Carnival Valor 11/21/10 any divers?

[underseahunter]

Hello fellow divers,

Anyone going out on the Carnival Valor 11/21/2010? Seems to be an awesome set of islands to dive: Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize City, and Cozumel...

Any advice on SCUBA vendors besides:
Anthony's Key Resort for Roatan
Sand Dollar for Cozumel

Who does Carnival use in Grand Cayman?
Who does Carnival use in Belize to dive "turnereef atoll?"
Besides flying east to the Blue Hole are there any better sites nearby than this one?

I only ask after having searched, and there seems to be a dearth of information about anybody diving on this trip.

Tell me what y'all think about the current weather, viz, whale shark fly-by's, mermaids, or anything that is a must see or do.

Thanks,

underseahunter

 

[donhealy]

Take a look at one of the Carnival Valor threads for my reports. There are others from other people too. I went in mid August.

Off The Wall - Grand Cayman.

Hugh Parkey's - Belize. (Ship's contractor) They pick you up at the ship and return you there. Its much better than trying to go ashore by tender. Actually, I really liked Hugh Parkey's. We went Turn Atoll. Good dive sites.
Roatan - Use Banarama or one of the other land based dive shops mentioned in other threads. Anthony Keys was OK but they took you to some way over used dive sites.

Cozumel - Take your pick of some great dive shops. I used Pelagic Dive and was very happy with them. Its a small outfit but Troy, the owner, is all about customer satisfaction. He'll go out if its just one person.

Enjoy your trip,

Don

 

[roatandivingdiva]

In Roatan, Barefoot Divers at Barefoot Cay Resort is a great dive center. They keep the groups small, and they're just a few minutes away from the Mahogany Bay dock. They dive the south side of the island, which only has a few dive shops diving it, so sites are more pristine.

 

[underseahunter]

Thanks to all the information on these boards I had some great dives.

Here is some feedback for anyone diving from the Carnival Valor ( or any cruise ship )
going to ROATAN or COZUMEL

Carnival uses sand dollar in cozumel for their official 2 tank shore excursions BUT>>>

I can speak very highly of Pelagic Divers in Cozumel. Welcome to Pelagic Ventures Canadian expat Troy was very flexible with our ship's off kilter, and backwards schedule. Panga boat with lot's of room. NOT a CATTLE boat. Not crowded. The divemaster made sure we were all good to go, and the captain got us on some nice spots. I would have NO PROBLEMS booking more dives with these cool cats again... and want to.


Carnival uses Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan for their 2 tank dives BUT>>>

I had an absolute blast with Barefoot Divers Roatan, Honduras. " www.barefootdiversroatan.com " If the captain of our cruise ship ( Valor ) had managed to get us into mahogany bay it would have been much closer than where we docked at coxen hole. Still Barefoot Divers had a cab waiting for us right outside the cruise dock. Ken (Kenso Johnson 504 95 79 52 76 cell) the cab driver was cool, honest, and reliable. The marina at Barefoot was AWESOME! The staff professional and efficient. Got us all out to the dive sites in double quick time. The spots we dove on the south side were much more pristine than my last trip to the north side just outside AKR. It is my sincere hope that anybody headed to Roatan by cruise ship or otherwise get the chance to utilize these Barefoot Divers!

I personally want to get back to Roatan asap. The water is clear and warm, and the beers delicious and cold.

Off the Wall Divers, Grand Cayman was very accomodating given that Carnival's website glitched my reservation. They managed to make space for me, but since we ended up missing GC totally, it was still a nice gesture. So from what I can tell...
Carnival utilizes Don Foster's Dive Cayman LTD. for their Grand Cayman shore excursions (at least that is what my ticket says). So I am unsure if this is the same as "off the wall." ???

A guest on our cruise ship needed medical evac, and thus the Valor changed course, flank speed for cozumel. Instead of tying up overnight in Cozumel, and letting us off the ship in Cozumel next day... Instead we steamed overnight for the "fake" port of Costa Maya INSTEAD OF GRAND CAYMAN! Be warned, this time of year november december GCayman apparently get's bumped from many itinerary's!

It is my personal opinion that if we can put a man on the moon, then we can surely put in a cruise dock somewhere in grand cayman, and eliminate this tender fiasco forever. I have been told that there are vested $$ interests to keep the tenders employed. They should realize that if even if one cruise ship misses GC (because oooh it's too rough for safe tendering ) the whole darn island loses money. Even the most greenie reef hugging enviromentalist realizes that sea life can grow on a concrete piling, AND that less tendering little boats means less pollution. duh. Oh, and don't tell me it's too deep either. There is no such thing.

Carnival Valor made change and took us to their fresh new facility at "Costa Maya."
Costa Maya (mahahual, mx) had had a lot of rain for the weeks before we arrived and the water was understandably cloudy 60foot max viz. at least where we dove.
The Carnival official shore excursion vendor seems to be:
" Dreamtime Dive Resort " did the best they could to get us max bottom time. One cannot blame them for the viz afterall. I would go back in the dry season. The mermaids they use as divemasters could not have been better.


So thanks again, and the best of luck to all the divers out there determined (like me) to also dive from cruise ships.


One last tip... bring a few yard sized extra tough garbage bags if you intend to bring your own gear. That way you can jam all your wet gear into the garbage bag, and put the whole thing INSIDE your (dry) rolling dive bag. No drippage. Also you can then get that gear mess out of the shower without dripping all over the cabin carpet. Your room steward, and the cruise line will appreciate that too.

Have fun, be safe, dive more, and NEVER TOUCH THE REEF!