Cruise ship dives/budy question?

[John Yaskowich]

Over on the Cruise Critics boards Cruise Critic Message Boards you can find Scuba and Snorkling forums and threads specific to your cruiseline, ship and trip. Post a message there to see if you can find other divers on your trip.
I booked a few dives through Shore Trips Welcome to ShoreTrips® - Your Guide to Shore Excursions and was very pleased with the results. A lot of people will wave the "missing the ship" flag at you to get you to book through the ship (at a higher price) but have a look at the in-port timetable before going that route. eg: If the ship is in port for 12 hours, leaving at 6pm and you book a morning dive, you would have to be diving with Gilligan, the Skipper, and the rest of the crew of the Minnow to miss the ship.

[ontheheap]

Interesting thread. I wondered about doing a 3 person dive like this. I had always assumed it needed to be pairs of two. Well.. you know what they say about assuming!

[navyhmc]

Anyone planning to be on the Celebrity Cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on January 24th, 2009? I'm planning a dive at St Maarten....

[dkh6070]

I dive with 3 all the time. You just need to make sure everyone has a clear plan BEFORE the dive. It can be done many ways as someone pointed out the 3 finger OK signal. We make one person accountable for another basically in a circle. Diver #1 is responsible for Diver #2, Diver #2 is responsible for Diver #3 and Diver #3 is responsible for Diver #1. Obviously if any complications, use the nearest diver for help. If I am diver #1, I ask Diver #2 for air checks etc. We always consider Diver #1 the leader and typically the most experienced. I dive 3 with myself the wife and third being my daughter. Daughter is actually a very good diver in the case of peak buoyancy control but only 13 so we usually both check on her during the dive. She always looks like she is having way more fun than anyone else. I think she likes playing with her exhaust bubbles more than anything else. Makes navigation easy. Sit in one spot and play with bubbles then pop back up!

[CalBearister99]

Originally Posted by navyhmc

Anyone planning to be on the Celebrity Cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on January 24th, 2009? I'm planning a dive at St Maarten....

Wasn't planning on it, but if you can let me use the time machine after you're done...

Sorry, couldn't resist

[db83]

Originally Posted by dkh6070

I think she likes playing with her exhaust bubbles more than anything else.

Everyone loves exhaust bubbles.

BUBBLES! BUBBLES!!! BUBBLES!!!!

[scubadiver888]

Originally Posted by CalBearister99

Wasn't planning on it, but if you can let me use the time machine after you're done...

Sorry, couldn't resist

Doh. I totally missed that. Too much work, not enough Scuba Toys.

[scubadiver888]

Originally Posted by navyhmc

Anyone planning to be on the Celebrity Cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on January 24th, 2009? I'm planning a dive at St Maarten....

Cannot get the time off, sorry. Too many at sea days as well.

If you get a chance you should try to get a dive in at St. Kitts. I think there are three dive ops there. Kenneth's is probably the best. I've heard good things about Dive St. Kitts as well. The third shop isn't worth mentioning (I don't even remember it).

[rednose83]

Originally Posted by John Yaskowich

Over on the Cruise Critics boards Cruise Critic Message Boards you can find Scuba and Snorkling forums and threads specific to your cruiseline, ship and trip. Post a message there to see if you can find other divers on your trip.
I booked a few dives through Shore Trips Welcome to ShoreTrips® - Your Guide to Shore Excursions and was very pleased with the results. A lot of people will wave the "missing the ship" flag at you to get you to book through the ship (at a higher price) but have a look at the in-port timetable before going that route. eg: If the ship is in port for 12 hours, leaving at 6pm and you book a morning dive, you would have to be diving with Gilligan, the Skipper, and the rest of the crew of the Minnow to miss the ship.

I love Cruise Critic. That's how I found a private op for our Jan cruise.

We tend to go 1/2 and 1/2 with tours. We'll book some through the ship and some privately. It depends on the length of the excursion and the length of our port stay for us. We find it to be about 50% less expensive when going private.

[rednose83]

Originally Posted by navyhmc

Anyone planning to be on the Celebrity Cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on January 24th, 2009? I'm planning a dive at St Maarten....

You already missed the boat!

Seriously, I keep meaning to try Celebrity because I love their restricted smoking policy but have never gotten around to it.