Question Info about Doctor Dive in Costa Maya

[Mercracing]

Hey guys, My wife and I are doing a Princess cruise in February and one of the stops is Costa Maya and we are looking at Doctor Dive to dive through while we are there. It is NOT through the cruise line, and I am aware we need to be back in time so they don't leave without us. We will be there from 7:00am to 4:00pm. According to their website, they often accommodate cruise ship passengers but I just wanted to see if anyone has first hand knowledge. Thanks for the info!

 

[Clemson]

Hello - we dove with Doctor Dive in November of 2021. We enjoyed our dive with them & would do so again. We dealt with Charlie via the email they provided. We found the communication to be very good. They provided multiple dive leaders so everyone was in a small group and you weren't forced to all surface if someone went through their air too quick.

Costa Maya is a little different to dive in. The shops are right on the beach front. They use small boats and load your stuff on, go out and dive (within site of the shore) and then return to exchange tanks & use that time as your surface interval. We have dove with other stores & they do basically the same thing. This going out & coming back allows you to do 1 dive, 2 dives or possibly even 3 if you want. But gives the flexibility and comfort that you can easily get back in time for your ships departure.

When I dove with them, we were meeting at like 9 am but some others (also on a cruise ship) where delayed due to getting to their ship getting to the port late. We waited on them. I was still able to get both dives in with plenty of time for lunch at Krazy Lobster and back on the ship, cleaned up, scuba stuff rinsed easily with 2 hours before my ships departure.

We found the diving to be pretty good. Reefs look healthy with fair amount of fish. I enjoyed the dives they took us on especially the second one (Old Lighthouse). Only thing I wished was they had better supply of t-shirts. I really liked their logo.

 

[Mercracing]

That’s a great review! We’ll likely look at doing a couple dives with them!

 

[PACKRMAN]

I just did a cruise ship dive with them a couple weeks ago. Best dives of the trip.
The only caution I would give is to allow yourself plenty of time to get to the taxi. There were 3 big ships in and it took forever to get thru the shops and around the pools.

 

[Mercracing]

Thanks for the heads up! I think we are going to reach out to them soon as we will be there in early February.

 

[Tigerpaw]

I am CURRENTLY on Royal Caribbean cruising back home. This is my second dive with Doctor Dive in Costa Maya. They are an EXCELLENT outfit, they take great care of you and the diving is very good. As others have mentioned make sure you will have enough time to make the ship. So for example, my ship had a last call at 4pm. Based on that, I gave myself a 3pm limit, to pad for any unforeseen delays.

From the cruise terminal it's about a 10-15 minute taxi ride and it costs $8-$10 USD in cash. I'd advise to bring small bills as the taxi's may not have change. When you are initially dropped off, it's in a small neighborhood, you think you're in the wrong place but then as you walk it opens up to the beach and it's very nice. There are places to lounge around and there are restaurants and bars along the beach.

Getting back to Doctor Dive, have no worries, they will take good care of you. Charlie is very good with emails and communicating and you will have time to get in a two tank dive with time to spare.

Oh one more thing, they also offer photo and video services, so you can have a nice momento of your dives!