Diving while on a cruise ship

[lowlysubaruguy]

We are going to attempt to dive Cozumel and Grand Caymen while on the cruise. The question that I did not think about before I made this post is if we should carry our dive gear or not.

We are brining our gear on the flight as our trip after the cruise will be spent diving in Florida for a week before returning to the snow and ice. Hopefully thats over when we return.

So if you had your gear with you but could store it locally and not carry it on the boat would you leave it and rent gear or take it with you for what would be no more than 4 dives. We will take our masks and computers either way. Im leaning towards taking our gear but I dont know?

 

[Altamira]

We take our own gear where ever we dive. If you are going to be leaving for Florida diving after your cruise, why would you not want to take and use your own gear? If you have a balcony cabin, drying your gear is a piece of cake. If you have an inside or ocean view cabin, dealing with gear is a little more challenging but very doable. We usually get a balcony cabin, but if not, we wash our gear in the showers on the pool deck, and find some lounge chair in the shade to dry bcds and wetsuits enough to take them into the cabin without soaking the carpet. Mask, fins, regs and computers get rinsed in the cabin shower and dried on towels on whatever flat surfaces are available.

 

[gcarter]

We are going to attempt to dive Cozumel and Grand Caymen while on the cruise. The question that I did not think about before I made this post is if we should carry our dive gear or not.

We are brining our gear on the flight as our trip after the cruise will be spent diving in Florida for a week before returning to the snow and ice. Hopefully thats over when we return.

So if you had your gear with you but could store it locally and not carry it on the boat would you leave it and rent gear or take it with you for what would be no more than 4 dives. We will take our masks and computers either way. Im leaning towards taking our gear but I dont know?

Out of 384 dives, the only ones I never used my own gear were my four cert dives. I always take my gear with me.

 

[robint]

Wow, lots of opinions here and many from divers who don't cruise or haven't done it for a long time.

We have started cruising the past few years, due to surgeries etc, which kept us from doing a dedicated dive dive dive trip.
Here is what WE have found, our actual experience, cruising with Carnival cruise lines, heading out on our 10th cruise in 4 yrs in April.

We have done 4 dive days (8 dives) all booked with the cruise ship. All good, no waiting for anyone to arrive, or issues. We took our own gear but most people only bring masks and fins. Its totally up to you. Every dive op we have seen through the cruise ship has had really nice newer gear and we always ask people how their gear worked, if they had problems. Zero reported issues on our trips.

Grand Cayman... tender port for all ships, there is no pier. You tender to shore, and meet your dive op at shore, they will have a big sign. Dive op is good, nothing overwhelming, but safe and clean and gets you out and back, that's all we cared about. We book thru the ship as our port arrival time was too late to schedule with a local dive op independently - this is something you have to check before you book the cruise if it matters to you. We don't care, diving is really diving, any dive is better than no dive. We did a wall and a shallow wreck. I have 2 videos to show.

Cozumel.... this is a tough one, and I know people won't like it but it is nearly impossible to book independently here unless you have a group of 4+ divers. The reason is the port arrival times don't work with the local boat schedules at all. Most ships arrive 8-9-10am, and boats have already gone out. So unless you have a group of 4 or more, nobody will hold a boat for you. We did diving thru the ship and it was so much less of a hassle. It was fine, did Santa Rosa and Tormentos. I have 2 videos to show. Since this trip, the dive op has changed used by all the ships. Reviews online people are raving about how good it was, better than the other group we had (Sanddollar). We haven't dived with them yet.

Half Moon Cay...private island, no diving, just beach day.
Ocho Rios..Jamaica, not known for diving.

We have also done cruise ship diving at Grand Turk and Roatan....both of those were primo diving. Dive op through ship and diving were top notched.

NO, we did not have cattle boat diving. Grand Cayman was the only one where we had a larger group on the boat but we were broken into 2 groups and had our own DMs. The other ports we had 10 divers or less, normal sized groups, with a range of skills for sure. Grand Turk was the best of the dive ops, we had 1 new certified diver with her experienced boyfriend as buddy, so he wrangled her both dives, and the DM spend rest of time with us. Fantastic dives. Roatan there was a group of 3 newly certified on the dives, and they were a handful for the DM, but since the diving was so easy, we just did our own thing and stayed with the group until time to go up. Easy stuff.

FYI - I had 500+ dives before starting cruising, Ron had 900+ and certified instructor and tech diver. We aren't noobs.

My
videos:

Grand Cayman


Cozumel


Grand Turk this past May




this is just a sample for you, as I said its good diving from a cruise ship, we will continue to do it regardless of what some of these critics say.

 

[AdivingBel]

I would do what is easiest. You're on a cruise ship for a reason, not a dedicated dive trip. The diving is one of the excursions and you're fortunate enough to qualify. Be a good diver. Be friendly, kind and helpful (I'm sure you already will be ). Make some compadres for the rest of the cruise. Get caught up in the excitement of folks that may not get to dive as much as you do. Get wet. Don't try to put the experience in a box of unattainable expectations. That's like going to Bonaire and being disappointed in the lack of sharks or that there aren't enough shipwrecks in Cozumel. Enjoy it for what it is. Some of those places have nice diving even if you don't hit the "best" spots. I would take my mask (especially if it's prescription) and my DC (and maybe a pair of lycra socks & a skin). Enjoy having someone else rinse & lug the gear for a change. Most of all have fun & don't miss the boat (and enjoy your FL diving before & after the cruise). All IMHO, YMMV.

 

[Altamira]

@ robint. @lowlysubaruguy .
My wife and I are fortunate to have had the opportunity so do some 50 cruises in the last 11 years, and have dived at least a couple of the ports on most of them. Our experience with the ships' dive excursions mirrors those of @robint. We have also had very good dives with off-ship vendors. With very few exceptions, we would happily dive again with all of the dive ops we have used, whether they were ship excursions or off-ship vendors. I find the biggest difference between a ship's dive op and off ship vendor is a possible increase of cost/dive, but at a significant reduction in stress not having to worry about missing the ship departure time or missing your dive boat's departure time because of factors beyond your control.

 

[Kohanbash]

I have mostly sailed with Royal Caribbean. However often the full price of the SCUBA excursion is more than if you book yourself. However the cruise line regularly offers 10-20% off discounts which brings the cost inline with booking on your own.

 

[NAM001]

My sarcastic input........ I dont dive on cruise ships. the pool is only 4 feet deep barely snorkle worthy.

 

[Altamira]

My sarcastic input........ I dont dive on cruise ships. the pool is only 4 feet deep barely snorkle worthy.

I have been on some ships where Royal Caribbean actually does scuba training in their main pool, which is probably all of 5' deep. I think they were primarily doing the course work for their Discover Scuba excursions offered at several of the ports. But hey, if a person can maintain neutral buoyancy in 5' of water.....!

 

[NAM001]

I have been on some ships where Royal Caribbean actually does scuba training in their main pool, which is probably all of 5' deep. I think they were primarily doing the course work for their Discover Scuba excursions offered at several of the ports. But hey, if a person can maintain neutral buoyancy in 5' of water.....!

I agree but just could not help making the comment.