mk-ultra
Registered
I just recently got back from a Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean on-board the Liberty of the Seas.
Until this cruise, all my dive trips have been by air -- and I've always hauled my own gear. Never rented once. Never let anyone else book my dives either.
I was really apprehensive about doing the cruise line's booked dives... with rental equipment. I've seen the stories about cattle boats, crap dives, and pod-people divers.
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
I originally had six dives planned. Two in Ocho Rios, two in Grand Cayman, and two in Cozumel.
Due to the stupid swine flu scare, the Cozumel dives were non-starters as RCCL substituted Coco Cay for Cozumel. No biggie. All the cruise lines were taking the don't-sue-us-for-getting-sick route and axing Mexico from their itineraries.
Once I got on the ship, I found out that I had to report to the Sea Trek dive shop to present my C-card to get my excursion tickets to go on the dives. There I filled out the inevitable liability wavers. I do like that they actually bother to check these things though -- and that they did ask for total dives and how recent they were.
When I got to the dive shop, I noticed that they had "demo" equipment -- specifically Scuba Pro QD BC's and Suunto Cobra computers. Since that's exactly what I use at home, I asked if it would be possible to use their gear instead of the dive operator's. No problem at all. They immediately refunded the difference between a rented-gear and a no-gear dive, and outfitted me with their BC, computer/reg, fins/mask and a 3mm shorty.
Cool... now I KNEW what gear I'd be diving with... had been able to try the fit on-board, and they bagged-and-tagged it and stored it for me to use for the rest of the trip. They were also nice as heck about it. Extremely professional. If you're booking dives through the ship (at least on RCCL) and aren't bringing your own, book 'em as no-equip dives and rent your gear through the ship's dive shop for the week. You'll be assured of not getting crap. The shop's gear was in VERY good shape.
The night before the Ocho Rios dives I got a call from the RCCL dive shop... telling me the Ocho Rios dives had been canceled. Apparently I was the only person on the ship who was whacked enough to want to dive in Ocho Rios. Nobody else had booked. I'd heard the diving there wasn't all that hot... but, hey, any excuse to dive. Oh well.
They apologized profusely (not that I really had a problem with it or anything). Then they went the extra mile -- they said they'd comp my equipment rental for the remainder of the week... meaning the day in Grand Cayman and a shore dive in Coco Cay if I wanted it (not). Still, a nice gesture.
The dives in Grand Cayman turned out to be pretty nice. RCCL used Resort Sports Ltd. as their dive operator -- and they were top-notch. The boat had ~16 divers on-board, but the briefings were good... and all the staff were excellent. The crew surveyed the boat and asked if anyone objected to an 80' first dive (none did). We dove on Peter's Reef, and did a second dive that covered Eagle's Nest and the wreck of the Oro Verde.
Resort Sports also had a videographer in the water on the dives. I've never been one to buy someone else's dive photos or videos, but she did such a nice job I shelled out $50 for the DVD (which was delivered to the ship before sailing)... and was really happy with the results.
In short -- at least with RCCL -- you can avoid the worries of renting crap equipment by booking "no equipment" dive excursions, then renting quality gear on-board the ship to use for the week. The dive operator won't be some crap outfit (well, at least I can vouch for who they use in Grand Cayman)... and you won't get raped by the airlines when you try to check a third bag filled with your dive stuff.
The only negative comment I have is that the stories about "pod-people" divers appear to have some merit. Out of 16 divers, there were some pretty inexperienced/clueless rubes... trying to do the breast-stroke underwater... kicking into each other... and sucking up air like it's on sale. Definitely buddy-up with someone who isn't an idiot and give the pod-people a wide berth. Since you dive in groups... expect to surface in 30-35 minutes with about 1200 PSI left if you aren't a rube.
For me, this was a cruise with (non-diver) friends... not a dive trip. Given those parameters, I was pretty happy with the experience of doing RCCL excursion dives... and not having to haul my gear around.
Until this cruise, all my dive trips have been by air -- and I've always hauled my own gear. Never rented once. Never let anyone else book my dives either.
I was really apprehensive about doing the cruise line's booked dives... with rental equipment. I've seen the stories about cattle boats, crap dives, and pod-people divers.
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
I originally had six dives planned. Two in Ocho Rios, two in Grand Cayman, and two in Cozumel.
Due to the stupid swine flu scare, the Cozumel dives were non-starters as RCCL substituted Coco Cay for Cozumel. No biggie. All the cruise lines were taking the don't-sue-us-for-getting-sick route and axing Mexico from their itineraries.
Once I got on the ship, I found out that I had to report to the Sea Trek dive shop to present my C-card to get my excursion tickets to go on the dives. There I filled out the inevitable liability wavers. I do like that they actually bother to check these things though -- and that they did ask for total dives and how recent they were.
When I got to the dive shop, I noticed that they had "demo" equipment -- specifically Scuba Pro QD BC's and Suunto Cobra computers. Since that's exactly what I use at home, I asked if it would be possible to use their gear instead of the dive operator's. No problem at all. They immediately refunded the difference between a rented-gear and a no-gear dive, and outfitted me with their BC, computer/reg, fins/mask and a 3mm shorty.
Cool... now I KNEW what gear I'd be diving with... had been able to try the fit on-board, and they bagged-and-tagged it and stored it for me to use for the rest of the trip. They were also nice as heck about it. Extremely professional. If you're booking dives through the ship (at least on RCCL) and aren't bringing your own, book 'em as no-equip dives and rent your gear through the ship's dive shop for the week. You'll be assured of not getting crap. The shop's gear was in VERY good shape.
The night before the Ocho Rios dives I got a call from the RCCL dive shop... telling me the Ocho Rios dives had been canceled. Apparently I was the only person on the ship who was whacked enough to want to dive in Ocho Rios. Nobody else had booked. I'd heard the diving there wasn't all that hot... but, hey, any excuse to dive. Oh well.
They apologized profusely (not that I really had a problem with it or anything). Then they went the extra mile -- they said they'd comp my equipment rental for the remainder of the week... meaning the day in Grand Cayman and a shore dive in Coco Cay if I wanted it (not). Still, a nice gesture.
The dives in Grand Cayman turned out to be pretty nice. RCCL used Resort Sports Ltd. as their dive operator -- and they were top-notch. The boat had ~16 divers on-board, but the briefings were good... and all the staff were excellent. The crew surveyed the boat and asked if anyone objected to an 80' first dive (none did). We dove on Peter's Reef, and did a second dive that covered Eagle's Nest and the wreck of the Oro Verde.
Resort Sports also had a videographer in the water on the dives. I've never been one to buy someone else's dive photos or videos, but she did such a nice job I shelled out $50 for the DVD (which was delivered to the ship before sailing)... and was really happy with the results.
In short -- at least with RCCL -- you can avoid the worries of renting crap equipment by booking "no equipment" dive excursions, then renting quality gear on-board the ship to use for the week. The dive operator won't be some crap outfit (well, at least I can vouch for who they use in Grand Cayman)... and you won't get raped by the airlines when you try to check a third bag filled with your dive stuff.
The only negative comment I have is that the stories about "pod-people" divers appear to have some merit. Out of 16 divers, there were some pretty inexperienced/clueless rubes... trying to do the breast-stroke underwater... kicking into each other... and sucking up air like it's on sale. Definitely buddy-up with someone who isn't an idiot and give the pod-people a wide berth. Since you dive in groups... expect to surface in 30-35 minutes with about 1200 PSI left if you aren't a rube.
For me, this was a cruise with (non-diver) friends... not a dive trip. Given those parameters, I was pretty happy with the experience of doing RCCL excursion dives... and not having to haul my gear around.
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