cruise diving

[wetwolf]

any advice on whether to try and book the dive before the trip at one of the local dive shops (here) or wait until I get there or aboard.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I booked through the line and have also booked ahead of time. You will definitely get a better experience hooking it up on your own but you will find it potentially more expensive. The cruise ships routinely dock and let you off after the morning dive boats go out (Remember they dock at 9:00 AM but you can't get off until 10:30 AM - Don't make that mistake). They also routinely leave before dinner. You are left with a small window of opportunity to actually dive. We ended up chartering our own six pack boats. They waited for us to get off the ship and we had our own schedule. Verrry nice! I highly recommend Aldora Divers in Cozumel and Red Sail in Grand Cayman if you are considering this. Both are near the docks and very amenable to this sort of proposition. We then went about trying to recruit other divers for the charter by posting on cruisecritic.com With a little work we recruited two other divers for a total of four on a six-pack. It ended up costing $15.00 a piece more for our own boat and two 60 minute plus dives in Cozumel as opposed to the cruise operated cattle boat op that gave them two 35 minute dives with AL 80's, a 75 foot max., and an everybody out of the water no matter how much air you have policy.

 

[jas77]

I'm going on a 4night cruise to nassau, coco cay and key west, and I think Im just going to try the dive off of coco cay (my wife doesnt dive so she prob. doesnt want me off all day while she is alone). Anyways... the dive off of coco cay is a shore dive. Ive never done a shore dive before and have one question.. for the safety stop, is it just a matter of resting on the bottom for 5 min. at 15 ft? I dont believe the dive is anymore than 50 ft. deep.

 

[Norda]

Hey Wetwolf...

We did the Destiny trip last fall and had a great time. We dove in Aruba (Dive Aruba) and Barbados (Hightide). I made the arrangements myself, well in advance of the cruise. You just need to check your port times and let the dive op know, they are pretty good about whether it will work. In Aruba they actually took us straight back to the dock next to the ship. What service!

Have fun!