Hi and Cruise Ship diving excursions

[diverDestiny]

I am diving Bermuda soon. I will book my diving directly with the scuba shop. Some of the cruise ships don't offer scuba diving. Others only offer the "intro to diving" so you would have to go with all the beginners. I like to dive different islands so I do my research before I go. If the cruise ship doesn't offer diving, I try to book it directly. The disadvantage of not booking with the cruise line is worrying about making it to the dive shop on time and making it back to the cruise ship on time. Even when I can and do book with the cruiseline, it is still a pain in the a** lugging all the dive gear around. My dive buddy and I were exhausted by the time we made it back to our cabin. Now in Bermuda, I will be lugging all my dive gear on the public bus with all the locals.

[BuzzF117]

Just did the cruise ship dive thing and used Princess for two of the ports for diving and booked third myself. I didn't find lugging my gear around anymore difficult then if I was diving at home. Actually it may have been easier since I didn't have to lug tanks and weights they were on the dive boats when I arrived. I think if your experienced about a destination then you should look into booking your own dives but make sure that if the ship does not dock you will not get stuck with the bill on the dives. As far as the ship leaving without you all our dives were in morning and we were back on board ship by 1pm and I was eating lunch at the buffet by 2pm and all aboard was almost always 4:30pm or later so you have ample time to return to ship or contact somebody about your dilemma and let them help. My one complaint was some of the dive ops don't have good gear rinsing setup and your stuck rinsing gear on the ship which can be a pain. Aside from being on a live aboard I really liked the idea of being in a diff location everyday and my wife could shop while I went diving.

[malley1717]

I dove 3 out of 5 islands on the last cruise i went on with my family. I am only 16, and nobody else in my family dives. For this reason i tried to go with the boat ppl to make sure i wasnt left behind. This worked well for 2 of the islands (Barbados and St. Thomas). The dives were great, and i made it back to the ship. However, for the diving in St. Lucia, they requried you to be 18 (idk y). I just went to the internet cafe, and arranged for an op to pick me up at the dock. The diving was pretty good and i still made it back to the ship. I think my mom was a wreck the whole day though.....