Scuba Shore Excursions

[sallywingate]

Hi

We are planning on going on the Solstice June 6th. Our intentions for this cruise was to scuba dive Grand Caymans, Cozumel, and Honduras. We have never used the shore excursions offered by Celebrity. I guess we are independent and enjoy researching to find the excursion with a personal guide.

 

Because of Celebrity continuing to lower the rates of our cruise, we now have $500.00 of shipboard credits. It looks like we will put this money towards our scuba diving with Celebrity.

 

Anybody have any experience with their 2 tank scuba shore excursions? Do they use responsible dive shops? Do they put you on a boat with 20 people? Do they ever cancel the excursions once you are on the the ship?

 

Thanks for any information that you could share.

Sally

[docBarb]

Hi,

My husband and I often dive when cruising. We have booked through the ship and independently. Sometimes it is a cattle boat and sometimes its not - either way it is booked. We have never had a "terrible" dive experience either way. We bring our own gear so we never worry about the quality of the qear the shop has available for rent. If you are planning to rent, I would try to find out which operator they will be using and check of the quality of their gear. Otherwise just plan on maybe going with your 20 new best friends (and maybe not - we were on the Summit and went with 5 other people once). It really is not that bad. I'm sure you will have a great time.

Barbara

[bruce-r]

Do they use responsible dive shops?

I'd say yes. If the operator doesn't provide a decent experience, cruisers will complain and the cruise line will change operators, so if the operator wants to keep a steady stream of customers, they'll to an at least adequate experience.

 

Do they put you on a boat with 20 people?

Yes, many of the boats are large, sometimes taking more than 20 people, but they will divide up into smaller groups of usually no more than 8 per guide. I'm pretty sure that this will be the case in Cozumel and Roatan, and probably in Grand Cayman as well.

 

Do they ever cancel the excursions once you are on the the ship?

Yes, definitely. If not enough people sign up for the excursion, the ship will cancel it.

 

[Pilot70D]

First, both Bruce-R and myself have written several posts covering dive excursions booked through the ship VS. booking privately. Between us we have covered virtually every aspect of this topic. You might want to search this board for some of these previous posts.

However, let me address this issue from the position of economics as it applies to the dive operators that contract with cruise lines. First, we must realize that they pay a commission back to the cruise line in return for getting a somewhat steady stream of customers. Despite this commission the operator still has to stay somewhat price competitive with other operators on the same island consequently the name of the game often becomes cost containment.

How does the operator achieve this cost containment? Well, one way to do that is to transport the cruise ship excursion divers to the nearest dive site. That of course means not necessarily the best dive site around. But by hitting the nearest site that offers a medium depth and no greater than a light to medium difficulty they have cut their costs. Furthermore they can get the cruise ship excursion divers to the dive site and back quickly enough to often take another group diving in the middle of the afternoon or early evening.

The light to to medium difficulty aspect shouldn't be overlooked either. Many operators assume (sometimes rightly sometimes not) that cruise divers aren't very experienced or very skilled divers consequently they don't take cruise ship divers to the best dive spots. This happens more frequently than many people believe but enough on this subject. If you want more reasons to book privately look at our previous posts.

Hope this info helpful. Now go enjoy that next dive trip no matter how you book it.:):)

[bruce-r]

First, both Bruce-R and myself have written several posts covering dive excursions booked through the ship VS. booking privately.

Like this thread? ---->http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=242400

 

Many operators assume (sometimes rightly sometimes not) that cruise divers aren't very experienced or very skilled divers consequently they don't take cruise ship divers to the best dive spots.

 

Well, they certainly don't take the cruise excursion to more advanced dive sites or sites that are far from the ship in either distance or time. They have a schedule to maintain. That means nearby sites and predetermined bottom times.