I just read something rather scary.

[Barracuda2]

I'm taking a cruise in October. (It's a wife thing that I do so I can take real dive trips) I was looking at the excursions offered on the stops and saw one that said "Full PADI certification in four hours" Is this a misprint? The location is St. Thomas. I just can't believe that PADI would allow such a thing. I can understand a "discover diving course" (resort course) in four hrs. but a full cert.?? I can't believe it. The cruise line is Royal Caribbean stopping in the Bahamas, St. Maartin's and St. Thomas. I'm going back to the offers and reread it.

 

[Guba]

Even the "discover diving" (resort course) would be pushing it in four hours. When I did one of those, it took the entire morning just to get in the classroom portion (which is highly abbreviated) and "pool work" (which we did in shallow water in the ocean). However, there is a certificate for even the DD course, I understand, but it's NOT a complete certification and no card is issued. That could be what the cruise line is advertising.

 

[miketsp]

If it's the onboard one it doesn't seem to be 4 hours.
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/finda...W5U0xpgdQ7eKWJ4o2Q9G:10ktdmkdk?br=R&exCode=11

 

[Scottri]

Does it say Full Open Water Certification? Or SCUBA Diver. They are two different things in the PADI system.

 

[Walter]

I just can't believe that PADI would allow such a thing.

I think they'd love it.

Ask the shop that is offering it exactly what it means.

 

[Barracuda2]

Does it say Full Open Water Certification? Or SCUBA Diver. They are two different things in the PADI system.

It says."PADI Scuba Diver Certification Course- $249.00 US; 4 hrs. and 30 min.
So they probably are two different things. The $249.00 price tag sort of led me to believe that in might be a "Full" course. Also, it is not the onboard course, but one of the dive ops in St. Thomas; doesn't say which one. sorry for sounding an alarm.

 

[fyh]

The second dive I ever did was in St. Thomas, somewhere around 1992 to 1994. It was a touristy "Discover" type of deal that cost me about $60.

The "instruction" consisted of about 5 minutes sitting on a log on the beach listening to someone telling us how to use the equipment.

Max depth was only about 20 feet, but there was no mention of the dangers of ascending too quickly or holding your breath. Now that I'm a diver, I look back at that and think that they should have put more emphasis on safety... maybe they didn't want to scare people out of it and have to refund the money.

 

[HappyFunBoater]

Even the "discover diving" (resort course) would be pushing it in four hours.

My kids did a resort course in Key West a few years back. The ENTIRE pre-dive training took 2 hours, including "class", equipment review and pool practice. And then it was off to the dive site for two 25ft dives.

BTW, they loved it so much that they got certified as soon as they got back home.