Cruise Western Carribean

[sanny179]

i am getting ready to take a
cruise w/ carnival valor.
G Cayman, Rotan, Belize,Cozumel.
so far i'm shore diving GC (devils grotto)
cruise booking Rotan(anthony's key)
Belize(8am-5pm) and Cozumel(8am-5pm) are open
i don't want to book thru cruise again
any info would be greatly appreciated
trip is april 13-20
thanks tony
trfine@verizon.net

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Welcome to the board, you should try running an advanced search using the locations as "title searches" because you will get a lot of good info.

I dove in Belize and Cozumel. I can check my log book when I get home to find the operator for Belize because they were good (good not great). They are the op Royal Caribbean uses. The op Royal Caribbean chose for Cozumel (Sand Dollar Sports) was awful, steer clear of them. Blue XT gets recommended often on this board for Cozuem. I've also heard several recommendations for Dive with Martin in Cozumel...but I also read one TERRIBLE review for Dive with Martin...so I can't say for sure.

But like I said, try the search and you'll get a wealth of info...but make sure to do that advanced search using titles, otherwise it will be too much info to sort through.

 

[Cajuncru Diver]

My prior experience with Carnival is that they try to optimize the time you spend on the ship and minimize the time you spend in port but with an 8-5 time framework that should leave plenty of time to cover any delays in getting back to the ship......generally you book at your peril if something delays your return if you don't go through the ship's shore excursion.....but if you can get a private operator departing mid morning you should have no trouble. If you are docking in Belize City and have to go out to Tourneff etc. check carefully the travel time to the dive site.

 

[CoyKoi]

I've done the same thing a few times, too. Here's what's worked best for me:
1. Get recommendations for a few dive operators from SB members in these forums.
2. Check out the operators' websites for information about prices, boats, rental gear, dive sites, accomodations to pick up cruise ship divers. This helps me to narrow down the list a bit more.
3. Email the operators I'm interested in telling them what dates/times I will be on island and what I want to do (2-tank morning dive, 1 tank afternoon dive, etc). If I can't find the info on their websites, I ask the operators if they have nitrox available and the cost, boat safety features, can I dive the limits of my computer or am I time restricted and especially will the operator get me back to the cruise dock on time?
4. Sign up with the operator whose responses seem best to me.

I recommend Aqua Safari for diving Cozumel. Their staff is as attentive as you want them to be. I prefer to be the only one who touches my gear and they respect my wishes. But they'll set up your gear for you if you want. Because Coz is drift diving, there will be a DM in the water with you and you are expected to stay within eyesight of the group. The viz is usually wonderful, so that's not generally a problem. You will want to stay close to the DM anyway because of all the interesting things he will find for you. The boats are in good shape, comfortable, safe and have mask and camera rinse buckets. Snacks and soft-drinks are served between dives. One of the crew is always moving among the divers serving cups of bottled water. Most of their staff has been with them for years, which says a lot in such a revolving-door business. They are also reasonably priced.

Good luck and dive safe!

 

[haha49]

i would do rotan and belize did them last year and they were by far way nicer.. i did it through the crusies ship though did them all and belize and rotan wer by far way better...

 

[diverdwn71]

I've been all over the Carribean on RCCL ships. I've always booked thru the ship because they will get you to the place you are going and back. If you book thru the ship and something happens they will hold the ship for you. If you book on your own and you are late, better have a credit card and meet up at the next port of call. This almost happened to us at Aruba because of wet swim suits. Ended up walking 5 miles back to the ship before if left. I loved GC, we used Red Sail sports and had a great 2 tank boat dive. I have been to Cozumel diving on a cruise twice. Booked once with the ship "Sand Dollar" it was ok. Second time we walked down the pier and found a dive shop and booked a afternoon dive. It was great, just my wife and me and the dive master.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[kdp77]

Hey Sanny179. My husband and I are on that same cruise and looking for diving advice as well...maybe between us, we can figure it all out and maybe even do some dives together. We had a bad experience last year on a RC cruise, we booked diving through RC and they never showed up, we ended up booking our own diving anyway, but a good point that was made is that is there is any problems, the boat will wait for you if you book through Carnival. We should keep in touch on this board, hopefully more people will have advice for us.

 

[sanny179]

thank you all
i have read thru this board for a week now and have been greatly enlightened
as to diving from a cruise ship.i'm confident with my choices so far. i was looking for
specific dive operations for Belize and Cozumel that maybe someone knew was totally reliable to pick up from dock and return in a safe time frame. contacted bluextc but
they could not fit me in. kdpdrake1-i would very much like to hook up if possible.
i am diving alone as i am traveling with non-divers
thanks again
tony

 

[LowVizWiz]

I took that same cruise on the Valor last year with non divers... great trip!
I dove with AKR in Roatan great op and nice big boats! You will enjoy them.
As far as Cozumel goes, I would suggest Dive with Martin! They are right by the dock and won't need to leave the ship terminal to dive with them.
Belize is a different story because of the distance of the dive sites I wanted to check out. I opted not to dive there and did cave tubing with the family instead.

Enjoy your cruise.
Wys

 

[DivingPrincessE]

I forgot to mention something.

First of all...I wouldn't worry too much about this whole "dive with the ship excursion so you don't get left behind" If your dives are in the morning, shortly after you get there you will have plenty of time to get back.

NOW, that said...I would dive with the ship excursion in Belize because Belize is tendered not docked. So they let everyone with excursions booked through the ship off first. This takes a while because TONS of people do the zipline/cave tubing thing. Then once they are all gone, then they let people take numbers to get on the tender boats. I've heard this can take a while...but I don't know for sure because I got off with the excursion people. So it's just easier to go with the ship excursion and not have to worry as much about the tendering thing.