Which cruise gives you the most diving?

[tx.lakerats]

I have to agree with Scuba Duffer!!

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

Jeez....some of you guys are really killing me here. For anyone who doesn't know, I am a diving instructor with NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines). We aren't that bad on NCL. Our dives aren't that much more than the operators charge us. True, a lot of our excursions have a huge profit margin over the cost price but the dives are actually very reasonable when you look at the cost price we pay to the operators. It is true that some of our dives are cancelled because of lack of participation but then again, we have some that will take only one person because the operator also has divers from shoreside that have signed up on their own. When a tour is cancelled because of lack of participation, it's not us doing it. We make money off of tours, one person or one hundred. The operators give us a minimum and maximum amount of passengers for each excursion when they sign contracts with us. Sometimes the operators will go below their minimums if they'll break even but no lower than that or we have to pay for the minimum amount of people. I have been on a few dives and none of them so far have been cattle boats. I escorted a DSD a few days ago and it only had 4 DSDs and about 10 certified divers together on a boat with plenty of space and an upper sundeck. The perks of diving with us or any cruise line as stated before, is that you are guaranteed to get back to the ship and not be left. And transportation is included roundtrip which solves the hassle of taxis or shuttles. I have only been with NCL for 6 months now but so far I have been on 3 different itineraries and all three have had excellent dive operators with great crews. My suggestion would be any cruise line that does the Western Caribbean or Southern Caribbean. I have been diving in both places myself and had excellent dives. Good luck with your decision and if I can be of any help with the NCL side of things, let me know and I'll answer any questions you may have.

 

[Foo]

We have done 2 NCL cruises, and several Carnivals. Because we're so glad to be on vacation, we are not complaining about any of the cruises that we've been on, but I will say that we REALLY like NCL. We were on a smaller ship (same ship both times, actually), the Norwegian Sea out of Houston or Galveston (I forget which). The staterooms are smaller on this ship than the Carnivals we've been on, but the service is impeccable. We spend little time in our stateroom anyway, and the cubbies were perfect for our dive gear. The food was fantastic, and they really work hard to make sure that you have FUN- all the way from the entertainment opportunities to the zany games, etc. that the crew lead by the pools, etc. This particular ship went to Coz, Roatan, Belize and Cancun- we booked our own dive trips and had no problems getting back in time- the dive operators were happy to have our business, and they accomodated our needs. We loved the Freestyle dining which means that you can go to the "fancy" dining rooms at any time, no designated zero hour. You can either request to have the same table and table mates for every meal, or you can just show up. We really liked that, as we like to dress for the dinners while on a cruise, but don't like to be rushed.

We loved our Carnival cruises too, affordable like Norwegian. Two of the most impressive things that Carnival did on one cruise that we took: A family/group was running about an hour late after our departure time. They evidently called ahead, and Carnival WAITED FOR THEM. They made an announcement so that everyone wouldn't be wondering why we weren't departing. We were impressed, because we put ourselves in those people's shoes. We would be frantic thinking the ship was going to leave us. They made up the lost time easily, once we got moving, and we arrived at all our ports on schedule. Which brings me to another point, on that SAME cruise, someone got left behind at Grand Cayman. We were an hour out at sea after departing the port, and we turned around to pick up those people. Again, we loved it because we felt like it showed that they gave a rip. BTW, we also had a blast on that cruise.

We have seen people act like babies on trips (cruise and non-cruise) before, and it always gives us a chuckle- it's like, you're in PARADISE, find the fun things and forget that your steward forgot to put a mint on your pillow! Relax, don't sweat the small stuff and have FUN. I know that there are people who are used to being pampered and pooh-poohed over who will find something to complain about no matter what. Me, I prefer to remember that I could be at work...instead of sipping a banana daquiri on the deck of a beautiful ship with hundreds of hard-working people trying to make sure that I have a good time. Be sweet. Sorry for the ramble, but it's a good thing to remember while cruising.

Foo

 

[Foo]

Jeez....some of you guys are really killing me here. For anyone who doesn't know, I am a diving instructor with NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines). We aren't that bad on NCL.

Another thing, my husband did the classic no-no and forgot his C-card. The NCL dive staff went out of their way to help him. They actually got PADI to fax or email a copy of his cert number, and info to them on the ship, gave us a copy, and we used it when we went on our dives. Worked just fine, and we really appreciated the guy who made it his mission to be sure that my husband got to dive on our trip.

 

[FredT]

I just got back from a week over the Cay Sal Bank diving off The gulfstream Eagle. Normal days were 5 or 6 awesome dives a day. Love boat cruising is for partying, a good live aboard is for DIVING!

http://www.gulfstreameagle.com/

 

[JRO]

I just got back from a week over the Cay Sal Bank diving off The gulfstream Eagle. Normal days were 5 or 6 awesome dives a day. Love boat cruising is for partying, a good live aboard is for DIVING!

http://www.gulfstreameagle.com/

I just came back from covering the same ground aboard the Nekton Rorqual and I couldn't agree with you more!!!

http://www.nektoncruises.com

It doesn't get any better!!!

 

[FredT]

IF you were hooking up at the pool site just down from Elbow Cay after lunch on July8th I got a good look at your propulsion. Jeanne and I were swimming back to the Eagle from the airplane wreck when one of the Nekton boats passed by over us. Water was deep enough we just stayed down and headed on.

FT

 

[MB]

Jo and I were living the high life on the Rorqual the week after. We went out on the 10th (or was it the 12th???). We were at Cat Key when the Eagle cranked in for a couple of hours.

Neat water huh? We also visited the plane - never did find a good airline meal or the black box there...

Hope your trip was as cool as ours.

MB

 

[Aquatic Eagle]

Another thing, my husband did the classic no-no and forgot his C-card. The NCL dive staff went out of their way to help him. They actually got PADI to fax or email a copy of his cert number, and info to them on the ship, gave us a copy, and we used it when we went on our dives. Worked just fine, and we really appreciated the guy who made it his mission to be sure that my husband got to dive on our trip.

This is one reason it's good to be PADI. PADI has a way of verifying certs online. NAUI doesn't and many agencies don't. So, if you aren't PADI and you're diving on a cruise, don't leave your card at home!