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[El Orans]

any idea why my post from earely evening did not take in liveaboards? submitted from edit but do not see the post??????? thx, RAndall grrrrrr

You mean this post?
Indonesia Liveaboard Leatherback Turtle Expediton

 

[divekraz]

I've done diving from various cruises on my own and through the ship reservations. Some quick suggestions/thoughts. Windsurf has the most diver friendly set up. They have divemasters on board and set up all dives from the ship. You are picked up by the dive outfit from the Windsurf and brought back. Bit pricey for the diving but the service is first rate and everything is taken care of for you. They also carry rental equipment. They have a limited space for divers and the non divers can take the shore excursions while your diving. I've also gone on Royal Caribbean and Celberity for 4 different dive cruises. I made my own dive arrangements as the cruise line generally tacks on $20-$40 to book through them and they generally only offer 1 day of diving on a 7 day trip if any. Good idea is to get a letter from the dive shop stating you have a reservation and take the letter to the purser to see if you can get off the boat asap. Sometimes it works and sometimes the letter doesn't make any difference. Security will ask you when you come on board if you have a dive knife (and search your gear) and will take it away until you leave the boat or go on another dive. I have been able to keep mine but you need to explain why you should every time and talk them into it. Let me know if I can be of any help.

 

[tremtech]

Just got back from a great cruise on Carnival's Glory to St. Maarten and St. Thomas and Nassua .The ship was awsome the food was excellent the first dive excursion was listed as a 5 star dive (no other info)for $75 including taxi's to the dive shop( Dive World of St Thomas) the dive shop sucked there equiptment sucked . This was a beach entry dive , at Coki Point reef there was sand in every opening on the dive equiptment, no wetsuits, short fins and every person (12 of us )had leaking o-rings ,leaking diaphrams on the 2nd stage,s 44' for 42 minute's the DM wouldn't sign my log she didn even track the dive time so the dive master was told About her butt and the ship was advised by all 12 of us. hoping for refund we will see.
Then we arrived at St Maarten(Phillipsburg) Dive Safari's dive shop (outstanding shop) for $104.00 two tank dive.Dive masters met us at the pier, they interviewed each diver got equiptment size and expierience levels, ferried us to the dive boat where all the equiptment was onboard ready to go(nice equiptment) 3 DM's, excellent breifing ,short boat trip ,we dove Big Mama's Reef 50' for 45 min beautiful dive. Big Mama is a 9' reef shark that lives on the reef where the dive shop hold a shark awarness dive during the season.30min SI and Briefing for the next dive the boat crew changed out our tanks and all soft drinks, cracker, water provided by boat crew. the next dive was 44' for 44 minute's at the wreck of HMS Proselyte very cool dive swam with 4 1/2 foot reef shark ,school of barricuda and photo'ed 2 cameras worth of film of the reef and its residents. This is a first class dive operator and I would recommend them to anyone and if you need any further info Im me and i will get back to you

 

[Bottoms-up]

Hi there!! My Hubby and I are taking a cruise on Carnival to Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Belize 7/29-8/5/2006. This is our first dive trip out of the country and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for Dive trips/shops in those areas? Any and all information would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[DEEPLOU]

Is Carnival actually going into Cozumel now??? Back in Feb it was strictly Costa Maya.
I usuallly book right through ship. less hassle with transfer to and from operator. However, back in Feb they didn't have any operator lined up for Costa Maya. I forget the name of operator I used, but other divers i met on ship didn't make any arrangements ahead of time and found an operator there (right by the "pier")

Belize definately book through ship. the operators (I have been there twice or was it three times (oh CRS!!) and each time the operator came up to the ship took us out to dive site, and then right back to the ship. Never once have i set foot on dry land in Belize Oh yeh, now it comes to me it was three times.

 

[Bottoms-up]

Yep, were going to Cozumel...First stop. Hopefully, we will be able to dive, who knows we might just end up playing dodge the Hurricanes. As for Costa Maya Bill and I might just wing it. If we find a decent dive shop will dive if not, will hang out and take in some sights. Thanks for all the info...I will definitely keep it in mind when are deciding our final plans.

 

[divekraz]

Hey, Bubbles. We've dove with Blue Bubble on 3 different trips. The last time was in February 27 2006. Robert & Roberta run, own the shop and are very accomodating. I came on The Granduer of the Seas from Royal Caribbean. We docked downtown and caught a cab to her second shop which is South of downtown about 5 miles. The shop is on the left since the storm and easily missed. If you see the Southern docks for cruise ships you've gone to far. She provided a letter saying we had to be at her shop by a certain time which I gave to the ship and was able to get off on the first tender. We dove Palancar breaks with beautiful swim throughs and turtles. It's a drift dive and the dive masters we've had in the past were always good at pointing out wildlife. 2nd dive was Los Palmas and saw 2 toad fish and a huge Queen trigger. Roberta makes home baked breads and cookies for the divers to eat between dives. The shalllow reefs had alot of sand and showed the damage from the storms but the deeper dives looked great. There was still alot of wildlife but not quite as much as before the storm. Go to www.bluebubble.com and send her a e mail and she will reply in 24 hours but if you don't get a response send it again because the emails don't always go through to Cozumel. Regarding Costa Maya we did this from the Windsurf on 4-2-05. It was a short drive to a shop on the beach and you left from a six pack from the beach. The dive shop brought all our equipment to the boat but dragged my reg in the sand causing me to buddy breather. I didn't know the problem until getting back home to have my reg checked out. very nice variety of variety of wildlife. Have a good time.

 

[divekraz]

Bubbles If you need any specifics just let me know

 

[DonWinchester]

Okay, I'm newer to this forum thing than I am to diving and I feel pretty new to diving with 48 dives.

I started scuba diving through a cruise Discover Diving excursion. My wife and I became certified in time to take a motorsailing cruise with Windstar that had us diving in some great places from Cozumel down to Honduras. It was spectacular but my wife was on the verge of sea-sickness most of the time on board the big yacht. We're trying to plan another dive tour/cruise but we would like to take a bigger ship so she won't spend most of her time trying not to get ill. I would like to know if anybody knows of anything out there? I would consider a livaboard but I can't believe it would be mores stable than a 500 ft. yacht.

Any thoughts?

 

[Trwmodela]

Nekton is one of the most stable Live-aboard Dive Cruises. I am heading to Belize in Feb 10th for the Nekton Pilot.

Swath Design see for yourself......

http://www.nektoncruises.com/Liveaboards/SWATH.aspx

http://www.nektoncruises.com/Default.aspx

Tim
Fort Myers Beach, FL