Cruise ship dive gear packing

[ScubaNurse]

Good evening,
My daughter and I are going on a long weekend cruise in Feb to the Bahamas. We will be bringing our own dive gear and I was looking for advice, helpful hints, etc... on how to pack the gear, get through the airport (with as few delays as possible) and to get what I need packed effectively.
We have roilling dive gear bag that will accomodate both set of gear and will carry on dive computers, guages and regulators.
Any advice will be well received and appreciated.
We fly from Dallas to Miami for the cruise.
Thanks.

[comet24]

When I went on a cruise we packed our gear in a large rolling bag and carried on our regs and computers.

Only problem I see is flying into Miami. I avoid that airport as much as I can. Ft. Lauderdale is much better.

[OcnsekrMJ]

Same here - we went on a week long cruise and had to fly into Ft. Lauderdale. We just packed up our gear in a rolling bag. Carried on our dive computers. The airlines will not insure any electronic equipment for theft - including dive computers. I know this from a bad experience when my digital camera and gps were stolen out of my bags at the airport.

[BuzzGA]

The couple of times we've flown with our gear we always carry on our regs and computers along a bathing suit or 2. I usually put the regs in a big plastic bag like a dry cleaning bag and pull them out and send them through the x-ray on their own. The first stages show up as solids and that makes TSA nervous but in the plastic bags they can see what it is as soon as it comes out of the machine and then I don't have to unpack everything...just lay the bags back in my luggage, zip it up and go

[ScubaNurse]

Folks, keep the helpful hints coming. This will be our first away trip as we have always driven to our dive distinations.

I will be hand carrying our regs and computers, but will pack everything else. Is there any other equipment that I should hand carry (that TSA will allow me to carry) on?

We are "packing light", but my daughter is 16 y/o, so that is a laugh. We are not even takling formal cloths for the cruise as we will dive 2 days out of the 3 and will just eat "casual" each evening.

We are excited and ready. This will be a warm up dive for a week on the Mexican Rivera next June. We will dive 3 out of the 7 days on that cruise.

Thanks again,
Ray

[ScubaNurse]

BuzzGa,
Thaks for that hint of putting reg is plastic bag as I have already read that the regs put TSA over the edge during x-ray.

I will treat like computer and handle them that way.

Thanks,
Ray

[georoc01]

I carry my mask on as well. My feeling is that I could rent the rest of the gear if for some reason, the rest missed the boat.

[unclepooty]

Hey ScubaNurse, good to hear from you again. Thought you'd left us. I agree with others. Carry what you feel you can't live without or don't trust to the bag handlers. Have a great trip.

[dallasdivergirl]

I carry on my regs & computer, mask, & bc.

I also will have two changes of clothes, usually shorts, t shirt, some flip flops (tevas, keens) and two swimsuits.

I put everything else in a rolling suit case or dive bag. My newest investment has been packing cubes (I got a s/m/l pack from ebags) and all of my clothes will fit in there. That did help a lot for organization. Pretty much any thing that will go in my bag is in something so things don't get too jumbled. Also carry some trash bags for wet gear on the way home if you are mixing gear with clothes & others stuff.

[mike_s]

Scuba Nurse.... here's my advice.


Roller Bag for Gear: Get one that doesn't have a lot of Dive Logo's or Dive Flags on it. Those flags and logo's just say "there is dive gear in this bag for airline employees to steal". Get one that is heavy duty. The cheap wal-mart ones will work for a while but after they got wet several times and had several trips on them, the threads/fabric just couldn't hold the wear/tear. My cheap walmart one ripped open on a baggage carousel in Atlanta once. Luckily it was on our return trip, but I would have been screwed if flying out. So now I have a better made roller bag.

I also like the ones with one big pocket instead of lots of exterior pockets, but this is just personal preference. It's easier to lock one pocket instead of six pockets. Also those anything in those external pockets can get crushed.

Use a TSA log and a cable tie on the zipper. The cable tie being broken will tell you if anyone opened the bag.

Take some gear hangers to dry your gear on. Wet gear weighs more and the airlines have a 50 pound limit on bags..... with gas going up daily, you can bet they will charge you for extra.

Other gear tips:
remove batteries from flashlights or put a piece of cardboard in between the batteries and bulb holder. this keeps the light from coming on in travel. Some of the bigger lights can get really hot out of water and in your bag.

Dive knifes of course need to go in checked luggage also.

Carry On Scuba Gear:
I put my regulator, my dive computer, my camera gear, my laptop all in carry on in one of those roller bags that will fit in the overhead. XRAY machines will not hurt any of this. I've never had TSA give me a problem about the regulator in the bag though one time they just looked at it. The XRAY machine won't hurt your computer, but those hand scanners will. Keep the TSA folks with hand scanners away from your stuff.

As for putting regulators in a ziplock bag... that's not a bad idea if you have to pull them out.

Other Carry on: (Cruise luggage)
Since you're going on a cruise, when you get there, you will check our luggage at the curb at the cruise dock. They will give you tags to put on your luggage which indicate which room they go to on the cruise boat. You then go inside to check in... This will be the last time you see your bags until later that afternoon or maybe as late as 6pm or so. So take anything you will need from the time you get on the ship until 6pm in your carry on bag. This includes camera, swim suit, sun tank lotion, pool bag, etc.

Other "tips":
Have "tip money" for the porters. Hauling suitcases, carry ons and dive bags is a lot. Let the porters do it for you. You tip traditionally $1 to $2 bucks a bag. You will find in Miami that everyone wants to handle your bag (for a tip). This includes the porters at the airport, the shuttle bus drivers, and at the cruise port. At the cruise port you have no choice but to use the porters as they are the ones who check in your bags. Tipping them helps ensure they don't forget to load your bags.

So have $10 to $20 bucks in $1 bills. No one ever seems to have change for a $20. :rofl3:

When you get on the cruiseboat, any drink, etc you buy the tip will be added to the ship charge ticket. You won't need cash there. But when you get off the ship, the same porters will be waiting again to help you with your bags. It's just part of the service industry down there.

You'll also have to tip your room steward, your head waiter, your bus boy and your waiter on the ship. The cruise book will give you a guideline for that. (you can always charge that to your ship card also and it's easier).


other items:
I always take a few cheap wire coat hangers to hang stuff on in the closet. I hate those coat hangers they have on cruise ships that you have to fit back in the slotted ring on the rod. You know, the ones they do that way to keep you from stealing them? Anyway, the wire ones are much eaier and take up no room on checked luggage. Just leave them there when you leave the ship.

Cruise cabins never seem to have clocks in them. if you need an alarm clock to wake up early, then take a small travel clock. FYI in case you have an early scheduled activity. Typically I just use the room service as a wake up call. I have coffee ordered to the room and delivered every morning at a set time period. (There is a form you fill out at night and hang on your door handle)...... this is free, but since there is no charge there is no way to charge your ship card for the tips either... so have $1's for this also.

If you drink a lot of cokes (sodas), then consider the "coke sticker". You pay about $4 to $5 bucks per day up front for this and they put a coke sticker on your cruise card. Then if you want a coke, you don't pay the $3 each for them each time, but just walk up to any bar and ask for a coke and them visually show your card with the sticker. It just makes life much easier and you don't have to wait to for them to charge your card and sign for it each time. just easier. The coke card is also good for juices on most cruise lines. You can get similar cards for alcohol and beer, but you'd have to drink a lot to break even. The only drinks free on the boat are tap water, tea and coffee (at meals). I think they charge extra for the coffee at the coffee shops.

Hope that helps some.

ask if you've got any questions.