KJ1231 Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 My son and I were supposed to do a "Discover Scuba" excursion in Grand Cayman and missed it when our ship canceled that stop due to our late start from Tampa due to fog. I am taking the whole family to Bermuda on Anthem and July. For Christmas my daughter got my son-in-law and I the "discover scuba" excursion. I also saw that they are offering the PADI certification course. I am wondering how much time is required over the course of the cruise to complete it. I'm thinking there is at least a little "classroom" time and pool dives on the sea day headed to Bermuda and then dives in Bermuda. Are the dives done in one day or over both days? The reason I ask is there is a local dive shop that has the PADI Discover Scuba classes for $89. I was thinking about doing that to see if I like it and then possibly doing the PADI certification on Anthem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiny260 Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 1 minute ago, KJ1231 said: My son and I were supposed to do a "Discover Scuba" excursion in Grand Cayman and missed it when our ship canceled that stop due to our late start from Tampa due to fog. I am taking the whole family to Bermuda on Anthem and July. For Christmas my daughter got my son-in-law and I the "discover scuba" excursion. I also saw that they are offering the PADI certification course. I am wondering how much time is required over the course of the cruise to complete it. I'm thinking there is at least a little "classroom" time and pool dives on the sea day headed to Bermuda and then dives in Bermuda. Are the dives done in one day or over both days? The reason I ask is there is a local dive shop that has the PADI Discover Scuba classes for $89. I was thinking about doing that to see if I like it and then possibly doing the PADI certification on Anthem. If you have never been on a dive I would definitely go local first, I don't remember the time frame, but the full PADI certification on board it was $600-650, most on ship with at least one off ship if not more (bad memory). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 Just now, KJ1231 said: The reason I ask is there is a local dive shop that has the PADI Discover Scuba classes for $89 I agree with Tiny. Go local for the Discover Scuba, way less expensive. I quit doing any scuba diving excursions with Royal a few years ago, they just got too darn expensive for what you got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ1231 Posted January 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 1 minute ago, tiny260 said: If you have never been on a dive I would definitely go local first, I don't remember the time frame, but the full PADI certification on board it was $600-650, most on ship with at least one off ship if not more (bad memory). $539 on Anthem in July (10% off the usual $599)... $159 for Discover Scuba. Thinking the extra $380 might be worth it. With the $89 for local discover scuba it's $628. Just now, rjac said: I agree with Tiny. Go local for the Discover Scuba, way less expensive. I quit doing any scuba diving excursions with Royal a few years ago, they just got too darn expensive for what you got. Do you still do scuba excursions? Just not RC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 6 minutes ago, KJ1231 said: Do you still do scuba excursions? Just not RC? Yes, I will research the islands on line and Scuba.com and find the better dive islands in our itinerary. Then contact a local dive shop and see what they can do for me. Haven't had any problems doing it that way. We were in Bonaire in 2017 and I went with a local dive shop. The dive trip consisted of myself, two other divers (locals) and the dive master/guide. Loaded our gear into his truck and off we went for a 15 minute ride to the first sight, put on our gear and walked into the water. Second dive was a repeat of the process closer to town. The dive master picked me up at the ship and returned me with plenty of time before departure. Royal had a two tank scuba excursion that same day and from talking with some of the divers that evening at the Schooner Bar it was a disaster. 20 divers (half of which were novice divers) had to walk to the dive shop, put on their gear (which was a problem for some of the novices) and then perform buoyancy checks off of the pier (again more problems).They loaded onto the dive shop boat and headed out. Quite a few of the divers became sea sick which caused the diver to slow down to almost a crawl. Once everyone (that was not sick) got in the water, most of the novices were low on air within 15 minutes and had to resurface. The dive master with the remained of the divers made them resurface after 30 minutes because he wasn't sure how much air the divers had. Once everyone was back on the boat and accounted for the second dive was cancelled because of time. The time spent on gear problems, buoyancy check problems, sea sickness, low air, etc. was the reason. Needless to say the experienced divers I spoke with were mad as hell! Never found out if they got refunds or not. bobroo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted January 26, 2019 Report Share Posted January 26, 2019 I’ve done several dives through Royal and not experienced the drama @rjac references. Bonaire this past December included two boat dives. The boat was a little crowded but we went out to Klein Bonaire which was awesome. Shore dives can be okay but I prefer boat dives. Long time diver from my teens who went through the whole process again a few years ago with my step daughter. We did it locally in Denver which sucked immensely. The classroom part now is done on a tablet or computer at home, not with an instructor in a classroom like it was 40 years ago. Even doing it locally we had no classroom time. That limits impact to your vacation. The two pool dives we did in a rec pool in Denver would be done on sea days through Royal, typically early before pools open. I’ve seen them take place a number of times. The two open water dives occur in a port compared to our misery in a Denver reservoir. I was sailing Carnival back them but had I known I could spend virtually the same money and do it on a Royal ship I would have ten times over. Carnival doesn’t offer certifications or five star dive shops on board. I did take my step daughter to a local Denver dive shop and for $25 did a discover scuba session in a pool just to make sure she would be okay underwater breathing from a tank before committing to the full certification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mworkman Posted January 29, 2019 Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 I did the PADI certification first, then the Army had a different program that i had to do, here is just a short preview..it doesn't show you all the details or the 2 week pre-scuba course that you have to attend and pass prior to going to Key West. If you like, i can give a two day version that won't certify anyone, however afterwards will save you cash in the long run. I have learned (from past experience) how to torcher someone in the water, too make them never want to get back in, unless you truly like water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQBq8fmbukY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ1231 Posted February 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 Just to follow up with our plans.... My son-in-law did a "discover" dive a few years ago and definitely wants to get certified. A local PADI dive shop (~12 miles from me, Philadelphia area) I was looking into sent me an email with Valentine's Day offers that included BOGO on a discover class ($89 for 2!). and $100 off a second person going for the certification. So my daughter and I are doing the "discover" on 2/16 and I fully expect to register for the certification that day and get $100 off to split with my son-in-law. If my daughter wants to continue I'll pay for her, too! We'll do certification dives before we go and hope t odo a 2-tank dive in Bermuda in July. @rjac any interest in joining us? $169 with Fantasea that is located right at the Navy Dockyard? bobroo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted February 6, 2019 Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 40 minutes ago, KJ1231 said: Just to follow up with our plans.... My son-in-law did a "discover" dive a few years ago and definitely wants to get certified. A local PADI dive shop (~12 miles from me, Philadelphia area) I was looking into sent me an email with Valentine's Day offers that included BOGO on a discover class ($89 for 2!). and $100 off a second person going for the certification. So my daughter and I are doing the "discover" on 2/16 and I fully expect to register for the certification that day and get $100 off to split with my son-in-law. If my daughter wants to continue I'll pay for her, too! We'll do certification dives before we go and hope t odo a 2-tank dive in Bermuda in July. @rjac any interest in joining us? $169 with Fantasea that is located right at the Navy Dockyard? Thanks KJ, going to take a pass on scuba diving this trip. My wife and I have plans to see the island on day 1 and hit the beach on day 2. Enjoy the dives! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobroo Posted February 7, 2019 Report Share Posted February 7, 2019 22 hours ago, KJ1231 said: Just to follow up with our plans.... My son-in-law did a "discover" dive a few years ago and definitely wants to get certified. A local PADI dive shop (~12 miles from me, Philadelphia area) I was looking into sent me an email with Valentine's Day offers that included BOGO on a discover class ($89 for 2!). and $100 off a second person going for the certification. So my daughter and I are doing the "discover" on 2/16 and I fully expect to register for the certification that day and get $100 off to split with my son-in-law. If my daughter wants to continue I'll pay for her, too! We'll do certification dives before we go and hope t odo a 2-tank dive in Bermuda in July. @rjac any interest in joining us? $169 with Fantasea that is located right at the Navy Dockyard? Boy, there's lot's to like in this post! I like that you are planning ahead--well in advance. I like that you are combining cruising and scuba because I think they go really well together. But best of all, and we'll see how this all pans out; I like that you are creating a unique family activity that all of you can share cruise after cruise. Even if the ol' man is footing the bill for all of this, little do they know he is the one getting the most out of it. <insert big thumbs up emoji> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted February 7, 2019 Report Share Posted February 7, 2019 51 minutes ago, bobroo said: I like that you are creating a unique family activity that all of you can share cruise after cruise Definitely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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