PADI Diving Certified on a Cruise

[duegwb]

I was looking at a website (Not RCI's website) and it stated if you go to the Sea Trek desk on the ship, for $249.00 you can get PADI certified on a cruise? Is this true?

[wendychloecruiser]

My sister did this several years ago. If you do the course on the ship, you must factor in a few hours a day for the programme. It's a very efficient way to become certified.

[scottrn7]

Yes and and NO.

 

We did the "Padi" scuba certification on Mariner of the seas for 249 per person both my wife and I. So we did the whole thing, pool check off on boat and open water in St. Thomas at 40 feet. We got our cards in the mail and discovered we were only certified for 40 feet or resort diving with a dive master? So really not a full "open water" certification. So a waste of money, get certified before you go on a cruise and you can dive at the stops. We had to pay additional money to get certified in our hometown and chose to do SSI since it fit our schedule better. I have over 70 dives now and usually book through RC, but they don't offer dives at every port so I have to book them ahead of time. I have dove off RC ships through their bookings in Bonaire, Aruba, Cozumel, Roatan, and Grand Caymen. I have had to book dives separately in Nassau, Grand Cayman, St. Lucia, and Barbados. They actually just make money off booking the same dives you can do yourself.

 

I was looking at a website (Not RCI's website) and it stated if you go to the Sea Trek desk on the ship, for $249.00 you can get PADI certified on a cruise? Is this true?

[scottrn7]

It is not a full Open water certification which is what we thought it was. You are enrolling in a "PADI Open Water Diver course" which is a beginners step towards being Open water certified, we did not know when we signed up.

 

So, save your money, get certified before going, it cost us double the price of what you need to get certified.

 

If you are interested in what is like you can book a Snuba Dive through RC, that is how we decided we thought we could do the whole thing.

 

 

I was looking at a website (Not RCI's website) and it stated if you go to the Sea Trek desk on the ship, for $249.00 you can get PADI certified on a cruise? Is this true?

[Clarea]

I was looking at a website (Not RCI's website) and it stated if you go to the Sea Trek desk on the ship, for $249.00 you can get PADI certified on a cruise? Is this true?

My wife did this a few years ago on Allure, and was surprised at how much time it took out of the cruise. Lots of getting up very early too.

[cruiseguy1016]

If you truly want to become an open water diver, take the course at home before you cruise. You will have the full open water certification as opposed to the resort certification. Taking the course on the ship requires a few hours a day. It's not all in the pool. There is classroom stuff that has to be done too. You'll be doing "homework" in your stateroom. It will take away some of the fun of being on vacation.

[Capt_BJ]

correction

 

the course being offered is the PADI "SCUBA DIVER"

 

from the PADI web site:

 

The PADI Scuba Diver course is a subset of the PADI Open Water Diver course.

 

Open Water Certification is what you need to become an "autonomous diver"

 

*******************

you can get certified in 2 days before your cruise ... well sort of anyway. You can complete all the 'book work' via an online course.

 

The you seek ouk a participating dive shop and can complete all the wet requirements in two days. dd did this not long ago completing the online work then traveling to Key Largo where things had been arranged with a dive shop. Day one morning, verification of book skills then to the pool for pool skills; afternoon, two tank boat dive with instructor ... skills. Day two another 2 tank trip completing the required 4 dives for open water certification. Easy!

 

http://www.padi.com/scuba-diving/padi-courses/course-catalog/scuba-online/

Edited March 5, 2015 by Capt_BJ

[Hotel CA]

My wife did this a few years ago on Allure, and was surprised at how much time it took out of the cruise. Lots of getting up very early too.

 

Sorry--wrong quote -- I meant to use the statement that you don't get full certification on a cruise course

 

Not my experience-- about 10 years ago I was certified on board a cruise ship (not RCL) and the course included all classroom work + pool training in the basics + 1 open water training dive , one open water certification dive (Grand Cayman) and 1 post certification dive (wall off Cozumel),. Results was FULL PADI certification which I have used (and have extended ) ever since.

 

Perhaps the result depends on either the cruise line, the length of the cruise (mine was 10 days) or both

[Paulette3028]

Sorry--wrong quote -- I meant to use the statement that you don't get full certification on a cruise course

 

Not my experience-- about 10 years ago I was certified on board a cruise ship (not RCL) and the course included all classroom work + pool training in the basics + 1 open water training dive , one open water certification dive (Grand Cayman) and 1 post certification dive (wall off Cozumel),. Results was FULL PADI certification which I have used (and have extended ) ever since.

 

Perhaps the result depends on either the cruise line, the length of the cruise (mine was 10 days) or both

 

Or perhaps the rules for certification have changed since the time you did yours, 10 years ago.

 

For me, I did my certification before I went on a vacation when I wanted to scuba dive. I took weekly classes for the bookwork and the pool work over a 2month period of time. Then had my certification dives.

 

For me it gave me the time to develop the skills and confidence to be a safer diver. Everyone makes choices.

[Jimmers]

As others have said it's not the best way to get certified but as long as you're willing to devote your cruise time to it there's no reason not to do it. Wife and I received the basic Padi cert on the Navigator and finished the second part in the Grand Caymans on our next cruise. Again, better to do it all at the same time while the skills are fresh in your mind but it turned out ok for us.

[kilpa482]

If it helps anyone...I am doing a PADI open water certification on my cruise out of San Juan next week. I had to arrange everything on my own. I did the eLearning online, will do the pool dives and cert dives one and two in puerto rico the day before the cruise, then cert dives 3 & 4 in st croix. This leaves the rest of the cruise to scuba dive at other ports. It can be done but it takes quite a bit of coordination.

[scottrn7]

That is the correct info, we did spend a lot of time of the cruise focusing on the coarse but made a lot of friends along the way to include the Manager of Sea Trek on Mariner. The after thought was if we had known we would have done the certification at home first and saved about 500 dollars since both my wife and I went through it. I travel with my own gear, wife has retired from diving.

 

correction

 

the course being offered is the PADI "SCUBA DIVER"

 

from the PADI web site:

 

The PADI Scuba Diver course is a subset of the PADI Open Water Diver course.

 

Open Water Certification is what you need to become an "autonomous diver"

 

*******************

you can get certified in 2 days before your cruise ... well sort of anyway. You can complete all the 'book work' via an online course.

 

The you seek ouk a participating dive shop and can complete all the wet requirements in two days. dd did this not long ago completing the online work then traveling to Key Largo where things had been arranged with a dive shop. Day one morning, verification of book skills then to the pool for pool skills; afternoon, two tank boat dive with instructor ... skills. Day two another 2 tank trip completing the required 4 dives for open water certification. Easy!

 

http://www.padi.com/scuba-diving/padi-courses/course-catalog/scuba-online/

[stlcruise]

My DH and I received our open water certification while on the Mariner of the Seas 2 years ago. We did our online training and pool certification before our cruise. We sailed a western itinerary and completed our 4 open water dives on the cruise. 2 dives in Cozumel and 2 dives in Grand Cayman. Our instructors Kate and Paul) had us do a crash course in the pool and retook the test before our open water dives. Others in our group did everything while on the cruise and they said it took up so much time that they wish they would've completed the online/pool training beforehand. Not all ships offer the diving certification.

 

Good luck,

 

Kimberly

Edited March 6, 2015 by stlcruise

[NavyCruiser]

Get certified at home.

 

Enjoy your cruise & dive at the island ports...