RCL dive

[Jrfund]

Does anyone know who the Cruise lines use for there dive trips in Cozemul and Cayman? I will be on RCL's Jewel in Nov. and plan on diving both places. If anyone as used the cruise dive excursion or did it with their own, would love to hear about your experience .. pro's and con's

[bruce-r]

In Grand Cayman RCL uses Red Sail. In Cozumel, I think they used Sanddollar. Both of these operators use large boats with more than a few divers, and conduct follow the leader dives that end when the first person is low on air, or a predetermined time, whichever is soonest. They have to be done with the dive on time to keep to the schedule. This type of diving is perfect for the once a year cruise ship diver they have a customer.

 

If you are more serious about your diving, I generally recommend that you make your own arrangements, as long as your ship's schedule allows you to make the morning boat departure time. If you arrive too late in the morning, then your choices are: ship's excursion, shore dive (not a bad choice in Grand Cayman BTW) or find an operator that offers an afternoon dive trip.

 

On Grand Cayman, I went with http://www.neptunesdivers.com/index.html.

 

On Cozumel, I went with http://www.bluextseadiving.com/

 

I can easily recommend both of these operators to fellow cruisers. They are not overly strict with the dive profile and won't make you end your dive because someone ELSE has used up their air while you have half a tank left.

 

Just because I recommend these operator does not mean that there aren't other equally good operators in Coz or GCM, just that I have personal experience with them and liked my dives with them.

 

In Coz some other dive OPs to consider are:

Dive with Martin (low price leader)

Papa Hogs

Blue Angel divers (also offers combines scuba and snorkel trips)

Eagleray divers (also offers combines scuba and snorkel trips and often recommended by other cruisers)

 

An exhaustive, but not all inclusive, list of Coz dive shops can be found at: Travelnotes

 

In GCM some other dive OPs to consider are:

Red Baron divers

Off the Wall divers

Wall to Wall divers

Fisheye

Divetech

and for shore dives really close to the tender dock:

Abanks divers and Eden Rock divers

 

Almost all the dive shops on Grand Cayman are listed here.

 

And have yourself a dive circus

[Jrfund]

I wasin contact with Neptune divers about a dive trip with them and now I haven't heard from them for some time. I have e-mailed them a few times without reply. has anyone heard from them and does anyone know a subsitute dive shop in Cayman's we could use that is good.

[w&k]

A couple of years ago, we used the RCCL trip in Cozumel, and the operator was Sanddollar.

 

Large boat, about 4 groups of ~5-6, each with divemaster and camera person. It could have been a real cluster, but they did a great job of keeping things straight.

 

Last X-Mas day, we used Eagle Ray, and were very pleased. Unfortunately, we were only snorkeling because I was still recovering from a bad bout of bronchitis, and Keith had an ankle injury.

 

Have a great time diving!

 

Wendy