Need advice for March cruise

[jacques_bo]

Hello, we are going for a cruise in March.

We will go at: St-Thomas (we already went diving there), St-Maarten, Antigua, St-Lucie, and Barbados.

What are the two best sites to go diving?

Is-it better to go with the cruise diving center selections or going with the local diving center?

Thank's for the advice.

Jacques_bo

 

[schu1842]

Contact Andrew at Eco Divers in Barbados. You won't be disappointed. He will pick you up at the cruise terminal and give you some great dives.

 

[oddswiz]

Hi Jacques,

If you are passing through St Maarten, there are a couple places I think you would have a blast. It does depend on the arrival time in port.

Please drop me a line and i am happy to work with you.

Jason
St Maarten Scuba Dive St Maarten with the best dive package and scuba dive shops - Home
info@stmaartendivers.com

 

[Torontonian]

Hello, we are going for a cruise in March.

We will go at: St-Thomas (we already went diving there), St-Maarten, Antigua, St-Lucie, and Barbados.

What are the two best sites to go diving?

Is-it better to go with the cruise diving center selections or going with the local diving center?

Thank's for the advice.

Jacques_bo

Hi Jacque. From Canada, you'd enjoy any of the diving there. We went to a similar itinerary before.

I never went with a ship excursion. It's often a cattle boat, and many are near-beginner divers. That puts a limit on the site and bottom time for the dives.

In USVI St. Thomas, we went to Coki Beach. The boat dives from there were good, not spectacular, but pretty good. We got a discount for the having to take a taxi there.

St. Lucia, we dove with Fair Helen (they picked us up), and requested to go to Superman's Flight site. It was by the Petit Piton. Both the dive and the topside scenery were good. The cruise ship probably won't sail by the pitons and the only way to see it well is by boat. Not all dive boats will go there as it is some way south.

In Antigua, the good diving is in the south, by the English harbour. We arranged to tour to go there. After 3.5hr of diving/snorkeling, the tour van picked us up, to do island tour in the remaining time.

In Barbados, the diving is in the southwest. Many dive ops there and most will pick you up. The Stavronikita wreck is well known there and was indeed a good dive. For SI we went near the Sandy Lanes resort where people can snorkel and see lots of turtles.

 

[jacques_bo]

Thank's for your good advices. Did someone know Dive Safari at St-Maarten?

 

[Straegen]

If you have a ton of shipboard credit, go with the cruise line package. Otherwise, go with a local independent outfit that is reviewed well here. Cruise packages are generally overpriced and often overbooked especially during spring break times. Make sure you book as early as possible as well since March is big with the kiddies.

 

[STDC.Doug]

I would advise you to avoid the diveshops that service the cruiseship as a general rule. They are cattleboats for the most part, and the ship fills their boats and takes a healthy cut of the money, so the shops have little incentive to provide great service.

On St. Thomas contact St Thomas Diving Club or Admiralty. You wont regret it.

 

[DiverLS]

I hate to put it this way but it's a crap shoot when you book your own dives. If you book your dives through the cruise line, they will wait if you are late. If you book on your own you are on your own. I went on a cruise in 1996 and again in 2001 and everywhere we booked, our skill was noticed immediately and we went either with our own DM or priority afther the DM took everybody on a go-round.

I wasn't impressed with the diving in Barbados, too much sand. The other three sites are good.

 

[Straegen]

Many cruise ships will not wait long if you are running late even with one of their certified operations. In these cases, they will help you get to the next stop so you can rejoin the cruise though. They held the boat an extra five minutes on our last trip in Belize, but we were told by the Captain at the Captains party that we were lucky as the ship was about to head out without us.

 

[Blemy]

I have prefered to go with an independant company when it comes to diving from the cruise ship.

Of you islands mentioned I can recommend:
Indigo Divers in Jolly Harbor Antigua, there is a great beach and beach bar there called Castaways for Apres-dive.
Scuba St. Lucia in St. Lucia was very good, we originally went with another operator (can't recall their name, but we saw the set up here and were sold).

Both days finished around 1:30pm which gave us lots of time to see more of the island before getting back to the boat.