Celebrity Summit Feb 14 - 21, 2009, Cruise Diving Report

[Scubagolf]

My wife and I sailed on a 7-day cruise on the Celebrity Summit out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with 5 stops in St. Maarten, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire and Aruba. We had never been to any of these islands before so it was a really good cruise itinerary for us to sample the islands.

I am not generally a fan of diving from cruise ships, and I arranged our diving with independent operators several months before the trip based on recommendations on SB. The diving was very good to excellent in all of the four ports we dove. Here are the operators we used, and we can recommend all of them:

Dominica: Dove with Nature Island Divers.
Grenada: Dove with Aquanauts Greneda, which is a sponsor of SB.
Bonaire: Dove with Buddy Dive.
Aruba: Dove with Clive Paula of Dive Aruba.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Thanks for the report. How would you rank the dive locations you visited?

 

[Scubagolf]

If ranking the four islands in terms of which we would most like to spend a full trip on it would probably be in the following order:

1. Bonaire - The best diving. 100' wall 30' from the shore? Unbelievable.
2. Aruba - Really good diving with wide selection of hotels and condos.
3. Grenada - Good diving with a pretty vibrant little city.
4. Dominica - Although the island is quite beautiful from a topside scenic perspective, it is a mess logistically and not terribly inviting in terms of hotels and restaurants. The diving was quite good though.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Next year's boys dive trip is going to be either Grenada or Dominica. If it was all about the diving and nothing else would your ranking change?

 

[Scubagolf]

To be honest with you, I don't think that one random day each on the two locations is much of a basis for that kind of decision. Having said that, if I had to pick I think that I would go back to Grenada because I would really like to dive the wreck of the Bianca C. which is a 600' cruise ship lying at 90 - 140'.

 

[phelana]

Tim, contrary to the author's impressions about hotels, Dominica has a plethora of amazing places to stay. The place is like out of National Geographic. Tough call as to which, Grenada or Dominica so flip a coin. Both pretty amazing islands...PM once you decide so I can send some land tips. I used to work on a boat docking on Dominica every other week and have been to Grenada. Love both..

Follow My Anguilla Bliss

 

[Scubagolf]

I will grant you that, which underscores that one day off of a cruise ship is not much a frame of reference, for diving or for hotels/restaurants!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

To be honest with you, I don't think that one random day each on the two locations is much of a basis for that kind of decision. Having said that, if I had to pick I think that I would go back to Grenada because I would really like to dive the wreck of the Bianca C. which is a 600' cruise ship lying at 90 - 140'.

I hear what you are saying. I've done the cruise thing. Good way to sample a few different islands. Was simply looking for a comparative rather than an in depth analysis. Both Granada and Dominica are on the to do list.