How does diving while on a cruise work?

[FPDocMatt]

How does diving while on a cruise work? Do you:

1. Dive from the cruise ship itself?
2. Take a smaller boat off from the ship to a dive site?
   • If so, is it while in open water, or
   • While docked in a port?
3. Dock in a port, then walk to a dive center and dive with them?

Thanks!
Matt

 

[DivemasterDennis]

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a "cruiser," nor am I a fan of cruise ship diving. I do know about it, though. No diving is done from the ship. Shore excursions take you to the cruise ship shuttle dock, and then you catch a bus, van, or walk to a shop where you dive with the on shore concessionaire. Most people sign up in advance on the ship, though some just "wander in" to a local shop, which is not always a good idea. Some dive centers cater to cruise ship customers, meeting them at the shuttle dock with a bus or van. Others are indifferent. Like me. If you do a cruise ship diving excursion, you need the same certification as for other diving. Otherwise, a "Discover Scuba " experience (it's not a class, just and experience) may be offered as an excursion.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Malpaso]

Booking your dive through the dive shop instead of through the cruise ship is much less expensive, as are any shore excursions. In addition to suggestions here, try cruisecritic.com or tripadvisor.com for reviews and recommendations of dive shops to go through.

 

[T23]

Most cruise ships will be more than happy to help your reserve a dive in various ports of call... for a premium price. While the local dive operator is vetted by the cruise ship (using criteria the cruise ship does not divulge to the public) and is usually a fairly reliable operator though most tend to cater to overly large groups and it is "luck of the draw" in terms of who ends up being paired as your buddy.

Without a whole lot of extra effort it is easy to seek out independent operators at the same ports of call and make your own reservations. Island life is dictated by cruise ship arrival and departure times and all of the dive operators work around the published schedules. Smaller operators may not have all of the amenities of the larger boats but usually provide a better experience with a smaller group, more personal service, and quite often more competitive rates.

 

[TSandM]

It depends on the ship. When we traveled on the Paul Gauguin, they ran some dives using rigid inflatables (RIBs) off the dive deck of the cruise ship, and they booked other ones through land-based dive operators. I did not realize that a) it was cheaper to book the dives in advance yourself, and b) you could book dives in destinations where the cruise ship did not offer them, so long as you respected their arrival and departure times from the port.

 

[rivers]

Very easily. Find an op that works with cruise ship timetables (and most with more than one boat do in the Caribbean). Book with them. Go diving.

My first 50-60 dives were off of cruise ships in the Caribbean because I was working on them at the time I was certified. I never once came close to missing ship (and crew generally have to be on earlier than guests). Don't book with the ship. They always go to the same beaten up reefs...

 

[LowDrag]

A couple of things to keep in mind when you consider booking your own operator of any excursion in a port. A) If a ship sponsored excursion is late in returning... the ship will wait for you. If you book on your own, they don't have to wait. The problem then becomes yours to get to the next port to get back on the ship. B) My wife has seen in her research, some people talking about how the excursion operators had run down gear/equipment/boats and so on giving you a poor excursion for your money. On the other hand we booked a Stingray City excursion with Soto's Cruises in Grand Cayman but that operator came highly recommended from many cruiser's. We got lucky, and had a wonderful time. It is a gamble when you book your own excursions. In booking with the ship you may have to pay more but there is security in knowing they won't leave with out you. Just some things to consider when cruising...which is the bomb by the way!!! :cool2:

 

[metaldector]

In Cozumel a large group of divers signed up to dive on the sponsor reef dives. Probably 40 to 50 divers got onto a couple of dive boats. I on the other hand asked a few friends for a name of a dive master prior to going and ended up the only diver on a small boat. I had friendly, competent, personalized service. We dove at my level of experience killing a few lionfish while we witness a mob of divers thrashing the water as we glided by. During the SI I watched quiet a show as people seemed to be manic on the other boats. Since I dive Florida's reefs alot I could identify most of the wildlife I saw. Back on the cruise ship I over heard some of those divers that took the dive excursion from the ship, they were remarking on the crowded conditions and the general pace of their dive. I just inwardly smiled and had another tropical drink.

 

[Kryssa]

We are going on a week long cruise in March with the extended family. It's a diverse group and the cruise meets the needs of pretty much everyone.

In the 4 ports we are stopping at, we have booked independent dive ops in 2 and are using the cruise operator in 2.

For one of our cruise op's dive days, we just couldn't find a dive op that would work with the time we are scheduled in port enough to make me feel comfortable that we'd make it back to the ship for plenty of time. In the other, my husband is diving without me as I am doing another excursion with my family and I wanted him to be on the cruise ship's operator because it would make me feel better about him getting back to the ship on time.

In the other 2, we found local ops that were happy to meet our needs. In one, we're doing a 2-tank from a small boat. In the other, 3 members of our family are doing the discover scuba class while my husband and I do 1 dive, then we are all going to do their discover scuba dive together.

When I'm diving while in port on a cruise ship, I look for an op that will work around my schedule. I get off the ship as soon as possible and get to the dive shop or boat ready to dive. I don't want to wait around for a couple of hours because I see those hours as "safety" in case something unexpected happens. If all goes swimmingly, we can walk around, shop, have a bite of authentic food, or go to the beach after our dives

 

[TomZ]

My wife is in the beginning stages of planning an extended family cruise for Christmas 2012. We've cruised before, and done a Discover Scuba while cruising. We are now OW certified. Question for you experienced cruise divers: Do you bring your own gear?