Diver Certifications Course on Ships

[jdbmga]

I am thinking about taking this course on board RCCL. It includes 2 open water dives in Cozumel. It says approx 12 hours overall training inlcuding pool dives and knowledge.

 

Does anyone know if this is done on days at sea or port days? How much of the class is classroom vs pool time? I wouldn't mind being out at the pool but now sure I want to spend a lot of time in class.

 

Could I do the class locally and then do the open water dives in Cayman or Cozumel to complete my certification?

[DiveMaster]

Yes. Check with a local dive shop.

 

Could I do the class locally and then do the open water dives in Cayman or Cozumel to complete my certification?

[reddi]

Our 3 sons did the classroom and pool portions for PADI certification with our local dive shop last year. We were given a universal form to take with us on for the dive masters to certify completion of the open water dives. We then booked the open water dives privately in Grand Cayman and Roatan. They did 3 in GC (1 was a snorkel dive) and 2 in Roatan. The divemasters signed off on the dive completion and we took the completed form back to our dive shop when we returned. Shortly thereafter they all received their certification cards.

 

I don't know how much time it takes if you take the entire class on the cruise ship but you do it ahead of time it will not take any time away from your time on board the ship. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[jdbmga]

Who did you book the private dives through in Grand Cayman?

 

The requirements for the dives booked through the ship you have to be certified already.

 

I need to find one I can do my cerification dives through.

[Wspinelli]

This is the 2 cents of an old Scuba Instructor, If you take the class/course at home before you go, you can take your open water dives while on vacation. The big advantages to doing you pool & class work at home are you can take your time to master the skills with a local dive shop. Most Dive shops will work with you as long as you need to be comfortible. While the skills you need to learn are not difficult, people learn at different rates. Taking your class at home affords you the luxury to take the extra time if you need it.

From the aspect of taking classes on the ship, I'm there to relax and relax on my schedule. The wonderful thing about cruises is lying by the pool when I want, walking the ship when I want, hitting the buffet when I want. I'd hate to miss the buffet because I had to be somewhere, or the trivia game, or the game show.

 

The best part of diving is going into the water and seeing coral and fish so get the work part out of the way before you go on vaction. Hope my opinion helps, whereever you decide be sure to take the class and and go diving. The coral reef is even more breathtaking than the Midnight buffet.

[SignalK]

Hi, all,

 

My two teens and I took the certification aboard RCCL last year. Most of the pool and classroom learning was done on sea days, but I will say it was fairly intense. We spend a lot of time on sea days lounging on our balcony and generally doing nothing, so we didn't mind having something to get us out of bed in the morning. I agree with the poster above that there's a lot to learn and if you're a klutz like me and not very athletic you may not feel very comfortable by the time you do the water dives. Can't say the same for my kids, who seemed to pick things up faster than I did. The instructors were very good but I think they got a little impatient with me and I can't say as I blame 'em:) Also, the dives weren't very enjoyable because you are still learning. The certification we received was for "scuba diver" not "open water diver" (you need to do 2 more dives to get open water certification which you can arrange to do via the ship for a few extra $$) which is not acceptable for most future dives, so if you do it make sure you take the 2 extra dives (we opted not to because we didn't really understand what difference it would make) and get the open water certification.

 

All of that being said, if you are a quick learner and want to get it over with quickly it's a way of seeing if you really like scuba diving without spending weeks learning and tons of money.