Cruise diving excursion

[decked out]

I will be going on a cruise in august. The stops are cozumel,belize,roatan (honduras), and freeport bahamas. I can dive at 1 or 2 of the places. has anybody dove on cruise ship excursions?? which would be the best of the dives? thanks for your input -Rick

 

[Doc]

:sblogo:

 

[seaducer]

If they are anything like the other excursions I have seen while on an island, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that...good luck.

I would do Coz and Roatan...

 

[ratherbefishin]

This year for spring break I went on a cruise (Carnival) with some friends. I was the only diver, and I looked at the official cruise line diving excursions, but after recommendations from others, booked my own diving with a smaller op in Coz. (Scuba with Allison) It was easy to get from the cruise dock to the dock I met the dive op at, maybe 5 minutes in a taxi. It was cheaper than the official cruise diving, as well, and there were only 6 of us on the dive boat instead of what I would imagine to be a larger crowd with the cruise line's choice.

FWIW, on our stop in Grand Cay, my friends and I had booked a snorkel expedition and when we got off the boat, we found out it had been canceled, as had a few other (non-snorkel) excursions that morning. I wouldn't want that to happen with my diving.

 

[diversteve]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Thread moved, PM sent about Roatan diving.

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[georoc01]

I did that cruise, w/o the stop in Freeport. Dove Roatan and Cozumel and they were nice.

Belize is an interesting option. If you can book it through the ship and its Peter Hughes Diving, I would check it out. Its about a 45 minute boat ride from the cruise ship. Booking your own in this port is tough because of the long ride into Belize City and then taking a long trip out of the reefs up north. The logistics are pretty tough.

Cozumel is probably the easiest of them to book on your own. I know Dive Paradise has locations just south of the Punta Lagosta pier and just north of the International Pier if you know where you will be docking when you get there. Aldora Divers also advertises that they cater to cruise ship divers, and have info on their website.

When in Roatan, we dove at Anthony's Key through the ship and they did such a good job that I am going back there for a week at the end of August.

You might also want to check out the diving section on cruisecritic.com

 

[Jay_SMART_Diver]

I did this cruise back in November of '05 click here for my trip report. I'm taking another cruise this October and plan on booking off the boat again. The only thing about Belize is the access to better diving sites is far from Belize City, I would recommend the snorkel charters from Sea Sports Belize, Subway in Rotan is excellent and I'm going to try Dive with Martin in Cozumel in October based on all the great things I've heard on the board plus their boats are right at the cruise ship/tender dock. Here's another thread on cruise ship diving to check out.

 

[decked out]

Thanks everyone based on the info and links I definately will be diving in roatan

 

[1Echo]

I'm doing a similar trip in August via Carnival Legend which hits Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Roatan. I'm diving all but Belize --- which I really wanted to dive but decided to do cave tubing with the whole family there. In Cozumel I'm doing a private charter with Dive With Martin and if you have at least 4 divers in your group this is a good way to go. The price is right and you won't be hassled with large boats of cruise divers. On top of that, some of my family will be parasailing and snorkelling with the same operation --- fun for all! In Roatan, I booked with Subway Watersports even though I've also read good things about Anthony's Key Resort which is what the cruise ship uses. The reality is I'd like to go to Anthony's Key on separate week long trip and bring the kids (check out the camps they have). Both Dive With Martin and Subway have been great to work with so far and are recommended by many on these boards. I'll be sure to post a review on my return.

 

[dksanders]

I just came back from a cruise to Cozumel (June 19-23). My wife and I dove with Aldora divers. We were quite pleased. They use HP tanks. I had a HP120 and the wife dove with a HP100. It was her first dive outside of a little lake in Texas and so she was sucking down air pretty quick on the first dive. My wife and I were the only paying divers. There was an instructor and two DMITs with her. So when the wife got low on air, the instructor has a long tech hose for her octo and the wife shared air with her for about 20 min so we didn't have to end the dive. That dive started at 93' and came up to shallower depths as the dive progressed. It was 65 minute dive. Aldora also demands the use of computers. They have them there if you don't. Our next dive as a 60 minute dive at 30'-40'. We had a blast. Aldora is two blocks north of the cruise pier and the boat is only about 150 yards north of the cruise pier. Convienent to get to. Also, I booked this dive two days before we got there. Our boat was 45 late pulling in. They came back in to get us at 11:00 and got us back to the pier at 4pm so we could catch the boat. We will diving with them again in Dec off another cruise.