Open Water Diver Course

[Donnellyhoneymooners]

I am considering this course for our upcoming cruise, does anyone have any personal experience with this course? I am wondering how long each class is a day? How was the open water dive? Any other information you care to share I would love it.

 

 

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[BillOh]

I am considering this course for our upcoming cruise, does anyone have any personal experience with this course? I am wondering how long each class is a day? How was the open water dive? Any other information you care to share I would love it.

 

 

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What ship? Most people say the full open water course takes up way too much time on a cruise. The into to Scuba classes don't take up much time. They are more fun on an Oasis class ship where you have a 16ft deep pool.

 

If you want to know my personal experience, I did an intro to scuba excursion via RC in St Thomas, got certified, took a refresher course (2.5 hours) on Allure.

[Donnellyhoneymooners]

What ship? Most people say the full open water course takes up way too much time on a cruise. The into to Scuba classes don't take up much time. They are more fun on an Oasis class ship where you have a 16ft deep pool.

 

 

 

If you want to know my personal experience, I did an intro to scuba excursion via RC in St Thomas, got certified, took a refresher course (2.5 hours) on Allure.

 

 

Did you do your book work and the do the intro to certification?

 

 

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[Donnellyhoneymooners]

I am already signed up for Aruba's intro to diving but thought of switching to this to get a PADI certification. If I can stick with this course and just go to a refresher course to get it would be great.

 

 

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[Clarea]

I am considering this course for our upcoming cruise, does anyone have any personal experience with this course? I am wondering how long each class is a day? How was the open water dive? Any other information you care to share I would love it.

My wife did it and was surprised at how much study it took and how many really early morning classes there were. It really took away from her cruise.

[GadgetGod]

As long time diver, I can tell you there is no better resource than your local dive shop. If at all possible get certified prior to your trip. If that is not possible (maybe timing or weather) see if you can do the course and pool work at home and just do the open water with an instructor in one of the ports (that was an option many years ago, I am assuming it still is). Besides the high expense and heavy time burden of the ship class, this training should not be rushed and your local dive shop is better equipped to assist you in what, for lack of a better explanation, is life support training. It is the last place to look for a quick solution and rush training.

 

just my 2 cents.

[BillOh]

I am already signed up for Aruba's intro to diving but thought of switching to this to get a PADI certification. If I can stick with this course and just go to a refresher course to get it would be great.

 

 

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I would either take the Intro course in Aruba, or check out a similar intro course in Sacremento to see if you think its for you. I wouldn't spend the hours for a full certification from a cruise, especially one to the southern caribbean. I am assuming you will be on a ship with a 5 foot deep pool only.

 

If I wasn't certified, and having been on an Oasis class 3 times already, I might consider doing it on an Oasis class ship with their 16ft pool. That would only be after comparing pricing. I have never looked at the full PADI pricing on RC. I did the refresher course for $65.

[Donnellyhoneymooners]

My husband is a PADI cert diver and he said the same thing to stick with the Aruba intro class first before spending $600 to do something I may not even like. He's taking the intro course with me so we can dive together and total it's $198.

I think I've decided to skip it on a ship we have a lot of scuba courses through Groupon at the Bay.

Thank you all for the advice and information I really love being able to chat with so many experienced people on cruise critic.

 

 

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Edited January 16, 2017 by Donnellyhoneymooners

[Capt_BJ]

do you have a link to the description?

 

Cuz last I heard the 'best' RCL offered was SCUBA DIVER which is NOT the same as OPEN WATER

 

the difference (limitations) have been discussed in the SCUBA section many times ....

 

note that OPEN WATER requires 4 open water checkout dives with no more than 2 in one day .... plus pool work .... and book work .....

 

SCUBA diver is PART of the OPEN WATER course .....

 

 

https://www.padi.com/padi-courses/discover-scuba-diving

INTRO is usually what PADI calls a 'Discovery Dive' and counts zip towards certification .... other than experience points in your own mind.

You learn the basic safety guidelines and skills needed to dive under the direct supervision of a PADI Professional

•Hear about becoming a certified diver through the PADI Open Water Diver course.

 

https://www.padi.com/padi-courses/scuba-diver/

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

PADI Scuba Divers are qualified to:

•Dive under the direct supervision of a PADI Professional to a maximum depth of 12 metres/40 feet.

 

https://www.padi.com/padi-courses/open-water-diver/

An open water diver is 'autonomous' meaning you can rent gear, buy tank fills, set off on your own and DIVE. AND it means that dive shops recognize you as 'qualified' to join dive trips for certified divers, up to the limit of sport diving (no decompression or in practice at most places 100 feet). As a beginning diver PADI recommends you limit your depth to 60 feet but you are 'autonomous' and 'self monitoring' once you hold an 'OPEN WATER' card.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Capt_BJ

[greeneng]

My Padi certification for Open Water Diver was on April 24, 2004. All the classroom and pool work was done on the ship, with two days of two tank dives. One day was in St. Thomas and the other in Curacao. St. Thomas was a boat dive and Curacao a beach dive. I have done about sixty dives since then, all as an excursion on a cruise, and in some great dive locations. Twice on the Great Barrier Reef, a couple in the Med, a couple off the west coast of Mexico, but mainly in the Caribbean.

Now, almost thirteen years back, my recollection is that the pool time was always early morning, when a pool could be dedicated to the class without interfering with the other pool loving passengers. The classroom time was either early morning on a port day or longer times on sea days. The only times which interfered with port time were the dives themselves. But, wasn't that the whole reason for the course anyway?

If one is not certain that scuba will not be rewarding, then the introduction course is absolutely the first step.

History: I taught my kids to snorkle on a trip to the Keys, in a pool at a hotel in Key Largo. That afternoon we took a snorkle trip to the Christ of the Abyss, the big statue on the bottom. I dove down to take pictures and saw the divers cruising around the bottom of the statue while I had to go back to the surface to breathe again. There was a hint there. Fast forward a few years, and I did an introductory scuba day with them in Bermuda. They both had no interest in going further, but I did, which led me to take the class on the Navigator.

Being from New England, I never had any desire to dive near home, but only in warm water, with reefs and colorful fish, and always with a divemaster. Some of them were tough cookies, and put the group through a series of in-water tests before allowing them to join the planned dive. My training was always more than adequate.

The reason for writing the last is to simply state that all of the criticism of the ship based course is just jealousy; that the complainers had to spend all the time and money on certification that the ship course delivers in a week. The classroom lectures are the same. The pool exercises are the same. The dive time is the same. And, the TEST, the PADI test, IS THE SAME!

If you think you want to dive at home, wherever than might be, then the local dive shop is absolutely the best resource, plus a number of dives with their divemaster before venturing out independently.

For me, the ship's certification class was the right way to do it.

 

Jim

[cocobam]

I want to add that even if you live somewhere north and not near the ocean, you can still do most/all of your dive training at home. Your local dive shop will offer classroom and pool training through the year. To complete the certification, you need "open water" check-out dives. You could do these on your cruise - either through the dive shop on the ship or through any dive shop at your ports. Or you may be able to do them near home. I live in Ohio, and I did mine in a water-filled rock quarry. In November. After that, diving in the Caribbean is a piece of beautiful, blue cake!

 

 

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[Fouremco]

I want to add that even if you live somewhere north and not near the ocean, you can still do most/all of your dive training at home. Your local dive shop will offer classroom and pool training through the year. To complete the certification, you need "open water" check-out dives. You could do these on your cruise - either through the dive shop on the ship or through any dive shop at your ports. Or you may be able to do them near home. I live in Ohio, and I did mine in a water-filled rock quarry. In November. After that, diving in the Caribbean is a piece of beautiful, blue cake!

I couldn't agree more. This was at the end of my check out dive, late November in a Quebec quarry with lots of snow on the ground and ice starting to form on the water. It's all easy after that! :)

 

[GadgetGod]

I couldn't agree more. This was at the end of my check out dive, late November in a Quebec quarry with lots of snow on the ground and ice starting to form on the water. It's all easy after that! :)

 

My first open water was similar, 34-degree water off the coast of Jamestown, RI in March. The only really bad part was the exposed skin below the mask and the rush of cold water on the face when you had to remove your mask underwater. Now, if it is below 60 degrees, I am wearing a drysuit and a fleece farmer john and jacket.

[TonyL128]

My wife just got her Open Water PADI certification during our B2B Christmas cruise on Oasis. She did all her "book" work in about 6 hours spread over 2-3 days while she was getting a tan on our balcony using an iPad provided by Dive center. There was one long and one short class session. 2 pool dives (one in lap pool and one in Aqua Theater pool) from 6:30AM-10:30AM. Then there were 2 open water dives (4 sessions, one boat and one shore) during two different ports.

 

She had so much fun and her instructors were great! Cost was $575 including everything except mask & snorkel.

 

I don't think she would have done the certification on a one week cruise. But on a B2B, the certification course really didn't affect our enjoyment of the cruise at all. Can't wait to dive with her on our next cruise in February!

 

https://vimeo.com/199908822

 

 

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[Capt_BJ]

OK

 

I did find this listed as an excursion on the RCL web page

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=xzc4&DestinationCode=

 

(curiously, searching from there for a cruise that offers this excursion produces "none found" ....)

 

From the current description it appears to be a packaged "referral" for checkouts, where you do all the book ahead of time via the PADI on line training. This is how dd got certified a few years ago ... did the online at home then we took a weekend trip to the Keys: first the shop gave a written test to verify that the book work had been competed and the 'lessons learned', then a pool session for swim test, equipment orientation & basic skills; then 2 dives on day one, and two dives on day two and POOF open water certified ..... So you should not be 'wasting time' in classroom sessions on board ...

 

"You’ll begin at home by studying the basic principles of scuba diving and safety-related skills using the Open Water Diver Manual online. Then once onboard it’s time to hit the water: within the safe and shallow surroundings of your ship’s pool, you’ll be led by expert PADI dive instructors through confined water dives, complete with all the necessary scuba gear. Once you are comfortable in the water, you’ll head out at two different cruise ports to experience two-tank dives at some of the world’s most spectacular underwater destinations. At the end of your certification course, you’ll be equipped to execute dives independently "

 

So it can be done ... I just can't find what cruises offer it. It would need to be a cruise with two ports that offer diving ....

Edited January 18, 2017 by Capt_BJ

[Frick_&_Frack]

I know it is (or at least, was a week or so ago) offered for my upcoming Anthem cruise. I had been considering it.

[Capt_BJ]

if I am searching correctly your cruise goes to

 

Port Canaveral, Coco Cay and Nassau ......

 

were it me, I'd ask where we are diving .......

 

AND what is the policy if a day's diving can not be done????? What if at the end of the cruise I have only completed 2 of the required 4 check out dives?????