Cruise Coz

[Garrobo]

I've been thinking about a short cruise to Coz from the Gulf Coast or Lauderdale/Miami. One day at sea, one day on Coz and one day back. I need to find a cruise that will get me there early enough in the morning to do the 8am or 1pm dive and have time to get back to the ship. Anyone ever done this or any suggestions? All I want is one full day on Coz and two full days at sea. Usually called a 4-day cruise.

 

[warmwaterturner]

Most arrivals are around 8. Blue Angel has a 9:45 boat that usually returns around 1pm. Might give them a look. blueangel-scuba.com

 

[fire_diver]

Save the hassel and book your dive through the cruise.

 

[Garrobo]

Booking a dive through the cruise line won't do much good if they aren't going to arrive in time for the dive boat's scheduled departure time. DUH.

 

[MMM]

Booking a dive through the cruise line won't do much good if they aren't going to arrive in time for the dive boat's scheduled departure time. DUH.

Cruise ships have arrangements with various dive ops to take their divers out for when the ship arrives and departs. Cruisers can make alternate private arrangements. So the CRUCIAL question is what time your cruise ship arrives. Once that is determined, you can make your private arrangements with local ops or with the ship shops (for which you'll pay through the nose) with ease of pick up and arrival for ship arrivals and departures.

 

[lsorenson]

Booking a dive through the cruise line won't do much good if they aren't going to arrive in time for the dive boat's scheduled departure time. DUH.

Garrobo... Not sure if that's a "shot" at fire_diver but if it is, its in poor taste... I for one, do not book dives through cruise ships but many people do and I will let those who do vouch for "shore excursions"...

I much prefer arranging my on dives or any other activity when on cruises... We did a week cruise out of New Orleans and Coz was one of the stops. I took the suggestion of someone on this board and booked a couple of dives with Aldora Divers of Cozumel Aldora Divers of Cozumel and could not say enough good things about them...

They are familiar with how the cruises work and can be delayed. They know if your ship is delayed and will work with you to get your dives in. They will supply you with 100's or 120's if you like, and I like... They will even refund your money if things go all to hell in a hand bag e.g. ship skips the port all together, only gives you 3-4 hours in port, bad weather....!

We caught a cab to the shop (5 dollars) filled out the paper work and walked down to the boat and had two great dives...

Thought so much about this shop, we are going back for a week or 10 days and will be using Aldora...

Much luck, lee

PS You need to check for the best cruise that offers the most time at Coz e.g. I wanted at least 8 hours in port...! It was initially 9 hours but the ship cut one hour off...

 

[fire_diver]

I book my own dives when cruising also, but for someone who has never been on a cruise before, I recommend booking through the ships excursions. It's a little more expensive, but not a lot more than booking on your own through most shops. The ship will never leave without you if you are on a ship excursion. If things go wrong and you booked on your own, the ship WILL leave without you. Booking on your own takes a little bit more work, but its nothing hard. Most dive ops work with cruise schedules, and will refund your money if the ship can't dock or is late. These are things you need to discuss with a dive op if booking your own.

 

[Diver Kat]

Doing a quick check, there are a number of 4 day cruises from a number of departure ports that stop at Coz. You didn't mention what time frame you're interested in, so that could make a big difference, as some ships are only in certain ports for certain months.

Best time frame I found was Carnival's Inspiration from Tampa, does Coz from 8AM - 7PM. Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas departs Tampa as well and stops 8AM-6PM, Navigator of the Seas departs Fort Lauderdale and stops 8AM-6PM. There are also various ships that do a 4 day cruise departing from Galveston, Mobile & Miami.

As for the diving, we originally started diving Coz off cruise ship trips. It's one location that I would not use the cruise ship to book unless my time was short. Once we stumbled across Scuba with Alison on the internet and booked with her one trip, we never looked elsewhere. She adjusted her departure time so that we could get to her from the ship - a quick taxi trip to the marina. A number of times we even booked a 3 tank trip (if she had an afternoon boat going out) and had no problems getting back to the ship for a 5 or 6PM departure.

 

[Garrobo]

1-Diver cat: Thank you for answering my question.
2-MMM: Exactly as I stated in my post.
3-Isorenson: Hey. You got about half of it.
4-Firediver: Same as above.
5- Thanks guys.

 

[fire_diver]

Sooooo, you wanted US to plan your vacation for you?

One more for the "ignore" list.