SCUBA diving from Cruse ship

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Charles Bailey - 19 Mar 2004 01:03 GMT

SCUBA diving from Cruse ship

We are thinking about taking our first cruse. I noticed that Carnival Cruse
lines shows 2 tank dives on there Eastern Caribbean trip. The other cruse
lines show one tank of diving with the classes on board, e.g. nothing for
certified divers. Has any done this trip?

Thanks Chuck and Trish

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Joe English - 19 Mar 2004 01:16 GMT

Charles Bailey wrote:

> SCUBA diving from Cruse ship
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Thanks Chuck and Trish

I think most the cruise ships will haelp you book dives for certified
divers. WHile I have only cruise with Royal Caribbean - I'm sure there
not the only ones

Book thru the ship - local time and ship time can leave you high and dry!

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Reef Fish - 19 Mar 2004 17:44 GMT

> Book thru the ship -

Negative. Bad advice.

> local time and ship time can leave you high and dry!

Possible, but highly improbable to nearly impossible.

Read the same thread in rec.scuba.locations for details and reasons.

-- Bob.

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Joe English - 19 Mar 2004 19:38 GMT

>>Book thru the ship -
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> -- Bob

Wrong - ship time and local time can be different and if you choose to
dive in the afternoon you may miss your departure time of the cruise ship.

I booked thru the ship in GC - I will admit it is bad advice - however
the cost difference was negligible. I booked my own in Coz - in the
afternoon. The difference in time would have had me missed the boat had
I not realized it. I was able to rebook on the fly for a morning dive
with the dive shop.

While I admit that booking it thru the ship can be bad - the less
headache may compensate that. The real thing to do is not dive at all
while on the Cruise and just go on a dive vacation
.

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Baretta - 19 Mar 2004 16:07 GMT

I've done it once years ago in Barbados, and it wasn't the most enjoyable
experience.
Our cruise had the beginners package but they also offered the dive trips as
an excursion tour for extra bucks - 2 tank dive was about $250US - probably
2-3 times what a self booked dive would have cost in 1998.

The dive trip was very rushed - off the ship at 7:30 am. 1/2 hour bus trip
to the dive center. Another hour and half getting fitted and logged in while
you wait for another busload of divers from other cruise ships to join you.
An hour on the "cattle boat", we had about 24 divers and 4 DMs. Get in - hit
your dive limit - get out. Repeat for the next dive and reverse the
procedure to rush back to your criuse ship in time for dinner.

Overall, the experience sucked - just stressful. Speaking with others on the
dive trip - this was normal!After that, I came to the conclusion that I
wasn't a "Cruiser" and prefer to take vacations based on my schedule and
activities. Now I'm much more relaxed after my dives.

> SCUBA diving from Cruse ship
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Thanks Chuck and Trish

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Reef Fish - 19 Mar 2004 21:36 GMT

> I've done it once years ago in Barbados, and it wasn't the most enjoyable
> experience.

Me 2.

> Our cruise had the beginners package but they also offered the dive trips as
> an excursion tour for extra bucks - 2 tank dive was about $250US - probably
> 2-3 times what a self booked dive would have cost in 1998.

That's got to be the world record 2-tank price. Expensive yes.
Upper two figures, I recall.

> Overall, the experience sucked - just stressful. Speaking with others on the
> dive trip - this was normal!After that, I came to the conclusion that I
> wasn't a "Cruiser" and prefer to take vacations based on my schedule and
> activities. Now I'm much more relaxed after my dives.

Don't let that one rotten experience permanently jilt your view about
diving on cruises. I am a veteran of about 50 liveaboard trips,
mostly on the Aggressor and PhD Fleets. So, I am a fairly
demanding diver about dive quality. Yet I am able to find some
very enjoyable mixing of cruise and LIGHT diving.

I cross-posted a VERY LONG (by my standard) article in
rec.scuba.locations and rec.travel.cruises with the accent on
"cruising and diving".

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=diving+French+Polynesia+author:reef+author:fis
h&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=8fb7380b.0310311225.7fd5beae%40posting.google
.com&rnum=1

My post was picked up by some one on a cruise-review board
and had my permission to include a shortened (but still VERY
LONG) version of it in seacruisereview.com:

http://seacruisereviews.com/bycruisedetail.asp?cruiseline=Princess&cruiseship=Ta
hitian

You should find http://seacruisereviews.com

a very useful resource for reviews by cruiseline/cruiseship/ etc.

My review turned out to be the ONLY review of the Tahiti Princess
in French Polynesia. You may like to try some of those islands
and shops on a Tahitian cruise.

-- Bob.

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