Disney Cruise Dives, Any Advice?

[defkonmusic]

Hey Everyone,

I am leaving for a Disney cruise in a little over a week. I signed myself and my fiancee up for the only two dives Disney offers on this cruise. The first dive is in Tortola and the second is in St. Thomas. I have listed the descriptions below. If any of you have any reviews or advice for us I would appreciate it. I am very new to diving and just got my certification last week. I'm hoping these dives are a good place for a newbie to start.

Thanks


Two Tank Certified Reef Dive
Location: Tortola
Begin your day with a short 15-minute transfer to the dive shop where you are fitted with your equipment and receive a briefing on the expected conditions. Board the dive boat and make your way out to sea and one of the most unique dive locations in the Caribbean. Here you discover uniquely shaped rocks rising out of the sea. These rock formations have been described as being like an Indian head dress' feathers standing upright.

Near the bottom, fish fill the narrow passages, and large sea fans and small corals dot the walls. On the other side of the channel you find small pools filled with silversides in the summer months. This site is considered to be one of the best spots for macro life in the British Virgin Islands. Divers enjoy the variety of sea life including turtles and vibrant corals.

With two dives, including a 30-minute surface interval, you have plenty of time to explore this underwater wonderland. The maximum depth is approximately 50-60 feet. Bottled water is available between and after your dives onboard the boat. At the conclusion of your dives, take the 15-minute transfer back to the pier.


Certified Scuba in St. Thomas
Location: St. Thomas/St. John
Drop down to new depths and explore the turquoise waters of St. Thomas during this exciting two-tank dive. Exclusively available to certified divers only, this scuba-diving adventure includes an unforgettable visit to an underwater reef of fascinating coral formations and magnificent marine life, and an engaging stop at a sunken shipwreck.

 

[Jasonmh]

Hey Everyone,


Two Tank Certified Reef Dive
Location: Tortola
Begin your day with a short 15-minute transfer to the dive shop where you are fitted with your equipment and receive a briefing on the expected conditions. Board the dive boat and make your way out to sea and one of the most unique dive locations in the Caribbean. Here you discover uniquely shaped rocks rising out of the sea. These rock formations have been described as being like an Indian head dress' feathers standing upright.

Near the bottom, fish fill the narrow passages, and large sea fans and small corals dot the walls. On the other side of the channel you find small pools filled with silversides in the summer months. This site is considered to be one of the best spots for macro life in the British Virgin Islands. Divers enjoy the variety of sea life including turtles and vibrant corals.

With two dives, including a 30-minute surface interval, you have plenty of time to explore this underwater wonderland. The maximum depth is approximately 50-60 feet. Bottled water is available between and after your dives onboard the boat. At the conclusion of your dives, take the 15-minute transfer back to the pier.

I have done this site multiple times and always enjoyed it. Times we were there it was quite calm and saw tons of life, not much current, slope to the bottom is easy to follow. Nothing about it that I can think of that would make it bad for beginners, it is a very enjoyable dive.

 

[stinggirl]

I didn't know Disney offered this type of cruise. It must be wonderful. Disney does not do anything half way.

 

[defkonmusic]

I didn't know Disney offered this type of cruise. It must be wonderful. Disney does not do anything half way.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found these dives. Its a standard Disney Cruise but they offer about a million different "Adventures" (or something like that) while at shore. The two dives were just one of the options for each island. They also had discovery scuba and snorkeling for each island if you go with non certified beginners. I'm just wondering what people thought of their experiences with Disney dives. I would be pretty surprised if anyone had a bad experience with Disney.

 

[Rhone Man]

Two Tank Certified Reef Dive
Location: Tortola
Begin your day with a short 15-minute transfer to the dive shop where you are fitted with your equipment and receive a briefing on the expected conditions. Board the dive boat and make your way out to sea and one of the most unique dive locations in the Caribbean. Here you discover uniquely shaped rocks rising out of the sea. These rock formations have been described as being like an Indian head dress' feathers standing upright.

Near the bottom, fish fill the narrow passages, and large sea fans and small corals dot the walls. On the other side of the channel you find small pools filled with silversides in the summer months. This site is considered to be one of the best spots for macro life in the British Virgin Islands. Divers enjoy the variety of sea life including turtles and vibrant corals.

With two dives, including a 30-minute surface interval, you have plenty of time to explore this underwater wonderland. The maximum depth is approximately 50-60 feet. Bottled water is available between and after your dives onboard the boat. At the conclusion of your dives, take the 15-minute transfer back to the pier.

The site they are describing is called The Indians, and it is quite a nice dive, although not as spectacular as some (although last time I was there, it was a superb dive). It doesn't go below 60 feet, which is presumably why they picked it.

I am not sure from the description where the second dive is intended to be - given they talk about a 30 minute SI, and max depth of 70 feet, I would assume it must either be Spyglass or Angelfish Reef nearby.

Perfectly pleasant and not particularly technically challenging dives - you should have a good time.

Feel free to drop me a PM if you want/need more info on the BVI.

 

[Rhone Man]

Certified Scuba in St. Thomas
Location: St. Thomas/St. John
Drop down to new depths and explore the turquoise waters of St. Thomas during this exciting two-tank dive. Exclusively available to certified divers only, this scuba-diving adventure includes an unforgettable visit to an underwater reef of fascinating coral formations and magnificent marine life, and an engaging stop at a sunken shipwreck.

Not an expert on USVI wrecks by any means, but I would tentatively guess that these dives would be at Cow and Calf and on the General Rodgers. I am afraid I have never done either.

 

[Antietam]

Can only speak for the diving in St thomas. Both dives you will do with cruise ship are most likely at Buck Island with the wreck being the Cartanza. Not really much of a wreck, and not much life on it, or the reef. Your best bet is to go outside the cruise ship and book on your own. Blue Island Divers and Admiralty will both pick you up from the cruise ship dock and take you on 2 tank dives. There are much nicer beginner wrecks and reefs, than the ones the cruise ship excursions will take you to. Do your self a favor and book your dives on your own with an independent dive operator.

www.blueislanddivers.com

 

[defkonmusic]

Thanks for the advice Antietam but I have already signed up for the dives provided by Disney. I think for this trip I'm going to stick with them.

 

[mike_s]

speaking of Disney Cruises, anyone been to their "Castaway Cay" private island stop? do they do any diving there?


(I know for example that Royal Caribbean does at their CoCo Cay).

Not an expert on USVI wrecks by any means, but I would tentatively guess that these dives would be at Cow and Calf and on the General Rodgers. I am afraid I have never done either.

Cow and the Calf is nice. lots of great rock formations around it.

I don't know if they would do that from a cruise boat though as it's way over near Red Hook and a pretty far boat ride from Charlotte Amalie (harbor) as far as how far most dive boats travel for an average 4 hour example trip. (Mabye they shuttle bus them over to Red Hook and leave from there. (Don't know for sure as I've never been on a cruise to St Thomas, but just did regular visits there).

I think a lot of the cruise boat diving in St Thomas is to Coki Beach. They do a "beach break" trip there. They unload tourists by the bus load to play on the beach there etc. The dive there is a shore dive on a reef that isn't one of the greatest but still ok. (but nothing to get excited about. ) I think max depth is around 40 feet or so if I remember right.

 

[defkonmusic]

speaking of Disney Cruises, anyone been to their "Castaway Cay" private island stop? do they do any diving there?

When I was signing up for our "Shore Excursions" I looked everywhere for diving at Castaway Cay. They have snorkeling but apparently no scuba diving.