DCL Scuba Diving excursion in Nassau

[lighthouse10]

Hello,

I'll be sailing on the 4 night Dream to the Bahamas in a couple of months and am trying to plan some activities.

Has anyone done the DCL certified scuba excursion in Nassau? How was it? DH and I like to dive in new places, but the excursion is quite expensive if we both do it. We are going back and forth between that and a couples' massage, which is about the same price, and cannot afford to do both.
Is the dive worth the long car drive that is involved and the price tag?

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Capt_BJ]

the excursion is with Stuart Cove which is the big dog dive shop on the island. If you search for comments about SC 'performance' with regard to divers from cruise ships you will find a wide range of reviews because (from SC web site):

... the morning pick-up difficult to guarantee because if your ship is delayed or you get hung up in customs, our bus can not wait.

... if you are traveling on Holland America, a Disney Cruise Lines, or a Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ship. Stuart Cove's Aqua Adventures is contractually bound with HAL to provide diving, snorkeling and SUB experiences; with Disney for 2-tank dives: and with Royal Caribbean for 2-tank dives and SUB experiences to some of their ships when they visit Nassau. If your ship is one that we are contracted to provide services for, the cruise line has arranged for special charter times to make the excursion work ...

So your DCL excursion eliminates many of the issues you find mentioned on other 'comment' sites, esp for other cruise lines.

That said:

- the cost is in line with what I've experienced for other 2 tank cruise excursion dives; been doing these for 30 years ... including DCL, NCL, PRINCESS, RCL . . . others

- the operation is of good quality - rental equipment was in good condition, boat was in good shape ... boat was FULL, folks from several ships were on the same trip.

- Last time I did it was via RCL. The dive sites were so-so. Their popular site is an area of left over props from u/w portions of various James Bond movies. Boat ride is not very long, ESPLY as compared to the bus ride! As dives go, So So IMO, but for frame of reference I spent a week diving in Cayman for the n'th time this March. I'm cruising to Nassau in a week and do not plan to do this dive again at this time (it is nice to live a few minutes from a cruise port!)

- The dive shop is about as far away from the docks as you can get on the island! You will see some of the island but the trip will consume your day. Last time I did this I was not back on the ship until 5pm because there had been a traffic accident and the bus was stuck in traffic.

pm if you want the name of another place to look for info - IME mods will delete this post if I mention it here . . .