Disney St. Thomas, St. Maarten

[DonWinchester]

My wife and I (approx 50 dives) are planning a Disney Cruise in September with dives at St. Thomas and St. Maarten offered by the line. Would like to find out who their contractors are down there and where they will probably take us. Also, what would be alternative sites and reliable operators should we decide to pass on Disney's offerings. And is there any chance of getting somebody to take us from Disney's private island to dive since they don't offer it there? Thanks for your input.

 

[diversteve]

If it's Coki Beach on St. Thomas, I'd look for something better. The site is shallow, sandy and the coral is marginal. Nice beach though. It's also a 30min. ride each way from the cruise port.

Try Admiralty Dive Center or Blue Island Divers, both are in Charlotte Amalie. People also recommend Chris Sawyers, but they're in Red Hook, 20min ea. way.

Can't help with St. Maarten, although we might be going there in April.

 

[scuba41girl]

My wife and I (approx 50 dives) are planning a Disney Cruise in September with dives at St. Thomas and St. Maarten offered by the line. Would like to find out who their contractors are down there and where they will probably take us. Also, what would be alternative sites and reliable operators should we decide to pass on Disney's offerings. And is there any chance of getting somebody to take us from Disney's private island to dive since they don't offer it there? Thanks for your input.

Ok here is my 2 cents. Ive done the Disney Cruise and Royal aribbean to both destinations. I did not dive in St Thomas because we did the shore excursion with Doubloon Schooner. Its a power snorkel trip to Turtle Cove. I feedove the whole time. It was the best shore excursion both times. My kids LOVED it both times. On the way back they serve these drinks that are amazing and I'm not a drinker. The guy who drives the boat is a diver and we spoke to him for awhile. He was telling us the dive ops in st thomas skip the best sites with the tourists. Im fanatic about diving and I would still choose this trip. We freedove with stingrays and green turtles. It was very cool! Let me know if you have any other questions.

St Maarten was good diving but I cant remember the dive op. i think it was dive safari. if it was they were great.

 

[Mark GH2O]

The sites around St Maarten are okay but small. We dove there in July and would do it again (but there are much better places to dive out there).

Dive Safaris does a real good job and would strongly recommend them. I hear they have a neat shark excursion dive but only run it on certain days. We could not fit it in.

 

[diveborg]

If it's Coki Beach on St. Thomas, I'd look for something better. The site is shallow, sandy and the coral is marginal. Nice beach though. It's also a 30min. ride each way from the cruise port.

And at $6 per person each way, transportation costs add up.

Try Admiralty Dive Center or Blue Island Divers, both are in Charlotte Amalie. People also recommend Chris Sawyers, but they're in Red Hook, 20min ea. way.

I went with Admiralty in December on their 3 tank trip. I had an excellent time. I'd highly recommend them. They will pick you up from the cruise dock and return you there. The boat won't be crowded either.

Sawyer is supposed to have a good reputation, but there is the transportation cost to include. I think more of the better sites are on the south side of the island, which is the side opposite from where Sawyer departs.

 

[drrich2]

At St. Thomas in April '06 my wife & I did our final Open Water checkout dives with Admiralty Dive Center on our honeymoon; I booked the private charter ($750, I believe) so our Instructor (Duane, great guy) could focus on just us. We'd done our earlier training with Parrot Island Divers in Nashville, KY, and our Instructor referred us to Admiralty.

Had a great time. My wife was somewhat fearful & timid of it, but Marty (owner & boat captain for us) & Duane really, really put her at ease.

Admiralty Dive Center comes highly recommended by us, & they're the outfit our Scube Instructor refers people to in the area.

Richard.

 

[DonWinchester]

Thanks for the info, folks. The shore excursion descriptions are vague. St. Maarten says, "some of St. Maarten's most popula dive sites" and "promises unique coral formations and colorful, tropical fish..."
St. Thomas, on the other hand promises a colorful reef and "an engaging stop at a sunken shipwreck."

 

[Old Diver]

My wife and I did the same cruise with Disney last year. I can reccomend Blue Island divers on St. Thomas, The boat comes to get you at the dock, and the gear is in good shape, good crew and so forth. We drove around St. Maarten, what an experience; breakfast in a French bistro, a charming little hole in the wall, no English, everything fresh, wonderful. Lunch at Mr. Busbys (ck spelling), fresh lobster, Carib beer and wonderful tiki bar. The traffic can get a little thrilling, I think I saw 2 stop lights on the entire island.

 

[diveborg]

Thanks for the info, folks. The shore excursion descriptions are vague.

The reason is that dive sites are chosen based on the conditions (wind direction, ocean conditions, etc.) on the day you are diving. Some sites are only diveable when it is extra calm or if all the divers on the boat are advanced. Also scheduling will eliminate going to more distant dive sites.

 

[Scubastud16]

When on our cruise over the summer (Princess), we dove with Dive Safaris in St. Maarten, and Underwater Safaris in St. Maarten. Both were good, professional dive ops.