Need advice about booking a dive trip from a cruise

[smelton521]

Hello!

My husband and I are going on our first ever cruise for our anniversary and we will be in Cozumel on Thursday May 30th. We are both certified divers through PADI but it has been 8 years since our last dive. Actually this is our first solo trip anywhere in about 7 years due to having kids! So needless to say we are excited!! I have read some sketchy reviews about the dive experience booked through the cruise line and would like advice on booking directly with another dive op. Our cruise schedule says we arrive in Cozumel at 9am and the cruise dive trip starts at 9:30am. We depart at 4pm. I have not been able to find anyone who can tell me which pier we will be at. I would love some advice on how to find dive ops that pick up cruise passengers and any other info I need to know to make sure we have a great experience.

Thank you so much for any help you can provide!

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

while I've never been to Coz, I'm going on a cruise in Sept. You should just contact some of the dive ops with the same questions you have posted here, and give them your cruise line they probably will know which port you're docking at. Also since it's been eight years, you should try and take a refresher course before you go, because most good dive ops will require it, and if they don't I wouldn't dive with them!

 

[reo]

First of all, congrats on going on your first cruise! My wife and I have been on a few cruises, and we've really enjoyed them. I've booked dives though the cruise line, and they've been fun. You may want to consider booking your Cozumel dive through the cruise line. If for some reason you are delayed past you cruise departure time, the ship will wait for you. That's not the case when you book directly by yourselves. Boats can and do break down.

If at all possible, get a refresher course, do a couple of dives, and record them in your log books. The dive ops I've dived with in Coz have asked to see my cert card and log book, to make sure I had dived recently.

Happy Anniversary and enjoy your cruise!

Ron

 

[Ron Lee]

Reportedly cruise ship times remain on the time zone where you start the cruise so you may arrive at Cozumel around 800 AM.

Also mention your departure city. With cruise ship line/name I could probably tell you when you arrive and the dock using this website:

Cozumel Insider - Cozumel Cruise Ship Schedule - Weekly Cruise Ship Arrival and Departure Information - Cozumelinsider

One dive op to consider is Aldora (aldora.com)

"We want you to dive NO MATTER WHAT so we have a special late departure to cover most cruise ship and mainland diver's schedules, with the same Aldora Qualty Dive Service."

Make sure that you have your C-cards. If not, go to your dive shop or contact PADI for a replacement.

 

[old gaffer]

Do a google search for Scuba with Alison. You can email her you situation, she may require a checkout dive before taking you out to the wall dives. Is it possible for you to a local dive or two prior to your cruise?

I did my first cozumel dives with her operation while I was on a cruise. Simple matter of making a reservation with her op and then when your ship arrives take a cab to the Caleta marina to meet her boat. Alison is very safety conscious and a fun person besides. I loved Cozumel diving and since that cruise stop have done several trips there for a weeks worth of diving.


If you have the time to do a local home based refresher it would be worth it and would make your day of diving the best!

tom

 

[Mossman]

First of all, congrats on going on your first cruise! My wife and I have been on a few cruises, and we've really enjoyed them. I've booked dives though the cruise line, and they've been fun. You may want to consider booking your Cozumel dive through the cruise line. If for some reason you are delayed past you cruise departure time, the ship will wait for you. That's not the case when you book directly by yourselves. Boats can and do break down.

If at all possible, get a refresher course, do a couple of dives, and record them in your log books. The dive ops I've dived with in Coz have asked to see my cert card and log book, to make sure I had dived recently.

The diving experience can be far better on a smaller boat than the typical cattle operations booked by cruise ships, not to mention a lot cheaper as well. If the thought of the boat breaking down worries you, find a dive op that runs multiple boats and can send a working boat to the rescue.

I have never been asked for my log book in Cozumel, probably a good thing since I haven't logged any dives in it for many years. I've only dove with 7 dive ops on the island, however, so YMMV.

 

[smelton521]

Thanks everyone! We are leaving out of New Orleans so all of our times on our itinerary are already in CST, which means we definitely arrive at 9:00am. We both have our C-Cards and I will definitely try to find someplace to do a refresher course. We are in north Mississippi so I don't see there being much chance of taking any dives beforehand. Online it shows a dive shop in Memphis where you can become certified so I will call them tomorrow to see what we can do. If we can show that we have taken a refresher course will a Cozumel dive op still take us out, or do most require a recent dive in addition to a refresher course? We are sailing on Carnival Elation so it looks like we will be at the Puerta Maya pier. Any suggestions on dive ops near there or if we will need to take a taxi somewhere to meet a dive op?

 

[Ron Lee]

I would email or call a few dive ops to see what they say. If you only have four or five dives and have not been underwater in eight years, that is a huge difference from having hundreds of dives with the same break in diving.

To enjoy your dives in Cozumel, it would be highly desirable that you are both current on safety procedures, are comfortable in the water, etc.

 

[Mossman]

Thanks everyone! We are leaving out of New Orleans so all of our times on our itinerary are already in CST, which means we definitely arrive at 9:00am. We both have our C-Cards and I will definitely try to find someplace to do a refresher course. We are in north Mississippi so I don't see there being much chance of taking any dives beforehand. Online it shows a dive shop in Memphis where you can become certified so I will call them tomorrow to see what we can do. If we can show that we have taken a refresher course will a Cozumel dive op still take us out, or do most require a recent dive in addition to a refresher course? We are sailing on Carnival Elation so it looks like we will be at the Puerta Maya pier. Any suggestions on dive ops near there or if we will need to take a taxi somewhere to meet a dive op?

You'll need a taxi. We walked when I cruised there, but it's pretty far (3 miles?) and you'll be pressed for time.

 

[DjDiverDan]

Just an FYI -- booking through the cruise ship is almost certain to cost you at least $20 more per diver than booking directly through a dive op. i say this through very limited experience - I've only been on one cruise in my life, and I just don't like it, but when I checked prices on that cruise, with stops in both Cozumel and Roatan, the Cruise Line was charging $30 more for the exact same 2-tank dive as a dive trip booked directly through the operator. You are also likely to get better dives and better service booking directly through a Dive Op. I started diving in Cozumel over 20 years ago, and my first few years I dove with Fantasia Divers (an op which no longer exists). I stopped using them and searched for another operator after they started contracting with the cruise lines to provide dives to Cruise passengers - the quality of dives really declined because of the care they had to take with divers off the Cruise lines -- generally people with little experience, or who hadn't dived in many years, divers who had no experience in drift dives, with very little bouyancy control, divers who were hung over from hard partying the night before, divers who paid no attention to where they were in relation to the group or the dive master, who kicked up lots of sand in the swim throughs and forced the DM to act as a baby sitter. Don't be one of those divers. Take the refresher course, and learn as much as you can about drift diving. Listen carefully to the DM on pre-dive briefings. Pay attention underwater - drift diving is easy and relaxing as long as you keep track of the DM, stay up-current from him, if he stops to look at something, you stop as well (you do not want to drift 20 or 30 yards past him and have to fight the current getting back to the group). And learn and use the techniques to minimize your cross-section in the current. And please, respect the other divers in your group - control your bouyancy, don't grab or kick the coral, don't kick up sediment in the swim throughs, and don't force the DM to come after you because you have completely lost track of your depth and find yourself at 120 feet on what was supposed to be an 80 foot dive (I've seen it happen!). Have a good trip!