Transporting Gear on Dive Excursions

[Web Monkey]

Roatan is a great dive, and unless they changed, the operator Carnival uses is Hugh Parkey, and they do a phenominal job. Make sure you leave a good tip, they're extremely professional and friendly

Also, make sure you bring a roller bag, because you need to drag it from the holding pen on the ship, down the stairs to the tender, on to the tender, and then across the dock to the dive boat.

I'm going back this January and wouldn't miss it.

Terry

We are cruising on the Carnival Ship Paradise. For Belize and Cozumel, we were planning to book the ship's dive excursions.

We are still undecided about Roatan and Grand Cayman. We'd like to dive Sting Ray City in GC. Looks like the ship excursion is snorkel only, but we're not sure.

Roatan, we're thinking about doing the dolphin dive at Anthony Key's Resort, probably the ship's excursion as AKR says they don't take advanced reservations.

Our problem is that their customer service is of no help and tells us we can't get ANY information or questions answered concerning dives until after we are onboard the ship.

 

[dolphinfish]

What's the best way to transport your dive gear on cruise ship dive excursions?

We were thinking that the roller bag would be helpful in the event we have to cart the gear for long distances. But then again, since we don't know what boats we are going out on, there is know way to be sure the roller gear bags will fit the boat storage space.

Any suggestions?

Just returned from a eastern carib. cruise aboard Carnival's Glory. Expect a long walk to any dive boat, whether it's arranged through the cruiseline or on your own. We did our certification dives 2 years ago on a Princess cruise (which was by far a better cruise than our recent Carnival cruise). It was rough lugging a weight belt (with weights attached) down the elevator from the 14th deck (where the dive shop was located) off the cruise ship and usually down a long dock then down the street to a dive boat or dive shop. It was no different this past week (except for the weight belt). I really wish I had a mesh bag on wheels. A hint for the long walk back after your dives: peel your wetsuit down to your waist and wear it along with your bcd back to the ship. When they're wet, they're really heavy.

Another big hint: spend the extra $$ and get a balcony room. You need a place to dry your gear once you're back on the ship. A balcony is the perfect place. Your gear will be dry by the end of the night.

We dove in Nassau & St. Thomas this past week. Nassau dives were booked through the cruiseline because of the timeframe we were there. I booked our St. Thomas dives prior to the cruise with Blue Island Divers. They were an excellent to dive with. I highly recommend them. Dive op in Nassau was Bahama Divers, which was OK.

 

[Foo]

Comment about the balcony room thing- sounds like a good idea, but if you're unable to get one, do what we did- I bought a wetsuit dryer on ebay that is portable, will also dry your booties. It's like a small cafeteria tray with a motor & pipes and it air drys your wetsuits overnight. We dried two sets each night, no problem. I think we paid $50 or so for the dryer. Just do a search on ebay for "wetsuit dryer". We carried it on the cruise ship in a bag, then set it up in one of the luggage cubbies, and hung the wetsuit from a hanger, above the dryer. FYI.

 

[LAWDIVER]

ScubaFishee,

You can book a stingray city dive through www.grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com. We did this for our cruise and it is a great operator. Best part was we where in an area away from all the people snorkeling. We watched as boats with 100 people plus were fighting for room on the sand bar. Dive was twelve feet and they provided squid to feed. We even had a large moray eel beging for food. Lots of fun. You can't go wrong with this company.