Dive with the Ship's Excursion?

If you are a new diver then yes, the ship's dive excursion may be just what you need. They tend to contract with the largest dive operators and are required to keep the diver to divemaster ratio low. The ship handles all transportation to and from the dive shop or the dive boat picks you up at the ship. Dive gear can be included and all charges are through the ship so you don't have to worry about monetary conversions or having a lot of cash on hand. These operators tend to be overly cautious and that's why more experienced divers may opt out of the cruise dive excursion.

If you've been diving for a while then you might prefer a more customized dive experience. Most experienced divers try to avoid the "cattle boats" with 15 or more divers. Sometimes that's just what the cruse ship dive excursion is. Or a worse situation is when the ship doesn't draw enough divers for the excursion and cancels it. Sadly you then must scramble to find an operator at the last minute, and will likely end up not diving at all. The safety margin that the cruise dive operator observes may mean you come up with 1500 psi, a real bummer when you know you had another 15 to 30 minutes of dive time. But those safety margins are there for good reason.

Cruise ship divers can include people who haven't been diving in several years or newbies who just got certified for their cruise. Experienced divers like to avoid these individuals because they tend to be more accident prone. If one happens to be assigned to you as your buddy then you are stuck diving their profile, which may mean a dive that is shallow and brief. Additionally, you may end up "baby sitting" your buddy because they have forgotten or are unfamiliar with diving protocol. And sometimes it's just painful to watch these inexperienced divers knock over coral and chase after eagle rays!

Arranging your own diving in each port requires some research, and will definitely take more time than just signing up with the ship's excursion. However your work is usually rewarded with a much nicer dive experience. The next post will discuss how to set up your own diving in each port so that you don't end up in an unsafe situation or missing the ship. For those who decide to stick with the ship's excursion just remember to bring your C card and log book or you won't be allowed to dive. One other caution, if you check yes to any of the questions regarding health (ie, "do you have high blood pressure?") you won't be diving either.

We have used the ship's dive excursion, especially when the price is reasonable, the dive operator is highly regarded and the time in port is minimal. My advice is to bring your own buddy and be sure you get in a group that matches your experience level. If you're lucky the dive master may let your group dive your computers and you'll have a great dive or two. Bottoms up!

Dive with the Ship's Excursion?

Bring or Rent Dive Gear?

This question is always difficult because circumstances in the travel industry keep making it less attractive to bring your own gear. With increasing baggage fees, weight restrictions and now carry-on restrictions, bringing your gear may mean leaving your clothes at home. Since that's not really an option on a cruise where dressing up is part of the fun, bringing your dive gear may cost you more than it's worth.

Having your own gear is safer, more comfortable and less costly. Rental gear isn't always in great shape. Because you will be diving with different operators throughout the week you may find a wide discrepancy from one shop to the next. Some of this uncertainty can be alleviated by checking with scubaboard.com or other dive review venues to see what others have said about a potential dive shop's equipment. Of course, with your own gear you know exactly when it was last serviced.

Even with relatively new equipment your discomfort level increases when you aren't sure how the weight release works or how to use a BC-integrated octo. If you wear a size M BC and the operator has only S or L the BC won't fit and you will struggle the entire dive. It's important when diving with different operators to settle some of the uncertainty by feeling comfortable in the gear. As you know you have enough to worry about - gear shouldn't be one of your concerns.

Finally, dive shops can charge anywhere from $15 to $45/day for equipment. If you are diving several days the cost for rental gear can really add up. It might actually be cheaper to pay the baggage fees and skip the hassles of rental gear. That said, your own gear isn't without it's share of hassle.

Cruise ship cabins are small. Not only will you battle where to put your gear when you aren't diving, but rinsing and drying the gear can be nearly impossible on the ship. Fortunately, most dive operators have a fresh water rinse of some sort (hose, dunk tank) so you may not have to actually stand in the shower with your gear to rinse off the salt water.

But even rinsed gear is drippy, leaving a trail from the dock through the hallways and around your bed. If you chose a balcony cabin (as mentioned in my last post) then the gear can stay outside and dry in the breeze. If not, then the gear will take up precious space in your bathroom requiring you to unload the shower every time you want to use it. If you do decide to go this route ask the room steward for extra beach towels for when you have to move the gear out of the shower.

I personally prefer to bring my own gear even though the cost and hassle factor may be high. Why? Because my life depends on that gear. My comfort level under the water is much more important to me than my comfort level in the cabin. However I do try to spring for the balcony room as often as possible. Not only because if provides a convenient place for my gear, but also because we enjoy a glass of wine while watching the sunset on our balcony. These quiet, peaceful moments are precious to me. It is here that we reminisce about the day's dives, and plan future trips. Thanks for reading -- bottoms up!

Bring or Rent Dive Gear?

Evaluating Cruise Deals

After you've narrowed down your search to just a few potential cruises it's time to evaluate the price against the value. Here are some questions to ask yourself. 1. How much money can you afford to spend on this trip? If you only take one vacation each year then your "splurge" factor may be higher than mine. We are fortunate to have almost six weeks of vacation each year so if we keep our costs down we can afford more trips. If you can afford it, a Windstar or Regent cruise offers some excellent itineraries for divers. Because the ships are smaller they can get into more remote ports like Bequia or Jost Van Dyke. However the cost is higher than say a Princess or Carnival cruise. For many of us that means the diving better be amazing and available at every port!

Which brings us to our next question, 2. How much diving does each cruise offer? We are avid divers so we want to get at least four dive days in each seven day cruise. A cruise that offers six dive opportunities is even sweeter, so we may be willing to pay more for it. Even if you don't plan to dive more than two or three days you'll want to make sure you're diving in the best spots you can. A cruise that stops in San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten isn't as attractive as one that stop in Dominica, St.Lucia and Barbados because the diving won't be nearly as good.

Just to give you an idea based on rates from one cruise discounter, the cost for an inside cabin April 17 on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas is $545 with five dive ports. Just a week later on April 25th the Carnival Victory is $439 for an inside cabin and the itinerary includes six potential dive ports. Of course there are many non-diving reasons to choose one cruise over another. Personally, I want the most and best diving for the buck so that is how we evaluate the cost of a cruise.

Finally, question number 3. How much will it cost to upgrade to a balcony? If you are taking your own gear (something we'll discuss in the next post) then a balcony gives you a place to store your gear. Dive gear can get very stinky after several days of diving so if the cost for a balcony is reasonable then choose the balcony. If you plan to rent all your gear then the decision to upgrade may be based on other reasons (like saving enough to pay for another cruise in the fall!).

Other cruise divers may have their own criteria for evaluating cruise value and if so feel free to comment. Bottoms up!

Evaluating Cruise Deals

Choosing the Right Cruise for Diving

If your spouse is set on a Caribbean cruise and you were hoping for a week of diving in Bonaire take heart. You can dive and cruise but it takes some careful planning. It's true that you may get in more diving on a land-based vacation, but if the weather turns foul you are stuck in the same spot all week. The great advantage of cruise ship diving is that every day you wake up to new weather conditions. If one port is wiped out the chances are good that your next port will be just fine for diving.

Your first step in planning a cruise/dive vacation is to consider which cruise to take. Some itineraries are more conducive to diving than others. Additionally, some cruise lines are more "diver friendly" so check out the shore excursions before you book. Note the times the ship is in port. If the ship is only in a port five hours your chances of getting in some diving are greatly reduced. Check out the Cruise Critic forum on diving (http://www.cruisecritic.com) and see what others have said about diving in various ports. The time and money required to get to the dive shop at some ports may be prohibitive.

I love diving from cruise ships because I have been able to dive in some remote locations that would cost too much to fly into and stay. For example, St. Lucia has some lovely diving, but the cost to fly into St. Lucia, and the cost of lodging is much higher than what you'll pay to cruise to St. Lucia. Another advantage of cruise ship diving is that you can check out dive locations without risking a week's vacation as well as your hard-earned vacation dollars. If a port you visit has some nice diving then you can plan on returning at a later date for a land-based vacation.

For Caribbean cruising many of the ports are well worth diving. My favorites include Dominica, Grenada, Barbados and St. Croix in the Eastern Caribbean. The western Caribbean holds such delights as Belize, Roatan, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Southern Caribbean cruises often stop at Aruba, Bonaire and/or Curacao -- all very nice dive spots. The added advantage to some of these ports is that shore diving is possible, which means you save money on the cost of diving. We'll talk more about the diving at each port in a later post.

Once you know which ports you want to visit you can start watching for a deal on cruises going to those ports. In my next post I'll discuss how to weigh the cost of a cruise against the value to you as a diver. It's not always the cheapest cruise that wins your vote, but rather the cruise that offers the right balance of convenience, time in port, overall itinerary and the best diving opportunities. Until then, bottoms up!

Choosing the Right Cruise for Diving