Diving from a cruise...

"Amanda" <amandaSPAMBAIT@finepointproductions.com> wrote in message
news:aWWHf.27614$Jd.13893@newssvr25.news.prodigy.n et...
> Docked time is limited, so I know the ship's own excursions would at
> least be on the right schedule.

It depends upon how limited the docked time might be... Remember the concept
of "island time"? Well, on some of the islands, they specialize in that
concept... I remember once in Coz waiting for a boat that was *supposed* to
leave at around 12:30... It ended up leaving around 15:00... If you book it
via the ship, they say that the ship (supposedly) will not sail without
you... You'll pay more and it'll probably be a cattle boat instead of a
6-pack...

"Amanda" <amandaSPAMBAIT@finepointproductions.com> wrote in message
news:aWWHf.27614$Jd.13893@newssvr25.news.prodigy.n et...
> Docked time is limited, so I know the ship's own excursions would at
> least be on the right schedule.

It depends upon how limited the docked time might be... Remember the concept
of "island time"? Well, on some of the islands, they specialize in that
concept... I remember once in Coz waiting for a boat that was *supposed* to
leave at around 12:30... It ended up leaving around 15:00... If you book it
via the ship, they say that the ship (supposedly) will not sail without
you... You'll pay more and it'll probably be a cattle boat instead of a
6-pack...

Grumman-581 wrote:
> "Amanda" <amandaSPAMBAIT@finepointproductions.com> wrote in message
> news:aWWHf.27614$Jd.13893@newssvr25.news.prodigy.n et...
>
>>Docked time is limited, so I know the ship's own excursions would at
>>least be on the right schedule.
>
>
> It depends upon how limited the docked time might be... Remember the concept
> of "island time"? Well, on some of the islands, they specialize in that
> concept... I remember once in Coz waiting for a boat that was *supposed* to
> leave at around 12:30... It ended up leaving around 15:00... If you book it
> via the ship, they say that the ship (supposedly) will not sail without
> you... You'll pay more and it'll probably be a cattle boat instead of a
> 6-pack...
>
>
there may also be an hour difference between island time and cruise boat
time.

I've done both. If the scuba is booked through the cruise - you will
make it bake it back to the ship. It is more expensive, more crowded,
and take you to sites that are easy to get and easy to get back. They
tend to be shorter.

I have down my own including St Thomas was it was me an the dive master
in the water - tremendous dive and plenty of bottom time.

Grumman-581 wrote:
> "Amanda" <amandaSPAMBAIT@finepointproductions.com> wrote in message
> news:aWWHf.27614$Jd.13893@newssvr25.news.prodigy.n et...
>
>>Docked time is limited, so I know the ship's own excursions would at
>>least be on the right schedule.
>
>
> It depends upon how limited the docked time might be... Remember the concept
> of "island time"? Well, on some of the islands, they specialize in that
> concept... I remember once in Coz waiting for a boat that was *supposed* to
> leave at around 12:30... It ended up leaving around 15:00... If you book it
> via the ship, they say that the ship (supposedly) will not sail without
> you... You'll pay more and it'll probably be a cattle boat instead of a
> 6-pack...
>
>
there may also be an hour difference between island time and cruise boat
time.

I've done both. If the scuba is booked through the cruise - you will
make it bake it back to the ship. It is more expensive, more crowded,
and take you to sites that are easy to get and easy to get back. They
tend to be shorter.

I have down my own including St Thomas was it was me an the dive master
in the water - tremendous dive and plenty of bottom time.

Amanda wrote:
> Hi all...
>
> I'm going on a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise in mid-April (working on
> the ship but I get time off while in port).
>
> The ship offers dive excursions for a price. Should I sign up for those
> or try to get my own deal off the boat?

With rare exceptions, get your own deal. The rare exception
would be Grand Cayman, but that's on the Western Caribbean.

Grummy and Joe talked about Coz and local time. No sweat there.
The captain of the dive boat of my shop even bribe the cruiseship
pier guards to let me return directly to the Puerta Maya pier steps,
saving me a least 200 yards of walking from the entrance of the
pier.

One advantage of booking your own is that you're not likely to
end up in cattle boats of clueless divers (which are the majority
of the cruise ship divers).

I recall one instance diving in one of the obscure islands in
French Polynesia (where the cruise ship had no dive arrangements).
The cruise ship director found me a travel brochure listing TWO
dive shops close to the pier. I did the usual for such last minute
booking adventures -- had my wife ready to leave with all gears
packed, and I did the shop hunting. In this particular case,
BOTH shops in the Travel Guide went out of business TWO YEARS
before. That was how current the guide books were.

So, after the wild goose chase starting at 8 am, the earliest leave
from the ship, I saw a boat with dive gear setup, on my way back
to the ship about 8:40 am -- it turned out to be a new dive shop
there -- arranged for them to wait a few minutes for us, and we
were off to a dive at 9 am that morning. That's adventurous
diving in paradise.

> Docked time is limited, so I know the ship's own excursions would at
> least be on the right schedule.
>
> Anyone have experience with this?

"Do bears sh*t in the woods?" as they say,

I was on the dive boat one time with 3 divers who had the wrong
time in Coz. They saw their ship leaving on our return to the
downtown pier, and the radio halted the ship, and their were taken
to the waiting ship by the pilot boat. Didn't know what it cost them.

I had written about these indicents in the archives, if you want to
look for details, or my dives from an Eastern Caribbean cruise
on the Royal Caribbean.

-- Bob.

Amanda wrote:
> Hi all...
>
> I'm going on a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise in mid-April (working on
> the ship but I get time off while in port).
>
> The ship offers dive excursions for a price. Should I sign up for those
> or try to get my own deal off the boat?

With rare exceptions, get your own deal. The rare exception
would be Grand Cayman, but that's on the Western Caribbean.

Grummy and Joe talked about Coz and local time. No sweat there.
The captain of the dive boat of my shop even bribe the cruiseship
pier guards to let me return directly to the Puerta Maya pier steps,
saving me a least 200 yards of walking from the entrance of the
pier.

One advantage of booking your own is that you're not likely to
end up in cattle boats of clueless divers (which are the majority
of the cruise ship divers).

I recall one instance diving in one of the obscure islands in
French Polynesia (where the cruise ship had no dive arrangements).
The cruise ship director found me a travel brochure listing TWO
dive shops close to the pier. I did the usual for such last minute
booking adventures -- had my wife ready to leave with all gears
packed, and I did the shop hunting. In this particular case,
BOTH shops in the Travel Guide went out of business TWO YEARS
before. That was how current the guide books were.

So, after the wild goose chase starting at 8 am, the earliest leave
from the ship, I saw a boat with dive gear setup, on my way back
to the ship about 8:40 am -- it turned out to be a new dive shop
there -- arranged for them to wait a few minutes for us, and we
were off to a dive at 9 am that morning. That's adventurous
diving in paradise.

> Docked time is limited, so I know the ship's own excursions would at
> least be on the right schedule.
>
> Anyone have experience with this?

"Do bears sh*t in the woods?" as they say,

I was on the dive boat one time with 3 divers who had the wrong
time in Coz. They saw their ship leaving on our return to the
downtown pier, and the radio halted the ship, and their were taken
to the waiting ship by the pilot boat. Didn't know what it cost them.

I had written about these indicents in the archives, if you want to
look for details, or my dives from an Eastern Caribbean cruise
on the Royal Caribbean.

-- Bob.

Reef Fish wrote:
> Amanda wrote:
>
>>Hi all...
>>
>>I'm going on a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise in mid-April (working on
>>the ship but I get time off while in port).
>>
>>The ship offers dive excursions for a price. Should I sign up for those
>>or try to get my own deal off the boat?
>
>
> With rare exceptions, get your own deal. The rare exception
> would be Grand Cayman, but that's on the Western Caribbean.
>
> Grummy and Joe talked about Coz and local time. No sweat there.
> The captain of the dive boat of my shop even bribe the cruiseship
> pier guards to let me return directly to the Puerta Maya pier steps,
> saving me a least 200 yards of walking from the entrance of the
> pier.
>
> One advantage of booking your own is that you're not likely to
> end up in cattle boats of clueless divers (which are the majority
> of the cruise ship divers).
>

The Numero Uno Reason to book your own - cattle boats (clueless too
(sometimes that's me)) Each one I did thru Royal Caribbean they were
cattle boats - with way to many divers. The last on in St Martin there
were three groups of 16. Lucky for me I was last in and had a bunch of
air suckers. So the water was pretty much empty when I had half a
bottle left.

My point doing thru the boat is sometimes it is safer(time wise)

>
> -- Bob.
>

Reef Fish wrote:
> Amanda wrote:
>
>>Hi all...
>>
>>I'm going on a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise in mid-April (working on
>>the ship but I get time off while in port).
>>
>>The ship offers dive excursions for a price. Should I sign up for those
>>or try to get my own deal off the boat?
>
>
> With rare exceptions, get your own deal. The rare exception
> would be Grand Cayman, but that's on the Western Caribbean.
>
> Grummy and Joe talked about Coz and local time. No sweat there.
> The captain of the dive boat of my shop even bribe the cruiseship
> pier guards to let me return directly to the Puerta Maya pier steps,
> saving me a least 200 yards of walking from the entrance of the
> pier.
>
> One advantage of booking your own is that you're not likely to
> end up in cattle boats of clueless divers (which are the majority
> of the cruise ship divers).
>

The Numero Uno Reason to book your own - cattle boats (clueless too
(sometimes that's me)) Each one I did thru Royal Caribbean they were
cattle boats - with way to many divers. The last on in St Martin there
were three groups of 16. Lucky for me I was last in and had a bunch of
air suckers. So the water was pretty much empty when I had half a
bottle left.

My point doing thru the boat is sometimes it is safer(time wise)

>
> -- Bob.
>

Thus spake Joe English <joeenglish2@whome.com> :

>Reef Fish wrote:
>> Amanda wrote:
>>
>>>Hi all...
>>>
>>>I'm going on a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise in mid-April (working on
>>>the ship but I get time off while in port).
>>>
>>>The ship offers dive excursions for a price. Should I sign up for those
>>>or try to get my own deal off the boat?
>>
>>
>> With rare exceptions, get your own deal. The rare exception
>> would be Grand Cayman, but that's on the Western Caribbean.
>>
>> Grummy and Joe talked about Coz and local time. No sweat there.
>> The captain of the dive boat of my shop even bribe the cruiseship
>> pier guards to let me return directly to the Puerta Maya pier steps,
>> saving me a least 200 yards of walking from the entrance of the
>> pier.
>>
>> One advantage of booking your own is that you're not likely to
>> end up in cattle boats of clueless divers (which are the majority
>> of the cruise ship divers).
>>
>
>The Numero Uno Reason to book your own - cattle boats (clueless too
>(sometimes that's me)) Each one I did thru Royal Caribbean they were
>cattle boats - with way to many divers. The last on in St Martin there
>were three groups of 16. Lucky for me I was last in and had a bunch of
>air suckers. So the water was pretty much empty when I had half a
>bottle left.

I've had good experiences and bad experiences booking through the
ship. Good: 8 reasonably experienced divers on the boat along with a
"go with the flow" DM. We did two good dives with "agressive"
profiles. Bad: 14 other divers with little to no experience (two just
certified). DM got pissed at us for not going up "on time". Okay
dives, but nothing great. Second dive was Paradise South. We spent
so much time on the bottom that we didn't have our gear stowed by the
time the boat got back to the pier. Crew seemed a little anxious and
almost pissed until I started tipping. I think we were the only ones
who did so.

The problem with booking your own in Cozumel is that the ship usually
gets in after the morning boat leave and leaves before the afternoon
boats get back. And now, with tendering, that's even more of a
problem.

Can't speak to the Eastern ITN, might not hurt to check with with some
shops.

>
>My point doing thru the boat is sometimes it is safer(time wise)

It's certainly more convenient.

>
>>
>> -- Bob.
>>
--
dillon

Could have been is in the past
Could be is in the future
There is only the now

Thus spake Joe English <joeenglish2@whome.com> :

>Reef Fish wrote:
>> Amanda wrote:
>>
>>>Hi all...
>>>
>>>I'm going on a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise in mid-April (working on
>>>the ship but I get time off while in port).
>>>
>>>The ship offers dive excursions for a price. Should I sign up for those
>>>or try to get my own deal off the boat?
>>
>>
>> With rare exceptions, get your own deal. The rare exception
>> would be Grand Cayman, but that's on the Western Caribbean.
>>
>> Grummy and Joe talked about Coz and local time. No sweat there.
>> The captain of the dive boat of my shop even bribe the cruiseship
>> pier guards to let me return directly to the Puerta Maya pier steps,
>> saving me a least 200 yards of walking from the entrance of the
>> pier.
>>
>> One advantage of booking your own is that you're not likely to
>> end up in cattle boats of clueless divers (which are the majority
>> of the cruise ship divers).
>>
>
>The Numero Uno Reason to book your own - cattle boats (clueless too
>(sometimes that's me)) Each one I did thru Royal Caribbean they were
>cattle boats - with way to many divers. The last on in St Martin there
>were three groups of 16. Lucky for me I was last in and had a bunch of
>air suckers. So the water was pretty much empty when I had half a
>bottle left.

I've had good experiences and bad experiences booking through the
ship. Good: 8 reasonably experienced divers on the boat along with a
"go with the flow" DM. We did two good dives with "agressive"
profiles. Bad: 14 other divers with little to no experience (two just
certified). DM got pissed at us for not going up "on time". Okay
dives, but nothing great. Second dive was Paradise South. We spent
so much time on the bottom that we didn't have our gear stowed by the
time the boat got back to the pier. Crew seemed a little anxious and
almost pissed until I started tipping. I think we were the only ones
who did so.

The problem with booking your own in Cozumel is that the ship usually
gets in after the morning boat leave and leaves before the afternoon
boats get back. And now, with tendering, that's even more of a
problem.

Can't speak to the Eastern ITN, might not hurt to check with with some
shops.

>
>My point doing thru the boat is sometimes it is safer(time wise)

It's certainly more convenient.

>
>>
>> -- Bob.
>>
--
dillon

Could have been is in the past
Could be is in the future
There is only the now