Scuba in Grand Cayman

[Chevdiver]

My wife and I sailing on the Explorer of the Seas in August and are planning a Scuba excursion. The excursion is scheduled to leave from the ship and 1:00 and is 4 1/2 hours. The ship is set to sail at 5:30. I called Royal Caribbean and asked if this would be an issue. They said no because it is one of their tours and will not leave until the tour has returned. Has anyone else done this trip and can you comment on the timing. This is my first cruise and I am a little nervous about it. Not that missing the boat in being forced to stay in Grand Cayman is a bad thing, but.... you know. Also, if someone could comment on the quality of these dive tours I would really appreciate it. We are also planning to dive in Cozumel the day before so same question.

 

Thanks.

[Penguinlo]

... Though we dive, we have not in the Cayman's yet. I can tell you that the last time we were there, we took a cruise excursion to Stingray City and had boat problems on the way back. We were late returning, but because it was a ship excursion, the ship was held for us. They were raising the anchor as the tender pulled along side the ship :eek: , but they did wait. This is IMO one of the only reasons to consider a ship excursion if the time is going to be close.

[aqua]

My husband has dove on ship's excursions several times (with NCL, RCL, and Carnival.) Don't worry, they will hold the ship for you-that is one of the main reasons we choose these excursions for diving. We just returned from the Carnival Miracle and my husband dove in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. He was a little disappointed in Cayman; the colors were less bright than in previous pre-hurricane visits, and the large fan coral was broken off. Of course, that could have been just at the sites where he dove. He still had good dives, but he did notice a difference. He especially enjoyed the dives in Cozumel. Be sure and bring water with you. While many dive operators suppy fruit and drinks, neither of these did.

[bruce-r]

If you go with the ship's excursion, the ship will not leave until you are back on board. Royal Caribbean uses http://www.redsail.com as their dive operator. Redsail has some large boats, so you will probably be with a larger group. They conduct follow the leader type dives of predetermined bottom time gear to the once a year cruise diver. If you don't expect an advanced dive, you shouldn't be disappointed.