PADI certification on Royal Caribbean?

[1_T_Submariner]

Take the class at home. Maybe check some different shops if $600 is too much. Mine was about $300 +entry fees (all other equipment included).

I did 6 dives in my course. The last 2 where more fun but still with the class.

I wouldn't get hung up on the acronym that is on the card. Find an instructor that you connect with that has time to talk to and listen (ask some questions) to you before you sign up for the class.

 

[ctyhallcoolio]

Do it.... its great. Royal Carribean offers both scuba diver and the full open water. I just got my OW cert in March 2008 on The Voyager of the Seas out of Houston and did 2 dives in the Cayman Islands and 2 dives on Cozumel all under the watchful eyes of RCI really cool DM's. It is a bit confusing on getting the class setup right. The problem is that you can't book online the OW class before the cruise via there shore excursion tools. It only lets you book the scuba diver version. This is a known flaw and I asked the DM's on the boat why that was and they said they get complaints about it but its just the silly way it works. You might be able to get the full OW booked by calling their reservation desk but I'm not sure I found out on the boat this info... thinking I was getting the OW but its easy to get put into the right class.

What you have to do is once getting on the ship go up the the dive shop (it will be on the pool deck) and when picking up your packet tell them you want to upgrade to the full Open water course. They will give you a different set of sheets for class schedule, pool times ect and there is extra cost of $150 to upgrade to the OW. So total price is 249 scuba diver +150 for OW grand total of 399 that is a steal compared to any dive shop course. Also as a bonus if you buy gear from them they knock another 100 bucks off your class. Nothing like high end, fully under warranty covered, duty free, new dive gear. Yes I'm hooked and bought mine there after the class they beat my local dive shop prices plus no tax. The class fees includes the nice blue zipper carrier with the Open Water Diver Manual, Blue AIR RDP tables and some extra notes and lesson papers.

The classes meet while at sea and you watch the Padi open water DVD's, have class discussion, review the knowledge questions from the book, and get overviews of the gear and really good safety coverage. I had 2 separate 4.5hour class sessions and 2 seperate 3 hour of pool time sessions. That's 9hrs total class and 6 hrs total pool. Then went on 2 days of 2 tank shore dives (4total) then came back after day2 and took the test. The DM's take your picture and give you the paper work to send in and 3-4 weeks later you get your OW card in the mail from PADI.

My biggest recommendation for this is to purchase the PADI Open water DVD's and watch them ahead of the cruise. I got mine off scuba.com SKU#057059 for $36.95. You have to do quite a bit of reading to so you are ready for the class sections. But that is easy while laying out under the sun, but they do expect you to have the reading done and the questions answered before class. They give you the book as part of the class fee so I would not buy the book but buying the DVD's gives you all the head start and plenty more to complete the book work with ease. Then the only kinda boring part is rewatching the DVD's in class again... but that will get it all fresh in your head.

I was very pleased with the RCI course and would recommend taking this route if you don't mind burning some of your at sea time with learning, class time, and in the pool.

Feel free to private message me if you want any additional details.

 

[24940]

So total price is 249 scuba diver +150 for OW grand total of 399 that is a steal compared to any dive shop course.

FWIW, I teach at a LDS and the course full rate is $299. Many months, we do twofers.

The course consists 6 class and 6 pool (12' deep pool, not 5'), for a minimum of 24 hours. Checkouts run two days and more instruction is received at the dive site. Checkout days run anywhere from 3-6 hours on site.

How do you adequately practice descents, ascents and buoyancy control in a 5' pool?

 

[Web Monkey]

The classes meet while at sea and you watch the Padi open water DVD's, have class discussion, review the knowledge questions from the book, and get overviews of the gear and really good safety coverage. I had 2 separate 4.5hour class sessions and 2 seperate 3 hour of pool time sessions.

What pool did they use?

I couldn't find anything deeper than 5' on the ship.

Terry

 

[ctyhallcoolio]

Sure price not a steal.... maybe... but better I suppose than the folks I checked with locally. All of them had the class prices then hit you extra for the gear rental of BC, tank, wetsuit, air fills, lake fees, ect... the add on items just never seemed to end. All of this was included in the class price on the boat. They had Seaquest Pro QD BCD's, Legend regs, various shorty and long wetsuits, fins, weight belts for those that didn't want to go weight integrated. All were provided to you in a carry bag you checked out and turned in when done.

Sure it sounds like less overall hours was on the ship class so maybe in comparing hours of instruction to price, I got less for the money... who knows but for what I paid I felt comfortable and reasonably prepared. Wish I could have found a 2 for 1 training deal close to home. But I doubt I would find such an all inclusive one for the price where you just show up with a mask and snorkel.

As for the pool I'm 6ft tall and when standing on the bottom of the pool there was still water above me but maybe only 8 inches and of course that was in the deep end. We seemed to have enough room to do the skills and were not rushed thru the pool work. We lost one wife from the course that couldn't get the underwater skills of mask and reg remove and I think they refunded the whole class to her. Sure deeper would have been nicer but at my local shop the deep end of the pool where it is 11 is not a lot of room to get around in.

On each of the dives before getting wet there was additional review and planning. Once in the water they started out with skills in the water close to dock/shore and various practice items. We swam out a bit did some looking around, then even more skills, then more looking, and more skills to keep it intresting. All was shore/seawall diving for entry. Time seems pretty well split between getting to enjoy and see stuff and with doing the skill work. The DM was checking us off and assigning rating so we seemed to be following the PADI evaluation guide as he had us do each skill.

It worked out for me since I'm not a big cruiser and gave me time away from the wife heheh and kid on the at sea days. If you planning on being busy on those days at sea drinking and partying then probably the ship option is not for you. It is a lot of work to be done while on vacation. There were a bunch of early morning meeting at 7:15, of course, because that was when the pool was free but the classroom times were in the afternoon.

I've since started AOW from a local shop to get more instruction and practice and tune up anything I might have missed. I plan to head out with them as much as possible in the local lakes in the next months and then on a trip later in the year. Over all I consider the boat course time well spent for me, and know its a continous process of learning to get better and safer.

 

[fisherdvm]

As I understand, PADI simply require that a pool is deeper than a person's ability to stand from the bottom and reach the top. So even a 5 ft pool is OK for a kid who is 4 ft tall. I guess if the pool is 6 ft 8 inches, then you simply can not certify NBA basketball players.

Advantages of such a short pool would be safety when one beginning to practice skills. A diver bolting from such depth would less likely get barotrauma from breath holding than from 11 or 14 ft. Second is that being the pool is smaller, one would have to practice buoyancy control more in the ocean. The fin pivot might be OK to practice, but simply neutral bouayncy would be tougher as you are in the most unforgiving part of the water, before you float to the surface.

Another disadvantage is that a person prone to ear problem might not learn to clear their ear well in a 6 ft pool, whereas a 14 ft pool will likely reveal such problem sooner.

 

[bauerbach]

lol well now Im very confused.

Im going to go to the Y this weekend and find out just what the deal is with the open water dives. Im in georgia and I havent the foggiest clue where I might need to go for the open water part. not sure if they go to a quarry or if its 2-3hours to the atlantic.

 

[uncleavi]

You can do 3 training dives in one day