Cruise Diving West Caribbean

I am going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean in December. We are going
to Belize, Roatan and Cozumel. I wanted to book the diving outside of the
crusie ship and did not know how to go about this. Has anyone done this and
what are your recomondations for booking the dives.

Dave

d wrote:

> I am going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean in December. We are going
> to Belize, Roatan and Cozumel. I wanted to book the diving outside of the
> crusie ship and did not know how to go about this. Has anyone done this and
> what are your recomondations for booking the dives.
>
> Dave
>
>
Belize is very tough to book outside of the ship. Remember that if you
book thru the book - you won't get left. The price difference isn't
that much - however the dive shop you use may want to quick dives - make
their money, and get you back to the boat.

I scheduled my own in Cozumel - remember there is a difference in ship's
time and local time. In Cozumel it is usually a long stay with a late
departure, you may not have time to do the afternoon time.

Booking thru the boat almost ensures a cattle boat.

I am cruising in June and I am booking two dives thru the ship (Royal
Caribbean) and one scheduling myself in St. Thomas.

We just returned from a cruise and booked directly with Papa Hoggs in
Cozumel. You can contact them directly through their website or by
telephone (number on their website). Three of us chartered a boat and
had a great time.

d wrote:
> I am going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean in December. We are going
> to Belize, Roatan and Cozumel. I wanted to book the diving outside of the
> crusie ship and did not know how to go about this. Has anyone done this and
> what are your recomondations for booking the dives.
>
> Dave
>
>

"d" <dl@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:7Gw8e.18679$lv1.5670@fed1read06...
>I am going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean in December. We are going
>to Belize, Roatan and Cozumel. I wanted to book the diving outside of the
>crusie ship and did not know how to go about this. Has anyone done this
>and what are your recomondations for booking the dives.
>
> Dave
>Since the cruise I was on would not book anything above resort course type
>diving I and a couple I met would be the first ones off the boat in the
>morning and run for a phone to book our dives. It was a bit of a rush but
>always got our dives in and back to the boat in time. Usually caught a cab
>to the dock or dive shop and only had the dive boat rush us back to the
>cruise boat once just before it left. Remember if you miss the cruise boat
>you are on your own to catch up. I hear the better cruise lines can book
>things for you ahead of time. Get a list of the shops you want to use and
>have them call them for you.

Vic

Edward <Edward@nospamatall.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:
:We just returned from a cruise and booked directly with Papa Hoggs in
:Cozumel. You can contact them directly through their website or by
:telephone (number on their website). Three of us chartered a boat and
:had a great time.

That's a change. I contacted them once and said we needed 6 divers to
charter a boat, or at least 6 divers worth of money. This was 2 or 3
years ago.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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It was just about 6 divers worth of money, $300. We had two beautiful
dives of 45-50 minutes each. The last time I dove with them we were on
a boat with three new divers, who raced through the reef. We lagged
behind and had ok, but much shorter dives. I'm not able to dive very
often so it was worth it to me to pay extra.

Dan Bracuk wrote:

> Edward <Edward@nospamatall.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
> in:
> :We just returned from a cruise and booked directly with Papa Hoggs in
> :Cozumel. You can contact them directly through their website or by
> :telephone (number on their website). Three of us chartered a boat and
> :had a great time.
>
> That's a change. I contacted them once and said we needed 6 divers to
> charter a boat, or at least 6 divers worth of money. This was 2 or 3
> years ago.
>
> Dan Bracuk
> If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
>
> ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
> http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
> ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

"d" <dl@hotmail.com> writes:

> I am going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean in December. We are going
> to Belize, Roatan and Cozumel. I wanted to book the diving outside of the
> crusie ship and did not know how to go about this. Has anyone done this and
> what are your recomondations for booking the dives.

I've done it a fair number of times. You can get yourself hooked up
with smaller boats and cheaper prices that way, but the slight risk
you run is that if their boat dies or something unforseen happens that
doesn't get you back tot he ship on time, that ship's gonna sail
without ya. But that's true of any self-booked excursion.

It depends on whether your cruise line offers scuba excusions, and if
so how much they are and how popular they are.

When I've done ship-affiliated SCUBA though, I've never been on ships
with pax counts of less than 1800, and I've never been on a certified
scuba excusion from teh ship that had more than 8 divers.

Princes might be the exception there because they sorta plug their
diving stuff pretty hard. Are they still the only cruise line with
an on-ship dive shop?

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Joe English wrote:
> Belize is very tough to book outside of the ship. Remember that if you
> book thru the book - you won't get left. The price difference isn't
> that much - however the dive shop you use may want to quick dives - make
> their money, and get you back to the boat.

I would concur with that. Book with the ship and you get picked up at
the ship. Book on your own and you have to tender to town which is a
longer tender than most, and town is not where you want to be if you
want to dive. It is not cheap, but neither is getting your own
transportation to the next island if you miss the boat.

Todd H. wrote:

> "d" <dl@hotmail.com> writes:
>
>
>>I am going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean in December. We are going
>>to Belize, Roatan and Cozumel. I wanted to book the diving outside of the
>>crusie ship and did not know how to go about this. Has anyone done this and
>>what are your recomondations for booking the dives.
>
>
> I've done it a fair number of times. You can get yourself hooked up
> with smaller boats and cheaper prices that way, but the slight risk
> you run is that if their boat dies or something unforseen happens that
> doesn't get you back tot he ship on time, that ship's gonna sail
> without ya. But that's true of any self-booked excursion.
>
> It depends on whether your cruise line offers scuba excusions, and if
> so how much they are and how popular they are.
>
> When I've done ship-affiliated SCUBA though, I've never been on ships
> with pax counts of less than 1800, and I've never been on a certified
> scuba excusion from teh ship that had more than 8 divers.
>
> Princes might be the exception there because they sorta plug their
> diving stuff pretty hard. Are they still the only cruise line with
> an on-ship dive shop?
>
> --
> Todd H.
> http://www.toddh.net/
I was on RC Explorer a couple of years ago, I think they had one.