Best big cruise ship itineraries for diving?

[timetraveler]

If you're looking for something closer to home, consider a Western Caribbean cruise out of Tampa or Miami. Carnival has itineraries where you can dive in four countries in 7 days and all of them have excellent diving: Grand Cayman, Belize, Roatan, and Cozumel.

 

[TN Traveler]

There is also several cruises out of New Orleans to the Western Caribbean. Driving time from East TN is about the same to either Tampa or NOLA. The ports and times are better on the NOLA cruises.

Plus NOLA is much more fun if you want to spend a day or two before/after the cruise.

 

[carrie]

A question for you guys: do you have recommendations for operators/ and ship vs. private trip for Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Roatan and Costa Maya? Any other advice is appreciated. I've been to 1st 3 on dive trips, but this time I'm on Celebrity Solstice on August 29th. Thanks! Carrie (PS: I'm an experienced diver)

 

[Tandoorii]

A question for you guys: do you have recommendations for operators/ and ship vs. private trip for Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Roatan and Costa Maya? Any other advice is appreciated. I've been to 1st 3 on dive trips, but this time I'm on Celebrity Solstice on August 29th. Thanks! Carrie (PS: I'm an experienced diver)

Cayman: Here's the problem for you at Cayman. All ships tender in. So if you are on a ship arranged dive excursion, you'll be first off the ship. If you have arranged your own, you'll have to wait your turn AFTER all the other excursions get off. That can be time consuming. You run the risk of not meeting your self-arranged dive trip on time. You may get lucky and make it, however. I've done it both ways and was successful.

Booking with the ship, I really enjoyed Don Fosters, which is within walking distance from the port. One of the most beautifully designed dive boats I've ever been on. Not crowded at all. The other time I arranged directly with Dive Paradise (walking distance) and they were OK.

None of the 2 tank dives go very far and it's likely you'll see the ship wherever you go. The reefs are very close to shore and as most ships leave 4-5pm, and with that tendering thing, it limits the time you have.

Either way, have fun.

 

[timetraveler]

In Grand Cayman I'd recommend Ocean Frontiers, but they're on the East End of the island (where the better diving is) and I don't know whether you'd have time to make their dive and get back to your ship on time. When we sail to Grand Cayman, we shore dive at Eden Rock Diving Center. Cayman's Best Boat and Shore Diving You can easily walk there from the tender dock. You can rent whatever you need at the shop, including lockers, and enter the water right off their dock for two interesting dives.
In Cozumel, my favorite dive op is Blue XT-Sea Cozumel Diving: Blue XT SEA Diving, Cozumel Mexico If your ship gets in early enough to meet their boat's 8 AM departure, they're well worth the trouble.
In Roatan I dive with Subway Watersports. Roatan Shore Excursions Tours Activities - scuba diving - snorkeling - kayaking They'll pick you up at the cruise pier, take you diving, and deliver you back before all-aboard. We've dived with them twice and have been very pleased both times.
I avoid ship's diving excursions whenever I can. They almost always cost more, often provide comparatively poor service and sometimes attract divers who are a danger to themselves and others.

 

[Zsuzsika]

I was approached by an online cruise message board that organizes groups on cruises to cosider leading a dive group aboard a mass market cruise ship - that was six years ago. I am not in the business - meaning I am not a travel agent, and simply do these trips so I can get all our dives comped, which often costs more than the cruise. There's a travel agent who books the cruise, so I can focus on the dives.

A trip like this is not for everyone, but we sell out every year because the people who dive with us also usually have non-divers in tow. Since we have relationships with dive operators in the ports we visit, most will work with me and provide my dive group a much better experience than the cruise line could.

That said, I have to agree that nothing about a cruise & dive vacation is in my opinion exotic. But for the diver who wants to satify his or urge to dive and still provide a fun vacation for the non-divers in the family, it's a nice compromise.

 

[robjackson_97]

In July I sailed on Carnivals exotic Western Caribbean cruise with stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Honduras and Belize City. My family and I dove in each location with various dive operators that I arranged in advance.

he Grand Cayman Island was our least favorite and most expensive diving. In GCM we used Neptune Divers. The charge was $101 per diver for two tanks using our own equipment. We had to pay a taxi $20 to get to Seven Mile beach and another $10 to return via bus. They were very cautious on bottom time even though we were all experience divers and had our own computers.

Cozumel is one of my favorite dive sites. We used Dive with Martin and the fee was $85 for a two tank diving including dive equipment. I had used Dive with Martin 2 years earlier on a week long trip to Cozumel. The dive master, Miguel, was terrific. He let us choose the dive sites, we dove our own profiles and he was outstanding at pointing out things along the dive. Cozumel has a great wall and a lot to see. There was only 5 people, four of them being my family, on the dive boat.

In Roatan we used Subway Water Sports. When we arrived at the terminal, Ray the dive master was waiting for us. He drove us across the island for about 30 minutes to the northeast side. It was very quiet and peaceful. The charge was $90 per person for a two tank dive using our own equipment. The dive sites are about 10 minutes away from the dive shop. The dive was great and there are a lot of sites near them. Ray was a great dive master showing us around. We got to dive our own profiles and were never rushed. There was only 5 people on the dive boat.

In Belize we used Sea Sport Belize. I could only find two dive operators in Belize City, Sea Sport and the dive operator hired by the cruise line. The fee was $112.50 per person using our own equipment, but included a hot lunch and soft drinks. The diving was good and I really liked the dive master Jamani. He was very courteous and allowed us to dive our own profiles. There were 6 divers on the boat. I spoke with another passenger on the cruise line who used the cruise lines services. He stated they had about 12 divers on the boat.

 

[carrie]

Thanks, Suzi and Rob. I'm going to check Subway right now. On GC, I've also had very restricted bottom times with a uniform extra 15 minutes if you had a dive computer. Always had lots of air and time left, unfortunately. But I don't have a buddy so I'm not going to shore dive.

 

[carrie]

OH, I just remembered a question: in Roatan, have you ever dived with Barefoot Divers? Just wondering because they're near Mary's Place. (which I know there's no guarantee we'd go to. I spoke to them and they said to scan last few pages from my dive log and I'd send them page from when I did Mary's Place with Native Sons.) Suzi, if you say go with Subway, I will.

 

[georoc01]

Paul Gaugin would be a dream choice..

But if you are looking for Caribbean diving, I would think Southern Caribbean out of Puerto Rico would be a better choice where you can get in 5 ports in a week, including some places that are harder to get to. I have seen Princess & Celebrity cruises that have a set of ports like
Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire & Curacao. That would be a great quartet of dive locations in a single week.