Calling all SCUBA Divers

[JCarangal]

We are going on the Eastern 7-night cruise. Several in our group dive and are hoping to go on at least 1 dive trip during the cruise. Just wondering about everyone's experiences ...

Have you used DCL's excursions or did you make your own arrangements?

Any advice on booking it yourself?

The 3 possibilities are St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Castaway Cay. Anyone have opinions about one location over another?

Did you bring your own gear or did you use what the excursion/dive shop provided?

Thanks for any help/advice!

 

[JCarangal]

bump

 

[nedleycan]

We are SCUBA divers, but have never gone diving in either St. Martin or St. Thomas or CC. St. Thomas has some great ship wreck dives (if you have never done one, they are great... very different than regular dives). I have never heard anything about diving in St. Martin. CC is sooooooo great, I wouldn't go diving there. You will want to spend the entire day their. I would pick St. Thomas as my dive destination.
I have always used the gear that the cruise or resort supplies and have never been disappointed. I wouldn't bother bringing my own gear, unless you want to bring your own snorkle and mask.

 

[JCarangal]

Thanks for the input nedleycan --
We have been on dives in Jamaica (used provided equipment) and Cozumel (brought our own equipment) and been happy with each. Now, we are trying to decide at which island to dive. The allure of diving at St. Maarten is that it is a longer day in port, so we could enjoy a bit of the island as well as dive. St. Thomas is a shorter day in port, so I am worried the diving will take up almost all of the day there.

Anyone else been diving on the Eastern DCL?

 

[cowhiting]

We just got back from the 4-day Wonder. DW and I are divers and we used DCL to schedule our dive in Nassau. I had done research for picking an outside dive shop for our dives but after some very thorough research, used DCL instead. The reasons were many but boiled down to 2 things....convenience and time. If I had booked privately we would have been gone over 7 hours and had to arrange pick up. This is time better spent actually diving or relaxing. While the price would have been cheaper, it was not convenient.

On the morning we docked in Nassau we met our excursion group at 9am (just after the Oceaneer's club opened for our twin DDs) and 20 minutes later we were on our dive boat enroute to our 1st of 2 dives. We were back at the dock by 12:30pm and relaxing pool-side by 1pm. Talk about convenient.

DW and I brought along our own mask, snorkels, and wet suits. They did not take up much room and were easily dried on our veranda prior to leaving port. We used the fins on the dive boat which were fine.

DW and I had such a good time that we have already booked a 7-day Eastern for next year. We plan on diving so let us know how it was in St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and CC. It looks like we will be on the Magic 1 week after your trip is over. Have a great trip.

Mike and Rona

 

[JCarangal]

Mike --
Thanks so much for the info! I am thinking that going through the DCL excursions are a better bet primarily for time and convenience as well. Although we are in port at St. Maarten for a long day (9 to 9 or something like that), St. Thomas is a short port day (8 to 4?) and I am worried about the time spent getting back and forth.

Another question for you -- how old are your dd's? I am a bit worried about leaving my 2 children on board while we get off the ship and will be unreachable. My kids will be 6 and almost 5, and shouldn't have any trouble with the kids club itself, but I am a bit insecure about being out of contact. (which is another plus for the DCL excursion because at least they'll know where we are).

Thanks again!

 

[cowhiting]

JCarangel,

DDs are 6y/o (twins) and I thought we might have a problem with them going into the club but I should not have worried. We told them about it for weeks leading up to it. As to being out of contact, you hit the nail on the head that DCL knows where you will be. Make sure you tell the councilors that you will be off the ship and out of touch. They'll tell you the pager will be no good but as long as you tell them the expected time you will be back (check at the excursion desk the night before) there should be no problem.

Us divers have got to stick together. The group we dove with in Nassau was small but fun to be with. Afterwards when we saw each other on the Wonder, we would have a drink and talk. What a great way to make new friends! Hope you have the same experience.

Mike