scuba trips with the cruise line

[cecitadel]

Any exerienced divers, I am wondering about the quality of the cruise ship scuba trips? Do you think they are safe and is the rental equipment of a good quality. I will be diving in Jamica, Cayman and Cozumel with royal caribbean.

[Laurie S.]

They will be safe and the rental equipment should be good quality, but you're likely to be in a big crowd. Go with a private excursion and you'll be much happier.

[The Flying Pirate]

They will be safe and the rental equipment should be good quality, but you're likely to be in a big crowd. Go with a private excursion and you'll be much happier.

 

I totally agree, they use good equipment and will take you to a good site but some of the dive boats get a bit crowded, there is one in St Thomas that holds 60 divers.

 

Jamica the diving has been ok, not the greatest in the Caribbean but better than diving in cold lakes at home. Cozumel and Grand Cayman are simply awesome.

[Pilot70D]

Any exerienced divers, I am wondering about the quality of the cruise ship scuba trips?

 

Good afternoon, here is a copy of one post I wrote about this topic on another thread. Ignore the typos as I was in a hurry as I typed this particular reply to a very simular inquiry. As far as equipment goes it's usually reasonably good but not as good or as well maintained as our own dive equipment. If nothing else I would always bring your own mask, regulators and dive computer. BTW, our regulators, dive computers, log books and 'C' Cards always travel with us as carry on. They never are out of our posession.

 

We have been diving all over the Eastern and Southern Caribbean over the last ten years. We have ALWAYS made our own private dive reservations with only one exception.

 

There are many advantages to making your own reservations. First, you can avoid the 'cattle car' dives that sometimes happen when booking through the ship. Bear in mind that dive operators can and often do have divers from hotels and resorts going with them in addition to cruise ship divers. By using the individual ports discussion board you can find out who used what dive operator and why.

 

Second, you will often have more flexibility and more say in determining which dive site you go to. Dive operaotrs pay a commission back to the cruise line consequently cost containment often becomes the name of the game. Because of this cruise ship divers will often be taken to the closest dive site and usually a dive site that isn't too difficult. Many operators will not take cruise ship divers to the best dive sites. Operators sometimes have an underlying assumption that cruise ship divers are neither very good or very experienced divers. Not all are like this but many are.

 

Third, you can often find a dive operator that is willing and able to tailor the dive excursion to your desires and needs. That rarely happens with dive excursions booked through the ship.

 

There are a couple of disadvantages to booking your own excursions. Numer one - you will have to do your own research and then make your own reservations. I have always looked at that as time well spent. you're spending a lot of money to go on the cruise and even more to go diving. That being the case I want to do everyhting in my power to insure that it isa pinnacle experience.

 

The other drawback is you're going to hear that if you don't get back to the ship before it sails you're out of luck and you bear the expense of cathcing up to the ship. This is true however in ten years of cruise ship diving we have NEVER even come close to missing the ship. Dive operators are aware of the time constraints that cruise ship divers have and tailor trips invloving them to insure that the cruise ship people get back to the ship in time.

 

SO my bottom line advice is book your own dive excursions. There is a wealth of information here on Cruise Critics to help you. There are also other sites exclusively for divers that have even more info on dive operators.

 

Hope this info is helpful to you and that you all enjoy the diving no matter how you arrange it.

:):):)

 

[Capt_BJ]

I have been diving all over the Cari' for the past 37 years.... by your metric I'm more qualified to comment?

 

Many of the island I've dove I'd go to on MY ship and cruise ships didn't get there. I visited most cruise ship ports with my ships and arranged my dives thru ship's agents who steered me to the good ones. I've 30+ commercial cruises and usually take the ship's dive excursions unless I've particular experience with another operator that I liked. MOST OFTEN that experience turned me away from any boat operator but to a shore dive I could do on my own for a fraction of the cost of a private or ship's excursion.

 

Break

 

with regard to rental equipment. There is good rental equipment out there and there is crap. Cayman has been a diving destination for 50+ years. The places I use rent all ScubaPro equipment that is well serviced. On the other hand I've dove in several places in Jamacia - have you noticed there are no (none that I've found) - dedicated dive resorts in Jam'? I would never rent equipment in Jamacia. {I dove there because my job dropped me there for rest time and diving was something to do . . . I would never pay to go to Jam' to dive}

 

I'm cruising again in a few weeks. I've booked my dives with the ship's excursions. I don't have a prefered place in the ports we're visiting (short Bah' cruise) and the dives will be 'time killers'.

 

OTOH if you want great dives, go to a dedicated dive resort. You won't get to the GOOD places until the dive shop KNOWS YOU. Cruise diving is ALWAYS a HUGE compromise.

[cecitadel]

We will research some private dive operators

[scf1270]

Any exerienced divers, I am wondering about the quality of the cruise ship scuba trips? Do you think they are safe and is the rental equipment of a good quality. I will be diving in Jamica, Cayman and Cozumel with royal caribbean.

 

My husband and daughter are newly certified, and we just finished lining up their December cruise dive trips. So, based on my new knowledge:

 

Are you certified? Unless you want to do a Discover Scuba or Learn to Scuba program reputable diver shops will not work with you (as it should be!).

 

Okay, assuming you are certified: Check the websites of the various certification orgs (PADI, etc). They have "locator" features for dive operators. Since this is our 1st cruise post-certification I only looked at PADI 5 Star operators/instructors. Check their websites and then review (or do a search) on these threads for more info/feedback.

 

Grand Cayman is our first stop, so their first post-certification dives. They are going to to shores dives and we are paying extra for them to have a private Dive Master. Given the cost of training and certifcation ($$$) - what the heck!! Plus it's "insurance" to provide a really good, safe 1st trip.

 

Hope this helps,

Sara

[ljm10]

Hi, I did a few dives from the Celebrity Millennium this year and the dives I booked thru the ship were good, they left on time and came back on time, equipment was also good. I brought my own, but some did use their stuff and it looked well taken care of. The only problem is that sometimes there are not enough divers and they cancel the tour. You should have back up numbers in case that happens. Some of the dives I booked on my own were not that organized and I wouldn't dive with them again. On the whole I had a great time and am planning to dive on the Celebrity Mercury from Baltimore on the 11/29 sailing. Good Luck