JackieJ

We were seated at at two-top, but close to another couple. We tried to be polite and leave them alone during dinner, but toward the end, somehow we started chatting. Very nice couple, and we had a good time talking to them near the end of their dinner. We would see them again later on the cruise.

Hi Susan,

That was us! Funny, we wanted to say hello when you sat down next to us, but whispered to each other that we should let you enjoy your dinner.

We did check you both out on the flow rider, pretty impressive!

Sounds like you enjoyed this cruise as much as we did!

Jackie

^^ Thank you so much for sharing that... I was kinda worried that I haven't heard

anyone speak of this before...

My friend and I did beginner scuba in Cacun last year, and we really just wanted to go

dive... I'm not at all interested in getting certified... I just want to dive with an instructor... Anyway... I'll see if that's

offered... But we have a bunch of things we wanna do on shore already... :rolleyes:

Not sure what your options are if you don't have any sort of certification. The pool was all safety stuff. Booked a private dive in St. Croix and my husband had to show his PADI cert card. Since he wasn't open water certified, they wouldn't/couldn't let him go out without an instructor.

Just back from Adventure and did the diving. Unfortunately I ended up getting sick and didn't finish, but my husband did and loved it! The instructor was extremely patient and really tried to help me get through it but I just wasn't up to it.

Some things to be aware of . . .

It takes up a lot of time. We were given books to study on the first night and then went to a class the next day that lasted about 4 hours. The day of the pool exercises it took about 5 hours. It was supposed to be about 2.5 hours but not everyone was able to keep up. Since I didn't finish the pool, I didn't go out on the ocean dive, but that was also about a half day.

Another thing is that you will be "scuba" certified not "open water" certified, which means you will have to dive with a dive master and will be more expensive. You have to do more chapters in the PADI book and more dives to get open water certified. You may be able to do that on a longer cruise or back to back.

Overall, I think it was a really good experience. The price was very fair, especially compared to what the cost it where we live. I will give it another shot at some point and my husband is planning to get his open water cert asap.

Feel free tonlet me know if you have any specific questions.

It tends to get lost in all the noise.:)

 

http://www.wa70.com/hdisplay.php

 

I really appreciate the time and effort that poster richwmn puts into maintaining this web page.

 

Also note that there are groups ( a booking for 8 or more cabins) on every cruise line, every sail. Groups, like individual passengers, are notorious for cancelling their plans before final payment date. So what is reported here, may or may not bear fruit.

I appreciate it as well, otherwise I would not have known. I don't have a problem with any group on board a ship. I'm just glad to know so far in advance there is a strong possibility that our booking could be cancelled. Much less disappointing this far in advance.

Just a thought, perhaps your mom might want to let the group organizer know about this so they can reschedule their plans if they have not already done so.

 

Only thing certain about cruising is that it's uncertain, especially when booking 7 day sails, ten or more months into the future.

I just sent an email to the group we are traveling with and the TA to make them aware of the situation. The Christian group may want to know about the Olivia group and vice versa. ;) Plus better to know now than before we do too much planning. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks Hammybee. You are correct, I did mean 09. I'll have to break the news to Mom! We were so excited with our aft balcony.

I just booked Westerdam 3/1/08 - 3/8/08 with my mother though a group called Spirit Path at Unity Village for a spiritual retreat. I figured we would be a small group on board. Now I see that Olivia is also on the cruise. Do any of you think our trip will be cancelled? If so, how far in advance will they let us know? I have no experience with this.

Thanks,

Jackie