Sandals Curacao operation?

[Jonnyola87]

Hey all,
My wife and I are avid divers and vacationers, so from time to time we like to combine the two by relaxing at an all-inclusive and diving (as opposed to a liveaboard, or, more frequently in our backyard here in New England).

We've done Sandals Negril and MoBay several times but we're headed to Sandals Curacao next summer. I hear the diving in Curacao is incredible but I've heard a lot of negative about this particular Sandals' dive operation. I.e-they don't have a boat, etc. Granted, they are a new resort.

Anyone know if this has improved now that they've been open a while?

Heading down in August, so hopefully the operation will be running smoothly by then.

Jon

 

[cajuncathlab1656]

I dove with sandals resorts at other locations such as bahamas and the operations there were horrible. I ended up paying for stuart cove in nassau and it was well worth it. If i end up stuck at a sandals i would obviously dive, but would not book a dive vacation strictly to dive with them.

 

[mac66]

Hey all,
My wife and I are avid divers and vacationers, so from time to time we like to combine the two by relaxing at an all-inclusive and diving (as opposed to a liveaboard, or, more frequently in our backyard here in New England).

We've done Sandals Negril and MoBay several times but we're headed to Sandals Curacao next summer. I hear the diving in Curacao is incredible but I've heard a lot of negative about this particular Sandals' dive operation. I.e-they don't have a boat, etc. Granted, they are a new resort.

Anyone know if this has improved now that they've been open a while?

Heading down in August, so hopefully the operation will be running smoothly by then.

Jon

I was in Curacao last week on a cruise ship. I dived with a couple who were staying at the Sandals there. Apparently diving is included but they couldn't get a spot as all the slots were filled. You can't book a slot until you get there and all the slots were taken until like the 5th or 6th day they were there. They weren't happy.

They ended up booking with the private shop (Scuabcao) I booked with. The shore diving was very good. The reefs were incredible.

I also dived on Bonaire (shore dive) and Aruba (boat dive).

Not sure if they ever got to dive at Sandals.

 

[Jonnyola87]

I was in Curacao last week on a cruise ship. I dived with a couple who were staying at the Sandals there. Apparently diving is included but they couldn't get a spot as all the slots were filled. They weren't happy. They ended up booking with the private shop (Scuabcao) I booked with. The shore diving was very good. The reefs were incredible.

I also dived on Bonaire (shore dive) and Aruba (boat dive).

Not sure if they ever got to dive at Sandals.

Very good to know, thanks for your help. We won't hesitate to book with outside private shops then. Seems like that's the trend there.

 

[lexvil]

Pricy place

 

[parzdiver]

I am going to Sandals Curacao in March. I haven't heard anything about their operation there. My experience with a few of their resorts was a mixed bag. In Grenada, the boat was full of divers, and had an overall good experience. In Jamaica, there were a lot of people with certification cards, and often the dives were short because someone blew through their air.

I joined the Sandals Elite Diver program. It was a one time fee and you needed certain certs to join. Once you are a member, you are supposed to be guarantied a spot on the boat and you can e-mail them ahead of time to reserve the spots. If you go to Sandals regularly, it might be worth asking about it.

 

[Jonnyola87]

I am going to Sandals Curacao in March. I haven't heard anything about their operation there. My experience with a few of their resorts was a mixed bag. In Grenada, the boat was full of divers, and had an overall good experience. In Jamaica, there were a lot of people with certification cards, and often the dives were short because someone blew through their air.

I joined the Sandals Elite Diver program. It was a one time fee and you needed certain certs to join. Once you are a member, you are supposed to be guarantied a spot on the boat and you can e-mail them ahead of time to reserve the spots. If you go to Sandals regularly, it might be worth asking about it.

Same here. We first went to Sandals in Negril years back and we usually end up there every year. The diving and marine life is not good (though improving), but the dive team we are now friends with and they are excellent. Plus, Negril is just great. We do have Sandals Elite Diver, so we'll definitely be trying to utilize that this summer.

 

[hilljo88]

I dont know about Sandals, but have stayed at Lions Dive Resort many times and can recommend Ocean Encounters shop at Lions Dive. Also, Dive Bus is another operator I can recommend for shore diving, including their house reef.

 

[mcohen1021]

Interesting re: the sandals rules. I know when we were at the Sabdals Negril, we had the boat all to ourselves or with 1 other diver. Overall good, minus their 60' rule.

 

[Tug]

I came back from Sandals Curacao a month or so ago and enjoyed the diving. If you’ve been diving at a Sandals before, you’ll be familiar with how they run the boat. Whenever I go to an All Inclusive like Sandals, I’m not there for the diving so I don’t have any high expectations but always enjoy myself. Expect dives around 45 minutes long like most of the other resorts.

Signing up for the diving is the only tough part. You can sign up for diving two days in advance and they often fill up by lunchtime so you won’t be able to get on a boat before your third full day on the resort. HOWEVER, what I did was show up in the morning and asked to be put on standby for that mornings dive. Chances are someone will decide to sleep in or cancel their dive for some other reason and I was able to get on standby both the mornings that I tried. It’s not an ideal setup, but they are doing their best to be fair to everyone and allow every guest to get out and go diving.