omeinv

We’re on Equinox and the warm cookie test ended about 30 minutes ago. The idea will NOT be going forward. Harris Denver, CO

On basic I’ve been able to view but not post to Cruise Critic forums. With premium no problem. This was true both before and after starlink. Harris Denver, CO

Tell him Harris from Denver Divers sent you. He’ll charge you extra. 😀 Harris Denver, CO

I’d get hold off Tom Shropshire at Off the Wall diving. He’s always made it easy to dive when I’ve been there on the ship. https://offthewalldiverscayman.com/ Harris Denver, CO

I’ve been to the caves, not on a ship’s excursion. They’re interesting enough. The interior is fairly hot. They’re not very large, the tour lasts only about as long as you’ll want it too. The caves are close to the airport, so probably a 30 minute drive from the port. Harris Denver, CO

My one point is showing in my points accrual: 1 Club Points* Power Up Points Survey Response July 2023 Perfect Day at CocoCay Quiz But has not yet been added to my points total. This has happened before, and then the point/s show up in the total later in the day, so patience my friends. Harris Denver, CO

Well, we're equally likely to get 100 points per page as ten, so either way, is the same. 🙂 Harris Denver, CO

If we get 10 points per page, we'd be Zenith! 🙂 Harris Denver, CO

@islandwoman For Aruba I recommend Happy Divers Aruba. It’s boat diving and nice small groups. https://happydiversaruba.com/ For Bonaire, VIP Diving does a great job. It will be met at the port, and they will take care of absolutely everything for a nice day with two short lives. It’s more pricey than some places come up, but they really do provide a complete service. https://vipdiving.com/ In Curaçao, you cannot do better than CURious2Dive. Guided shore, dives with Hans are always a lot of fun, and he will take you hunting for Lionfish if you’d like. https://www.curious2dive.com/ In Grand Turk I was really happy with Grand Turk Diving Company. It’s a very small shop, but the boat dives were great. If you have not drove there before, you are in for a treat the diving was really spectacular. https://gtdiving.com/ Harris Denver, CO

@islandwoman On HAL 77 and 78 probably qualify for the kid’s program, so it’s hard to imagine you’d age out; but I don’t know for sure. I can give you far better recommendations for all those ports than any cruise line excursion. Bonaire and Curaçao tend to be shore diving. Are you up for that, or do you only want boat diving? Harris Denver, CO

With the list you have I'd definitely give Barbados the number one spot. West Side Scuba Centre is definitely the answer. Peter will pick you up and return you to the port. The last few times I've been there they weren't able to accept credit cards so prepare for cash payment. Barbados has lots of good sites, and if you let Peter know there are newer divers in your group, he and his son Brandon will see to it you get to sites that are both suitable for your level, and great diving. (https://westsidescuba.com/) My second place choice would be Dominica. Try Simon at Nature Island Diving. When last I dove there they picked up at the port and returned us, and the diving was really nice. The most recent time, they couldn't help, because it was shortly after COVID, and there were too many restrictions. However, Simon was very good about corresponding, and I'm sure by now they're back to normal. (https://natureislanddive.dm/). My third place choice is St. Vincent, and it's a close third, so perhaps you can dive three ports, or if perhaps Dominica doesn't work out, you'll know you're still getting a good place. Contact Vaughn Martin at Serenity Dive. Their boat will pick you up right at the port gate, and there are nice sites all around. I will say the last time I was there Vaughn was having boat issues, and was running too many divers for my liking. I believe this was a temporary situation. You may want to ask that question when booking though. (https://www.serenitydive.net/) Harris Denver, CO

Call Captain’s Club, with both membership numbers at hand. They’ll link the accounts and you’ll be set. Or, if you’re on board, the Captain’s Club host Can take care of it. Harris Denver, CO

The diving is decent, but it is a bit of a pain to organize anything there nowadays. There used to be dive operators that would pick up at the cruise ship. Now they all require you either take a taxi or a for pick up. just the transportation round-trip from the port to the shop was over $20.00 per person, and a taxi would be double that. For me, I’d say the diving isn’t worth the expense. Harris Denver, CO

The cruise lines contract with WinJet ferry company for the excursions, and rrather than going to the ferry terminal and taking a scheduled ferry, the cruise line excursions have a ferry come to the pier at the cruise port. This saves a lot of time I'm sure; and alleviates the need to hope the ferry you need each way has space. The two ferries (WinJet and Ultramar) depart on alternate hours for Playa, and return. If I were doing an excursion to the mainland, I'd take the ship's excursion, even though I usually book excustions independently. Harris Denver, CO

I don't know for sure, but post-COVID there are definitely fewer scuba excursions everywhere. Honestly, it's easy to do better than the cruise ship excursion (Sand Dollar) in Cozumel. Harris Denver, CO

@Etta1213 The critical thing is you will be participating in a water sport, so you must be able to be safe in the water. Neither sport requires expert swimming, but you do need to be able to swim at a level that will keep you safe in the water. Additionally, for real enjoyment, both sports require water comfort. The requirement for scuba diving is that a person must be able to swim continuously for 200 yards, or 300 yards with a mask, snorkel and fins. There is no time limit for this and any stroke or variety of strokes may be used, but it is required the person not stop. The other requirement is that a person be able to tread water or float unaided for 10 minutes. I'd recommend using these criteria to evaluate yourself for either sport. Thy provide for the minimum ability to keep oneself safe if separated from the boat or shore briefly by current or other issues, or if one falls in the water accidentally. If you're going to be in or around water, this level of swimming skill is indicative of the ability to prevent tragedy. Since you assess your own swimming ability as poor, I'm understanding you can swim, but that you recognize a deficiency. The nice thing is with any ability to swim, is it's a skill that improves with practice. If you use the above criteria, you can easily and safely go to a pool and see how you do. If you can complete those exercises, then you could move on with training for either sport; and if you have difficulty, perhaps either practice on your own, or seek a bit of swim instruction. Generally difficulty swimming is is not a lack of ability, but more a poor application of technique. As far as which sport is easier to learn; at the entry level snorkeling certainly is since there is no requirement for any formal training. Scuba diving requires certification, involving study, classroom, pool training, and then evaluation dives. This is because scuba diving requires the use of equipment and techniques that would be dangerous without proper knowledge. With snorkeling, though no training is required, I strongly recommend a snorkeling class. These are typically a 2 or 3 hour class, and they're generally available through dive shops. Where I teach the cost is $75.00, which is about the cost of a single snorkeling excursion. Whether they've been snorkeling before or not, people feel they get much more out of snorkeling after taking this course; and it adds value to all their future snorkeling excursions. Harris Denver, CO

Sign in to your cruise, then go to "MANAGE RESERVATION": Then go to "RESERVATION DETAILS": That works for me to then see the "GRATUITIES" Field. It only shows up using my laptop, not on my phone. Harris Denver, CO

@jbrinkm If you only have two days of diving on your cruise, PLEASE go ahead and get certified in advance. I realize the local dives are not inviting, and the money only adds to the marks in the "NO" column. However, I've conducted certification dives in local reservoirs and the ocean. What they have in common is they are not fun dives. While there should be some "excursion time"; the focus of your certification dives is skill demonstration. You will definitely be restricted to diving for that purpose. The depth limits for the certification dives are set by standards, 40 feet max for dives 1 and 2; 60 feet for dives 3 and 4. In short everything about the dive will be geared toward successful certification dives, not diving enjoyment. It's particularly disappointing when there are a group of certified divers on the boat when you're doing your cert dives. You see them go off on a "real" dive while you're hovering over a sand bottom doing your skills. To add insult to injury, they'll probably come back talking about some amazing thing they saw. Additionally, there's a certain value to those local dives. You'll be diving in poor visibility, and colder water. Having that experience can be very beneficial when you someday get in poor visibility in the ocean, for example when the current kicks up sand, or someone kicks up a bunch of silt. Finally, if you're relying on getting your cert dives done at two separate ports on the cruise, there's always the chance that bad weather could scrub either day for you which would mean you'd be in the bad position of having 2 dives done, and needing the other two. While I appreciate the downsides you're seeing, I really think your shop is trying to look out for your best interests. If their prices for the local certification seem truly out of whack, send me an email (the link to the address is in my signature), and I can give you a couple other ideas that may work for you. Harris Denver, CO

No, not once you're out of the port/harbor. Harris Denver, CO

I guess I hallucinated how I just pre-paid mine then. Harris Denver, CO

Log in on the website, then go to Manage My Reservation, then open the drop down for Reservation Details, you'll see the gratuities option there. Harris Denver, CO

It was made permanent April 7, 2022; via an email from Andrea Shey, VP of Loyalty Programs. Harris Denver, CO

@pete1681, @Sigyn I'm glad you mentioned this. I must have been in a hurry when I first responded to this, as I apparently completely did not notice you mentioned Cozumel, which I think is the best diving of all these places. There are a lot of operator's there (literally hundred's), and you'll get a lot of recommendations. When I go there, I dive with Aldora Divers, but they do not work with cruise passengers, as the times in port just don't comport with how they run. Dive Paradise is known for running a later boat, that works well for cruise schedules. If you want a genuine top-natch experience, contact Sherief Sanad, at Humarine. You'll pay more, but you'll get every bit of your money's worth. (https://humarine.com/). Otherwise, I've dived with Salty endeavors, and was pretty happy with them as well. Cozumel has many truly spectacular dives, and generally the visibility is amazing. It is drift diving which is likely something you won't have done before; but it's nothing to obsess over. Again for the full value, and to get a custom made experience, go with Sherief at Humarine. Harris Denver, CO

Well, I booked a Japan Cruise on April 1, 2020 (maybe the fact it was April Fool's Day has something to do with this). We are now scheduled to sail on April 9, 2024, so that's 1369 days. Of course it was supposed to happen in April of 2021, then April 2022, then April 2023. I think fourth time may be the charm. Harris Denver, CO

ExecutiveOffice@celebrity.com Harris Denver, CO