World Class Diving with Anthony's Key - RCCL excursion

Has anyone done this? The description only talks about diving but it is a 6 hour excursion. No mention of weather it's a boat trip, what is included at Anthony's Key and how long is spent there. Thanks!

http://www.anthonyskey.com/

everything you wanted to know. you do not need the cruise line for this, just book a dive. I do it all the time, never missed the boat

http://www.anthonyskey.com/

 

everything you wanted to know. you do not need the cruise line for this, just book a dive. I do it all the time, never missed the boat

I did google and find the site for the resort before posting but that doesn't answer any of my questions above. and for $19 more than the cost of 2 dives "as available" I will book the guaranteed trip thru the ship and be picked up and returned. If I can find out what we will be doing for 6 hours.

I've not done a cruise ship excursion to Anthonys Key Resort, but did a dive trip there a few months ago & saw the cruise folks come in on a couple of days during our stay at AKR.

They'll pick you up at the cruise dock & bus you over to AKR. At the resort, they'll give you a briefing & take you out on a dive boat with others from the ship (when we were there, they did not mix the ship guests with guests who were staying at the lodge). They'll do a checkout (mask clearing, regulator retrieval, buoyancy check - sometimes they do that right at the dock, sometimes they do it when you get out to the dive site). I *think* they did two dives - go out on the boat, come back during surface interval to give you a chance to spend some $ in their giftshop, then back out for the 2nd dive. The dive sites are short boat rides - don't think you're getting cheated by staying close, some of the premier dive sites around the island are no more than a 5 minute boat ride from the resort (you'll be diving the same sites as the resort guests).

I'd imagine they feed you lunch, but from what I remember that was not done right at the resort (unless they fed the cruise folks while the lodge guests were out on a dive).

So my guess as to the 6 hours - roughly a 30 minute drive to the resort; briefing, gearing up, etc 30 minutes. Dive for an hour; roughly an hour surface interval; another dive; hour for lunch, then load everyone on the bus for the drive back. That would take up most of the 6.

Hopefully someone who's done it from the ship can correct me if I'm wrong, or confirm if I'm right.

AKR's a nice place & a very well-run operation. If you go, I'd be shocked if you didn't enjoy it.

Thank you very much for your reply, It helps a lot. I finally heard back from Royal Shore Excursion today and they gave me the schedule below. I'm posting it in case it is of value to someone else searching for info later. It only accounts for 4 hours so I guess the rest is just cushion. 4 hours I wouldn't have even asked about.

World Class Diving with Anthony's Key RT49

1. 0:00 -‐‐ 0:20 Transfer to Anthony's Key Resort

2. 0:20 -‐‐ 0:45 Dive orientation, warm-‐‐up, equipment check

3. 0:45 – 1:00 Depart for first dive

4. 1:00 – 1:50 First Dive

5. 1:50 – 2:05 Boat ride to Anthony’s Key for surface interval

6. 2:05 – 2:35 Surface intervals at Anthony's Key

7. 2:35 – 2:50 Boat ride to second dive

8. 2:50 – 3:25 Second Dive

9. 3:25 – 3:40 Boat ride to Anthony's Key

10. 3:40 – 4:00 Transfer back to pier

• Bottled water, sodas, and snacks available at resort dockside snack shop.

• 2 steps to enter/exit shuttle bus

• 2-‐‐3 steps to enter/dive boat

• Approximately 50-100 feet dive dock.

Ok, that schedule looks pretty good. My observations weren't too far off - I was guessing on the meal, trying to fill up the extra time (I didn't see the cruise folks eating, figured maybe they had a boxed lunch or something).

FYI if you do it, the snack shop has a decent amount of stuff - cookies, candy bars, chips, soda, sports drinks, water, ice cream... No full meals, but you'd probably find enough to tide you over.