Scuba Diving on the cruise

[thecarnivalkid]

While the weekend crash courses will get the same C-card taking a local course, at least the classroom portion, over a length of time would increase the comfort level of learning the many different types of uhhhh, 'issues?' that can come up and a full understanding of exactly what can happen, why, and how to rectify short term and long term as opposed to the 'if this happens, do this' mantra.

 

mine was 5 weeks, 1 night per week of 5 hours, half class and half pool then the 4 open waters over a weekend and I felt the information was absorbed fully and slowly.

 

I'd say do what it takes to check it out with a discover scuba anywhere and see if it interests ya, if yes sign on up!

[gnewt]

Both my wife and I got certified on RCI in November. I already had the materials before I went on board but still did the entire course. PADI dictates what must be taught and every course regardless of where you take it covers the same things. Our instructor on RCI was incredible and like most things that is what will make the difference not if you do it over 5 weeks, 5 months or 5 days. I wonder who actually gets to dive more an instructor located in a dive location or an instructor based out of Northern North America with 6 months of winter to worry about? Again, the instructor is what will make the difference and I would guess that in either scenario you probably don't know your instructor until the course starts. I have no hesitation in recommending the on board certification program. The only down side is that you do give up some of your precious vacation time in the sun while you sit in a classroom watching the videos, learning the math and doing the tests.

[1lovehols]

I'm hoping you can dive on a excursion from the Jewel of the seas in Nov as that was one of the ways I got my OH to agree to come on a cruise with me. ;)

[w&k]

As far as passing a fitness test. I'm in shape. Round is a shape, isn't it? ;)

 

BIG_Steve- Round is a perfectly good shape for diving! ;)

 

I'm 44, 5'6", 250lbs, and DH Keith is 49, 6'5", and 290lbs. (I'm round, and he's the mountain)

 

Diving isn't for the young and superfit, really. On a dive boat, you're much more likely to see normal to larger folks, rather than guys with 6-packs and bikini models.

 

IMHO, the slower you go, the more stuff you see, and the better the dive.

 

Get certified and enjoy!

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

 

me, puttering along Pierbaai reef in Curacao

 

[lbrat4]

My son and I are going on Freedom of the Seas in August, and the PADI cert class is being offered on our cruise for $250. I've always been interested in scuba, but didn't desperately want to do it until we started snorkeling on our cruises. I love snorkeling and I can only imagine that diving is exponentially better. I looked into cert courses where I live (Southern MD) and while classes are available locally, the open water dives are in a yucky lake several hours away. The local course is $199 plus an unknown amount for the cert dives, so the RCL deal seems reasonable to me. That said, we're definitely going to go with the RCL course so we can do our dives somewhere nice! Actually, I don't know how nice diving is in St. Maarten. It isn't one of my favorite ports, so I'd rather be spending my time there diving than exploring. Anyone else dived there before? It has to be better than a yucky lake in Maryland, right!!

 

I'm definitely the round version of a diver and appreciate the reassuring posts that this isn't an issue!! :)

[Hodgepodgefor90]

I got my advanced diver from NAUI over 20 years ago and I've always been skeptical of the "cruise/resort courses". There are so many things that can go wrong on a dive for example you can blow an ear drum at 8 ft. I don't think i'd ever recommend one of the quickie courses just to go down.

 

I agree, diving is fun but it is a very serious sport. I also review the training materials prior to each dive, it gives me more piece of mind and I enjoy the dives more. Training is good.