Royal Caribbean Cruise Diving - Roatan and Cozumel

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We were just out with AKR a week ago. We cruised as a family of nine, with only one being a non-diver. I found their operation to be top notch, not that I have a lot to compare. Both of my (adult) children are new divers, even newer than me. It was my daughter’s first dive off a boat after being certified, and my son had not been in the water in about eight months.

The water was extremely rough the day we were there, had been shut out the day before in Coz and would not even be able to dock in Grand Caymen the next day. We went out anyhow and both my kids struggled. The DMs with us did a great job, even though it was like herding cats. We managed to have two great dives, despite ourselves. I would go back and use AKR in a heartbeat. Trying to plan the next trip right now.
 
Did a couple dives in St. Thomas while on a royal caribbean cruise. Dives were fun but
-there were a couple cruise ships in port and they ran out of regulators. I happened to have mine with me (just reg, mask, and computer) so I got to dive. Some in my group did not.
-They were a bit rushed because of cruise ship constraints.
-clearly geared to OW divers.
-Often the boats spend the last day at a private island. Usually decent snorkeling there.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. We booked the Roatan and Cozumel dives through RCCL. I am looking forward to the experience, and I will share my experience with you in April/May after we cruise.

Pricing for Roatan was I think $118/person and Cozumel was about the same, maybe $126/person.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. We booked the Roatan and Cozumel dives through RCCL. I am looking forward to the experience, and I will share my experience with you in April/May after we cruise.

Pricing for Roatan was I think $118/person and Cozumel was about the same, maybe $126/person.
I dive next month in coz on independence of the seas. I’ll let you know how it goes. I am diving with Rccl
 
I'll be on the Carnival Dream in 2 weeks and have dives booked in Cozumel, Roatan and Belize. Last september on the NCL Getaway I dived Cozumel (Sand Dollar), Roatan (Athony's Key) and Costa Maya (Dream Time). Best was in Cozumel where we dived Palencar.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. We booked the Roatan and Cozumel dives through RCCL. I am looking forward to the experience, and I will share my experience with you in April/May after we cruise.

Pricing for Roatan was I think $118/person and Cozumel was about the same, maybe $126/person.

Yikes. $126 in Cozumel? That's steep. I dive with a great dive op there for about $95 with steel 120s and at least 1 hour bottom times per dive. Most shops using AL80s are running $75-80.

And we had 2 cruisers with us one morning, so I know they work with cruise schedules.
 
Last week I dove in Cozumel with the 2 tank dive excursion as booked through Royal Caribbean (Oasis of the Seas). If you have time before your cruise RCL will often offer 10-20% off discounts off the price of the dive excursion if you keep checking.

RCL used Sand Dollar Sports for the excursion. Sand Dollar picks you up from the dock and you walk 1-2 minutes away to their boat at a smaller dock. They will take you about 20min away to their shop where you get your gear.

After getting gear we went about 30min away. The waves were 2-3' and a little stronger current than typical. The first dive site we pulled up to the divemaster dropped in to check conditions and decided the current was to strong, so we went to another site about 10min away.

This new site was a drift wall dive where we stayed on the shallow side (about 70' deep) of the wall. Current was strong and we got a nice ride. The DM said it was about 4-5knots. I would estimate closer to 3knots (you could not swim against it, but it was also not ripping our masks off if we turned into the current). The dive procedure was also nice. We all roughly drifted as a group. When the first person reached 750psi the DM sent up a DSMB, and that buddy pair went up for a safety stop (then surface). The rest of the group got to keep drifting. Over the next 10-15min people surfaced as needed and the boat came and got us. The boat captain did a great job of locating people as they surfaced and picking them up.

The second dive was a nice calm area about 40'. It was a relatively boring section of the ocean floor. It was a mix of small reef areas and sandy bottom. We started the dive maybe a little under a mile away from where the cruise ships were docked (we could clearly see the ship), and swam towards the ship. Similar protocol to the first dive where at 750psi the DM sent up the DSMB and people surfaced as needed to get picked up by the boat.

After the dive was about a 5-10min ride back to the ship dock.
 
I'm going to Coz on a cruise ship in a couple months so this thread is interesting to me. Will be diving but haven't decided to go through the ship or LDS. Since I'm a new diver I may just do the ship excursion but maybe not.
 
What are your port times in Cozumel? That is the biggest issue with diving there from a cruise ship. Most ships arrive after boats have already left for reefs, which are on the southern west side of island. Most dive ops boats live the docks at 7:30-8am timeframe, so it isn't possible to dive with them. The only way is to have a group of 4+ divers and reserve your own boat to go out after your arrival.
 
My port times in Coz is 8am-7pm. I could conceivably do an afternoon trip. Some shops go out at 1 pm for 4 hours.
 

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