Royal Caribbean Scuba Certification

Hi all,

My husband has been trying to look into the scuba certification course on our upcoming cruise. Every where we see everyone keeps saying it takes up a ton of time but is vague about what that means. Does anyone know actual hours? Does that mean 5 hours in the ship pool 10 hours at port etc.? Or has anyone done this and have an exact schedule?

Thank you!

last time I looked the current version of the RCCL program for OPEN WATER DIVER utilized PADI's online course for the 'book work' which can also be done in a classroom environment. This is a COMMON path to certification.

https://www.padi.com/education

DD completed Open Water Certification under this program several years ago. She completed the online lessons and got a certificate of completion from PADI. With this in hand it was no longer necessary to complete classroom training. The description for the RCCL OPEN WATER program explains this very process. You must complete the 'book' training b4 the cruise. This process is also called a 'referral program' .... where one does book work and sometime pool sessions with a local shop & then carries their referral to the Keys or Cayman or Cozumel for the checkout dives.

For her experience we made arrangements with a dive shop in Key Largo for the "wet" portion of the training. The entire program was completed in 2 days. This is what needs to be completed ON the RCCL cruise. First she was given a test to verify that the book learning had been accomplished. This took less than 30 minutes. (I dunno what RCCLs policy or plan is if you fail the test.)

Next was a pool session or what PADI called a confined water dive. A swim test was first, then basic dive skills were taught with equipment familiarization and a 'dive' in the pool. This was all completed in a morning session of approximately 2 1/2 hours, including the written test . The pool work can be split into multiple shorter sessions so long as all the skills (PADI curriculum) are covered.

Having passed the written and pool portions PADI requires 4 open water dives for Open Water Certification and no more than TWO can be conducted on one day. {most "dive trips" are two dives ... or what's called two tank dives} For dd the afternoon of the first day was a boat trip with a two tank dive UNDER INSTRUCTION (pool skill training and tests are conducted). A typical two tank dive trip will be 3 to 4 hours; a typical dive is 40 minutes but add travel time to the shop, issuing rental gear etc Previous discussions about this program have mentioned the class going to the same dive operator as the 'two tank dive excursion'.

Since 4 dives are required dd returned the next morning for a second 2 tank trip and on returning to the pier ... TA DA certified! For RCCL this schedule - a 3 to 4 hour excursion - must happen in two different ports.

the test and pool session can easily happen on a 'sea day' but there will be a excursions to complete the two "dive trips" ... consuming a good part of the day in two ports.

Successful completion of the four "checkout dives" results in OPEN WATER CERTIFICATION

(DOES THIS TAKE UP A LOT OF TIME ON THE CRUISE? IMO this depends on your point of view. Many divers want to dive in any port with good diving so to a diver I'd say NO. If you don't want to spend your port time in at least two ports diving ... then YES.)

Note: RCCL previously offered a shorter program (may still) . This program is for SCUBA DIVER certification. It is essentially 1/2 of the OPEN WATER certification, SCUBA DIVER is a restricted certification where you can only dive under supervision and is NOT ACCEPTED for most "dive trips" as you are not what is sometimes called an "autonomous" diver .. one qualified to dive independently. I do not recommend this program.

(search RCCL here in the SCUBA forum ... this has been discussed many times)

You are better off going to a local dive shop,getting certified and going diving on the cruise. My son did his on board and enjoyed,it did take up a lot of time,pool and classroom training everyday as well as open water dives in 2 ports,grand cayman and Cozumel, however he was a teenager at the time and much more interested in diving than other cruise activities.

The answer from Capt BJ, hits all the important points. Several years ago a friend attempted to get certified through the course on a Royal Caribbean cruise. His experience raises some things to consider:

First, he signed up for the "Scuba Diver" course, not realizing - as most people would not - that to be a "certified diver" you want the "Open Water Diver" course. Royal Carribean offers both on ships. Also, if a student in the Open Water course doesn't complete all four open water check dives, but does complete two, they can be certified as a Scuba Diver. (More on this below). So STEP 1, make sure the course you are signing up for is the Open Water diver course.

Second, you asked about time commitment. Either course has on line materials. It is incumbent on the student to diligently complete these in advance of the course beginning. The materials are designed to prepare students for their class and pool work so that more time can be spent on learning skills in the pool, and less in classroom discussions. It's apparent to the instructor when a student has failed to complete the on line materials properly; and in those cases the student will need much more of the traditional classroom work. All that being said, the class and pool portion of the Open Water course are going to take up a good portion of a cruise. The class/pool portion will take 16-20 hours. This will likely be scheduled as blocks in the morning on the first several days of your cruise. The first two open water check dives can be done when the first half of the class/pool portion is complete, then the final two require all the class/pool work be done. In any event, on two of your trip's port calls the dive student would be away doing their check dives, and thus not available to do other activities or excursions. The PADI standards recommend a total of 31 hours for the Open Water course. That is a reasonable estimate of how much of your cruise would be dedicated to the certification course.

Some would look at this as a great use of a cruise, and a good way to get the course done. Others would feel it interferes too much with their cruise and not like that. Of course neither of these positions is "right"; it only matters how the people involved feel. In addition to the time commitment itself, being enrolled in this course on the cruise may alter other activities, specifically drinking, and late nights for entertainment. If those are your thing, understand being enrolled in this course aboard will cramp your style for sure.

Now for the BIG thing to be aware of: I mentioned a friend took the Scuba Diver Course on a Royal Caribbean cruise. He paid $350.00 which is definitely on the high end of reasonable for that course (this was in 2014 as I recall). He felt the instruction on the ship was OK, not great. They were scheduled to do their open water dives in Cozumel, which was our last port. It was fairly windy when we docked, and they immediately made the decision to cancel the dives. This meant he had no certification whatsoever, and no genuine means to convert his class/pool work into progress elsewhere, although the ship's staff said the students could do this. Each student was refunded only $50.00 of the $350.00 they were paid, which was clearly the cruise line's cost for the two dives that were cancelled. Side point, my dive buddy and I went to our dive shop that day (not a ship excursion) and the weather settled after about one hour, and we were diving, along with the usual complement of dozens of other dive boats.

Anytime you put dive instruction into a framework of go/no-go events like a cruise, you're taking a big risk that you'll end up with nothing. In 30-something cruises, I've had at least a third of itineraries altered for one reason or another. An alteration or a weather issue could easily render the Open Water class down to a Scuba Diver class, or down to nothing more than class/pool work.

At this time of year, your husband would likely be able to complete the Open Water Diver Course at home, including the check dives. Then he could go on the cruise as a Certified O/W Diver, and enjoy really diving at a port or two, instead of tying up all that time getting certified on board. The price would be less, the risk of failure to complete due to conditions would be far less, the instruction would be more personalized; and since it was local, you'd have an instructor and shop you could build a relationship with for future training and equipment needs.

In short, unless getting this done on the ship strikes your husband as a particularly good way to do it - and for some people it really would be - then I would suggest doing it at home in advance. If nothing else, I hope I've given you the detail you were seeking (probably way more, sorry). :)

Harris

Denver, CO

www.divessi.com/pro/64612

I generally agree BUT

if you live in a place where checkout dives means a lake or a quarry where the water temp requires a full wetsuit including hood .. OMG

oftenmeans you will never dive again!!!!!

consider a 'referral' .... a cruise may not be the best choice for completing your dive journey

but Cayman ... Bonair .. Cozumel .... the Keys .....

I think the previous posters pretty well covered the subject so I'll just chime in with my personal experience with the RCCL PADI course:

I earned my PADI open water certification on the RCCL's Navigator OTS with her great dive instructor in January 2018. I was extremely satisfied.

As was mentioned, all the class course work was done with padi's e-learning on my ipad. I really enjoyed it as all the course work was well presented in 3 formats (bullet points, long form text and many videos covering again what was written). When I signed up, the ship's instructor emailed me with instructions and a code to activate my padi app. He asked that the course work and exams be done before I boarded the ship and offered help if needed.

On board, we met with the instructor soon after sail away for instructions, the weekly schedule as well as a review exam (to be sure we did the online course work ourselves). We were 3 students.

The next morning was a sea day and we went over the equipment and did pool dives 1 and 2 (met at the dive shop at 5:45am). Sadly one of the students got sick and had to abandon the course. 2 days later on the next sea day we got up real early again and had pool dives 3 and 4 where we managed to cover everything that was needed and review what we would do in the open water dives.

Then in curacao we did open water dives 1 and 2 from a dive resort (land entry), skipped a day in Bonaire (I got some awesome snorkelling literally feet off the ship there!), and open water dives 3 and 4 were done in Aruba where we boat dived 2 of the wrecks and we completed the certification.

I really enjoyed the course, the instructor was really good and with a ratio of 2 students to 1 instructor it almost felt like a private course. I was travelling with a group on an organised singles cruise and I never felt rushed or like the course was carving into my group time.

A few points to consider though:

- This was a 10 days cruise, the same course on a 7 days may feel tight.

- I've dived many times before with "Discover scuba" excursions on previous cruises

- I've been a firefighter for 27 years so I'm no stranger to breathing "canned air" and strict safety protocols

- Pool work is done before the pools open to the public, so you have to get up *very* early.

- Early pool work = rest of day to do what you want

- In ports, open water dives are your "excursions"

An important point to remember is that one may fail at any point and though the instructor will work with you to help you pass, there are no "gimmes" and even if some re-do's are possible for some things during the cruise, your time on board at in ports is limited.

I am from a place where water is either very cold or frozen solid and have no interest in diving up here. My options were either a dive shop in Florida when I visit my parents in winter, or on an RCCL ship. I enjoyed my experience of combining a great cruise and getting certified.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Pat

Hi all,

 

My husband has been trying to look into the scuba certification course on our upcoming cruise. Every where we see everyone keeps saying it takes up a ton of time but is vague about what that means. Does anyone know actual hours? Does that mean 5 hours in the ship pool 10 hours at port etc.? Or has anyone done this and have an exact schedule?

 

Thank you!

I've already read some of your replies, but what ship are you going on? I wouldn't even consider doing this on any ship other than the Oasis class as they have you in their Aqua theater pool which is around 16ft deep. I don't think you can get a real good feel for open water diving in a 5ft deep pool. I'll admit to taking the 2 hour refreshment course on Allure just so I could swim in that pool.

Hi all,

 

My husband has been trying to look into the scuba certification course on our upcoming cruise. Every where we see everyone keeps saying it takes up a ton of time but is vague about what that means. Does anyone know actual hours? Does that mean 5 hours in the ship pool 10 hours at port etc.? Or has anyone done this and have an exact schedule?

 

Thank you!

My wife and I just returned from a RC Scuba Certification aboard the Harmony of the Seas. Specific to your question, there are several hours of online PADI course work that is required to be completed prior to sail date. Then there are several hours of pool time once onboard (in a 5' deep pool). Sail day 1 & Sail day 2 = 6:45am until around 10:30 to complete skills training. First dive port was St. Maarten (known for making divers sick, and lived up to the reputation). This was two dives from a boat and lasted most of the time in port. The second dive was in San Juan and was two shore dives and lasted most of the time in port.

There were three couples in our class and two individuals. One couple dropped out completely prior to the second Open Water dive (she quit prior to the first Open Water dive because she couldn't complete the basic skills in the pool and he dropped due to an ear injury after the first Open Water Dive). A guy in the second couple ruptured his ear drum on the first Open Water dive and dropped out. After arriving back onboard the Harmony after the first Open Water dive in St. Maarten, the instructor informed me that she was refusing my certification because I "looked around too much" during the dives that day. In the end, there were 8 people trying to get Open Water certification and only half reached certification. I'm confident that there are competent instructors on other RC boats, but that was NOT my experience.

In the end, there were 8 people trying to get Open Water certification and only half reached certification. I'm confident that there are competent instructors on other RC boats, but that was NOT my experience.

Wow!

First, every SCUBA instructor with any time teaching has had a student fail to certify. The reasons are those you mention. However, The time constraints imposed by trying to do this course on a ship raise the chances past what I'd be willing to pay for. That being said if I had a group class with a 50% failure rate, I'd be doing some real explaining to our shop's Training Director at a minimum.

Ear problems are common, If an open water student actually suffered a ruptured eardrum on a training dive that's a HUGE issue, and an instructor should be answering a LOT of questions about exactly what took place.

A student having trouble with skills in the pool is so common that it is expected in every group class. However, the rigid schedule on the ship likely precludes the usual remedy - the instructor taking extra time with the student's having troubles.

There's no excuse for you not knowing you weren't going to pass until you were back on the boat. An instructor certainly has an obligation not to certify a student who has failed to complete the skills - although it's a difficult part of the instructor's job - but implicit in that obligation is the understanding that the student will be advised of the deficiency at a point where correction can be accomplished.

Your account crystalizes many of the concerns I have for students attempting to certify using this route. The on-board course relies very heavily on everything and everyone adhering to a very inflexible schedule. Here on planet earth, things just don't seem to work that way.

Harris

Denver, CO

Even more reason to go to your local dive shop!

There's no excuse for you not knowing you weren't going to pass until you were back on the boat. An instructor certainly has an obligation not to certify a student who has failed to complete the skills - although it's a difficult part of the instructor's job - but implicit in that obligation is the understanding that the student will be advised of the deficiency at a point where correction can be accomplished.

Not only did she wait until we were back onboard the ship, but I passed and was signed off on ALL of the skills. I passed the 200M swim, mask off/clear, out-of-air drills, etc. All of them. She just made a “judgement call” after the first day of Open Water dives.

When we were in the pool, I asked my instructor if I could remove some weights from my belt and add them to the integrated BCD. She promised that she would do just that when we got to open water. Well, that didn’t happen. While in St. Maarten on dive #2, my weight belt slipped off. When I stopped to unbuckled and redo (which I’ve had to do several times before), I began feeling queasy when I pitched forward. The current underwater felt like a washing machine. The next thing I know, my PADI instructor was face-to-face with me. I was so relieved and began signaling her that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to ascend. (We did not discuss the possibility of becoming sick when below surface until AFTER this dive, so I didn’t know what to do. Do I take my regulator out? Do I leave it in? By this time, I’m already checking on my backup regulator just in case I plugged up the main....) However, she proceeds to ignore my hand signals and focuses on the weight belt in my hand. She’s grabbing my BCD and trying to pitch me forward which is compounding my nausea. I signal again right in front of her mask. She ignores my signals again and is determined to teach me a lesson. When she reached for my weight belt, I pulled away. Finally she got frustrated, grabbed my BCD and began to ascend. Not once did I panic, but I was indeed finished with that dive. My instructor clearly did not care about my communications or my safety. After feeding the fish, I surface swam back to the dive boat.

Thankfully the dive experiences in Puerto Rico were awesome with an awesome local instructor, even though I didn’t get credit for them.

just completed a 6 day cruise on Adventure OTS and this course was ongoing ..... saw the gang in the pool early the first day of the cruise ... a sea day.

The ports were Cayman, Costa and Coz ..... highly probable they found two good diving days to complete the c/out dives!