Diving from the Carnival Valor - Grand Cayman, Roatan and Costa Maya

[Virginia Family]

My wife, 12 year old son and I were on the Carnival Valor the week between Christmas and New Years, 2005. This was our sixth cruise overall and our fourth Carnival cruise. Our other cruises were with Disney and Princess.

 

We had a great trip. The food, service and accommodations were great. Carnival has upgrade their linens and bedding − very comfortable.

 

We did not do any of the Carnival endorsed shore excursions. Instead we made our own arrangements (via email) for each of the ports. We are certified divers. We dove in Grand Cayman, Roatan and Costa Maya.

 

In Belize, we took a break from diving and went cave tubing with Action Belize. We only had six people in our group and our guide, Vital, was great. It was a terrific experience.

 

Our only complaint was our cabin location. It was 7208, which is the most forward cabin on deck 7 on the port side. The balcony view was partially obstructed by the lower part of bridge (including a huge spotlight that, thankfully, never came on). Also, that was the first time that we had been in the bow area. There was some noticeable hull slapping while underway in somewhat heavy seas. Although we still slept like babies, next time we are going to try and book a mid-ship cabin. However, deck 7 is perfect, halfway between the sun and food on the Lido deck and the dinning rooms/theater on decks 3 and 4.

 

Here is a report on our dives:

 

 

Grand Cayman

 

My wife and I have been diving for about 25 years. My son was certified this past summer. This was his first saltwater dive.

 

Grand Cayman was our first stop on the cruise. We had made arrangement (via email) before we left home to dive Stingray City with Divers Down at noon. Divers Down is located in Georgetown about one-quarter of a mile from the tender dock. We had also planned to do a shore dive at Eden Rock (also within walking distance of the tender dock) in the morning. We managed to get on an early tender, however, the conditions were fairly rough. Although the Eden Rock dive shop was open, shore diving was closed for the day due to weather.

 

Since Eden Rock was closed, we headed down the street to Divers Down to check in. At Divers Down, the staff informed us that conditions were not ideal, but they were going to attempt the noon trip to Stringray City. They suggested that we leave our gear with them (which we appreciated), walk around a bit and come back around 11:30. We did a walking tour of Georgetown (a bit touristy, but nice people) and returned around 11:30. There were seven other people (all from a different cruise ship) who had also booked the noon Stingray City trip with Divers Down. Of the seven, two were certified divers, four were “resort course” divers and one was a snorkeler.

 

From the shop, Divers Down loaded us all into a comfortable van and took us to a marina about 15 minutes away. We filled out the usual paperwork in route. No one ever checked our C-cards.

 

At the marina, we boarded the dive boat. The boat had plenty of room and was well set-up for diving. There were two dive masters from Divers Down aboard with us. It was about a 20 minute run out to Stingray City in fairly choppy, drizzly conditions.

 

At Stingray City, we anchored in the sand in about 12 feet of water. Much to our surprise, we were the only dive boat at Stringray City. One of the dive masters went in to check the conditions. He concluded that, while not ideal, the conditions were acceptable. In addition to a 1 to 2 foot chop, there was some current. Divers Down took the extra precaution of placing a safety line on the bottom with an anchor on one end and a weight belt on the other end. The purpose of line appeared to be to provide a reference point so we would know when the current carried us too far aft of the boat. It was really helpful.

 

After a thorough briefing, including an educational talk on the proper way to interact with the stringrays, we all entered the water. Both the Divers Down dive masters dove with us. Although we appreciated having them in the water, I was initially a bit concerned that no one remained in the boat. Once in the water, we were immediately greeted by a group of 20 to 30 stingrays. There was mix of larger females and smaller males. We spent about 45 minutes in the water interacting with the stingrays, including feeding them squid.

 

Although my wife and I are both experienced divers and this was a very shallow dive to a bare sand bottom, we both really enjoyed ourselves. The stingrays were non-aggressive and quite interesting. My son was a bit overwhelmed by the stingrays. At one time he was swarmed by so many stingrays that his masked was knocked off. No big deal, but it made him a little nervous. After that, he did not want to feed them anymore, although, I think he enjoyed watching. We also saw a poisonous stonefish, which gave my son one other thing to be nervous about.

 

All-in-all, we had a great experience, notwithstanding the rough whether. The Divers Down dive masters were excellent. They made sure no one drifted too far from the safety line and that everyone had plenty of opportunities to feed the stingrays. In general, they seemed very safety conscious and very interested in making sure that we all had a good experience. We would dive with Divers Down again and would definitely recommend their Stingray City trip.

 

Roatan

 

We had made arrangement (via email) before we left home to do a one tank boat dive in Roatan with the Octopus Dive School. Octopus is located on the beach at Foster’s in West Bay. We took a cab from the cruise ship pier to Foster’s ($20 per person round trip). Although we were only looking for transportation, a “tour guide” apparently goes along on all cab rides. Our tour guide was Harry, a nice young man who had grown up on Roatan.

 

As it turned out, Harry stayed with us at Foster’s the entire day. I wasn’t sure why they did things that way. It may have been to make sure that we did not take another cab back to the pier (since, as is apparently the local custom, cruise ship passengers do no pay for cabs until the cab returns them to the pier). At any rate, we enjoyed the time we spent with Harry and his local knowledge.

 

The staff at Octopus, Lars and Nuria, were really friendly and helpful. Although, as with Grand Cayman, no one checked our C cards.The dive boat picked us up on time at the pier on the beach at Foster’s and dropped us off at another pier about five minutes away. In addition to the three of us and the dive master, there were three “resort course” divers. The dive master’s first priority was the novice divers (as it should be), however, we also found him very helpful.

 

We left from the shore for a guided tour of the reef right off the West Bay beach. Our maximum depth was 39 feet. In addition to numerous fish and the very health reef, we saw a small turtle and a large eagle ray.

 

At the conclusion of the dive, the Octopus dive boat picked us up and took as back to Foster’s where Harry and the cab driver were waiting. They got us back to the cruise ship in plenty of time.

 

My family thought Roatan was the best dive of the trip. Although, they may have been influenced by the fact that weather was nicer in Roatan than in our other ports. We were very pleased with Octopus Dive School and would definitely dive with them again.

 

Costa Maya

 

We had made arrangement (via email) before we left home to do a two tank boat dive in Costa Maya with Dreamtime Dive Resort. Dreamtime is located on the beach about one-half of a mile beyond the tourist area in Mahahual. It was about a 10 minute cab ride from the cruise ship pier (about $5 per person). Make sure that you ask the cab driver to drop you off at the Dreamtime dive ship. Otherwise, you will have a bit of a hike from town.

 

Upon arrival, we were asked to complete a very thorough questionnaire and show our C cards. It immediately became obvious to us that Dreamtime is a very professional and safety conscious operation. Carlos, the Dreamtime dive boat captain, backed the boat up to the beach and the Dreamtime staff loaded our gear for us. We then boarded the boat right from the beach. The boat was in excellent shape and well set-up for diving with heavy duty integrated tank ranks on the port and starboard sides.

 

Willie, one of the Dreamtime dive masters, lead both dives. Willie is extremely customer service oriented. It was obviously very important to him that we had a great experience in Costa Maya and we did. The first dive was to about 70 feet. Although the chop cut down the visibility somewhat, the reef was still beautiful and teeming with sea life. After a surface interval of a little over an hour, we made our second dive at a shallower area of the reef. My son had some trouble clearing on the second dive and Willie worked with him very patiently while the rest of us enjoyed the dive. In addition to our family and Willie, there were three other divers on the first dive and two other divers on the second dive.

 

In summary, Costa Maya is a great dive site and Dreamtime is a first class operation.

[cruzegirl]

Wow.. Sounds like a good time for all.... I'll be on that exact cruise this coming Dec. 2006. Although hopefully we'll get Cozumel if the Hurricane season isn't too bad... I was surprised the 2 dive shops didn't ask to see your C-cards though... Interesting.... But you said they seemed safety oriented so that's good.....Glad you had a good time...By the way, can you tell me, are the pools/hot tubs salt water or chlorinated water on the Valor? Thanks....:D

[bruce-r]

Excellent, through trip report. The only thing I can think to as is how much the diving cost at each stop.

 

Of the 3 dive shops I've been diving with in Cozumel, only 2 asked to see a card and fill out paperwork. The third never asked. It might have been because I had all my own dive gear.

[sea-jay]

Virginia Family - thanks for the review. I will be diving in Roatan next year (2007) on my 10-day Zenith to the Canal cruise. Glad to hear that Octopus is a good operation. I want to book my own dive there and will check them out.

 

I, also, have been on dives where they don't ask to see my card. Maybe because I carry all my own gear including weights (since I live in Fl. I can drive to all the ports and weight isn't a problem). Also, I dive quite frequently, at least 3-4 times a year so my last dive is always within a short period of time.

[Wennfred]

Great Review, thanks