Which 1-2 places would you pick to dive?

[dartref]

Looking at a cruise the last week of March or first week of April. The last cruise we took, we went diving at every port. Afterwards, we felt like the cruise was kind of a waste because we didn't see ANY of the places we went to other than the diving. So this time we're agreeing to dive at 1-2 of the best places and sight see the rest. Of the following places, where is the best diving/worst sightseeing......

San Juan, Puerto Rico
St. Thomas
St. Kitts
Dominican Republic
Dominica
Barbados

 

[darnallj]

dartref,

Me and my wife have booked the same cruise with carnival for april 6th to april 13th we are wandering the same thing

 

[Doc]

The last cruise we took, we went diving at every port. Afterwards, we felt like the cruise was kind of a waste because we didn't see ANY of the places we went to other than the diving.

Cruising and diving may seem to mix well, but in fact they do not.

It's really hard to move a passenger conveniently off of a floating hotel and introduce them into a dive operation process flow. Remember the first day you go to any new dive operation? A lot of fussing around. Try it from a cruise ship? 50 First Dates

Add one other factor into the mix: The dive ops don't have a clue who you are and will treat you accordingly no matter how many C Cards you produce. You're going to get the standard cruise ship dive. I say this because when you ask about "which island has the best diving", you just aren't going to see it, not from any cruise ship.

I would approach it from your other proposition- which island has the best land entertainment that you might enjoy? Go and dive at the others.

 

[jdarnall2001]

I just wanted to say that we, personally, have had good experiences when diving on cruises. If this cruise is the same one we are looking at (I'm 99% sure it is... see darnallj's post above), we will be arranging dives with the LDS as there is only 1 location where the ship offers diving as a tour.

 

[dartref]

I just wanted to say that we, personally, have had good experiences when diving on cruises. If this cruise is the same one we are looking at (I'm 99% sure it is... see darnallj's post above), we will be arranging dives with the LDS as there is only 1 location where the ship offers diving as a tour.

Yep, same cruise. We too have had good experience with the one and only time we dove on a cruise. Good experience as in no problems with arrangments. However, they did bring equipment smaller than most people requested, and they had to cancel the dive after the first 1/2 of the group entered the water because the currents were stronger than they thought. So they took us to a cove that appeared to be where they did Discover Scuba classes. It was only about 20 feet deep, nothing really to see, and we spent one hour diving and looking at sand and one wrecked sailboat.

On this cruise, there is only one dive offered by the ship in the 5 different ports (not counting the original departure port) so I'll go through my LDS to make other arrangements.

Debating between the March 30 or April 6 date, but I think we're leaning toward March 30 due to other commitments.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Looking at a cruise the last week of March or first week of April. The last cruise we took, we went diving at every port. Afterwards, we felt like the cruise was kind of a waste because we didn't see ANY of the places we went to other than the diving. So this time we're agreeing to dive at 1-2 of the best places and sight see the rest. Of the following places, where is the best diving/worst sightseeing......

San Juan, Puerto Rico
St. Thomas
St. Kitts
Dominican Republic
Dominica
Barbados

Of the above, I have dove Puerto Rico (most diving is in Fajardo which is about 1+ hour away but the diving off Fajardo was great the week we were there), St. Thomas (I dove this off a cruise as well and was not overly impressed as the "reef" was destroyed) and DR (I dove the south side and it was mediocre except around La Romana and Catalina Island - this diving was great). I am a bad judge because I love being underwater anywhere for any reason so I really do enjoy any dive. I have family that dives in Barbados and they really enjoy it.

No matter what, I am sure you will enjoy any of the dives no matter where you choose. You will be on vacation and underwater...what else can we ask for as divers?

 

[RickPeck]

I did a trip report and posted it here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gr...ives-st-thomas-dominca-barbados-st-lucia.html

The one stop to do for certain is Dominica. Nature Island Dives was the operator I used and I was happy with the service. Diving in St. Thomas is supposed to be good, but I haven't seen it (see trip report). I had a good experience at 3 of the 4 stops I dove on a Carnival cruise

I brought my own equipment so size didn't matter...

Regards,

Rick

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

If I could only pick one it would definitely be Dominica.

 

[dartref]

Good stuff guys, thanks. Any other thoughts are appreciated.