RCCL Navigator of the Seas 1/25/15

[korvette]

Looking for dive partner who will be sailing on the Navigator of the Seas on Royal Caribbean. I set sail on Sunday January 25, 2014. Will be diving at all three stops, Roatan, Belize & Cozumel.
Prefer to use a dive operator not associated with the ship. Not looking to dive from a cattle boat of divers. Having said that might have to use the NOS operator in Belize since we won’t be docking. I hear it takes a lot of time to get to shore then to the operator.
As far as Cozumel I was planning on contacting Aldora Divers and possibly Barefoot Divers in Roatan. I am open to suggestions though.
My highest certification is GUE Cave 1 so looking for similar type of partner but open to safe diving.
Send me a PM if interested.

 

[jimbeeler]

I went with the Shore Excursion operator on Belize on this same cruise a few months ago and they were very good. Pricey for a two tank dive but worth it.

Jim

 

[bilboinsa]

Hi Korvette. We are on the same cruise in MArch. How was the diving? Who did you end up with at each port? Recommendations? Thanks.

 

[Altamira]

I'm not Korvette, but I did this cruise in August 2014 with wife and grandson. We used the ship's op for all three ports, partly because of the time of year and potential for itinerary changes due to hurricane season, and I did not feel like dealing with the potential for having to revise dive reservations using the ship's very slow and inefficient internet system. Ship's dive Ops: Belize, was Hugh Parkey's op, picked us up and returned us to the ship. Very good op and dives. Roatan used AKR, and again a very good op and dives. Cozumel was with Sand Dollar, and the dive op and dives were OK, definitely not in the same quality category as Hugh Parkey and AKR, but still OK dives.

 

[diversteve]

Besides AKR, Barefoot and Subway also offer cruise programs. It mostly depends on if you want to dive the north side or the south side.

Barefoot Divers - Dive Tours Roatan
Isla Roatan cruise ship shore excursions / tours Western Caribbean

Barefoot is a little more upscale for the day also. And a little pricier when you add in the cab rides. IDK Subway but agree that you can't go wrong with AKR or BFD. Nice thing about AKR or Subway is they pick you up at the port.

If you're there the whole day it's also possible to get to the West End/West Bay on your own and dive with any number of shops there.

Many 1st dives leave around 9AM and depending on which cruise (port) you're arriving at it's better than a 1/2 hr.+ ride. Many do 3 single tank dives so even if you can't get there that early, there's usually an 11AM and 1AM trip with somebody. The West End is also good for lunch and browsing the shops. Or a few post dive cocktails - Sundowner's is a beach bar frequented by divers. https://www.facebook.com/sundownersbeachbar

 

[sparky923]

I've used Bananarama, Barefoot, and Subway on Roatan. They were all great. Subway was really a great value as well. They were about 100 bucks and they included transportation to and from their resort.

I've used Aldora a couple of times when in Coz and they were great as well. They are really close the the Punta Langosta pier (within walking distance). Being on a Royal Caribbean ship, you would need transportation to their shop.

 

[korvette]

Hi Korvette. We are on the same cruise in MArch. How was the diving? Who did you end up with at each port? Recommendations? Thanks.

I ended up using the ship's operators for Belize (Hugh Parkey) and Roatan (AKR) just for the convenience of not having to worry about getting back to the boat on time. Belize is expensive but once again no worries. They were both ok. I brought my own equipment both looking at the rental gear it was Scubapro.

In Cozumel I used Aldora and was extremely happy. It is an $8 cab ride to the shop from the crusie ships. I had just missed the earlier boat so had to wait for the next one. The divemaster asked where we wanted to go and offered up some options. There were 6 of us and they have steel 120's so no real issues with anyone blowing through their tanks in 20minutes. We dove Santa Rosa on the south side of the island. This had several swim throughs and was a great dive. We had to drop 4 of the divers off as they could only do 1 tank so then it was just down to 2 of us. We then headed to Cantarel as divemaster was hoping to get us some video of eagle rays and we ended up seeing 6.

I would highly recomend Aldora.

Here is the video I got of the eagle rays:
[video=youtube;NXRx0zAFVAQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXRx0zAFVAQ[/video]