Cruise Ship Diving

[kelemvor]

So, I'll start by saying I've never been on a cruise. Neither has my wife. We've done several dive vacations together Florida Keys, East Coast, FL, and two Scubaboard Invasions (Cozumel, Roatan). All good. However, we've been talking about a vacation next spring that while it might include diving it will not strictly be a dive trip. In part because I want to include my adult child (diver) and 17 year old child (non diver).

Cruises have come up repeatedly in conversations with friends and family who do not dive at all. They make cruising sound pretty appealing.

I've read numerous times on scbuaboard that the sites used for diving by cruise ships are pretty lame. Anyone care to weigh in on the subject? I'm assuming I won't get anything like the fantastic diving I had in Cozumel or Roatan, but are the dives worth doing?

I don't have a particular cruise line or destination picked out.

 

[PACKRMAN]

We cruise a lot. I almost always bring my dive gear and try to dive every port. I seldom book the dive thru the ship but I wouldn't be afraid of that either. I think it will depend on your destinations as to the quality of the diving. Cozumel and Roatan are cruise stops too, you liked them.

 

[DoubleAA]

We went on a Carnival ship recently and did dives in St Thomas, St Kitts, and St Maarten. Our dives in St Lucia were cancelled. I brought all my own gear. Depending on location I'll dive with the cruise ship as they won't leave you or will make sure you get back to the boat if on one of their sanctioned excursions. We had dives I would rate from a 4 to 7 on a 1-10 scale. Some of the low rating was due to visibility being bad due to storms. Thats partially out of their control with the limited time ships stay in port. St Maarten was our best dives.

We didn't have a balcony room on this one so I was the a#$hole out rinsing my gear in the showers on the deck and sitting drinking margaritas while it dried.

 

[Altamira]

We cruise a lot also, drag my own gear, and try to dive at those ports where the diving is very good or better. Among those ports I have been to, I have had very good/excellent dives in the Caribbean ports in GC, COZ, Roatan, Costa Maya, St. Thomas, Curacao, Bonaire, Belize, and Grenada. I usually give St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Barbados, Bahamas, and Antiqua a pass. I have used a mix of ship dive ops and outside vendors, depending on the port, ease of getting to the dive op, and very important, how much time do I have in port. If the ship's dive op is very good, based on my previous experiences and others reviews, I don't hesitate to use them, especially if the time in port is a bit tight. Cruising is a great way to take a family vacation, especially if you are traveling with non-divers.

 

[drrich2]

When I did a 2-tank trip with Scuba Steve's at St. Lucia, it was a privately booked tour, not through the ship, & I enjoyed it; I paid the extra for the trip down near the Pitons, and our sites were Superman's Flight and Fairy Land (? spelling). Not real complaints about the 2 dives done with St. Croix Ultimate Blue Water Adventure (privately booked) or in St Thomas with Admiralty Dive Center (Armando's Paradise and Navy Barges).

What people have said, regarding day 1 on a dive trip (cruise or not) is some op.s may want to take divers they're unfamiliar with to a benign site, maybe one where they're not likely to do much damage even if not in good form. I don't know to what extent the latter part is true; the former makes good sense.

Bottom Line: Dives from a cruise can be good dives. Even if you do book through the ship (which I did several years ago in Grand Cayman). I think of it as the 'appetizer approach' to some destinations, particularly some you might never do a dedicated trip to (e.g.: St. Lucia for me). And I got interested enough in St. Croix I want to go back.

Richard.

 

[randpchi]

Agree with what has been said. I have always enjoyed dives from a cruise ship

You may get to better sites booking on your own and if you can find shore diving you will save money and not have to deal with a cattle boat.

 

[Saniflush]

Thanks for bringing this up again. My best friend from the corps and I take a trip every year. They have done a lot of cruises and have talked us into doing one for our trip this year. They will dive a day or two but my wife and I will be attempting to dive in every port. To that end I am beginning to start pulling together the various dive operators that we will be going through and all information is appreciated.

 

[kelemvor]

Awesome! I guess I had the wrong impression in my head and I'm glad I asked about it. Cruising just made the short list .

 

[decompression]

I cruise at least once a year with the family (Disney cruise lines), the stops are pretty good for diving (Keys, Coz, Caymans, St Maartins etc), dives are usually pretty good and really not much difference when I book dives with All Inclusives.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Have only gone on one cruise so far (ten days to South Pacific islands). Wanted to dive but cruise ship always arrived in port after the dive boats had left for the day. Had to settle for snorkling.