[WV Diver]

Originally Posted by Zenagirl

We took a Celebrity cruise a few years ago and dived at 3 of the stops. One thing we found that was for us cruising and diving doesn't match well. Our balcony was covered in wet dive gear and we thought it was a pain in the neck to drag our gear on and off at the ports.

If you have any specific questions, please ask, I might have an answer.

The next year we did a liveaboard trip in Belize and fell in love with that type of "cruising". We spent 2 weeks on a liveaboard last summer in the Bahamas and couldn't have asked for a better trip.

Originally Posted by johnyringo

I've done the dive thing on a cruise, It is a pain in the...it's really hectic dragging your gear around, matching the ships schedule with the dive op. and etc. I doubt I'd do a cruise again for diving, mainly because the cruise ship scene, personally, isn't my thing. Hey, I don't like Vegas either and find the two very similar. That being said there are dive ops that cater to cruise ships, though they are pricey. What I did was call the dive ops in the 3 ports we were stopping in and set my dives up myself, at quite a savings over what the ship charges. We went to Roatan, Grand Cayman and Belize. If you happen to be doing that cruise you can PM me and I'd be happy to share any info. I have that may be helpful.

I just got back from a cruise where I did a snorkeling trip with the wife. I have to echo similar concerns as Zena and Johny.

Just the snorkeling gear was hard to travel with, especially if you had time to look in the shops and had to shuttle to and from the boat as we did. I'm glad I wasn't dragging all the dive gear around.

We were in Coz and Grand Cayman and the time you spend in a port (6-8hours) could make a two tank dive charter tough scheduling. There are excursions that can be booked with the cruise line. But I have never used them.

I get the Vegas feeling concept also. We didn't dive because we were spending our time with our moms. But I'm not sure that cruising and diving really mix well. I think we have decided to stick with dive vacations for a while and save the cruising for our retirement.