Dive with Cruise operator vs Local Cozumel Op?

[MMM]

The divemaster even met us at our hotel at the end and chatted about our experience and asked for critiques on his operation (we couldn't think of any).

OK, that gave it away for me...

 

[loudives]

why are they still Jr.

 

[Mike]

Mike: I've never said I'm looking for "a dirt cheap dive op" & "a 75% off discount"

I'm just looking for better service at a better price than the cruise ship's inflated $89 price. Not just $5 off, but maybe around $15 - $25 off would make it worthwhile. Multiply that times 4 for our family equates to "significant savings" for us. Plus, if we can do the same for Grand Cayman & maybe for Jamaica islands too...

Oops. My mistake.

Let's see... $89 - $25 = $64.00 = 30% off.

My mistake. You're just looking for a dive op to work their asses off for some people from a cruise ship for 30% less.

In my world when you want something better you expect to pay a premium for it, not a discount.

Not looking to pick a fight with you, just reading what you wrote.

We're a family of 2 adults & 2 teenage Jr cert divers who will be stopping by Cozumel on a cruise ship in Nov. Carnival's operator is Sand Dollar, who charges $79 for 2 tanks boat dive. But we'll probably do the $89, with all equipment included, so we won't fill/stink up our cabin.
We have used Sand Dollar before when we stayed in Cozumel hotel over the years. We were very satisfied w/ their operation.
We are in search of other local Cozumel (as well as Grand Cayman) operators who can/will accomodate cruise ship passengers' later timing, & who can offer a better price (savings x4 for us).
So far, most local operators in Cozumel who we've looked up have similar pricing as the ship's, or not much savings under the $89 (all equip included) price.
Also, using the ship's operator, we'll insure that we won't miss our ship departure time , usually not a problem in our previous diving excursions when we booked by ourselves previously, but the savings must be significant to offset that worry.

Any suggestions, pls?

Thanks,

You also said you've dived with sand dollar before and were very satisfied with them.

How much does a vacation cost when you add it all up? Very, very expensive. Why would you try to ruin your experience for the sake of a few bucks saved, after you already know sand dollar will do you right?

If you've got over 2500 dives, it should be no secret to you that if you're coming anywhere to dive from a cruise ship, any reputable dive op is going to treat you like a leper unless they know you already. It's thier moral, ethical and personal duty to protect their livelyhood which is their local reef system, so they will take you to mediocre sites that you can't mess up to much because cruise ship divers are notorious for not having dived in a while and are jumping in the water for the first time and are likely to tear the place up.

Now you might be a great diver, but that is what local dive ops see cruise ship dive for a day and never see again divers. It's the nature of the biz.

Now, knowing that and trying to find a 30% disounted dive op? I don't know buddy, kind of like shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[WestHoustonDiver]

why are they still Jr.

Guess we never got around to pay $30 to upgrade from Jr...

 

[WestHoustonDiver]

Mike:
Thanks to people like you, I don't why people would want to come to these forums/boards.
Thought that's why I served 15+ yrs in the military so we can have free sharing of ideas & suggestions to help one another out on these forums. (That's where I got over 2000+ dives in the Persian gulf, red seas, pearl harbor, Calif, Alaska & all over the Pacific).

Now, trying to do recreational diving & spreading my love of diving to my kids & the next generation of divers.
Some of us are not as rich as you, so saving $100 a dive ($25 x 4) is a big deal.
So in this economy, are you saying no dive op in Cozumel will take 6 divers out at $64 each?

BTW, been shot in several places over the yrs, but have never shot myself in the foot...
Semper Fi!!!

 

[DandyDon]

Some of us express ourselves differently than most, and I piss people off in the way I talk at times I know. MF has his own way; sometimes caustic perhaps but worth considering even then...

Oops. My mistake.

Let's see... $89 - $25 = $64.00 = 30% off.

My mistake. You're just looking for a dive op to work their asses off for some people from a cruise ship for 30% less.

In my world when you want something better you expect to pay a premium for it, not a discount.

Not looking to pick a fight with you, just reading what you wrote.

Sounds like that last line is incongruous but whatever.

The reason you can get a better rate from a local op vs the cruise line has a lot to do with the cruise line commissions - which I have heard can be as much as half of the costs.

 

[MMM]

There are a number of ops on the island that charge in the $55-$70 range. Plus taxes and marine fee which will add somewhat to the cost. Unless they leave from downtown, you'll be needing to take a taxi which will add $25-$30 to your total cost. (Although that would also depend slightly on which cruise terminal you will be arriving at.) Two that leave from town (that I know of) are Aqua Safari and Blue X-T-Sea. They would be at the upper end of that price range, I believe. Why don't you visit their web sites and see what they would charge you? Ops in Coz don't tend to discount their prices unless you are diving with them multiple days.

 

[cruisediver69]

Some Dive Ops look at cruise divers as a cheap way to recruit loyal customers who will come back to them on a dedicated dive vacation sometime in the near future. It certainly worked for mine in Cozumel. It is also going to work for AKR in Roatan. I just recently did a cruise dive with them. They showed me a good time and from that experience I plan to go back on a dedicated dive vacation and will use them as my AI resort.

Regardless of location, I wouldn't suggest you lump all Dive Ops together or assume they all have the same motives. Just like we all seem to have different opinions on this forum they will have different perspectives on how to run a business which will often translate into a different approach in how they treat you. Just make sure you are in sync with your dive op before you leave on your cruise and odds are you will have a great time, make some new friends, and save some money in the process.

 

[Fin59]

You might want to check with Dive With Martin. We've been using them for years and are very happy with them. They do have some of the best rates on the island and it also includes free gear rental. We take our own gear so I don't know what their's is like, but if you have your own regs and mask I would take them. If you use their fins they will be full foot fins and I think they have Sherwood BCs. They are not a "pamper you to death" style op. They do have water and fruit, but bring your own towel, jacket, anything like that you might need. We love them because they take us where we want to dive and our favorite DM works there. I do see on their website some information about diving from cruise ships, but you would want to email them and see if it is something that you can agree on price wise. They are showing $375 on their website which wouldn't be much savings, but if you contact them they might cut you a better deal.
There are lots of great shops in Cozumel. If I were you I would try contacting some of them directly. Good luck and have a great trip! We'll be there in November, also. That's my favorite time to go.

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[WestHoustonDiver]

Well, here's an update:

I've sent about emails to 14 of the dive shops I'm familiar with, or have used them before, & got replies from 11.
5 ops are charging $65
of those 5, 4 charge $10 for equipment rental, 1 charge $15
most don't charge extra for 100 lbs tank, 2 charge $10
all of them don't/can't pick up at cruise pier, but most are 5 - 10 min taxi ride away, one even pays for the taxi ride
most will accommodate us w/ our own fast boat for 6 divers
3 will deviate from their normal 8:30am & 1pm times & will do 11am custom time for us

all of them seems very nice in their replies & some are willing to work with us to customize
will update on our final decisions...