Diving in Cozumel

Howdy!

I am very new to this community, I have so far found tons of great info, and trying to do my part to contribute back!

But I have questions

Myself and my girlfriend Anna will be traveling to Cozumel as part of out Cruise on RCI, Independence of the Seas. I have a two part question.

First question is about this whole Ship time and Local time thing, our itinerary say we Arrive Cozumel at 10:00 AM August 28th 2015 (Friday) and Depart 7:00 PM.

I ask this question cause a lot of the diving trips I have looked up online thru shore excursion companies say they start at 9AM, well that does not work since we don’t get there until 10am as disclosed by the itinerary.

Next question is does anyone have a recommendation to an excursion company that does diving in Cozumel. I would prefer to go with a outside company cause the price is dramatically cheaper than the cruise line.

I appreciate your patience in advance

Thanks

-David

You have just found one of the biggest problem with cruise ship diving...those darn port times. But often companies will accomodate the ships port time.

First go to a site such as meeting planner http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

and find out your "island time" port schedule

Then correspond with the companies with that time table in mind. Always saying island time in your correspondence so you know your on the same page.

Then most will tell you if they can accommodate the time.

In Cozumel, Aldora Divers is great about doing this and they are wonderful to dive with!!

http://aldora.com/

Also keep in mind that with your 7pm depart...maybe an afternoon dive would work?

Good luck and have fun.

We LOVE Scuba with Alison. She will delay her departure if she is expecting cruisers that day.

We also had a great experience with Tres Pelicanos. Not sure if/how they accommodate cruisers.

I use Opal's Dream.

I'm a big fan of Aldora in Cozumel. That being said, you may find that the last line of your post is no longer true in many places. I usually wind up paying either exactly the same or more for an outside diving excursion, especially when you factor in transportation.

We LOVE Scuba with Alison. She will delay her departure if she is expecting cruisers that day.

 

We also had a great experience with Tres Pelicanos. Not sure if/how they accommodate cruisers.

ABSOLUTELY!!

Alison is very accommodating to cruise ship divers. She has a fast boat that holds a MAX of 8 divers, and she books up quickly. The farther in advance you can book with her the better.

Another dive op I like to use is Chucho Divers. Chucho is very accommodating as well, and both he and Alison operate out of Caleta Marina, just a short cab ride from the terminal. Again, when contacting either of these, make it clear what your port times are.

Good luck!

:D

That being said, you may find that the last line of your post is no longer true in many places. I usually wind up paying either exactly the same or more for an outside diving excursion, especially when you factor in transportation.

Yep.

The Carnival 2-tank excursion is $84.99. The ops I dive with typically charge $90 (and you can find others for more or less) for a 2-tank dive, plus it will be around $15-20 for the round trip to the marina (which isn't the Caleta anymore- though it is right next door.)

However, the level of service booking with a small op VASTLY makes up for the difference in price, IMO. In Cozumel, I wouldn't book with the ship op.

Yep.

 

The Carnival 2-tank excursion is $84.99. The ops I dive with typically charge $90 (and you can find others for more or less) for a 2-tank dive, plus it will be around $15-20 for the round trip to the marina (which isn't the Caleta anymore- though it is right next door.)

 

However, the level of service booking with a small op VASTLY makes up for the difference in price, IMO. In Cozumel, I wouldn't book with the ship op.

Exactly!

I always book private dive operators whenever I can. No cattle boats, great service and generally you'll get to go to the better reefs. My wife and I have had incredible luck these last couple of years.....more often than not, we are the only divers (clients) on the boat.

I went ahead and booked a 2 tank dive trip with Aldora Divers (they came highly referred).

I had checked with Scuba with Alison first but the dates we gonna be in Cozumel, they we pulling their boat out of the water the last 2 weeks of August for some repairs to the hull.

I've never heard anything bad about Aldora, except a few people who don't like steel tanks (but that was about the tank, not the op!)

Make sure to report back how it goes.

We did a dive excursion through Carnival and that is the one port that if we visit again I would consider an non-Carnival Dive excursion. The reefs that they took us to we're dead and they took us through swim throughs that were very narrow and if someone had panicked it could have been fatal. I got some great pictures, but every experienced diver I have shown them to was dismayed that we went through them. It would have been okay if it had been after several days of diving where the guide was confidant of our skill level, but not for a first Dive.