Recommendations welcomed

[aldijo2]

I'll be taking a cruise for New year's and will be traveling to Barbados, St. Lucia. St. Maarten, St. Kitts&Nevis and Antigua/Barbuda. If it were up to me would dive in all the destinations but I have to pick one. Which would you choose?
Unfortunately they don't give dive sites when making reservations to scuba dive through the cruise line. Any experiences?
Thanks

 

[arcticat99]

what cruise lineÉim doing a western cruise in January with princess again and doing turks and caicos,grand caymen and cozumel and all offer dive excursions.i was told they are cattle dives through cruises(meaning they keep you herded together)but im ok with that being fairly new to diving.on my last cruise ,was bahamas ,st thomas and st marteen and st thomas was the only one the cruise acknowledged with scuba dives but st marteen is beautiful im sure if you look dive sites up you will find them and will be cheaper than cruise excursions the big difference is getting back to the ship guarantee .when booking through the ship,they wont leave you behind if you are late

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

I did some via crooze, others while staying on shore or via liveaboard.

Barbados is probably your best bet if you can book to dive on the wreck Stavronikita. It is big and has an amazing amount of corals growing on it.

St Lucia's crooze diving is not as good when staying on land near the south. Their fish in general are on the small side because locals eats up everything.

St Kitt's diving is OK, whether from liveaboard or crooze diving. I think they usually take you to the River Taw wreck.

St Maarten usually don't have much diving, but we booked a shark encounter dive, so it made our crooze dive worth it, especially when our ship arrived so late and pretty much all dive boats had already left on their morning dive. I think these guys offers the dive: Ocean Explorers Dive Center / http://www.stmaartendiving.com/shark_dive_st_maarten

All the crooze dives are booked independently instead of with the ship, which would likely be cattleboats and 20 minute dives.

 

[aldijo2]

thanks!

 

[aldijo2]

I just returned from my cruise vacations. I dove in St. Marteen booked theough the cruise. A bit more expensive but with the guarantee that they wont leave without you. Met a guy who dove St. Lucia privately booked and the price was only 20 dollars difference. 20 dillar=peace of mind.
My dive was better than expected. We dove with Scuba Fun Dive Center. The group was divided by experience. Marine life was great. Sharks, turtles, groupers, barracuda, nice coral reef, etc. Tony, our guide was also great. He let us dive longer than other divers who consumed their air quickly. That was a plus since I dive for @ 50 & 60 minutes compared to 30 minutes of the first divers surfacing.
If I return to St. Marteen, I'll dive with the same dive center.

 

[arcticat99]

I just returned from my cruise vacations. I dove in St. Marteen booked theough the cruise. A bit more expensive but with the guarantee that they wont leave without you. Met a guy who dove St. Lucia privately booked and the price was only 20 dollars difference. 20 dillar=peace of mind.
My dive was better than expected. We dove with Scuba Fun Dive Center. The group was divided by experience. Marine life was great. Sharks, turtles, groupers, barracuda, nice coral reef, etc. Tony, our guide was also great. He let us dive longer than other divers who consumed their air quickly. That was a plus since I dive for @ 50 & 60 minutes compared to 30 minutes of the first divers surfacing.
If I return to St. Marteen, I'll dive with the same dive center.

sounds awesome i leave in 2 days for my western Caribbeancruise and i a gree for little extra cost a big piece of mind for them having to wait for you.ill have to go back to st marteen now that im a diver because i sure loved that island

 

[drrich2]

I dove the extra cost Pitons area trip with Scuba Steve's on a cruise stop in St. Lucia and liked it fine - trip report. Not saying St. Lucia is better than the rest, just that it was good for me.

Richard.