There's a lot of bogus information in this thread....
I've traveled quite a bit and frequently it was on a Royal Caribbean ship. I work in clinical diagnostics and the company I work for made the blood cell counters, chemistry, and hemostasis systems onboard RCCL's ships and I installed a significant number of them as an onboard contractor. (a contractor boards as a passenger and is treated like a passenger for the most part)
The cruise lines do not double the prices you'd pay as a walk-up diver. It is true their profit margin is greater based on them buying dive spots in bulk.
It was never my experience the cruise divers were taken on "lesser" dives, they were taken to the same locations other divers that weren't from the ship were being taken.
Keep in mind, the cruise ship provides the transportation to the dive shop as part of their price. It's about a thirty drive in Nassau to Stuart Cove's. Same thing in Hilo and Aruba. In Panama, it was nearly an hour. In Cayman, only 10 minutes.
I've booked a couple on my own as well and they were usually $10 cheaper (except in Coz, where it was $20 ($75 versus $55). I've also had a couple dives cancelled onboard due to weather or lack of divers. When that happens, you'll have absolutely no problem getting a refund if your dive was booked through the cruise ship.
I personally have had just as good of an experience booking with the ship as I've had when I booked on my own.
And for the record, I'm not some easily impressed newb with 15 dives. I live in Fort Lauderdale and have close to 1000 dives logged the last 12 years in places like Truk, Hawaii, California, all over the Caribbean, Central America, Guam, and my backyard (Pompano Beach or the Gulf of Mexico).
I've traveled quite a bit and frequently it was on a Royal Caribbean ship. I work in clinical diagnostics and the company I work for made the blood cell counters, chemistry, and hemostasis systems onboard RCCL's ships and I installed a significant number of them as an onboard contractor. (a contractor boards as a passenger and is treated like a passenger for the most part)
The cruise lines do not double the prices you'd pay as a walk-up diver. It is true their profit margin is greater based on them buying dive spots in bulk.
It was never my experience the cruise divers were taken on "lesser" dives, they were taken to the same locations other divers that weren't from the ship were being taken.
Keep in mind, the cruise ship provides the transportation to the dive shop as part of their price. It's about a thirty drive in Nassau to Stuart Cove's. Same thing in Hilo and Aruba. In Panama, it was nearly an hour. In Cayman, only 10 minutes.
I've booked a couple on my own as well and they were usually $10 cheaper (except in Coz, where it was $20 ($75 versus $55). I've also had a couple dives cancelled onboard due to weather or lack of divers. When that happens, you'll have absolutely no problem getting a refund if your dive was booked through the cruise ship.
I personally have had just as good of an experience booking with the ship as I've had when I booked on my own.
And for the record, I'm not some easily impressed newb with 15 dives. I live in Fort Lauderdale and have close to 1000 dives logged the last 12 years in places like Truk, Hawaii, California, all over the Caribbean, Central America, Guam, and my backyard (Pompano Beach or the Gulf of Mexico).
