Cruise and Diving

[jujubeess]

Hello,
My husband and I were in a Royal a Caribbean cruise mood for a few years before we got married. We went on one every year. We were getting married in Antigua and decided to take up scuba lessons and get certified before so instead of just snorkeling, we would dive. It was nice to get married on the beach at Sandals but that was about it. The scuba was really bad. We then decide to go with our local dive school to Bonaire.....well we fell in love with that island and now we go every year for 1 or 2 weeks. We have enough points with our Royal Caribbean visa card to get a free cruise so why not dive. Can anyone recommend any cruises to take so we can dive every place they stop? Thanks. Please pm me

 

[Mike]

You'll find cruise ship diving is going to have more in common with your Sandals dive experience rather than your Bonaire dive experience. But if that's okay then just search the Royal Caribbean cruise ship site for the trips they offer that cross paths with the better dive destinations in the Caribbean, which are Cozumel, the Caymans, Roatan etc..

Just keep in mind that when diving on a cruise, the operators will take you to the mediocre sites with the dives dumbed down to the least common denominator diver.

 

[cannon fodder]

Hi Jujubeess,

There is nothing to stop you from arranging your own dives on a cruise. I am no expert and have been certified for less than 2 years, but I have had great luck researching do it your self dive excursions while on cruises. Check out your itinerary and look for operators that offer trips while you are in port. I found that they are cheaper and better than ships dives. A typical ships shore excursion dive will have as many as twenty in the group, while the most I ever had with a local operator was 4, including myself. Just be careful with the times, you need to get back to the ship on time, but the local charters are used to this and I have found them to be very accomodating. They want your business, and they do not have to share the profits with the cruise line.

Derek

 

[JRICKEY]

Did a southern carribbean cruise out of Puerto Rico and dove every stop. Only stop I dove off the cruise ship was in St. Lucia because of the distance that had to be traveled to dive sights and didn't want to miss the boat. All other stops St.kitts, St. Thomas, St.Marteen, and Barbados I did the research and booked directly with the dive operator in 1 case the dive operator was the same operator the cruise line used and by booking direct I saved $50. Hope this helps.

 

[jujubeess]

Thank you for your response, I always do my research and never book any excursion through the cruise line. How was the diving? Was it work it? Thanks

 

[cannon fodder]

Where are you going? I found that St. Martin and Curacao were the most worth it, less for St. Thomas, but still good, and least for San Juan, but I am not horribly experienced.

 

[Bas Harts]

Just keep in mind that when diving on a cruise, the operators will take you to the mediocre sites with the dives dumbed down to the least common denominator diver.

Why? Don't you have the option to dive with any operator of your choice?


We organize private dive trips on Curacao and offer great dive excursions for cruise tourists.

Check it out Curacao - Shore Diving - Dive Courses - Dive Safaris - Dive Excursions - Cruiseship Diving -

 

[sparky923]

We always cruise out of New Orleans and NCL has a 4 stop itinerary that are all good dive spots.

Coz, Costa Maya, Roatan, and Belize. I think RCCL has this same itinerary when sailing from Tampa.

I've dived in all 4 of the ports, and Belize was the only one that was kind of a let down. If I get another chance to dive Belize, I'll just chance it and use an independant dive op. Having to tender to port kind of limits your options on that port on who to dive with. The diving was THAT bad, it was just crowded.