Discover Scuba Diving

[Kim23]

Hello everyone. My husband and I will be sailing on Harmony at the end of June 2019. I'm looking for some reviews on "Discover Scuba Diving" excursion in St. Maarten. We aren't certified divers but have been considering it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[twangster]

Welcome to the message boards!

I am a certified open water diver and I would highly recommend a Discover Scuba Excursion as long as it is performed by a PADI Five Star operator (or equivalent).  

You'll be fine booking through Royal since Royal operates PADI Five Star dive centers on much of it's fleet including Harmony.  If you are booking direct with an island operator make sure you research them thoroughly.

The "Discover Scuba" offered by PADI Five Star operators is a sanctioned program through the PADI.  It will involve some instruction as outlined and required by PADI followed by a shallow dive in the ocean.  Color drops off quickly with water depth and the best marine life and color is often in shallow water so it's a perfect match for a Discover Scuba session.

Before getting my friend's daughter her full certification I took her to local PADI dive shop at home and we did a Discover Scuba session to make sure she would like it before springing for the cost of the full certification.  Doing a Discover Scuba session on a cruise is a much better use of that money because a pool is a pretty boring dive. 

[twangster]

If you like your experience and decide to go for the full OWD or Open Water Diver certification, consider doing that on a Royal Caribbean ship. 

We did our OWD in our home town and had to do the required certification dives in a local reservoir that was cold, dark and miserable.  It sucked.  For virtually the same price we could have done the OWD on board with Royal's PADI Five Star instructors and done our certification dives in beautiful waters of the Caribbean.  That's almost like getting a free dive excursion and the cost to do it at home wasn't any cheaper.   

You do lose some of your cruise sea days doing the required instruction with the on-board PADI dive masters but it's sea day so no big deal.  That's only for the full OWD certification.  The Discover Scuba session doesn't use any of your sea days.

[arebee]

I don't know about St. Maarten but I took my wife to one in Cozumel.  I have an advanced open water certification but my wife has nothing, she liked it but doesn't want to get certified.  I liked the excursion since I haven't been diving in over 20 years and could use the refresher. Anyway, we were led out with an instruction and he kept an eye on us and showed various sea life and from what I can tell, planted items on the bottom.  We got down to less than an atmosphere so ears weren't too much of a problem for her, it lasted about 20 to 30 minutes in the water.  Don't expect high end equipment, but I figured as long as the regulator works on demand and doesn't free flow I was good.  I will tell you this, we did the snuba once, I didn't like that.  You are tied to others and can only go where everyone goes.

[Kim23]

Thanks everyone. I've done a little PADI research online. I'm going to check out a local dive shop and see if the excursion will count as my open water dive.

[twangster]

On 7/11/2018 at 4:01 PM, Kim23 said:

Thanks everyone. I've done a little PADI research online. I'm going to check out a local dive shop and see if the excursion will count as my open water dive.

I can save you the phone call.  To achieve OWD you'll need to perform four check dives.  Two are often accomplished in pools, two are typically performed in open water.  The last two have specific steps that your instructor must complete with you.  They are very different from a "Discover Scuba" session.  For example during OWD training you will learn how to remove your mask underwater and put it back on then clear it it.  This is a required step for OWD certification.  That is not part of any Discover Scuba session. 

[bobroo]

13 hours ago, Kim23 said:

Thanks everyone. I've done a little PADI research online. I'm going to check out a local dive shop and see if the excursion will count as my open water dive.

No; I'm sorry, the dive will not "count" to any open water certification. But It will "count" as being a memory.

Discover Scuba is for folks to get the simplest taste of scuba. Maybe it's out of their box? Maybe it is a spontaneous fun thing to do during a vacation? Maybe That's enough to get another checked box on their bucket list?

An open water certification (from any agency (PADI, SSI, SDI, NAUI, etc.) they are all equal and the same), is like a scuba drivers liscense. There is much more to scuba than "put this breathy-thingy in your mouth and kick your feet and its like you've become a fish." ; an open water certification will make you realize that. 

Scuba diving is an excellent compliment to a Caribbean cruise vacation. The typical two tank boat dive lends itself nicely to the typical 8 hours you might be in port and still allow for time to do some shopping, eat some local food, and have a couple beers in some grass hut along a beach front. Even the crumbier ports like Nassau, Martinique, and St Croix are exciting and fun if you are a scuba diver!

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Is NAUI even still a "thing" ?  My ex and I were both OWC through NAUI back in the day.  Subsequently, I became AOWD and Rescue diver but those were through PADI.  I thought NAUI was long gone.

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Is NAUI even still a "thing" ?  My ex and I were both OWC through NAUI back in the day.  Subsequently, I became AOWD and Rescue diver but those were through PADI.  I thought NAUI was long gone.

I was NAUI certified as a teenager.  Life happened including marriage and kids and I didn't dive for many years.  In 2015 I took the full PADI OWD certification along with my teenage dive buddy because things have changed.  NAUI is still around but it's harder to find them in the US.  Some instructors have become disenchanted with PADI and have dubbed it "Pay Another Dollar In".  As a result a few new organizations have popped up recently that are gaining some traction.

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

NAUI is still around but it's harder to find them in the US.

This makes sense. We were both OWD certified in Asia.

[Kim23]

Thanks for all the great information. Maybe after my trip to the dive shop, I'll have a better idea of whether to get certified or stick with the basic intro to scuba excursion. Either way, this will open up a new world to explore.

[hving2muchfun]

Kim,  I thought I would throw our two cents in this conversation. We looked into the lessons on the ship for my wife and decided to do it on the outside. I would check with dive shops in your area because you can get good deals on classes. There is generally the initial investment of fins snorkel, fins, mask, and booties. This is good because you are going to want gear you are comfortable using. I finally got my wife diving in June and now she is hooked she has already certified as Open water and Advanced Open water and we are taking the Rescue diver course. The investment is around $1500 for the initial class and  gear BC regulator etc.  We bring our own gear every cruise so when they offer the Diving without equipment it is a cheaper rate. I know I probably threw a lot at you but gives you options

[KJ1231]

Thanks for all the great info. My son and I are doing the Discover Scuba Diving excursion in Grand Cayman on 12/31.

[Rmtw]

My husband is registered for the Scuba certification class on the Harmony, November, 2019.  
How does he get the sign in for the PADI e learning?  We’ve called and talked to 4 different people and no one knows what we are talking about.   He wants to complete this before we board the ship.  
thank you.  

[bobroo]

15 hours ago, Rmtw said:

My husband is registered for the Scuba certification class on the Harmony, November, 2019.  
How does he get the sign in for the PADI e learning?  We’ve called and talked to 4 different people and no one knows what we are talking about.   He wants to complete this before we board the ship.  
thank you.  

If your husband is registered for the Try Diving or Discover Diving programs, then there is no book work. But.... if he is registered for the Open Water Diving course, this is a spot-on concern.

Your husband is exactly correct, it is advantageous to complete the online eLearning portion before boarding the ship. 

I would send an email explaining the situation to  royaldiver@rccl.com . I would include his reservation number, sailing date and request an eLearning direct link and code for taking the course. I believe the above email goes to whoever is in charge of the scuba programing at Royal corporate. They will evaluate the question and in turn forward the concern to whomever is the certified instructor aboard Harmony for the dates in question and tell them to "straighten this out!" As with everything Royal Caribbean, maintaining a paper trail is a really, really good idea.  Print out and document everything, put it in a folder, and take it aboard with you. 

Any person can just go to PADI.com, pay $190 and take the Open Water eLearning online course. If done this way I'm pretty sure of two things  1) that will wind up being $190 that would have been better spent on dive gear  2) the dive shop onboard Harmony will have a difficult time ( but not impossible time) verifying that the course was completed. Harmony will also need to transfer your husbands PADI student-at-large file to become registered or "owned" by whoever will be his instructor aboard Harmony.

In scuba diving we have lots of rules of wisdom. A big one is "NEVER do anything underwater that you can do beforehand topside." This situation falls into that category. Complete the quizzes and reading of the eLearning beforehand. And do it so that it is smooth and seamless as possible once you get onboard. 

 

 

[S0nny]

On 7/11/2018 at 9:27 AM, twangster said:

  It will involve some instruction as outlined and required by PADI followed by a shallow dive in the ocean

Thank you so much for this! We wanted to book the Discovery Scuba excursion on our upcoming Harmony cruise in a few weeks, but I didn’t want to take away any sea days for didactic instruction. I must have gotten confused in all the reading and thought the Discovery Scuba session necessitated time in the ship’s pool for initial immersion. 
 

As reading it now, I think it’s just an introductory lesson while in the water and then doing a super shallow dive. We are looking at doing this in Costa Maya. 
 

And thanks for the info on OWD certification! I was completely backwards in thinking that doing it on a cruise would be a waste of time and money; is see differently now. 
 

I’m a new member on this blog, but I really appreciate your advice   

[twangster]

13 minutes ago, S0nny said:

Thank you so much for this! We wanted to book the Discovery Scuba excursion on our upcoming Harmony cruise in a few weeks, but I didn’t want to take away any sea days for didactic instruction. I must have gotten confused in all the reading and thought the Discovery Scuba session necessitated time in the ship’s pool for initial immersion. 

As reading it now, I think it’s just an introductory lesson while in the water and then doing a super shallow dive. We are looking at doing this in Costa Maya.

And thanks for the info on OWD certification! I was completely backwards in thinking that doing it on a cruise would be a waste of time and money; is see differently now. 

I’m a new member on this blog, but I really appreciate your advice   

When we did the Discover Scuba in my hometown it was a couple of hours one evening.  We sat in a classroom and went over a couple handouts.  It wasn't lengthy or highly technical but covered some basics like always breathe, never hold your breath while diving.  Then we got the equipment on and went in the pool.   At the bottom of the pool they had some water toys we could play with but it was pretty boring.  The pool was designed for diving so it had a big square deep end but it was six of us sitting on the bottom looking at each other.   

Discover Scuba will be pretty much the same everywhere because that is what PADI requires but doing it in the Caribbean in the ocean is way smarter than doing it in a pool at home.  

[S0nny]

@twangster You’re awesome! 
 

I just looked up local dive prices; for SSI certification it’s about $459 pp + some extras for renting vs buying accompanying literature and other incidentals. Our cruise is offering $599 for PADI OWD certification which includes two 2 tank dives plus all materials and ALL equipment (vs just BCD, tanks, and regulator like the local SSI shop). Considering we are eyeballing an Australian cruise next year, we may just knock out our certification now. 
 

I got my PADI Junior OWD certification when I was 16, but haven’t dived since  And diving in Mission Bay San Diego CA  was possibly the WORST dive experience you can have! Hahaha I think I enjoyed the pool more than that murkey and cold dive spot... the Caribbean would be a welcomed change! 
 

I’ll let you know what we choose and how it went! Thanks again! And thanks @Kim23 for the OP. Sorry to hijack the thread, but I had the same questions and found it on the search. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

9 hours ago, S0nny said:

diving in Mission Bay San Diego CA  was possibly the WORST dive experience you can have!

I got my OWD certification in southern California, too (Huntington Beach).  If all diving was like that I would never have done it again !  I went on to eventually get AOWD and Rescue Diver certs but we were long gone from CA by then !

[Grenadyr]

Fwiw, we were originally going to get my daughter certified and a refresher for me on our upcoming cruise.  After a little research about our local dive shops we found it was cheaper for my daughter to trained locally and I ended up getting my refresher free.  The deciding factors were the difficulty in planning our excursions when we didn't know when and where the open water dives would be, how much personal attention we would get during the classes, and whether my our certifying dives would be together.  She ended up certifying through SDI over about 2 months, as our schedules allowed, and found it very enjoyable and unhurried.  (She also finds it very amusing that she got her diving license before her friends got their driving licenses.)  As a result we now have 4 dives planned together thru local dive shops when we visit Roatan and Costa Maya.

[G8R_FAN_15]

On 10/29/2019 at 12:04 AM, S0nny said:

@twangster You’re awesome! 
 

I just looked up local dive prices; for SSI certification it’s about $459 pp + some extras for renting vs buying accompanying literature and other incidentals. Our cruise is offering $599 for PADI OWD certification which includes two 2 tank dives plus all materials and ALL equipment (vs just BCD, tanks, and regulator like the local SSI shop). Considering we are eyeballing an Australian cruise next year, we may just knock out our certification now. 
 

I got my PADI Junior OWD certification when I was 16, but haven’t dived since  And diving in Mission Bay San Diego CA  was possibly the WORST dive experience you can have! Hahaha I think I enjoyed the pool more than that murkey and cold dive spot... the Caribbean would be a welcomed change! 
 

I’ll let you know what we choose and how it went! Thanks again! And thanks @Kim23 for the OP. Sorry to hijack the thread, but I had the same questions and found it on the search. 

Twang:  If you got a Junior OWD certification, then you are certified!  Apply to PADI and it should be upgraded to an OWD certification (it'll cost you $10-$20 for a new card).  If it has been that long since you have been diving, perhaps a refresher course (much cheaper).  I did a refresher when my son got certified last November.  I went through the entire course and all of the skills with him.  I paid $500 for his certification and $75 for my refresher course.

[mac66]

Kind of late to this party but I'm curious what the OP ended up doing, whether she got did the discovery class and/or certified or not?

 

[hcraig]

I wouldn't mind knowing more about this either. I was going to ask people if it is better to do the cruise excursion or go elsewhere. We're thinking Cozumel. I've heard good things about Cozumel Sports and Discovery Scuba Cozumel. Just worried about it being crowded with the cruise excursion.