Ideas for Cruise Diving

[Aquatic Eagle]

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.

Ok, price is a big issue. That's a problem that would be very hard to fix. NCL has to make a profit on these dives and I don't see them lowering prices any. I can always try to push it but we'll have to see how that goes. Price aside, I think that these ideas for gatherings at the beginning of the cruise are good. Similar ideas are what I'm looking for I guess. I heard someone mention buy 3, get one free. That won't fly I can already tell you. I was thinking maybe a gathering of the divers onboard to meet each other and buddy up. Possibly a marine life slide show or slide show of the different dive sites of the area? You guys are helping out and I appreciate it so maybe we can expand on some of these ideas I'm getting. Maybe a prize giveaway with t-shirts and stuff from the operators we use? Keep 'em coming guys.

 

[MSilvia]

A better program onboard might get me to give cruise diving another try too, but I'm not sure how a cruise ship could really provide the kind of experience I'm looking and still make a profit. Diving related lectures and on-board programs might be a good start, but to me it comes down to the actual diving.

So long as the dives are twice the going rate, and filled with people too busy crashing into coral and giving themselves sinus barotrauma to enjoy the dive, I'm going to be turned off. Maybe an onboard refresher course would be a good idea?
If nothing else, it might provide some extra income for NCL while helping out the novice divers... which will in turn help preserve the reefs.

 

[michaelp68]

NatureDiver, you asked what divers need from the cruise ships. Well, lots of people have told you on this thread.

I was initially excited to see your interest in ideas and input, and I was hopeful that it might translate to some changes on the cruise ships for divers.

From the ideas already presented, and in no particular order, here are four key areas for the cruise ships to address for scuba diving: 1) more reasonable rates; 2) no cattle boat situations; 3) convenient place to clean our gear on the cruise ship; and 4) some space to store the gear on the cruise ship.

After reading your posts in this thread, I became disappointed because you shot down these good ideas. They obviously are important to most people who responded to your inquiry. And even though you've presented reasons for shooting down these good ideas, it just seems like disappointing excuses to me.

So, to try and turn this into a positive, I'd really love to see you start a trend for the big cruise ships to address these four issues. Maybe you could find a way, and it sure would be nice to see. It's obviously what is needed for the cruise ships to make divers happier and more likely to book through the cruise ships.

Michael

 

[MSilvia]

here are four key areas for the cruise ships to address for scuba diving: 1) more reasonable rates; 2) no cattle boat situations; 3) convenient place to clean our gear on the cruise ship; and 4) some space to store the gear on the cruise ship.

Unfortunately, the things divers want most are the very things it seems the cruise ships are least able to provide. Low prices, small excursions, and extra space don't really fit into the cruise model.

 

[michaelp68]

Unfortunately, the things divers want most are the very things it seems the cruise ships are least able to provide. Low prices, small excursions, and extra space don't really fit into the cruise model.

Would be nice, though.

So instead, we'll just continue to make dive plans independently and the cruise ships will continue to wonder what they can do to change that.

 

[MSilvia]

Yeah, well... we have a lot more needs than most tourists, and meeting them isn't easy to do as a side-business.

 

[sddiver]

Making arrangements to dive out of Belize City. Would appreciate the recap on what went down and why. Please email if you are not comfortable posting

Thanks
Rich

 

[MSilvia]

Please email if you are not comfortable posting

I think it was Aqua Divers, or something like that. There's a full report on the Scuba Stop.

 

[mjnansen]

My family was on NCL last March and enjoyed it, but didn't dive with NCL. Why? #1- price- rates are higher on cruise ships than on land- I could live with a reasonable mark up, but please don't double the price
#2- dive itineraries- while in Grand Cayman we wanted to dive at Stingray City- not do the snorkel with everyone else. We would have paid the extra money due to the shorter amount of time in port, but this was not an option and the dive program on board could not arrange this or even recommend anyone.
#3- Many cruise lines and NCL in particular don't take advantage of their 'captive' audience to educate and promote ports, excursions or diving. How about having guest lectures, slide shows and ship tv shows about wildlife above and below the water. I went to all the shore talks onboard and was extremely disappointed when all I learned was in which stores to buy tanzanite and tourist crap. We love Roatan and go often- in fact this trip was planned to show our family Roatan. There was very little information about Roatan, most of it was not positive (no jewelry stores!). This left many passengers that chose not to do the excursion left in the cruise ship dock area- arguably the worst place on the whole island! Fellow passengers who don't leave this area get back on board wondering why the ship even bothers to stop. This doesn't sell more cruises, and it doesn't benefit Roatan either. When we asked the excursion staff about this they admitted to not having spent much time on the island, or going anywhere except Salt n' Peppers.
#4- place to rinse dive gear- we ended up rinsing and hanging in our bathroom- take everything else out and close the door, it all works (we made sure to tip our steward extra!)

Sorry it sounds like a lot of complaining, but we really did enjoy NCL and would cruise them again (shows are awesome!) We've been on Royal Caribbean and Holland America as well and thought that NCL did a great job!

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

Guys, I know it may have sounded like I'm shooting down ideas but that's really not what I'm trying to do. I plan on doing everything I can to make these things work if at all possible. I am planning on doing things myself with the gatherings and slideshows, the other things will just take more time. That doesn't mean I'm not going to push for them. I will push for more advanced dives. I will push for gear cleaning, but that's only possible with small groups. The ships don't have the room for a group of 15-20 divers' gear. I like the idea of the slideshows and maybe filming them and airing them on a passenger tv channel. Don't get discouraged and think I won't push for some of this stuff just because it's less likely to happen than other things. I'm not one to give up on things just because it's hard. Keep any ideas you get coming and I'll keep noting them and expanding. Thanks everyone for the input and support. I'm going to try to revive cruise diving from the inside. Thanks again!