Diving while on a cruise

[Diveaholic]

Going on a cruise next spring to Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios Jamaica and want some input from anyone who has dove while on a cruise. What do you think about the scuba cruise excursion compared to researching and going out on your own. Bring all or some of your own equipment or just rent from the dive operation? If anyone has ever dove in Grand Cayman while on a cruise and could recommend a good dive shop that would be great. Thanks

[SlvrDragon50]

If you are on a cruise... why would you not bring your equipment? They dont charge for a heavy bag or more bags AFAIK.

[Diveaholic]

just the hassle of having to deal with a travel bag full of gear after the dive. I could use rental gear from shop and after the dive explore the island without having to go back to the ship to dump my gear.

[imfreeagle]

Did that cruise this last Feb and dove in Grand Cayman. From what I've been told don't wast the money or time in Jamica, too over fished & reefs aren't that great around were the ships come in. We charted a boat in Cayman and Cozumel by far better than going with the ship. You will find better prices going on your own. Bring your own gear if you can, then you know what your getting. I've heard good things about DiversDown in Grand Cayman. If you are going to stop in Cozumel it is a must to dive. Going back in two months for a week at Scuba Club Cozumel. This will be my third time to Cozumel.

[rawalker]

I did a cruise last year and dove off Aruba.
First dive the BCD inflator hose came off the inflator at 42'.
I surfaced safely and luckily near a boat to grab onto so I didn't have to ditch any gear. I was buddied with the divemaster who didn't realize I was missing until he found me back on the boat.
I bought my own gear when I got home from that trip and advise anyone that dives to purchase their own. It's a safety issue.

[snagel]

My buddies did the cruise thing a couple years ago in the bahama's. What they told me...

Booking the diving through the cruise ship was quite a bit more expensive, compared to making the arrangements with a local shop. But, the upside was that since they made the arrangements through the cruise ship there wasn't a chance to miss the boat when it sailed. If they used somebody else and got stuck when the ship sailed they would SOL.

They had a great time and the diving was awesome. They used gear provided by the cruise ship.

Snagel

[KennyD]

Take your own gear! I can't say enough good things about Cozumel Diving: Blue XT SEA Diving, Cozumel Mexico I've dove with them several time while in Cozumel and have had many friends dive with them. Everybody has came back to me and said what a great operation they run. They handle all your gear and will pick you up and drop you off at your pier. Always on time!

[Zenagirl]

We did some diving on a cruise once....decided that for us diving and cruising don't mesh well, so switched from large cruise ships to liveaboard dive boats.

We did take all of our gear with us, and it was a bit of a hassle getting off and on the ship, as well as cleaning and drying after use. We had a balcony cabin, which helped considerably with drying and storing gear. We also booked our own excursions instead of going through the ship since they will often combine the snorkeling and diving excursion into one, resulting in quite the cattle boat experience.

[gander]

My wife and I dove off of Grand Caymen while on a cruise. We took our own gear. The gear was a pain in the butt at Georgetown, Grand Caymen. The cruise ship stays in deep water and you have to drag your gear through the ship, and then down to a tender (small ferry boat). We then had to walk about a half mile dragging our gear to get to the van that took us to the dive shop. We used Dan Foster's and we booked through the ship. We looked at booking our own trip, but we were concerned about not getting back to the cruise ship on time. The wind was up when we were there, so they changed dive boats on us, but we did get to dive Eagle's Nest (reef) and the Oro Verde' (shipwreck).

Our cruise ship also stopped in Calica, Mexico (outside of Playa Del Carmen). We dove the Cenote's there and it was definitely worth all the trouble.

[lemon lime]

Not experienced this myself, but I did read that you can be left behind even if you booked through the cruise liner (Carnival, at least). The group I read about went through all sorts of delays, managed to do just one dive, which had to be cut short to catch the ship. They barely made it back, running frantically. This was in Turks and Caicos, IIRC.