Scuba Diving from Cruise Ship

[DiverDean59]

When planning a cruise, is it better to just schedule the excursions from the cruise ship or set up with a LDS from the port of call? If using the cruise ship excursions, do they have their own divemaster or do they sub-contract to LDS?

Any infor would be appreciated.

 

[shellim123]

Which ports are you stopping at? If we knew that, maybe some of us could give you recommendations on dive ops for those ports.

 

[wreckchick]

Here in St. Thomas the cruise ships contract to a local dive shop to do the excursion dives. There is one shop that deals almost exclusively with cruise ship divers and has contracts with all the major cruise lines. There are a couple other smaller shops that can work with you around the ship's schedule so you can dive with one of them. I work for St. Thomas Diving Club and we work with cruise ship passengers from the Havensight (WICO) dock frequently and Crown Bay occasionally. Admiralty and Blue Island are two other operators that will work with you.

I would guess that other ports of call are set up similarly.

If you're coming this way and have any questions about St. Thomas, feel free to ask!

Rachel

 

[BGF]

I took a NCL cruise a few years ago in Hawaii (island hopping) and did 3, 2 tank dive excursions, booked through the ship. They just contracted through a LDS, no ship board DM. All in all it worked out well but had very wide differences in the LDS setup. 1 was very well organized, setup and run, great shop and nice well stocked boats with clearly knowledgable DM's who could point out and identify everything imaginable under water. Great dives. One of the others was literally run out of a lean to shack on the beach and made me extremely happy to have brought all my own gear. Tiny, tiny boat with 2 guys that talked like used car salesman. Against my better judgment, and with my wife giving me very descriptive looks we went ahead with the dives and actually had a great time and included my first encounter with a large white tip reefie. I guess long story short, most cruises are going to sub out through a LDS so play it by ear, use your best judgement, but know that even despite the size and setup of an operation, if you're in blue water on a vacation you will likely enjoy the diving anyway! Good luck and have fun.

 

[Dub5ire]

I was on Royal Caribbean a couple of years ago. They actually have a dive store on the ship. I signed up with the ship who in turn used Red Sail for the dive. The problem with making arrangements directly with a LDS is you will get left behind if not back in time for departure.

 

[Whit]

My wife (a non diver) and I have cruised three times, all on Carnival. On each cruise, I booked my dives thru the cruise line and had a great time on all of them. Ports of call were Coz, Grand Cayman, Grand Turk and the Bahamas (Freeport, if my memory serves). As others have mentioned, booking thru the cruise line makes sure that even if the dives run long, the ship will not leave without you. If you book independently and the operator is late getting you back, you may get left by the cruise ship. None of the dive boats fit my definition of a cattle boat, all weere small enough and the groups of divers small enough that we received good service and good dives. I do carry my own BCD, regulator, mask, et.al. When asked about carrying all that gear, I say that I know who serviced the gear and they know that my wife also knows who serviced it.

 

[Craig Winnerman]

I have been on over 15 cruises and only dove with the ship once. It was NCL. Mostly have been on Princess and Celebrity with some on Holland America and RCL. The ships always use a LDS. The need the boats from the locals. I hate going with them because they tend to hold your hand, limit your depth, you are diving with a bunch of people that have no experience, and crowded. I always locate local shops on my own prior to leaving and make arrangements. We ususally have 4 to 6 divers in our group and just charter a boat on our own. let me know what ports and I can give advise on some good people form Coz, Cayman, St. John's, Jamacia, and maybe the Cenotes if time allows.

 

[Natasha]

Hi DiverDean:
I just came off my 22nd cruise yesterday. Where are you going on your cruise?
Also I am going to move your thread to the cruise forum.

 

[diverdwn71]

I've been on 6 RCCL ships and did dives on all 6. They all use local LDS that sign contracts and have the liability insurance. It is true that if you go off on your own and book a trip not thru the ship and you come back late....the ship will not be there. The fine is I think $10,000 for each 5 min they are late from departure time. I would highly recommend bringing your own equipment. 1) you know who serviced it.
2) you know how it works
3) you know it will fit
the only problem with bringing your own gear is they freak out over dive knives. Even when you tell them you have dive knives in your bag. (this happened to me twice) So be prepared to get check in your dive knives.

I've never had a bad experience with any of these operators. If they screw up they will lose there contract and be out a load of money.

 

[wreckchick]

Since this thread is pretty general so far, I'll post some of my observations about booking cruise ship excursions. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that the contracts the operators sign with the ships are very, very specific about what exactly will be offered, time limits, site locations, etc. There is no ability to deviate from the plan without the ships getting a little cranky.

What this means is that no matter the sea state or the experience level of the divers on the boat, there is no latitude to make adjustments to give the divers the best possible experience for the day. Since we are not affiliated with the ships and people book on their own it gives us a broader range of sites if the divers are up for it and it allows us to bypass sites that might be tricky given the seas.

Since the operators have to provide what they contractually obligated to provide every single day, twice a day, for a range of experience levels including uncertified divers, the sites they promise (at least here) are available all the time and are shallow. Not that they are bad sites, we go there as well but if it means that the ship's operator can't always provide the best sites for the day and the group because of their inflexibility with site selection.

It is true that the ship will only wait for people that are on excursions booked through the ShoreX but I have never had a guest miss the boat from our shop, we're all pretty aware of when people need to be where and can adjust the schedules accordingly.

I hope that's useful information to somebody!

Rachel