which cruise stops are worthy of a dive?

[Jared Justus]

I will be on a cruise from March 31 thru April 6 with the following stops:

1. Basseterre, St. Kitts
2. St. John's, Antigua
3. Castries, St. Lucia
4. Bridgetown, Barbados
5. Philipsburg, St. Maarten

if you were to pick 2-3 stops to scuba at, which would you pick and why? any suggested dive companies to go with? any must see dives?

Thanks!

Jared

 

[jonhall]

Have been to two of the locations. Would like to go to the others!

St. Johns, Antigua - As I recall, most dive ops are about a ½ hour drive from cruise ship piers. Sites are so-so, plenty of reef sharks and common fish found around coral. Did see and get very close to a very large turtle (about 3' wide and 1 ½' high) resting under a coral ledge. Dove with Indigo Divers who picked up at the boardwalk in Jolly Harbor (some great restaurants there also.) I was staying a couple of minutes walk away (very convenient for me), but each day I dove, there were divers from cruise ships. Very good op. Scuba Diving in Antigua

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten - You could walk from cruise ships to dive ops, 10-15 minutes. Car ride takes only a couple of minutes. Like the dive sites in this area which is Great Bay. Lots of reef sharks to see. Dove with Scuba Fun, but I've read that they are still not operating due to their boats being destroyed in the hurricane. Octopus Diving also had a location in Great Bay, but you would have to contact them to see if they are operating. In the next bay over, Little Bay, is the Divi Resort, about a 10 minute drive. They have/had a little hut on the beach that some dive op picked up from. You would have to find out who the dive op is and if that is still happening. About a 25 minute drive away are some ops in Simpson Bay. Sites there include some pretty cool small wrecks, one being a swim-through. Dove with Ocean Explorers when we stayed in a resort next door to their shop. Pretty good op also. Ocean Explorers Dive Center - Scuba Diving in St Maarten / St Martin Best Dives

That's all I can provide. Sure you'll get some help from others.

 

[Thomas Ciampi]

I am currently in St. Maarten, and the diving is okay. If the seas are rough, you better have your sea legs, cause it can get bad real quick. I dove with both Ocean Explorers and Aqua Mania, I highly recommend Ocean Explorers or Dive Adventures. These two shops focus solely on diving and aren't distracted by running other water activities. Aqua Mania jacked me around and canceled a trip that I booked online the day before I was planning on diving. Ocean Explorers and Dive Adventures are both family-run shops. Dive Adventures is run by a Dutch family and Ocean Explores has it dives lead by a husband and his wife runs the planning of dives. Overall the diving is okay and there is plenty to see, just hopefully the seas aren't rough.


I also dove St. Kitts a few years ago and it was overall a great experience. Kenneth Dive Shop was an amazing shop to dive with. His dive masters were experienced and really worked to make sure all of their divers were safe and enjoyed their lives. I was on the island for a week, by the end of the week they gave me a spear and let me help rid the reefs of lionfish. I loved my time on the island and wouldn't pass up the opportunity to go back.

Overall I would recommend St. Kitts over St. Maarten. St. Kitts is less touristy and the people are nicer on the island.

 

[tkaelin]

I would turn it around, for an experienced diver looking to dive what cruise if any would be worthy of our time and money.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

I would turn it around, for an experienced diver looking to dive what cruise if any would be worthy of our time and money.

Cruise dive experiences are notorious for being crowded, sometimes rushed, and tailored for a fairly low skill level. If you don't mind that, cruise diving could be a good way to get in a dive or two in multiple places.

If you want a higher-level dive experience, try a liveaboard vacation - they offer better diving and might even be competitive with the price of a cruise.

 

[tkaelin]

Mine was a rhetorical question with the answer being none.

 

[2airishuman]

if you were to pick 2-3 stops to scuba at, which would you pick and why? any suggested dive companies to go with? any must see dives?

I have been to most of those locations on cruise itineraries but have not dived them. None of them are known for "must see dives" -- for that, choose an itinerary with Cozumel, Key West, or Grand Cayman.

Cruise ships are a great way of traveling with friends who may not share the same interests -- you can dive while they take the horseback trip, the shopping excursion, the rum tasting, or the Jeep Adventure (tm).

I've been on several dives while on a cruise trip, and I arranged everything myself with a local operator in advance rather than using either the cruise ship's shore excursion desk or an independent booking agent (like shoreexcursioneer.com). I ended up on some fantastic dives, but it was a lot of work to set up, and a lot of carrying my gear around. There are some destinations where it really is best to use the cruise ship's operator because of coordination factors and because the cruise ships do use high quality operators in some ports -- Belize used to be an example but that may have changed.

You're new at this and are at the point where any ocean dive is a good dive. You can have fun with the right mind set. The shore excursion operators as a group are going to be a little disorganized, there are going to be lots of people on the boat, most of the other divers will be inexperienced, and the sites will be easy, fun, but probably not world class. If you bring your own gear you'll be carrying it a long way.

Nearly all divers agree that cruise ships are not the best way to enjoy a dive. Whether diving is the best way to enjoy a cruise ship, on the other hand, is a question that everyone has to answer for themselves.

 

[AndyJH42]

Perhaps not Basseterre. If you are there for just the one day then there probably will be a shore excursion to Brimstone Hill. It gets crowded but well worth it.

Not Bridgetown. My experience was sand, poor viz and yet more sand.