Tortola Dive with Carnival??

[FamilyDoc]

Has anyone been on the dive excursion with Carnival on Tortola? I normally book privately but Carnival is only about 10 bucks more than Aquaventures.

 

Aquaventures refund policy states you lose 25% for cancels unless "by an Act of God." That made me a little leery. I'm not sure if the ship is late or can't dock would be considered an Act of God. Most dive ops I've booked with in the past have made it pretty clear that if the ship doesn't dock, you get your deposit back. Anyone have any experience with this?

[Denise&Paul STL]

We dove the Royal Caribbean scuba tour of the Rhone in February which was with Sail Caribbean. There were a lot of people on the boat with us ranging from new to very experienced. This meant they could only go to one place and could not accommodate everyone appropriately. As the newbies, it was extremely unsafe for us, and Sail Caribbean (the tour guide) was dangerously lacking in our safety, particularly as we were students on that trip. Also, it was extremely choppy as the current was quite strong that day.

 

I would strongly suggest going with a private guide who will accommodate your particular desires, strengths and weaknesses. Cattle boats are just unsafe.

 

Additionally, I would recommend staying away from Sail Caribbean. Due to their lack of instruction and safety, my tank kept falling off while fighting the current , we missed most of the underwater scenery, I drifted off from the strong current (no instruction on how to deal with that), and nearly ran out of air due to the tank falling off. Extremely expensive lesson, and nearly a physically expense as well!

[BuzzF117]

Dove with Sail Caribbean Divers on Feb 27th booked through Princess. If you are diving the RMS Rhone you may/will encounter current on this dive. I had no problem using Sail Caribbean and this was my first dive in current and I have little dive experience. They broke us down into 3 groups of 6 each with a dive master mine was Steve he did a great job Rhea was one of the others and I don't remember the name of the third. Just relax if your are out of shape this is not the dive for you, not meaning you need to be a marathon runner either but if you live a sedentary lifestyle and only dive on vacation I would suggest you find someplace with no current or ask if this can be done as a drift dive because the current can come ripping past Salt Island if the wind is just right. Tipped the crew $10 and bought the T shirt!!!

[The Flying Pirate]

I also did the Sail Caribbean dive on the Rhone, it was excellent. I am a new diver, (less than 20 logged dives) It was my first boat dive, first ocean dive, first current dive. I thought their pre-dive briefing was quite good, and the two divemasters that were with us did an excellent job. One of the couples on our tour it was their first open water dive since getting certified the week before the cruise and they did fine.

[impcinder]

June 2007, we tried to book via Carnival Liberty for 4 divers, web site did not have 4 spaces available. We booked, with the same dive shop (Dive Tortola)directly, via their website. Saved $ on the dive, used the same boat. The only difference was we had to find our own way to the dive shop. Hired a taxi for $10 + tip (one way).

 

There was a total of 13 people on the dive boat, 2 dive masters. We were split into two groups.

 

The Rhone was fantastic! We were fortunate - very little current that day. Both dives were outstanding - fish, coral, the wreck.

 

I can't say enough positive things about the Dive Tortola - very safety consciencous, very informative about the wreck, during the surface interval regaled us with the story about the wreck.

 

Because we did not book via Carnival, we waited and waited for our cab driver to return to the dive shop to take us back to the ship. After approx a 30 minute wait - the dive shop called the taxi company for us. The taxi company said the drive should be there. After a 15 minute wait, Kathryn from Dive Tortola drove us back to the ship.

 

The entire experience was wonderful from start to finish and would highly recommend this PADI dive shop.