Anyone Have Scuba Excursion Cancelled Recently?

[JDsafeman]

We just got back from a Carnival cruise and our scuba excursion was cancelled. The Shore Excursion Desk said that the cancellations were fleet-wide due to some insurance requirements.  They were not sure if scuba would be offered in the future.

We have some Royal Caribbean cruises booked that we have already purchased scuba excursions.  Should we cancel and book privately?  

[Charles4515]

2 minutes ago, JDsafeman said:

We just got back from a Carnival cruise and our scuba excursion was cancelled. The Shore Excursion Desk said that the cancellations were fleet-wide due to some insurance requirements.  They were not sure if scuba would be offered in the future.

We have some Royal Caribbean cruises booked that we have already purchased scuba excursions.  Should we cancel and book privately?  

You should always book privately as the cruise line is only a middleman enhancing their own revenue but Carnival cancelling your excursion probably means nothing as far as your Royal Caribbean purchased excursions. 

[teddybear231]

Over the years I had 3 different scuba excursions (all booked through the ship) cancelled. It was mostly related to poor weather.

[JDsafeman]

While we were in Cozumel (at the Carnival port) we didn't see any dive boats going to the Allure either.

I don't mind booking privately but recently we have had a few itinerary changes and port cancellations.  Booking through the cruise line is just more convenient for us. 

[gmerick]

I've had several SCUBA excursions cancelled, but only rarely do privately booked ones get cancelled.  Still I recommend the cruise line excursions.  With SCUBA, lots of things can go wrong, and when they do, it takes hours to resolve.  With the cruise line booking, you will eventually catch up with the rest of your luggage (and hopefully the ship). You won't be on the hook for expenses unless the emergency personally involves you.  For that, carry good dive insurance.

[Mikamarii]

We are on a TP right now on ovation. There wasnt a single scuba excursion for booking on our cruise planner. We also booked a quasi b2b next year on odyssey and grandeur doing southern carribean itineraries. Not a single scuba excursion available. 

 

We asked on board at the start of our cruise and were told they arent offering scuba excursions as there is too much risk and insurance too high. They said they may still offer them on carribean ships, namely oasis class, where they have a master diver onboard. 

 

We booked our dives independantly which is fine but we need to leave the kids on the ship as they are too young and we prefer the security of knowing they cant leave without us but is what it is. We wanted to book in Moorea but the individual websites didnt list if they would pick up from the port or not and none appeared close to where we were tendering. We tried emailing and never heard anything back so decided not to book in the event covid derailed this cruise and we needed a refund. 

 

We just finished a dive in Papeete. We booked through expedia excursions so at least we were covered in event we needed to cancel. There was a miscommunication between the site and the dive company when we arrived and ended up waiting over an hour at the tourism office but they did show and we got the dive in. 

 

 

[Btank]

On 10/17/2022 at 9:48 PM, Mikamarii said:

We asked on board at the start of our cruise and were told they arent offering scuba excursions as there is too much risk and insurance too high. They said they may still offer them on carribean ships, namely oasis class, where they have a master diver onboard. 

Both "Certified" and "Introduction" SCUBA excursions are being offered for Adventure on the 8th December sailing.

 

      --bruce T.

 

[kfnesq]

We had one  booked in Bermuda for our upcoming cruise and it was cancelled a month out, which surprised me.   But if it's an insurance thing then I guess maybe it makes sense.  This is on Enchantment.

[Charles4515]

44 minutes ago, kfnesq said:

We had one  booked in Bermuda for our upcoming cruise and it was cancelled a month out, which surprised me.   But if it's an insurance thing then I guess maybe it makes sense.  This is on Enchantment.

 

There are two well regarded dive places that you can book on you own in Bermuda. Likely the cruise line was using one of them. 

[mac66]

I've had a few ship dives canceled. One was canceled because the ship was delayed getting into port. I was able to find a local dive shop who got me on their afternoon dive.  

 

Another was canceled because not enough people signed up for it. Again I was able to find a local shop who fit me in.

 

I have a cruise in Nov in the ABC islands. I booked one dive through the ship, two more booked privately mostly because there weren't any ship dives offered on the other two islands.

 

As for price, I've found through the ship dives tend to be more expensive but not always. My ship dive in Aruba is cheaper than any private dive shop I could find.  It kind of depends on the port. Some are cheaper, some not so much.

 

I just checked my Feb '23 cruise. No ship dive was offered, now there is. It's actually comparatively cheap.

Edited October 19, 2022 by mac66