2airishuman
Contributor
A success story for those of you contemplating this.
Several non-diving family members wanted to go on a 7 day cruise, and settled on the Norwegian Pearl with an itinerary of: Miami--at sea--Ocho Rios, Jamaica--Grand Cayman--Cozumel--at sea--Key West--Miami.
I contacted several dive shops well in advance of the cruise and booked dives as follows:
Grand Cayman -- Off The Wall Divers, morning wreck and reef
Cozumel -- Aldora, afternoon one-tank drift dive
Key West -- Captain's Corner, morning double-dip on the Vandenberg
I brought all my own gear except tanks and weights. I can carry everything in a backpack setup I've made that attaches to my backplate. I removed and checked the fins (due to size) and the linecutter (due to TSA paranoia) and carried it on for the air travel portion of the trip. There were no serious problems with security at the TSA checkpoint, the ports, or the ship, although inexperienced screeners that didn't know what it was asked questions and went through everything on one occasion.
Off The Wall Divers and Aldora were willing to run a boat to match the cruise ship's shore window. The shore window matched Captain's Corner's existing schedule. All operators were within easy walking distance of the cruise port, and there was plenty of time to make connections. The operators asked about my diving history and provided some great dives that were appropriate to my experience and abilities. No time wasted on checkout dives or the equivalent.
I didn't dive in Ocho Rios because the quality of the diving is (reportedly) poor and the available operators have mixed reviews.
Several non-diving family members wanted to go on a 7 day cruise, and settled on the Norwegian Pearl with an itinerary of: Miami--at sea--Ocho Rios, Jamaica--Grand Cayman--Cozumel--at sea--Key West--Miami.
I contacted several dive shops well in advance of the cruise and booked dives as follows:
Grand Cayman -- Off The Wall Divers, morning wreck and reef
Cozumel -- Aldora, afternoon one-tank drift dive
Key West -- Captain's Corner, morning double-dip on the Vandenberg
I brought all my own gear except tanks and weights. I can carry everything in a backpack setup I've made that attaches to my backplate. I removed and checked the fins (due to size) and the linecutter (due to TSA paranoia) and carried it on for the air travel portion of the trip. There were no serious problems with security at the TSA checkpoint, the ports, or the ship, although inexperienced screeners that didn't know what it was asked questions and went through everything on one occasion.
Off The Wall Divers and Aldora were willing to run a boat to match the cruise ship's shore window. The shore window matched Captain's Corner's existing schedule. All operators were within easy walking distance of the cruise port, and there was plenty of time to make connections. The operators asked about my diving history and provided some great dives that were appropriate to my experience and abilities. No time wasted on checkout dives or the equivalent.
I didn't dive in Ocho Rios because the quality of the diving is (reportedly) poor and the available operators have mixed reviews.
