diving during a cruise

[Rhone Man]

I am not a fan of cruise ship diving, but my wife loves cruises, so I do them when I have to. Like much of the good advice above, I tend to do my research and then book independently.

The main downsides to diving off a cruise ship are: (i) it is usually more expensive, (ii) your site options are limited in some areas, and (iii) you will be presumed to be an idiot (and if not, it doesn't matter as most other people you will diving with will be). Accordingly, expect short dives, shallow dives and dives that are convenient to the dive op to make sure you get back to the ship.

 

[hilljo88]

I take dive trips with my buddies and, separately, I take "family" cruise trips with my wife and kids or just with my wife. I have much different expectations for diving on each. On the family trips, I want to spend time with my wife (and kids if they are there) so I will try to find an opportunity to do a morning 1 or 2 tank dive on my own, and meet up with everyone in the afternoon. I always do a lot of research on local dive operators and line everything up via email well in advance. aside from the diving itself, part of the attraction is meeting some of the local people and getting off the beaten track. I've had a great time doing this in the south of France, Croatia, as well as more obvious dive destinations in the Carib and Pacific. They key is to do your research and planning in advance, and work out you and your wife's expectations for the trip.

 

[*dave*]

I'd also add that I won't bother schlepping all my own gear when cruising. I'll bring mask, snorkel(for snorkeling), fins, booties, dsmb, bottom timer and reef gloves in a small dive bag and leave the rest at home. For me, the dives are simple enough that it's not worth the extra hassle to bring it.

 

[rivers]

Unless you book a bigger cabin, there's not a whole lot of room for dealing with gear after the dive.

If I could do it in a crew cabin, which is about a 1/3 the size of the smallest guest cabin, then space shouldn't be an issue. You just need to be crafty.

 

[JCAT]

I am not a fan of cruise ship diving, but my wife loves cruises, so I do them when I have to. Like much of the good advice above, I tend to do my research and then book independently.

The main downsides to diving off a cruise ship are: (i) it is usually more expensive, (ii) your site options are limited in some areas, and (iii) you will be presumed to be an idiot (and if not, it doesn't matter as most other people you will diving with will be). Accordingly, expect short dives, shallow dives and dives that are convenient to the dive op to make sure you get back to the ship.

Valid and good points. One of the things that I do is correspond directly with the dive op I'm going to go with repeatedly, most of the time I will call them as well.

We were out in Dec. where I did a 1-tank on St. Croix in the afternoon. It was on the West End since it's close to the dock. Got a couple good pics and they took me back to the ship. Very easy and I got to spend the morning with my wife, so all is good.

Some ports she knows she will not see me for most of the day, so it works out.

A cruise is what you make of it. Once you recon an island, you can always go back and stay for a week or two.

 

[Zsuzsika]

I lead a group of experienced divers on a cruise every year; it works out well for the folks in my group, who tend to travel with non-divers. The diving we arrange to do with the group is far superior to that offered by the cruise line, since we charter the dive boats in port and our people tend to be experienced divers who enjoy underwater photography. But diving and cruising is not for everyone. Our situation is unique in that I have control over where we dive.

The divers in my cruise group (me included) are on the cruise to go diving, so our cruises tend to be more port intensive. This is key if you are not into cruises (like most of the divers I deal with). Days are in port, but evenings are on the ship. The non-divers in our group tend to go on shore excursions and keep one another company while the divers are away. Here is my "recipe" for a successful dive cruise:

1) Book a port intensive cruise - even if you don't dive in each port of call, you'll be in a different port each day.

2) Get a balcony - a must for wet dive gear.

3) Take your own gear.

4) Make arrangements to dive in each port independent of the cruise line.

5) Go on the cruise with your dive buddy and a non-diving buddy if you are traveling with a non-diver. This is key to having a great time.

6) All cruises tend to be similar - book one whose itinerary includes good ports for diving. Our favorite is Princess.

You can get a feel for what diving on a cruise is like by visiting our group blog.

Good luck.

 

[BWDscott]

My wife and I are avid divers, both at home, and while on vacation. We have become big fans of Princess Cruises, for their itineraries and their service.

We have put together very lightweight travel kits that fit in a carry-on bag and are legal size to fit in the overhead if we fly to our cruise. Aqua Lung Zuma BC with Airsource 3 integrated octo/inflator, Aqua Lung Hot Shot fins (love 'em), Atomic T2 reg with Suunto D9 wireless wrist mount computer. My wife's rig is similar, with her own reg setup.

April had us diving St John in USVI, Dominica, Bonaire and Aruba. We are going to let Princess cook Thanksgiving diner for us in November while we dive Cayman, Roatan, Belize and Cozumel.

Great diving can be had at some of the great dive destinations around the world. You just can't get a dive sampler like that any other way.

 

[Mike]

I am not sure where to ask this question so here goes.

My wife and I recently returned from a week in cozumel. I did 2 to three dives every day, morning boat dives and evening shore dives (except before flying) and would have done more if I could have. I dive every chance I get at home also. My wife dives also but not as much as me.

I am already planning our next dive trip. Here's the problem. My wife has talked to people who say they are divers but dive once or twice a year when they go on vacation. They have convinced her a cruise is better than a dive trip and you can dive when you get in port.

Here is my problem, I would rather be on a small boat each day heading to a reef rather than spending days sitting on a moving city heading to tourist trap shops and drinking and eating myself to sleep each night.

Is there any decent diving to be had from a cruise ship, is there even enough time when in port? I am very particular about my gear and do not use a poodle jacket or any one else's regulator. is it worthwhile to take my own gear? Am I doomed to suffer through this or can I get my dive fix from a cruise ship?

Thanks for your input.

In my opinion - no.

I like to dive, I like to go on cruises, but I've stopped trying to mix them together. If you're a new diver, odds are you'll enjoy cruise ship diving no matter what cause it's all new and exciting, but I've found over time with enough dive experience I got to the point that the pointlessness of cruise ship diving overwhelmed the experience. I slowly came to the realization that diving from cruise ships means almost always crappy diving. Any decent dive op will be treating you differently coming off a cruise ship. A good dive shop will protect it's reefs from you (this has been stated more than once on these forums from dive shops commenting on cruise ship dive business), they will limit you to the simplest, most mediocre dive sites. There is an odd exception here and there, but for the most part any experienced diver can tell whats going on, who they are being forced to dive with and how the dive ops have to act accordingly. It' siimply not worth it to me to expend the effort and time involved for the dive experience you end up with. I save the diving for dive trips.

You know who you'll be stuck with diving on cruise ship dives? The people you described in your post that are going on the cruise with you. Actually they are higher up the food chain, since they are diving once a year on cruises, that puts them higher up, because most of the people you'll be diving with will have 2-4 years between their last dives. And dive ops have to act accordingly to deal with this lowest common denominator.

Now I will say there are exceptions to this, I can think of any of the already really touristy 'canned' dives like the shark dive on Roatan or the shark dive in the Bahamas, the dolphin dives on Roatan, Sting Ray city in the Caymans, those types of dives will be the same whether you are coming off a cruise ship or staying for a week on the island.

 

[TSandM]

We did a cruise and dive trip on the Paul Gauguin in the South Pacific a couple of years ago. The cruise part was as nice as I think cruises can be; the boat was lovely, service was superb, food was excellent and wines were very good. We covered a lot of ground, but had only two total sea days, I think. They are very inventive with activities on the boat to keep one amused on those days; we had Jean-Michel Cousteau as a guest lecturer, along with a cultural anthropologist, and the days were not completely dull.

We mostly dove through the ship . . . although they usually support diving activities with their own personnel and RIBs, on this cruise, they had more divers than they had ever seen before, so they arranged the diving through local shops. Mostly, they were fine. (We had issues with the Top Dive folks on Moorea.) We did find out that diving was available in places where they had not offered any, and were we to do the trip again, I would make my own arrangements for those sites. There was generally enough time in port to do two dives. This meant, of course, that we did none of the other offered activities, which was fine with me.

I think, if you are trying to put together a very scenic and very relaxed vacation that will offer enough to a diver and a non-diver, a cruise probably isn't bad. I learned, from this trip, that I am not a cruise person -- I don't gamble, don't use the spa, and by cruise standards, I don't drink very much, either. I don't sit still very well for very long, unless I have Internet access

Our prior diving and boating experience was a crewed sailboat charter in the BVI, and that I'd recommend to anyone. No, you won't do five dives a day, but you'll have a custom itinerary, won't be "pod people", and you'll get pampered and fed to within an inch of your life. We did two dives a day, and spent our afternoons relaxing, reading, eating, singing and watching the scenery -- you can also, on most boats, windsurf or even waterski! Even as an avid diver, I'd go back and do it again in a heartbeat, and I know non-divers enjoy the trips, because I made two of them before I learned to dive.

 

[Zsuzsika]

You know who you'll be stuck with diving on cruise ship dives? The people you described in your post that are going on the cruise with you. Actually they are higher up the food chain, since they are diving once a year on cruises, that puts them higher up, because most of the people you'll be diving with will have 2-4 years between their last dives. And dive ops have to act accordingly to deal with this lowest common denominator.

Now I will say there are exceptions to this, I can think of any of the already really touristy 'canned' dives like the shark dive on Roatan or the shark dive in the Bahamas, the dolphin dives on Roatan, Sting Ray city in the Caymans, those types of dives will be the same whether you are coming off a cruise ship or staying for a week on the island.

This is a huge issue when I deal with dive operators who aren't familiar with my group which isn't too often - one reason we dive with the same dive operators. I have found that when I make arrangements to dive in a port, I do my best to emphasize the nature of my group. Since my group and I dive regularly, it's important they know this before we get there. I emphasize the fact that we are low maintenance and expect decent bottom time. I always ask what their DM/Inst to diver ratio is, and how they handle a "mixed" group. All the dive operators we use will group less experienced folks together, and have someone in the water with the divers who still have lots of air left towards the end of the dive. We dive with cameras, so it's important they know this too. I have not had too many issues come up, but I do make a point of avoiding cruise ship sponsored dives - no so much for the crowds, but for the reason you state above!

Suzi