a 100Ft + wall dive as her first saltwater experience. I Emailed Blue XT Sea this AM as their web site gave a lot of good info. about them. Also, they seem to have a good Rep. on this board. I am looking for a nice coral garden type of dive for her as opposed to a 5 knot "fly through" over a 2000 ft wall. I may do the wall later or earlier in the day if time allows.(PADI/NAUI Adv. open water 20+ yrs). I belive the ship will be in port Sept.28 2005.
Thanks for any info. Stay wet!

Big Ev.

 

[Giggi]

I haven't done the cruise ship thing, but if you're looking for good shallow dives, I recommend the following: Columbia Shallows, Yucab, Paraiso, and Palancar Gardens - all absolutely beautiful dives. Columbia Shallows and Palancar Gardens can go deep, but you can also stay shallow and still see lots of beautiful fish and reefs without "flying over."

Palancar Horseshoe and Columbia Shallows can be a good compromise if you're working with a dive op that has others who want deeper dives.

Here's a link to a pretty accurate description of the reefs that may be helpful. http://www.travelnotes.cc/cozumel/links/reefs.html

 

[Natasha]

Hi Guys!
Has anyone been to Coz. on Carnival cruise lines and been diving with the shore excursion offered? I would like to take my 16 yr old daughter diving (SSI cert. 2004) but dont want to through her into a 100Ft + wall dive as her first saltwater experience. I Emailed Blue XT Sea this AM as their web site gave a lot of good info. about them. Also, they seem to have a good Rep. on this board. I am looking for a nice coral garden type of dive for her as opposed to a 5 knot "fly through" over a 2000 ft wall. I may do the wall later or earlier in the day if time allows.(PADI/NAUI Adv. open water 20+ yrs). I belive the ship will be in port Sept.28 2005.
Thanks for any info. Stay wet!

Big Ev.

Hi Big Ev. I have done dives booked from Carnival Cruises Line. Yes, you are right, they will do a deep dive 90fsw, and then a shallow. I strongly agree with your choice of Blue XT Sea. Hang in there. The owner Christi will get back to you as soon as she can. It's worth it to book your dives with her. She will take good care of you and your daughter.

Signed,
Mother of two divers 21 and 17 years old

 

[diveborg]

I share the opinion that Christi has a great operation, but in case she is full, you might also consider Eagleray Divers They cater to cruise divers and are often recommended on Cruisecritic.com

Something to consider, the usual procedure on Cozumel is to do a deep first dive followed by a shallower second dive. Having to do 2 shallow dives might not please everyone on the boat.

 

[BurBunny]

Most of the cruise ships use Sand Dollar Sports for their op. You might want to contact them directly and see what they can do. They usually have a deeper dive first dive, but many times can do it someplace where she can stay more shallow.

That said, Eagle Ray does a nice job with beginning divers, and of course Christi if she's available will take good care of you.

 

[richhagelin]

Another option that I have been pleased with is Alison Dennis (www.scubawithalison.com). She can accomodate cruise ship schedules. You take a taxi from the end of the pier to Caleta Marina to meet the boat and she will drop you back at the ship at the end of the dive. She can normally accomodate a request for a shallow profile on a particular day.

Rich Hagelin

 

[diveborg]

Another option that I have been pleased with is Alison Dennis (www.scubawithalison.com). She can accomodate cruise ship schedules. You take a taxi from the end of the pier to Caleta Marina to meet the boat and she will drop you back at the ship at the end of the dive. She can normally accomodate a request for a shallow profile on a particular day.

Rich Hagelin

I have read nothing but good things about Alison, so Rich's suggestion is a good one.

As for Sanddollar, they do offer the option of a private DM if you want, but they do use larger boats to accommodate the large groups.

 

[osufhorn]

I was just in Cozumel on a Carnival cruise. I would say definitely dive with Alison. I took the ship's excoursion in Belize and dove with her in Cozumel. There was no comparison. Diving with her was so much better. She will tailor the dive to your experience level and where you want to dive and is VERY safety conscious. She also runs a small boat so you don't have to deal with the 25-30 people on the ship's excoursion. It was super easy to get to her boat, all you had to do is hop off the ship and grab a cab to the Caleta Marina.

 

[Diver Kat]

We've also dove with Alison (ScubawithAlison) several times off cruise ships stops, and plan to dive with her again next cruise. She's runs a great op, is very safety conscious, a heck of a DM and has been great at working out schedules problems with us. On top of all that, she's an absolute blast!!

 

[msfreddo]

I dove with Sanddollar Sports from the Carnival Cruise line last year, the equipment was terrible, my tank leaked air, the dm said "well if it doesn't seal up at 50 ft, you'll just have to wait until the 2nd dive". I liked the fact that Carnival guarantees that you'll be back on the ship in time and that they are in constant communication with the dive operators, but I would not dive with SandDollar again! The dm never payed attention to the divers, he was off somewhere, thankfully all the divers stayed together and my buddie stayed right with me the whole dive. It was $125. for the dive and equipment for 4 hours, which isn't terrible, but I thought their lack of consideration and treatment was so bad that I logged a complaint with Carnival.

I'm going again this year, but I'll be looking up Scuba with Alison. You usually do a 90ft first dive and 40 ft 2nd dive. The vis was incredible, about 150 + feet, water about 87 degrees, awesome for a first saltwater dive.

You'll have fun, just be sure to make arrangements such that the dm/operator will have you back on the boat on time, because they won't wait if you are running behind..

good luck,

Mike.