Ideas for Cruise Diving

[CuriousMe]

I'll admit that I havent throughly read this tread but just skimmed, but I would like to add my 2 cents. I am highly against cruise ships, I have never been on one but have heard they are an excellent vacation. The problem is they are destroying coral reefs by resorts allowing cruise ships to park near the resort for more business. When they do this, they crash into the reef which physically damages it on impact. Depending on the duration of the say, it scares fish and blocks sunlight for the photosynthesis process in corals, which can lead to bleaching if this consistantly occurs. Thus, if you would like to continue experiencing coral reefs first hand, please dont take a cruise, this just adds to cause of the destruction of reefs. It is predicted that in 2030, only 30% of coral reefs will be remaining in the world.

Thanks

I guess I'm curious as to where you're getting your information from.

We don't dock at resorts.....we're far to big for that, there are cruise ship piers that 16 out of our 19 ships can't even dock at. We also just have to many people onboard.....what resort can handle an extra 2,000 - 4,000 guests (per ship) on top of the guests that are staying there? We dock at established cruise ship piers......now is it possible that there was some reef destroyed to facilitate the building of these piers....yup. But the cruise industry didn't do that, the governments of the various islands decide where to put the piers....we can't build anything without local approval.

The other thing that cruise ships do is bring lots of tourists.....lots of those tourists want to snorkel/scuba on healthy reefs.....this helps make a business case for protecting govts to protect their reefs.

As far as environmental impact.....things are very strict around here environmentally. I would guess that any land based resort in the islands has a far greater impact on the environment then any of the big cruise ships.

When it comes right down to it....it would be very bad business for any major cruise company to do anything but protect the environment.

Peace,
Cathie

 

[scubaspider]

NatureDiver, I'm not saying that cruises crash into the whole reef structure/rock, just break coral like sea fans off of the reef when they approach an area near the resorts to pick up the boats that schuttle the cruise guests to the island for a few hours. As far as where I'm getting my information, its from a coral reef researcher in Honduras, she told me that since the island opened up to cruise ships there has been an increase in coral degradation in the areas where the ships anchor/stop for the tourists. She didnt say exactly how extensive the damage is from teh ships because they are currently more conserned about disease and bleaching. I'm not against all cruises, just the ones that focus their trip around coral reefs and resorts that have coral attractions such as diving and snorkelling.

 

[scubaranger]

I love going on cruises and I just got back from one a couple of weeks ago. Here's an Idea maybe something your looking for. At the start of the cruise many times they will have a singles coctail or coctail with the captain for veteran cruisers. How about doing the same for Divers and want to be divers their you can sell your pitch on dive excursion, geting certified or any other stuff. You create a hype and people who didn't want to dive will get motivated and more experence divers can meet and even buddy up before they get on the dive boat and all this is done the first or second night. You can even go as far as teaming people up by dive experience and doing different dives. So everybody can be comfortable and have fun according to whatever their expectation is. that's my 2 psi.
Hey if you use my idea can I get a discount on my next cruise.

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

NatureDiver, I'm not saying that cruises crash into the whole reef structure/rock, just break coral like sea fans off of the reef when they approach an area near the resorts to pick up the boats that schuttle the cruise guests to the island for a few hours. As far as where I'm getting my information, its from a coral reef researcher in Honduras, she told me that since the island opened up to cruise ships there has been an increase in coral degradation in the areas where the ships anchor/stop for the tourists. She didnt say exactly how extensive the damage is from teh ships because they are currently more conserned about disease and bleaching. I'm not against all cruises, just the ones that focus their trip around coral reefs and resorts that have coral attractions such as diving and snorkelling.

I'll agree with what you're saying 100%. And I can see where that researcher would get that info about Honduras. I can imagine it probably has degraded a lot just by the shear fact that it brings thousands more people there each week. As far as what I've seen, whenever I've seen a ship anchor so far, it's almost always been either very deep or nothing but sand. I'm definitely not against what you're saying though. Unfortunately in that area, ports would lose too much money by not accepting cruise ships. And these days, it's about the economy, not the environment. Unfortunately. Hopefully it will get better and we can all try to help that out. As far as tourist excursions are concerned on my end though, we practice a very strict, "Take only pictures, leave only bubbles" "No Touch" policy. Hopefully more of that is going around.

 

[Scuba Duffer]

If it's too shallow to dock then we anchor offshore

And where do you think that anchor lands??

As someone who dove in Grand Cayman - In Georgetown Harbour - don't kid yourself - cruise ships destroy reefs in ports. Ask any diver that dove Georgetown as little as 15 years ago. When we were there in May, we were doing a shore dive off Don Fosters facility. One of Princess's HUGE ships was there. When we were down, it decided to pull up anchor and leave. People on the shore said the boat came very close to our flag as she left. We were never in any danger as were well below the draft - but the noise from the engines!!!! Holy cow!!!! All day long in the area, you should here the noise under water - you can't possibly believe that that hasn't effected the local fish population and subsequently the whole eco system.

Just for the record - 5 cruises in the last 4 years us. We love em! But don't think for a miunte cruise ships don't damage and in some cases destroy reef systems. I remember coming back to the ship in Belize - looking at the anchors and wondering how much damage and destruction was being done to the reef below. Anyone who has been to Belize knows the ships have to anchor well out from the mainland due to the reef system and shallow waters. Just imagine what those anchors are doing below!

As for diving on ships - COST. Most places charge $99 - $120 for a 2 tank. I can get the same dive on shore for $60. Plus - ask any operator how they feel about cruise ship divers. Personally, when we show up at the dive shop and tell them we didn't want to dive with the cuise ship people - you automatically get a level of respect from the operator. That may be wrong - but that's our experience. We also find we get better dives if we book them ourselves. It allows us an oportunity to relay our credentials to the operator and request more advance dive sites.

If the dives were around the $75 mark, we'd probably do them with the ship for the convenience factor.

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

And where do you think that anchor lands??

It landed everytime in the sandy bottom right below where the ship stayed every Monday. I don't know about other ships, but the ship I was on anchored in sand. Cruise ships contribute to this problem and so do private operations. The problem can't be blamed on a single leg of this industry. Every part of it is a part of the problem. Hopefully we can get it all worked out one day. I can't say that every cruise line is the most ecologically minded but the ships I have seen for the most part have been anchored in sand. The same in Belize. When we anchored in Belize, we were in a huge sandy area. Now a couple of other cruise ships were anchore further out from shore and far enough away that I could never see where the anchor would land so I don't know about those. The ship I was on was in sand in Grand Cayman, Belize, and Roatan when it anchored though.

 

[Scuba Duffer]

But of course - Norwegian is ever so ecologically minded. Why as little as 2 years ago, they recieved this prestigous award!

http://www.oig.dot.gov/item_details.php?item=847

But don't worry, your in good comany. Princess has been fined for dumping garbage, Holland America and Carnival for oil bilge water. Perhaps the best one was the 27 million Royal Carribean got fined for it's fleet wide conspiracy.

I guess thats why the on board dives cost so much. The cruise lines have to make enough profit to pay for those environmental fines they get for destroying the oceans!

 

[MSilvia]

I went on an NCL cruise in January, and my friends and I signed up for two excursion dives, and booked one on our own in Cozumel, where no diving excursion was offered.

We did the Cozumel dive first, with Xtabay divers, and were impressed with the personal service, skill of the operators, and attention to our needs (specifically that of a newly certified diver that was with our group). The dives were great, the price was more than fair, and we were generally very happy with the whole thing.

On our first excursion dive, we paid nearly twice as much to be crammed on a boat with 20 divers or so. Gearing up was inconvenient, we had little say in what dives we did, and the average skill level of the other divers was abominable. I understand that the cruise line needs to make a profit, and must cater to the lowest common denominator, but I found it to be a poor value for the money. When we returned to the ship, our dive knives were confiscated for the remainder of the voyage... "in the interest of safety."

The third dive... well, you work for NCL, so you probably heard something about that dive. Long story short, it was another overpriced cattle boat trip in Belize... except that this time the boat was gone when we surfaced, and we were left stranded in the Carribean for and hour and a half.

It's pretty simple math... the trip we booked ourselves was convenient, well run, and fairly priced. The trips we booked through the excursion desk were major CFs, were outrageously priced, and any concerns we had were largely ignored until several written letters later.

The only way I can think of that I'd book another dive through the excursion desk on a cruise line is if I had the impression that by doing so I'd be getting some value for my money. Perhaps if the trip required an advanced certification, and the crew (especially the security personel) were more sensitive to divers' needs, that might help. I don't know that it would be fiscally worthwhile for the cruise line though.

For now, if I want to spend my vacation time cruising and diving, I'll be booking all the dives on my own so I can be more sure of what I'm getting myself into.

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

But of course - Norwegian is ever so ecologically minded. Why as little as 2 years ago, they recieved this prestigous award!

http://www.oig.dot.gov/item_details.php?item=847

But don't worry, your in good comany. Princess has been fined for dumping garbage, Holland America and Carnival for oil bilge water. Perhaps the best one was the 27 million Royal Carribean got fined for it's fleet wide conspiracy.

I guess thats why the on board dives cost so much. The cruise lines have to make enough profit to pay for those environmental fines they get for destroying the oceans!

I'm not protecting my company or any others. I never said any cruise line was perfect. All I am saying is what I have seen. I said plainly that "for the most part" the ships I have seen anchor in sand.

 

[Scuba Duffer]

Yes you are correct, you never did say anything about the environment, I read that into the context of the thread - especially after CuriousMe's comments. Sorry for side tracking the thread.

So lets get back to your original question. I think from the responses so far - price is the issue. So, do you think your line would see thier way to lowering prices?? If not, your really fighting an up hill battle.

As someone who cuises freqently, I would love to see a better program on board the ships.