Carnival Valor Mar. 6th

[DEEPLOU]

I have been on this itinery twice before on two different cruise lines.
First time several yrs ago on Premier (now defunct and one ship on bottom), and other time I think it was NCL. The first trip actually had an excursion to the Blue Hole. Usually don't see that on cruise excursions.

Last trip that went to Coz was there till 11pm also and had a night dive (thru ship).

Will take some pix. But all I have is an Ikelite Aquashot w/ (one step above throwaway) camera.

 

[Debraw]

"BTW, has anyone visited the turtle farm in Grand Cayman?"

I went to the turtle farm one time when I visited GC. It was great! I have an excellent picture of me picking up a turtle. We rent a jeep when we stop in Grand Cayman while on a cruise. It is very easy to get off the ship go across the street pick up the Dollar rent a car and go out on our own. We drive down to Sunset house do a couple of shore dives, drive to the the butterfly farm, the turtle farm, and Hell all in one day. I don't know the condition of Sunset House since the hurricane. We have also done a shore dive at Eden Rock, and even drove down to Cobalt Coast in the West End one time. I have been to Cayman six times. Three times by cruise ship and three times by air/land. Cobalt Coast is really fantastic. Dive Tech is their onsite operator and they dive the North Wall....a lot! We dove in Belize while on the Carnival Elation Cruise last June. It was $145 at the time. We did two tanks and it was an all day excursion. Dive boat came and picked us up at the ship and brought us back the same way. I really liked it and between the convenience, the diving, the boat trip, it was a very nice day on the boat. Pricey, but worth it. I would do it again. Have fun!

 

[pammyk]

Is anyone else going on the Carnival Valor May 1st thru 7th. I tentatively booked a couple of afternoon dives in Cozumel with "Scuba with Alison". She seemed real accomodating and very nice. I sent an email to "Neptune Divers" in Grand Cayman. What is the best dive site in Roatan to use? Any ideas would be great!!!!!

 

[fmw625]

We're booked for the Carnival Elation out of Galviston, TX May 15 thru 22. Any one on this cruise. Hope to dive Coz and Belize.:yelclap:

 

[chuck e]

Is anyone else going on the Carnival Valor May 1st thru 7th. I tentatively booked a couple of afternoon dives in Cozumel with "Scuba with Alison". She seemed real accomodating and very nice. I sent an email to "Neptune Divers" in Grand Cayman. What is the best dive site in Roatan to use? Any ideas would be great!!!!!

Pam

We are booked on this cruise but I haven't started looking at dive ops. Consensus seems to use the boat excursion for belize. Other ports are open. We will be in cozumel in april, so will be able to make inquiries first hand. Keep in touch.

Chuck

 

[hyrik]

While at the turtle farm you can go right next to it and do a shore dive.Dive tech has a shop right there.We stayed in Grand Cayman 3 timesand this was our favorite shore dive.Large Tarpon,turtles,and lots of fish.I am on the Miracle on 5/29 and we plan to take 16 people with us to snorkle while we dive.

 

[Diver Girl 1]

Hello Pam,
We are also going on the Valor May1-8. Anthony's Key is who the ship uses. We have booked in Belize with Aqua Divers. I haven't heard much of anything about them, but they will accomodate us as far as our cruise times go and such. We are flying out to San Pedro. You might want to look into it. May is whaleshark mating season, so we are hoping we see one. Have you used Eagle Ray before or Equalizers in Cozumel?
Diver Girl 1

 

[Diver Girl 1]

Hi DeepLou,
Just wanted to let you know that you can fly over to San Pedro and dive. We booked the flight for $45 dollars round trip and are going with Aqua Dives. They have a website aquadives.com and they pick us up from the airport and take us back. They were reasonable and would work with our ship times too. I don't know much of anything about them, but you might want to look into that.

 

[DEEPLOU]

Hi DeepLou,
Just wanted to let you know that you can fly over to San Pedro and dive. We booked the flight for $45 dollars round trip and are going with Aqua Dives. They have a website aquadives.com and they pick us up from the airport and take us back. They were reasonable and would work with our ship times too. I don't know much of anything about them, but you might want to look into that.

Well I am back!
As I said booked all 4 ports through the ship.
Belize they used Hugh Parkley's which from what I have seen is a large operator. There were 24 on a 48 ft. boat. They picked us up at the ship and took us out to Turniffe Caye. Good dive deascent amout of bottom time, although "follow the leader" (they broke group up into 3 groups)
Spoke to someone on ship who was booked but missed the boat. He went into Belize City and ended up hooking up with someone(he didn't say who) that for $105 sent him over to San Pedro and on a boat and back. Only due to time restrengths he only got one dive in.

Roatan: they used Anthony Key Resort. There were 40 divers booked. We were split up to 3 different boats. All 48 footers. Walls were really neat as they really went straight up and down, (as compared to other places where wall is more of a steep slope).

Grand Cayman: they used Don Forster's another recognized operator. There were only about 15 divers on this one, don't remember exact count. First dive was follow the leader going aroung washouts between coral heads on the wall, and thru some neat swim thorughs. Second dive was a reef abt 45 ft, guided tour was on request otherwise you were on your own w/buddy. I went in with girl from Calif, we were first in the water and last out. Funny thing some of the best stuff to see was right under the boat!

Cozumel: I booked Cenote dive through ship. There were only 8 of us that signed up for this one. They put us on a ferry to Plya Del Carmen. There we were met by the dive operator. We drove abt half hour south on a paved road, then made a right onto a dirt road for about a mile or two into the woods. We broke into two groups of 4 plus a divemaster. Cenote was neat, may just decide to head to FL for cavern and cave certs. PS: this trip met on the pier at 11am right after ship docked and we didn't get back to ship till 7 pm.

Although the trips through ship may have been more expensive, than booking my own, the trips were good and there were no hassels.

 

[lostboy]

Well, we just got back today, also. Overall, a nice cruise with good diving; I will post a longer review in the next day or so.

Two comments for potential divers going with non-shore dive ops. Subway in Roatan had to change locations, has lost some folks, and generally seems very discombobulated. The op didn't run very efficiently, didn't follow through on some promises, many of the better sites are much further away now, and just seems like everyone is going through the motions. Kinda sad...

OTOH, LiquidBlue may be the best dive op I have ever seen. Wow! Both dives were incredible, the first easily the best dive I have ever been on. The boat was well layed out, service was awsome, and they went beyond expectations to make everything happen. Can't say enough good things.

We hit bad weather trying to get into Cayman, so we lost a port day there. Didn't get to follow through with Neptunes Divers, but the op was very friendly and I think it was our loss to have hit on a day where the port was closed (4-8 foot seas, evidently; GC needs to build a dock!)

More info to follow...

Jerry