Devil505:
I am an experienced diver (over 20 years but just recently got certified) who has never dove anywhere but New England. I am planning a cruise next February (the main reason I finally got certified) to the Carribean. I hate to admit it but I'm one of those "Mike Nelson/Sea Hunt" guys who has some pretty old (but always serviced) equipment. I am using an old Sherwood regulator (with no safe 2nd stage) & wonder if the cruise ship excursion dives will even allow me to use this for their dives? (I already plan on bringing my own mask, snorkel & fins) Any other advise/experiences diving on cruise ship excursions would be appreciated. (My local dive shop recommended that I stick with these excursions as the boat won't sale without me if the dive boat returns late!)
While most of the excursions boast a 2 tank dive, my fear is that they will chase us out of the water after 20 minutes per tank!
I did a cruise in April 2004 and dove Cozumel, Belize and Grand Cayman. I used the ships's operators, and had no issues. We never had more than 12 divers on a trip, and went to different locations than the snorkellers went. I looked into booking my own charters but didn't due to the "uncertainties" ie( the ship is an hour late getting into port and I miss the charter - no diving, no refund; the charter loses an diver and we get back an hour late- miss the ship). The charter operators that the Cruise lines use are in contact with the ship, and it will wait if you are delayed on their excursions. Also, it was nice never even having to set foot on the pier, as the dive boat pulled up alongside the cruise ship and we went aboard. We saved at least an hour by them doing that.
Now, it is quite a bit more for the ships dive excursions. I think they tack on 50%, so it does make a difference.
As for gear, I took my mask, fins, snorkel, dive computer and reg set up. I was going to take my 3mm, but decided that wet neoprene hanging in our cabin's shower stall for a week wasn't all that romantic. Luckily, I'm warm blooded so I dove in shorts and a T shirt. I did 2 dives a day, and was fine. As for the length of our dives, they normally told us that when one of us got to 1000 PSI to let the DM know and we would begin our ascent. While my dive was shorter than it would have been on my own, it wasn't too bad and we still did 30-45 minute dives on average.( One word to the wise though, regardless of your level of expertise, take your AOW card. I took my Rescue card with me and was buddied up with with the weakest diver in the group as I was the most experienced from those on the charter. From now on, I take my AOW and am just your average "Joe Diver".)
If I had to do it again, I'd probably do it the same and use the ship's operators. On vacation I want as little stress in my life as possible, and using the ship's excursions were easier. However, I'm not sure I'd do another cruise. Cruises are like a chinese buffet....you get a sample of everything to find out what you like, and then you go to a decent restaurant and order what you do.
I know I like the Caribbean, I think I'll stick to island hopping from now on and try everything
.
Hope some of this helps,
Chris
