Scuba Excursion in the Southern Carribean

[ScubaLu]

Can anyone give me some great tips on Scuba Excursions in the Southern Carribean? My husband and I will be Cruising out of San Juan on Jan19, 2008. Should we stick with the ship excursions (Princess Cruise Line) or are we better off to look into private dive shops/excursions at each Port? Since this will be our first Cruise, I'm not really sure who to trust and what to expect. We want to be assured a safe dive experience and to be back on board the ship before it sails (always a good thing), but also want to get the best deal for our dollar and have a memerable experience. Thanks for your feedback.

[wnctarheel]

What ports are you going to

[ScubaLu]

St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Grenada, Bonaire and Aruba. Not sure which we will Scuba in, maybe you can help with that decision as well. We know we want to dive in Bonaire and at least 1 or 2 other spots. Thanks for your advise.

[bruce-r]

You might want to read This Thread about The Pros and Cons of diving with the ship's excursion.

 

Bonaire -- shore dive

Aruba -- http://www.divearuba.com/

St. Thomas -- http://www.admiraltydive.com and try their 3 tank trip. Here is my St. Thomas Underwater Photo gallery of shot I took on a trip with Admiralty last December.

[mainelycarib]

I just dove St Kitts for 2 days. Kenneths Dive Center is top notch and right in town where the cruise ships dock. Kenneth is born and raised in St Kitts and the dive experience reflects his local knowledge. I paid $90 for a 2 tank dive with equipment so you can compare that to your excursion prices. We we were back by 1:00pm after our 2 dives, but there is merit in paying a little extra to be under the ships care while on an excursion. By the way, the coral and colors were magnificant but sea life was minimal compared to Cozumel and Cayman. I would happily dive St Kitts again, though, and the 4-5 foot baracuda was cool.

 

I am currently researching other dive shops and islands for an upcoming cruise and it seems the local price is near to if not equal to the ship's excursion price. I will most likely pay the slightly higher fee for the ships excursion, plus you often get to dive with the ship's own dive master.