Scuba in Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, or Costa Maya??

[FliLady]

I too, chose not to book from the cruise ship in Belize. Last year, we simply got off the ship and found a booth that had a package deal for $165 pp, which flew us over to San Pedro where we dove with Aquadives. They took photos on our dive and we got a really nice CD with our dive pics on it. Afterwards, we lounged on the beach and caught our 10 minute flight back to the ship. We are going again in August and plan on doing the same thing. We spoke with other divers who did the ship excursion (Carnival) and they were not happy. The boat ride out was long and very rough.

 

Our dive was great with Aquadivers and I would highly recommend them.

[cruisel8y]

Flilady - we are going on a cruise that stops in Belize in August too. My DH wants to dive. Does the booth say Aquadivers??

[jenafwife]

 

Our dive was great with Aquadivers and I would highly recommend them.

We booked through Shoretrips.com for the same fly and dive package. Aquadive was the dive shop we were sent to. We were told not to bring our own equipment as they would provide it all for us and they didn't want the extra weight in the small planes.

Shoretrips was great! But I have to give a C+ to Aquadives. We were met at the airport at San Pedro and guided a short walk to the dive shop and given our equipment. They treated us well at first and hooked up our equipment and carried it for us to the boat. Everything seemed fine on our first dive except my husbands tubing had a leak but they urged us to continue. They led us to what they called a dive called "love tunnel" We were only a group of 8 and since the problems my husband encountered we were the back of the bunch. I was behind my husband and a guide was behind me. Just as we were diving through the reef, kind like a cave or alley, one of the divers kicked up silt and we couldn't see it was so murky and dark. With our own equipment we have flashlights with Aquadives stuff there wasn't any. Anyway we had to back out of that and go above. We had to stop our dive at just 20 mins because of the loss of DH's air. Ok so things happen we were really happy to be there. But when it came to the second dive they couldn't get the boat started. Finally after 30 mins of working on it they decided they needed fuel. So they sent someone, by boat, to get fuel for the boat we were taking. The photographer (and she wasn't employeed by Aquadive) was the only one concerned for us and our time since we were the only ones there that was from a boat. All the other divers were staying on the island. We could not miss our 1pm flight because the last tender was leaving at 2pm.

After an hour and the boat still wasn't running we got off the boat and told them we would just have to miss this one we couldn't make it back in time for the last tender. Like I said before the photographer was the only one to apologize or had any remorse for the situation. When we got back I wrote to Shoretrips and they immediately adjusted the price of the trip for the problems. I know things happen and we took it in stride but when it comes to safety the leaky hose should have been delt with then. They had extra equipment so not sure why they didn't have him get out to change out the hoses. There were two different leaks one at the tank and one at the gagues. The crew was personable and nice to us up until they were working on the boat. It just would have been nice to hear "hey Im sorry this is happening" Not a thing was said to us as we changed our clothes and left.

So my advise is at least take your own equipment!!

[FliLady]

Yes, it was Aquadivers. We were actually booked originally with the ship's excursion, but we missed it. We were seriuosly bummed out, went ashore and found a booth that hooked us up with the dive/flight package. It was Eco Tours at http://www.belizeshoretours.com

 

It ended up being cheaper and more exciting than the ship's excursion, so we were glad it happened after all!

[mielyse]

These posts are for divers and won't help you with the combo excursions. Hope this helps. All listed are PADI centers.

 

 

Roatan - see my post http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=538872

 

Costa Maya - see my post http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=536585

 

try http://www.xtcdivecenter.com/ they are a PADI center.

 

Cozumel - http://www.sanddollarsports.net/sd_home.php or http://www.aquasafari.com/ both of these are outstanding operations.

 

Belize - Absolutley go through Hugh Parkey's. They are a fantastic operation. Ask to have Karim as your DM. He is one of the best we have dove with. Have been with Hugh Parkeys 3 times and have always requested him.