Cruising and Diving

[fishsticks425]

My family and I will be cruising with Royal Caribbean to Belieze, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel in March for Spring Break. Three of four of us are divers and are planning on diving at each port. Does anyone know if the diving would be better with the ship or with a local operator? We've been diving with the cruise ship and with local ops when cruising...both have their pros and cons, but if you have an specific ops that have been especailly flexible with cruisers let me know. Also, I was wondering about diving with the stingrays on GC...I dont think the ships has an excursion for that, they only have the snorkling trip. So if anyone knows of a good op that does that, let me know.

Thanks!

 

[joetex0777]

I would recommend SeaSports Belize & Blue Angel in Cozumel.

 

[123Scuba.com]

All the cruises I have been on farm the diving out to a local op anyway. At least if you book direct you have some control over what your getting.

 

[huskychemist]

I just finished a cruise with NCL to Progresso, Belize, and Cozumel. I dove out of Coz and Belize. The operator in Coz was Aviomar. From the cruise, it was $80 for a two-tank dive. Some others on the boat got a two tank dive for $60. $20 savings...might be worth it for more say over dive spots...we just went where they took us. I don't recall the dive op they used. For belize, the dove op used was Hugh Parkey's Belize Dive Connection. The cruise charged $150 for a two-tank dive to the Turneffe Atoll. Well, looking at the official website of the dive op, they charge $150 for a two-tank dive to Turneffe. So we paid the same price, got picked up right off the cruise ship by the dive boat, and had two GREAT dives with a first-class operation. If you can, find out who the dive ops are...then look them up on-line and compare prices.

Thanks. Have fun. Happy diving!

 

[leo]

There's really only one way to do this:

Call the cruise ship company's excursion desk, and find out who the local operator is. Don't let them tell you no, find out. Then, go to that company's web site and research it. Then, you weigh the pro's and con's, including:

- Does it cost more to pay through the cruise company?
...Not only do the cruise ships often pad the cost, but sometimes they also make the op charge more than their typical price.

- Are there clock constraints to worry about (regarding arriving/returning times)?

- What is your preference regarding the boats - few divers but small craft vs. lots of divers but big boat?

- What does scubaboard.com say about the op, their service, reliability, choice of sites, etc?

- Among others...

 

[pir8]

Advantage to using the cruises service is they are responsible for getting you back in time for ships movement. Otherwise you are taking your chances.

 

[Web Monkey]

Blue XT-Sea Diving in Cozumel will do a great job working with you to match the cruise ship schedule. The dives will be amazingly better than the ship dives because you'll be going out with a DM and at most a few other people, instead of maybe 30 once-a-year divers. The stop in Coz is long enough that you can setup your own dives with little effort or stress.

Grand Cayman is supposed to have great diving, but on my last 6 cruises, the ship didn't dock because of weather 4 times, and the dives were cancelled one other time because of rough water. I'd book with the ship on GC because they'll refund your money if they can't get to the island or the dive is cancelled because of weather.

Belieze was one of my favorite stops ever, and we had some excellent dives with Hugh Parkey (not sure who RC uses). You'll have a really hard time scheduing your own becase the boat ride to and from the reef, plus the time needed for the dives is almost exactly how long the ship is in port.

Terry

My family and I will be cruising with Royal Caribbean to Belieze, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel in March for Spring Break. Three of four of us are divers and are planning on diving at each port. Does anyone know if the diving would be better with the ship or with a local operator? We've been diving with the cruise ship and with local ops when cruising...both have their pros and cons, but if you have an specific ops that have been especailly flexible with cruisers let me know. Also, I was wondering about diving with the stingrays on GC...I dont think the ships has an excursion for that, they only have the snorkling trip. So if anyone knows of a good op that does that, let me know.

Thanks!

 

[jdarnall2001]

We just returned Saturday from a cruise with Princess. We did book our dives through the cruise ship, but once we arrived on land, we were taken to local dive shops and dived with them. The good thing about booking an excursion through the ship (who uses local dive shops) versus diving on your own with the local dive shop is that if perchance something goes wrong, if you've booked through the ship, the ship will wait for you to return.

We dived in both Cozumel and Grand Cayman and had a great experience with both places. Great shops, wonderful dive masters, and awesome dives! (In Cozumel, I suggest Palancar Gardens if your dive master will take you there. It was an incredible dive!)

 

[chuck e]

Did this itinerary 2 yrs ago. Hugh Parkey is best option in Belize for reasons cited. Dive With Alison in Coz, http://www.scubawithalison.com , also was very accomodating to cruise boat schedule. In GC we did 2 shore dives from Dive Tek shop at the turtle farm, great dives, easy entry. Alternatively, a snorkel trip to Stingray City is just as good as diving it. It's very shallow. Also search in the Cruise forum. There's a ton of advice there.

 

[xSandman3]

We've done both through the ship and on our own. I think booking through the ship and paying a little more is cheap insurance in case something goes wrong and you're late getting back on board. Met a couple on our last cruise who missed the boat because they booked their own dives. The op's boat broke down, and they had to pay for transportation to the next port of call to get back on the ship the next day...sounded like they had a pretty tough time.

As far as Belize, dive with Hugh Parkey if you can...they are the best op I've ever gone with off of a cruise ship.