What if you don't make it to port?

[kiana325]

I'm a newbie. My cousins and I went through an SSI course in preparation for our cruise next week! We were planning on doing our certification dives while in the caribbean. We'll be on the Freedom of the Seas and stopping at Royal Caribbean's island, St Thomas and St Maarten. We really don't have a ton of port time 12-7:30 in St Thomas and 8-5:30 in St Maarten. From my research I've kind of narrowed in on doing two dives in the afternoon with Blue Island Divers on St Thomas and perhaps just saving our other two dives for when we get home. That being said the timing is tight and the rest of the family has a bit of concern about getting in to port on time. I would hate to pay and miss our dives. What are the risks? Is our timing too tight? Any advice or calming thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[Wookie]

Save it all for when you can relax and enjoy your certification dives. This is not a race to the death, but a enjoyable and relaxing sport. As well, enjoy your time on the cruise. Come to Florida sometime this summer and finish your certification dives when you can do it without worrying about timing or money or family or anything else. This is a lifetime of adventure, don't treat it like a bucket list experience.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

I'm not sure what timing your worried about. Are you talking about the cruise ship getting late to port? That has never happened to me. Short of a breakdown or hurricane, the ships pretty much always make it on time. If the ship diverts to another port, most dive Ops will refund the dive reservation costs.

If your worried about missing the boat by getting back late form your dives at port, good dive Ops are setup to avoid this. They deal with cruise divers with the knowledge that they have limited time. Just make arrangements with your chosen dive Op and they will confirm and work with what's possible with your itinerary. This is where using a recommended Op makes a difference and Blue Island Divers seems to be well recommended.

Your port times seem ample for diving. I've done it in the past and it's no big deal if arrangements are made in advance.

I'll be in St. Thomas on a cruise this September and Blue Island Divers is one of only two Ops I'm considering there.

The only difference in your situation from any I've had is that your dives are for certs. I don't know how this affects things timewise.

 

[cannon fodder]

I had to cancel last minute on a cruise stop in St. Thomas and St. Martin. Not because of a late arrival, but because of an ear infection diagnosed on board the cruise ship. St. Thomas (Coki Beach Dive) said that it was better for me not to dive, no penalty/full refund. St. Martin, Octopus Divers, let me snorkel off the boat (nice snorkeling BTW) and charged me for snorkeling. I don't think you will have any problems, these places are rated here and on yelp, trip advisors and such so customer service is key.

 

[claymore]

If the cruise ship has Scuba excursions in the ports you are stoping at arrange to do your Open Water Certification Dives with those operators. I did that when I got certified on a cruise, did cert dives in Cab San Lucas and Porta Vallarta Mexico. You will have to find out what dive operators the Cruise lines use and make arrangements for the certification dives with the operators and pay any of the certification dive fees beyond the cost of the dive excursion. You can arrange the open water certification dives with a non cruise line operator but the timing of when their boats go out can be a problem with the ships port times.

If you use the cruise line dive operators they will wait for the ship if it is late and the ship will not leave port if the excursion runs late. If you are on a ship sponsored tour the ship waits for you to get back if it runs late, if you book on your own and you run late you may wave to the ship as it sails out of port.

 

[DEEPLOU]

Thanksgiving 2014 the ship bypassed Grand Cayman due to wind. When I called the operator before checking email to apologize, they said they sent email apologizing that they had to cancel due to the weather.