Palmcoastdiver
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Our next cruise stops in Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. Would like recommendations of good dive operators that are not connected to the Carnival cruise dive excursions. Appreciate any info you got!
Cruise ship diving
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In Grand Cayman, I would try divers down. They're a few minute walk from the tender pier. In Coz, tons of ops to choose from. I've used the old Scuba Mau (now Opal's Dream) in the past. No clue about Roatan and Belize.
You are going to some great places.
I did a Carnival Cruise last month. Lots O' kids on the ship.
Used Opals Dream in Coz. They cannot pick you up at the terminal/dock, but it is a short cab ride.
Everything was waiting for me and I had 2 enjoyable dives. A nice break.
I did a Carnival Cruise last month. Lots O' kids on the ship.
Used Opals Dream in Coz. They cannot pick you up at the terminal/dock, but it is a short cab ride.
Everything was waiting for me and I had 2 enjoyable dives. A nice break.
drrich2
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I'm very fond of Living Underwater with Jeremy Anschel in Cozumel; small groups, big 120 cf steel tanks for us air hogs, excellent service on the boat.
From what I understand Coz. has quite a number of fine op.s.
Richard.
From what I understand Coz. has quite a number of fine op.s.
Richard.
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Barefoot Divers on Roatan - they're closer to the port than any other diveop. We dove with them, it's valet diving, we literally only touched our gear to move it to their dock. They also have small boats/groups. Cruise Ship Shore Excursions, Roatan 5 Star PADI Dive Shop
fwiw, the cruise operator on Roatan is Anthony's Key Resort, since they're on the opposite side of the island, they shuttle you both ways.
fwiw, the cruise operator on Roatan is Anthony's Key Resort, since they're on the opposite side of the island, they shuttle you both ways.
EastEndDiver
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What time does the ship tender at Grand Cayman? This will have a bearing on which (if any) operator will fit your time constraints.You can always do a shore dive at one of the facilities if an operator can not accomodate your time period.
flots am
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Just book with the ship in Belize. They use a really nice dive op (Hugh Parkey) and you'll have a great time.
Trying to book your own is going to be very stressful, since the ship doesn't actually dock, so you're stuck wasting time on tenders, getting to shore, making arrangements with the dive op, then getting tendered back to the ship on time.
It's possible to book your own, but it's more stress than I like to deal with on vacation.
On the other islands, you can pretty much take your pick. It's a competitive market, and bad dive ops don't last long.
If you ever get to Curacao, I really like The Dive Bus. You can dive on the house reef right across the street for days, and never get tired of it.
flots.
PS. Always verify how the ship's time compares to local time. I don't beleive you have any timezone changes, but it's something you want to be aware of.
drrich2
Contributor
An issue that happened to me, and also another poster on this forum, is that the 'docking time' of the ship may or may not remain constant to some time zone (let's say the ship departs from Miami in the Eastern Standard Time zone) vs. local time. The other poster & I both did Royal Caribbean sailings, and found out the time we showed up (& had to be back to the ship) were not the times we thought (in my case, Cozumel was NOT on Eastern time, for example).
My point is, if the ship's itinerary says you dock in Cozumel at 8 a.m, find out whether that's 8 a.m. EST, CST or what-have-you. Otherwise you may find you have to be back at the ship an hour earlier than you thought you did. That can knock you out of a dive.
Richard.
My point is, if the ship's itinerary says you dock in Cozumel at 8 a.m, find out whether that's 8 a.m. EST, CST or what-have-you. Otherwise you may find you have to be back at the ship an hour earlier than you thought you did. That can knock you out of a dive.
Richard.
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I'm getting on a ship in the morning for a back-to-back cruise at those stops, plus Costa Maya, my favorite. We're diving with Opal's Dream in Cozumel, Subway Watersports in Roatan, Seasports Belize on the first stop and the ship's excursion on the second stop in Belize, and Eden Rock in Grand Cayman (shore dives).
Ditto to drrich2's comments about ships' time vs local time. We almost missed our ship departure time on a dive with Cocoanut Tree Divers in Roatan because the ship staff did not mention that they were not on the same time as local time. Also, we tend to use the ship's dive ops when in a port that requires tendering to shore because the ship's excursions have priority for getting off the ship. When you book with an outside dive op, you take a big chance that you might not be able to get off the ship in time to meet your outside dive ops departure time. It is frustrating, and can be costly to miss a "paid for" dive because you could not get off the ship in time.
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