my experience on RC cruise now that i got back.

[scubaranger]

I just wanted to to post my experience on my cruise. I just got back this sat. it was a 7 day eastern carribean and it departed from miami on may 22 and return may 29. it went to nassau bahamas, st thomas, puerto rico and Labadee (RC private Island in Hait). i only dove in Nassau i have this thing with my wife I have a day to dive and she has a day to relax due to we toke our 7 mos baby boy he had a great time too. well we dove with naussau scuba centre. their was 10 of us from RC and 10 others from Carnival I think or maybe another RC ship possibly on the bus when we got to the dock the 10 of us my ship docked one bout and the others went to another so it was only 10 of us on a 30 something size bout. well the first location some one had riped out the bouy so we couldn't dive their and they couldn't drop anchor without destroying the reef . so they asked all of us if we mind going to a diffen't site that had a wall but neerby the feed sharks so their would be some in area all of us said it was ok one women was aprehensive but said she would give it a shot the first dive was a wall that started at about 100 ft then droped we also saw two carribean sharks but as soon they figured aout that we weren't going to feed them the just swimed off. we swam for about 100 yds and came up to 200 ft wreck . so my first dive was wall/wreck/shark/ and deep. the second dive of course we did are safety stop on the first. the second was 20 ft. reef with also a cisna plane . all in all was greet and i was glad i went with rc operator i saw my dive buddy later on during the week they told me st. tomas was better (better vis. and better reef)

MAJOR POINTS.
Good.
1) ships dive operator was freindly and helpfull and considerate of our lack of time.
2)not a cattle bout.
3) RC had a DM go with us that was also teaching. so we had the option to tag along or go on aur own . we went on our own. the DO also had DM in the water too.
4) great locations
BAD.
1) altought it didn't affect me directly and all worked out in the end. i think this was too deep for a student to do his OW check out dive and I don't think the women we had with us enjoyed the dive i even think she saw the two sharks and got back on bourd. I felt so bad for her.
2) after our dives when we got back to the docks i felt we where rushed to get back. it wasn't their fault . but only the cruise lines. we got back with 30 min. to spare. too close for me personnelly. they should add a couple hrs to the ports. and take some time from day out on sea. but that would be less time in the casino for them so i don't see it happening.

all in all had a great time and would deffanently go on a cruise again.
ADVISE
take something with wheels that dive bag gets heavy after a while walking thru the ship,tru the dock tru the terminal tru the parking area to the bus. you get what i'm saying.
alex t.

 

[RICHinNC]

Sounds good. Cruise lines do not like you on shore. If you are on shore that is where you are spending your money.....and they want you to spend it on the boat. NCL does the same thing.....but even worse. I swear I felt like their port calls were less than 15 mins. Never do that line again!!
rich

 

[DEEPLOU]

I just wanted to to post my experience on my cruise. I just got back this sat. it was a 7 day eastern carribean and it departed from miami on may 22 and return may 29. it went to nassau bahamas, st thomas, puerto rico and Labadee (RC private Island in Hait). i only dove in Nassau i have this thing with my wife I have a day to dive and she has a day to relax due to we toke our 7 mos baby boy he had a great time too. well we dove with naussau scuba centre. their was 10 of us from RC and 10 others from Carnival I think or maybe another RC ship possibly on the bus when we got to the dock the 10 of us my ship docked one bout and the others went to another so it was only 10 of us on a 30 something size bout. well the first location some one had riped out the bouy so we couldn't dive their and they couldn't drop anchor without destroying the reef . so they asked all of us if we mind going to a diffen't site that had a wall but neerby the feed sharks so their would be some in area all of us said it was ok one women was aprehensive but said she would give it a shot the first dive was a wall that started at about 100 ft then droped we also saw two carribean sharks but as soon they figured aout that we weren't going to feed them the just swimed off. we swam for about 100 yds and came up to 200 ft wreck . so my first dive was wall/wreck/shark/ and deep. the second dive of course we did are safety stop on the first. the second was 20 ft. reef with also a cisna plane . all in all was greet and i was glad i went with rc operator i saw my dive buddy later on during the week they told me st. tomas was better (better vis. and better reef)

MAJOR POINTS.
Good.
1) ships dive operator was freindly and helpfull and considerate of our lack of time.
2)not a cattle bout.
3) RC had a DM go with us that was also teaching. so we had the option to tag along or go on aur own . we went on our own. the DO also had DM in the water too.
4) great locations
BAD.
1) altought it didn't affect me directly and all worked out in the end. i think this was too deep for a student to do his OW check out dive and I don't think the women we had with us enjoyed the dive i even think she saw the two sharks and got back on bourd. I felt so bad for her.
2) after our dives when we got back to the docks i felt we where rushed to get back. it wasn't their fault . but only the cruise lines. we got back with 30 min. to spare. too close for me personnelly. they should add a couple hrs to the ports. and take some time from day out on sea. but that would be less time in the casino for them so i don't see it happening.

all in all had a great time and would deffanently go on a cruise again.
ADVISE
take something with wheels that dive bag gets heavy after a while walking thru the ship,tru the dock tru the terminal tru the parking area to the bus. you get what i'm saying.
alex t.

From your description I believe I have been to the first site you mention. We had about 6 or 8 sharks that mulled about while we dove. I found it to be a very easy dive.
The cesna you mention was the one used in the old James Bond movie. I forgot which one, I think it was Thunderball, but could have been another one.

Due to the time restraints, I always dive through the ship on cruise. If there is ever a time problem, it is theirs, not mine. If your on a ship's excursion, the ship will wait for you. If you are on your own, ship will not wait for u.

 

[scubaranger]

deep thanks for the bit of info I thought so but we where so rush I forgot to ask backround info on the dives. i usually do that and add it to my dive log.
that's why i go with the ship excursion i was left behind once and that was not cool. the ships DM said that the ship wates for no one so he was even in hurry to get back.
alex t.