Dive Cancelled?? 2 days before our trip?? HELP PLEASE

[quikcolin]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some really last minute advice. I am heading out in 3 hours for a Caribbean cruise, and our first stop is Nassau. We booked 2 dives with Bahama Divers 4 weeks ago, and I just received an email from them (10 MINUTES AGO) informing me that our morning dive is cancelled due to the general elections??? Thank goodness I hadn't left for our cruise yet, otherwise I would have arrived at their door on Monday morning to go diving and they would have been close...

I'm googling like a mad man where else I can dive while I'm there... and Stewarts cove isn't an option due to it's distance from the cruise ship port. (We arrive at 7am, and leave at 2pm).

Two questions:

Are there any other dive operators in close proximity to the cruise ship ports??
Does this "general election" mean all businesses are closed??
What the heck is going on?

Thanks in advance for your help - this is a serious bummer, it was going to be our only real shot at seeing a shark on our trip...

Colin

 

[flots am]

I'm looking for some really last minute advice. I am heading out in 3 hours for a Caribbean cruise, and our first stop is Nassau. We booked 2 dives with Bahama Divers 4 weeks ago, and I just received an email from them (10 MINUTES AGO) informing me that our morning dive is cancelled due to the general elections??? Thank goodness I hadn't left for our cruise yet, otherwise I would have arrived at their door on Monday morning to go diving and they would have been close...

See if you can sign up with a dive from the ship. It might not be great, but it's a dive.

If not, you can always find a nice beach and go snorkeling.

flots.

 

[Phil_C]

According to the local newpaper the general election day is May 7th and across whole island -

Election Day is May 7th!

According to BahamasElections.com there are:

Constituencies: 38
Candidates: 133
Registered Voters: 172,130

So it looks like it is very wide spread. May be quite disruptive to businesses etc. so alternate options may not be available in the short time available to you.

Sorry - P

 

[diversteve]

The cruise operator is Stuart Cove's. Is Stuart Cove's open on Monday? It would be really close but that might work. They pickup at the Cruise port at 7:45 for the 2-tank and leave Cove's at 12:30 - according to their website - it's 35mins.

12:30 pm Buses depart to all locations (hotels and cruise ships) returning passengers from morning trips. Buses will depart first come / first served and service all stops. Estimated travel times (with good traffic flow) are:
35 min. / 15 miles Downtown & Cruise Ships

So theoretically even if everything was 1/2 hr. late that could be a possibility. Where's your next port - Freeport? You might want to have a copy of the BahamasAir schedule in case you miss the ship. Because I think everything would have to go perfect for it to work. I'd be concerned about traffic on a holiday when more people will be out and about.

Who are you cruising with - maybe this applies:

The exception to the above timetable is if you are traveling on Holland America, a Disney Cruise Lines, or a Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ship. Stuart Cove's Aqua Adventures is contractually bound with HAL to provide diving, snorkeling and SUB experiences; with Disney for 2-tank dives: and with Royal Caribbean for 2-tank dives and SUB experiences to some of their ships when they visit Nassau. If your ship is one that we are contracted to provide services for, the cruise line has arranged for special charter times to make the excursion work. In this situation, you will have to book your excursion directly with the cruise line or once on board the ship. This will ensure the proper pick-ups and services are provided to you.

I'm fairly certain there is no one else on the island - Explore Scuba seems to have closed up around the 1st of the year - their website is gone. All your options afaik - http://www.bahamasdiving.com/memberdirectory.aspx (Landshark - if they still exist - boat dives with Cove's)

Unless you wanted to do a private charter with Custom Aquatics - starting at $895. Assuming they're working. Know anybody else on your boat? - split between 4 that wouldn't be much more than what the cruise line is probably going to charge. And they'd go where you wanted.
Bahamas Diving & Custom Scuba Packages and Dive Charters for Nassau

although this may be too late...

I am heading out in 3 hours

 

[abyss_scuba]

Call Stuart's Cove, if they are the dive operator for the cruise ship they will make sure you get back on board. They are a wonderful operation and I wouldn't hesitate using them at all.

 

[klinc]

Call Stuart's Cove, if they are the dive operator for the cruise ship they will make sure you get back on board. They are a wonderful operation and I wouldn't hesitate using them at all.

This...

The day we dove with them (we were not there wiht a cruise) our trip was running late on the last dive. Stuarts sent out a fast boat to the dive boat and grabbed everyone going back to the cruise ship to get them back on time.

I'm sure they deal with scheduling around cruise arrivals and departures all the time.