SCUBA excursions

[Wheeler825]

What scuba excursions at what ports have you done? Have they generally been worth it, or have you found other better means to book certified dive excursions while on a cruise?

[WAAAYTOOO]

We dove YEARS ago in St Maarten and it was among the worst dives I’ve ever done.  No visibility at all.  Maybe it was the time of year.  Conversely, dove in Grand Cayman and thoroughly enjoyed it.   We’re too old now and they won’t let us dive anymore

[sleepy425]

My husband dove at CocoCay once, each time he has tried since the excursion has been canceled.  He got a bit sea sick during that dive, but I'm sure the big breakfast he had prior didn't help! He is scheduled to do it again in 3 weeks, hopefully it actually happens. (If you ever are near Disney and haven't done it yet, he raves about the dive at Epcot.  It's called Dive Quest, and he has done it about 10 times now)

[Wheeler825]

8 minutes ago, sleepy425 said:

My husband dove at CocoCay once, each time he has tried since the excursion has been canceled.  He got a bit sea sick during that dive, but I'm sure the big breakfast he had prior didn't help! He is scheduled to do it again in 3 weeks, hopefully it actually happens. (If you ever are near Disney and haven't done it yet, he raves about the dive at Epcot.  It's called Dive Quest, and he has done it about 10 times now)

Just curious, you don't dive?

[DunkelBierJay]

I have used an RC excursion to dive in Cozumel and Roatan. I have used third party in Cozumel and Costa Maya (I walked in a dive shop at Jamie's Blue Reef a couple times).

I am comfortable doing third party in Cozumel and Mahahual...no problem. At a port like Roatan where there is a good bit of travel to the dive shop and maybe to the site, I personally lean toward the RC excursion, although I felt quite rushed the time I did it. The dive experience was really good...it was a mild drift dive each time.

When I used RC to dive in Cozumel, it was a freaking cattle call and an overcrowded dive boat. The first dive was ok. The second dive was a drift dive in the fastest current I ever experienced. It took a while to get comfortable. When I've done third party in Coz, it was much more civilized, and I felt better about the whole experience top to bottom. My signature line has some additional information.

I dove Coco Cay one time. That will be it. The staff was great, but the quality of the dive sucked...we entered from the beach and were pulled by jetskis to the entry point. There wasn't a lot to see except some gimmicky stuff...I do remember seeing some turtles and rays though. I would not do it again.

[FLTraveler]

I've gone diving twice at CocoCay and probably won't do it again. It's kind of fun to take the jetski out to the starting point, but there's not a great deal to see. That said, it's nice to start a beach day with a low-stress dive. Additionally, the price has increased substantially recently.

I've dived at Cozumel through the cruise ship once. It was okay, but too crowded. I got it at a great Black Friday price--something like $60 for a two-tank dive. I will say that I appreciated that they picked us up right at the dock and took us by boat to the dive shop to get geared up. I much prefer to go through Jungle Divers, a 3rd party company about a 15-minute walk from the dock.

[bobroo]

3 hours ago, Wheeler825 said:

What scuba excursions at what ports have you done? Have they generally been worth it, or have you found other better means to book certified dive excursions while on a cruise?

Scuba diving is always worth it. Combining scuba with cruising is an excellent way to really see the country you are visiting. Both on land and underwater. 

I've probably dove every Royal scuba excursion except for those in Australia and have dove with way more shops independently. Diving on an excursion or choosing your own diving provider is not always a clear choice. There are many reasons why going one way will be better than going the another. It all begins with a blank spreadsheet, your ships itinerary and estimated arrival and departure times and a bunch of computer time.

So, it's not going to be a one size fits all answer. What ports are you going to? What is your diving level? Which ports might you be curious about?

[jbrinkm]

We just returned from a cruise on Symphony and we dove Aruba and Curacao. Aruba was a private boat dive and it was good - at a shipwreck - but we are brand new divers (did our OW dives in a quarry last October to finish the PADI certification) and we had to get ourselves to the boat and there were a lot of moving pieces so only ended up doing 1 shallow dive there. Saw lots of fish, a moray eel and a spiny lobster. We perhaps should have done an excursion offered by the ship instead as our first foray into actual diving.

We were able to get two dives in during our Curacao dive. We used Curious2Dive and they were phenomenal. Picked us up at port, had all the equipment for use to use (we have to fly in to cruise, plus small staterooms, plus we are new and haven't invested in our own equipment yet). Those were both shore dives, at two different locations. My parents went along and snorkeled at both locations. We just missed seeing a seahorse but did see four giant turtles, a small shark (we think - it was headed away in the distance), in addition to all of the many, many varieties of fish. 

[sleepy425]

4 hours ago, Wheeler825 said:

Just curious, you don't dive?

I'm so uncomfortable around water that I got drunk enough to put my toe in the water last cruise and my family took pics and made memes about it.  Not enough alcohol in the world to get my in enough water I'd need an oxygen tank

[Babsy47]

I love diving and almost always use a third party.  The only exceptions are Nassau where Stuart’s Cove is the only alternative I have found and Coco Cay.

Cozumel is amazing.  I generally use Scuba Tony.  Roatan is even better.  I’ve use a couple different operators that arranged travel from the ship.  Belize is great!!  St. Thomas has amazing diving.  I have not found a good operator in St. Martin.  In Cabo, we had an amazing private charter.  Catalina has good diving and Ensenada is fine.  Costa Maya is ok, but not great.   I generally charter a boat, but I usually have at least four divers so the increased cost is manageable.  
 

The problem with ship dives involves the varying comfort and air consumption of divers.  On one ship dive in Cozumel, as an example, one person ran low after 15 minutes.    If we do a charter, our first dive is usually at least 50 minutes (can be longer based on depth).  In Cabo, we saw a sand waterfall, but it was at about 90 ft in tricky currents so the dive master said he often could not take groups. 
 

I read lots of reviews and then email with several alternatives before choosing one.  

That said, I am heading out on Friday for a cruise with grandkids and am solo diving in Cozumel and Grand Cayman.  Because it is just me, I chose the ship excursions.  We will see how it goes . . .