Cruises and insurance for missed dives

[yle]

So where does a cruise ship diver meet you now?

They're meeting us right at the end of the pier (where the ship is parked.) Then we'll walk around the corner to the marina, where the dive boat is parked.

 

[caydiver]

An interesting thread. We don’t take a deposit or charge up front. If the ship doesn’t come in you are not charged. Many of our colleagues here in Grand Cayman are starting to put at least some portion as a deposit but we hope to avoid it. Same reason we don’t do packages. If someone truly feels unwell or had a bad ear etc., we don’t want them to feel compelled to dive so we simply give a multi day discount. For cruisers if the ship doesn’t get in we don’t charge. Otherwise you have the same cancellation policy as stay overs. We cannot hold people responsible if they wake up to find themselves not in the port they expected.

 

[delacrue96]

I can give you my 2 cents (maybe 4 cents?) worth of advice having done a lot of diving off cruises. I've done the southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan five times in the past 10 years, and we're doing it again the first week of February (so we'll be in St Lucia a week after you are!)

First, booking independent (i.e. NOT the cruise ship excursion) is the way to go.

Second, the policy in your original post is pretty unusual. I found that same policy on the same website that you did while I was recently searching for options for our upcoming trip.

My experience: we dive at every port, every cruise. We only take the cruise to go diving.

At some islands I've varied the dive ops we use, but at St Lucia we have (so far) always used Dive Fair Helen. They are one of the ops that require a "taxi ride", but the dive shop has always arranged this for us. Every time (five times so far...) we have used them they have been 100% solid, no problems whatsoever.

Our itinerary is St Thomas, St Maarten, St Kitts, St Lucia and Barbados. And St Lucia is EASILY the best diving of the group, although each island has its own unique character. Last time we were in St Maarten the reef sharks, including a baby, followed us around like puppies.

I haven't booked our St Lucia diving yet for our upcoming trip, because I was considering using the shop that you pulled your original post from (is it "Scuba Steve's"? I think I have that right...) They offer to pick up with their boat at the harbor where the cruise ship docks. But this harbor is further north, and the prime diving is in the south, near the Pitons.

It seems like a bit of a gamble, i.e. if there's a problem with traffic you might "miss the ship" (or at least that's what the ship people will scare you with.) In all my trips, to these islands as well as cruising to the western caribbean a half dozen times, I have always dived (independent of the ship tour) and never missed the ship.

Dive Fair Helen can take you to the better diving area, and the underwater topography is pretty dramatic... it's the side of a volcano, after all. The Superman drift dive is everything it's reputation promises.

If you do want to dive one of the other islands instead, let me know and I can give you my advice based on having done it all a bunch of times. I've used a couple different dive ops at St Kitts and Barbados, so I can give you pros and cons there. We've always used the same dive op at St Thomas and St Maarten... but things have changed a bit since the hurricane two years ago. Again, I can share with you what we're doing for our trip in February and maybe save you some time researching your options.

Please share the island dive ops you use for your PR cruise. We have a cruise scheduled for this summer and this would be so helpful. Thank you so much!

 

[yle]

Please share the island dive ops you use for your PR cruise. We have a cruise scheduled for this summer and this would be so helpful. Thank you so much!

I'll post here what I feel is appropriate to share in public. I'll PM you the rest.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've always used Dive Fair Helen in St Lucia. In past years they always picked us up at the cruise ship dock in a van and drove us south to their shop. This time (last week) they picked us up with their dive boat, right at the cruise ship dock. They took us south to the shop where we met a bunch of other people. Some were snorkeling, some were kayaking, and some were diving (about ten each.) My first impression was "oh boy, this is a mess." And then in a matter of minutes they had everyone sorted out, distributed gear, and we (divers and snorkelers) were on our way to the first site. The snorkelers were dropped in the shallow water, and only the divers remained on the boat. Their organizational prowess was truly impressive. We got two beautiful, long dives (those that used air quickly were allowed to surface as necessary, the rest of us continued our dive.) They used the dive boat to get us back to the cruise ship; dropped us off around 3:15, plenty of time for the 5:00 ship departure.

In Barbados we dove with Roger's Scuba Shack, as we've done for our past several visits. Roger's shop has a personality that is an extension of Roger himself: very laid back with a great sense of humor, and unmistakably Caribbean. It's a short drive from the cruise ship pier (Roger picked us up in his van and drove us back.) The only downside to visiting Roger's shop is that you eventually have to leave. He has a large shaded deck area adjacent to the beach and a full selection of cold drinks available. His boat is moored just off the beach. His people are experienced and a lot of fun to hang out with. All around, I'm at a complete loss to come up with anything I would change about his operation.

In St Kitts, we dove with Pro Divers... as we've done several times in the past. I mention them earlier in this thread. Auston met us at the end of the cruise ship pier, and we walked over to his boat (see the image in Post #21 of this thread.) Auston's boat is my favorite. Only one time, many years ago, have I been on a similar dive boat. Twin hull, large open flat deck with plenty of shade, storage and seating. Auston's been around for a few decades, so he knows everything there is to know about diving St Kitts, which helps to really optimize the experience. He's also the owner, which is a significant advantage in many subtle ways. The reef sharks know him personally and hung out with us (following us like puppies) during our dives.

In St Maarten, the operation I had always dived with before was lost to the hurricane in Sept 2017. So this time we met Willem with Dive St Martin. His shop is a short walk north from the cruise pier (takes maybe 10 minutes... if you take a taxi, you'll be wondering why you bothered for such a short distance.) All around great time with him and his crew. Nothing specific... everything was well done and just right.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have questions.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Yes, look at Dive Assure.

 

[Damselfish]

I think insurance is more important for the big things and wouldn’t worry so much about getting reimbursed for a missed 2 tank someplace. If you can find ops you like with a better cancellation policy great. If you can find trip insurance that happens to cover it great. But I wouldn’t let this tail wag the dog.