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Scuba Diving During A Cruise Vacation
By Clint Leung, Thu Dec 8th
Say you want to scuba dive but your significant other is not adiver and would rather do other activities like shopping. If youboth decided to go on a Caribbean cruise vacation, is it stillpossible for you to go scuba diving? The answer is yes. Thiswill be a big relief to all certified scuba divers who are goingon cruises with itineraries that include such great scuba divedestinations as Cozumel and Grand Cayman. After all, ascertified scuba divers, it would be a shame to go to these portsand not dive. Many cruise ships offer as part of their availableshore excursions. Some ships even have small dive centers onboard for those who want to take introductory sessions in theship pools. These cruise lines will often have businesscontracts with local dive operators at each port that has scubadiving. These local dive operators will take certified scubadivers on boat trips on behalf of the cruise lines. Booking andpayment will be through the cruise ships rather than the localdive operators. The cruise lines claim that if for any reasonthe scuba trips run late, the cruise ships will not leave portuntil all passengers from these cruise ship organized excursionsare back on board. They won't wait around for passengers whodecide to take their own excursions not booked through thecruise ship. This is how the cruise ships try to convince diversto take their excursions even if the cost is usually at apremium compared to what local dive operators would normallycharge directly. Another way to get some in during a cruise vacationis to make arrangements and book in advance with local scubadive operators at each port you are interested in diving at.Although there is always some risk in missing your portdeparture if your own outing runs late, just make sure you planyour own dive trips so that you are back on the ship well inadvance of port departure. Usually if your cruise ship arrivesat port early in the morning, you could book the morning divetrips with the local operator and still have the rest of theafternoon to shop or do other sightseeing. For later arrivalswhere you would miss the morning dive trips, it is stillpossible to take the local operators' afternoon dive trips butin this case, it is very important to make sure that you confirmwhat the estimated
time of return to the docks are. If you canreturn to the docks at least two hours before the cruise ship'sscheduled time of departure, than you will have ample time evenif the dive boat returns a bit late. It it's only an hour orless, the timing may be too tight. See if the dive operator hasa shorter single tank afternoon trip which might get you back tothe docks earlier.
Some local dive operators even have special pick up and drop offservices to and from the cruise ship terminals to their diveshops. These dive businesses are obviously making an effort totake some dive business away from the cruise ship organizedexcursions. These particular local dive operators would be idealif you could find them before your cruise vacation. Otherwise,you may have to take a local taxi to the dive shop if it is notwithin walking distance of the cruise ship terminal. Of course,this is usually not a problem either and even with the addedcost of taxis, the overall cost of going with a local diveoperator may still be lower than the cruise ship organized diveexcursion. Some cruise ship passengers have successfully gotten on localdive trips without any advance booking. These divers just walkedinto a local dive operator once at port. Although this iscertainly feasible, it is not recommended especially in adestination that fills dive trips up quickly. With the internet,it is quite easy to make arrangements with many local diveoperators in advance of your cruise vacation. Tell them whichday your cruise ship will be coming in and the expected time ofboth arrival as well as departure. Some ports like Cozumel havemore than one cruise ship terminal so it's important to let themknow if possible which one your ship will be docked in. Theywill then give you your best options for some forthat particular day. About the author:Clint Leung is a NAUI certified Master and Rescue Scuba Diver.He is also owner of Free Spirit Activewear(http://www.FreeSpiritActivewear.com) , an onlineretailer/designer specializing in premium quality scuba divingactivewear. Free Spirit Activewear has numerous informationresource articles on as well as free eCards.
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