Cruise ship diving

[mitchdives]

We got back on Saturday. Great cruise on a great ship! You should love it. I booked 2 of 4 dive days with private operators (Grand Cayman and Roatan). The other two (Coz and Belize) with ship excursion. Here's the skinny:

G. Cayman: Dove with Eden Rock, just a short walk from where the tender drops you. Their dive boat was out of commission so we had to do the shore dive to Eden Rock Grotto and Devils Grotto. Both were excellent dives despite our disappointment over the busted boat.

Roatan: Dove with Native Sons on the west side of the island. They gave very personal, friendly service. Alvin (owner/divemaster) was the best. We did 3 dives (walls, wreck of the Aguila, and reefs) and for 2 people it cost $170 including the round trip cab fare and tips. Our cabbie was punctual in picking us up at exactly 3:30 and we got back to the ship in plenty of time. Their website is www.nativesonsroatan.com. I highly recommend them.

Belize: Dove with NCL shore excursion. Although very expensive, the ship had to tender in Belize and the dive boat picked us up directly from the ship. The boat was a 46' Newton and the crew very competent and friendly. As far as a cattleboat, we only had about 8 divers so the boat wasn't full. The dives were a wall and the reef at Turneffe atoll. They were OK but not great. The viz was only about 50 to 75 feet, probably due to the weather, and the marine life was sparse.

Cozumel: Again dove with NCL excursion. This was the best dive in terms of marine life and water clarity. The boat, a 40' dive boat, was from the Sorkle/Dive Center. Again, it wasn't full so I didn't get the feeling of being on a cattle boat. The crew was friendly and knowledgeable and the dives were great (Palantar reef and wall, and Santa Rosa reef).

My overall recommedation is to book your own excursions with private operators. NCL charges literally double what the operators charge them, making the shore excursions a total rip off. Most of the private operators cater to cruise passengers and know that you need to get back to the ship. Check to make sure they are flexible in this regard. Those that I dove with were very accomodating.

You can view all the photos I took on the trip in my gallery on scubaboard.

Please let me know if you need any more info.

 

[colonelchuck]

Great Report, thanks Mitch. I'm doing Coz in March and have promised my non diving wife that I would only dive twice on our NCL Sun trip. If you had to choose between G.Cayman, Roatan and Belize, which would you choose?

Other opinions are most welcome.

 

[Corigan]

Hey Chuck,

Just got back from the NCL Dream. Went to Cozumel, Cancun, Belize, and Roatan. I was traveling with my non-diver girlfriend so diving was semi-sparse but I did book two excursions through NCL to dive in Belize and Roatan.

I dove in Roatan with AKR. Pretty nice 48' boat named the barracuda. There were quite a few people on board so it was definately a cattle boat tour. Nevertheless they just gave you freedom to go about and explore and run your tanks empty before having to surface. Got in two nice dives with them. Was a lighter load on the 2nd dive as some decided to get off the boat after the first. The Reef was really superb as we dove two spots on the north side. We dove the Green Outhouse Wall and Overheat. I liked Overheat quite a bit. Saw all sorts of great micro critters all over the reef. The water was a nice 85F and I dove in swimming trunks and a shirt.. Viz was around 75 feet or so. Others came back from the Shark Dive excursion from Roatan and it looked to be amazing. They were raving about it and had some awesome digital photos to back it up. I would definately consider the shark dive depending on experience level.

I dove through the boat on the Turnefee Atoll excursion. Was pretty nice, Hugh Parkey was the dive op and they were first class. Nice big boat, plenty of drinks and food for Service interval time as well. I got to dive with JustVincent from scubaboard on this trip. It was a pleasure, hope you got home alright Vince. This op broke us down into 4 groups of just 4 divers and we just mainly buddied up and cruised the sites. Was a great set of dives. Dove out of Grand bogue and did two sites, Jo Jo's Split and Lee Ellen's Melons. Sue Ellen's Melons was amazing. Viz was around 70' and the water was around 83 degrees so I just dove in swimming trunks and a shirt again. Had a really cool DM on this trip as well. Would definately love to go back and dive with these guys again. Saw a big ray, some bottlenose dolphins, spiny lobsters, pair of cudas, and a nice abduant supply of micro critters. Plenty of conch's and other life were abudant as well.

Had a great time on the trip and hope you have fun wherever you dive. I'm booked for a trip on the NCL Jewel Next Nov. Might end up just getting my deposit money back and flying into somewhere with a dive package and stay a week instead. Have fun on your trip and please report back to us!

Matt

 

[colonelchuck]

Hey Chuck,

Just got back from the NCL Dream. Went to Cozumel, Cancun, Belize, and Roatan. I was traveling with my non-diver girlfriend so diving was semi-sparse but I did book two excursions through NCL to dive in Belize and Roatan.
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Had a great time on the trip and hope you have fun wherever you dive. I'm booked for a trip on the NCL Jewel Next Nov. Might end up just getting my deposit money back and flying into somewhere with a dive package and stay a week instead. Have fun on your trip and please report back to us!

Matt

Thanks Matt. Excellent report. It sounds like I can experience a couple of great places with a minimum of extra effort if I simply book the NCL dives content in the knowledge that I'm paying more. That will do fine as my recon and help decide where to go off and stay for a week.

cheers and thanks

 

[coach87]

Our group just got back from a weekend wedding cruise on RCCL this December. We had 10 divers in our group. The dive cost @$80 each. We did a 2 tank dive in Cozomel. We chose Paradise Divers as our operator. They did a great job all around, especially on the predive brief.

We were responsible for a short cab ride to the dive shop after which we were taken care of. Our ship arrived at 10am. We were at the dive shop by 11AM and in the water by 12:30. The Dive boat even dropped us off at the ship pier to save us a cab ride. We were back on the ship by 4pm and drinking at Carlos and Charlies by 4:30.

Hope this helps. I would dive with them again.

Coach

 

[scuba91709]

Hello All,

Just back from the new Mexican Riviera on the NCL Norwegian Star. The cruise ship was over priced in Ixtapa and Cabo and close to right in Pto. Vallarta. Water was warm and the Shore Excursions group was run by almost all PADI Instructors

 

[Foo]

That will do fine as my recon and help decide where to go off and stay for a week.

This is the crux of cruising/cruise-diving. I kind of think of it as ordering the "sampler-platter" appetizer. You visit several places, and sample them- then, you are able to make a more reasonable choice when deciding where to do fly-ins. Prior to cruising, there were some places that I thought I would like to go stay for vacation. Then, after visiting for a day, I could figure out which places I would prefer, and wish to visit again for an extended period.

Still working on getting to Roatan to stay for a while. Definately high on the list. I probably never would have heard of it, nor been a diver, unless I had taken my first cruise 5 years ago. I fell in love with the reefs and fish on my first blue water experience, snorkeling in Roatan on Tabiana (sp?) Beach.

Foo