cruise ship diving and medical issues

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arcticat99

Contributor
Messages
329
Reaction score
173
Location
Saskatoon Sask canada
# of dives
25 - 49
just wanted to prepare people who are going on a princess cruise ship and maybe any other ships.but make sure if you have any medical conditions that require an ok not from your doctor is to make sure you bring a copy with you.they do not warn you when you book the excursions online and when you get there to your state room there is a medical fill out sheet and if you answer yes to any of the questions,without a dr note.you will be denied the excursion.in my case my LDS has my info so it cost me a long distance call and they emailed the cruise ship my info .next time i will just take a copy to be safe
 
So you are saying that your cruise ship asked you to fill out the standard RSTC medical questionnaire in order to go on a cruise arranged scuba dive?

What ship?
What country?
Which dive op?
 
It’s not just cruise ships FYI. Every liveaboard and diveshop I’ve been to have had the same gig...as far as I can recall...
 
Yes, and also check the maximum age limit imposed by some dive ops with some cruise lines. What is idiotic is that if I show up at the dive op, not on the ship's excursion, there is no age limit. It must be the dive op's lawyers involvement with the cruise line contracts because a dive op at one port may have an age limit while a different dive op at the next port has no age limit. If I can't get the age limit waived with a doctor's letter specifying I am cleared to dive, then I happily tell the cruise line and dive op to shove it, and let them know which off-ship vendor I will be giving my money to in their ports.
 
Or just answer no to all medical questions :D
 
they said it was the dive ops that wanted the info .i just called my lds and they faxed over the info .and thought about lying but if something would of happened it would of left my wife with the financial burden so all i'm saying is just bring a note from your doctor and everything will go smoothly and yes about the age i had a fellow that was able to dive st thomas and bonaire with me but dominica wouldn't allow because he was 70 .that was the easiest of the 3 dive destinations in my opinion
 
The only time I've ever been asked for a medical form in on a liveaboard was this spring on the Red Sea Aggressor.
 
Or just answer no to all medical questions :D

^This. If you're concerned about diving with a particular medical condition, then you certainly should speak to your doctor but to put the decision making as to whether you can dive into someone else's hands -who may or may not be qualified to make that call- is, in my opinion, foolish and unnecessary.

Ultimately your safety when diving is your own responsibility.
 
Ultimately your safety when diving is your own responsibility.

Unless something happens to you... then it becomes the responsibility of the dive op to rescue you and transfer you to medical care. I've never seen anyone sign a release that says "if I become incapacitated while diving, you have my permission to just leave me in the ocean."

I can understand the "I'm fine, why are you bothering me about these things?" attitude that individual divers have toward dive operators. But those individual divers rarely take a moment to consider the situation from the point of view of the dive ops.

I have to live with the burden of understanding both sides. (My mom, an active diver, turns 70 this month and has accompanied me on many dive trips to the Caribbean. She's always had her paperwork in order, hasn't had a problem... yet.)
 
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