Carnival Conquest 3/20/11

[KansasBob]

My family has booked a cruise on the Carnival Conquest for March 20-27 with stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. My daughter (17) and I are the only divers in the group and the wife and sons don't want us to abandon them at each port. My question is if you had to pick 1, which would it be. Also, I may get 2 if I can find a shore dive with a good beach for the wife and boys. We are thinking of possibly a boat dive in Grand Cayman and then maybe a shore dive at Chanakaab in Cozumel.

Any thoughts/suggestions
Thanks,
KansasBob

 

[flots am]

My family has booked a cruise on the Carnival Conquest for March 20-27 with stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. My daughter (17) and I are the only divers in the group and the wife and sons don't want us to abandon them at each port. My question is if you had to pick 1, which would it be. Also, I may get 2 if I can find a shore dive with a good beach for the wife and boys. We are thinking of possibly a boat dive in Grand Cayman and then maybe a shore dive at Chanakaab in Cozumel.

Get a boat in Coz. You can dive your butt off all day long while the wife and sons go shopping. Blue XTSea has a nice operation as do others. Then do family stuff on GC.

Jamaica is good for family stuff if you sign up for a good shore excursion. There's an excellent "ride horses on the beach" deal they have with a sea-side horse farm of some sort. It's a ton of fun, very relaxed and both the horses and employees seem happy. Otherwise I'd stay on the boat and get a massage and a nap.

flots.

 

[diversteve]

Most of the shore dives on Grand Cayman are off ironshore so there's no beach. What makes Seven Mile Beach such a great beach is the sandy, flat bottom. The dive sites are all farther off-shore - too far to swim.

So I'd do a boat dive there and let the family look around Georgetown. Do they snorkel? Maybe you all could do Stingray City in the afternoon - depends on when your ship sails. Afaik you're still tendered in from your ship moored just inside the harbor so plan for that also.

Don Fosters is the cruise operator - they're just south of the cruise port. Big boats, lots of divers per boat.

If that's not your style, try Lobster Pot Dive Center - they book Divers Down, Off the Wall and Wall to Wall - all are 8 divers max operations. There are other good operators also but not all of them can work within the cruise schedule - many leave too early for you to get to their location in time. info on all this: Cayman Islands - Grand Cayman, Travel and Tourism Site - Diving

I've no experience in Jamaica but I've read here that it's pretty fished out in some areas.