Diving:Book w/ship or privately?

[FliLady]

If you did any diving in Belize, did you book with the ship or with a private dive shop?

[joediver]

You should check what outfit your cruiiseline uses. I'm sailing with NCL and they use Hugh Parkey's in Belize. I've spoken with a divemaster at an "Exotic Travel" show here in the Chicago area earlier this month and was very impressed with them. I've also read a good number of positive reviews on this board and on the Scubaboard regarding their operation. So after all the research I went ahead and booked through NCL. They pick you up right off the boat take you to their shop for any gear you may need and keep the ratio of divers to divemaster small.

[FliLady]

Great thanks. It appears that there are only two dive shops operating out of that port, the other being SeaSports. Have you completed your dives in Belize yet? Just curious how Belize compares.....

[joediver]

Not yet....we'll be back 4/1. I'll be sure to post a review when I get back. Are you leaving before then? If so, let me know how your trip was.

[FliLady]

I leave 4/8. How did you find out which outfit your cruiseline uses? Either way, I'm sure it will be fabulous diving.

[Bob's Mom]

I'd love to know the answer to that too! I don't find any information on NCL's website about the excursions so it's really hard to know what they are.

[joediver]

I asked the question on the NCL CC board. I would suggest you do the same. It's likely someone will have the answer. You could try doing a search on your cruise lines message board. It's possible someone already asked the question for you. I also ran into the people from Hugh Parkey's at the Exotic Travel Show here in Chicago last month and they were very helpful. They're even arranging for an additional dive master to come along on our excursion as my son is only JR Open Water Certified. Another good resource for reviews of different dive ops is scubaboard.com. They have message boards just like this with a lot of very knowledgeable people. FYI Bob's Mom...in Cozumel NCL uses Sanddollar Sports, in Belize they use Hugh Parkey's and in Roatan they use Anthony's Key.

[Bob's Mom]

Thanks! That's what I'll do.