PADI Certification aboard NOS

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HyLong

Guest
Hi all,
Has anyone taken the PADI certification aboard RCI? It is worth it?
Or any recommendation to diving in Cozumel.
I have always dreamed of diving but if I take a course now...I can't get certified in time for my cruise in May 04 (since I need to do 2 open water dives)...
 
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BurBunny

Guest
While I understand that RCI does a good job with the onboard courses, I'd recommend something a bit different. Instead of doing all your classroom and pool work onboard, you can do those at a local dive shop before you leave, then do your certification dives while on the cruise (they're called referral dives then). The advantage is that you can spend as much time as you need on the book work and pool time to get your skills comfortable, then enjoy the time on the cruise and dive in port.

Do know that if you're only doing 2 open water dives, you don't have full scuba certification. You're getting what's called "scuba diver" certified which means you can dive only under the supervision of an instructor or dive master. Full certification required 4 dives over 2 days. :)

If you'd like recommendations for excellent companies you could also use for referral dives for scuba diver certification in Cozumel, let me know.
 
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HyLong

Guest
Thank you for the advice...I will check out the local diving shop first...
You are right, there are usually so much to do aboard the ships that I probably don't want to be spending my time "studying"!

I was hoping to save time by getting my PADI certificate on board but I didn't know that we needed 4 dives. I live in Toronto and the weather will not permit me to do my 4 dives before the cruise.

If you have any good references for the dives in Cozumel, I would love to get their names or possibly their website. Besides Cozumel, which other port on the Western Caribbean cruise is good for the other 2 dives I need to get certified?

Thanks and Happy Holidays!
 
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BurBunny

Guest
If you're wanting to get full certification, you probably need to go through the ship for your referral dives. I'm not sure PADI will allow those 4 dives to be split into two different shops, but you can check with your local dive center. Plus it's nice to have the same instructor with you for all 4 dives. I suggested a local dive center if you were just wanting to do the partial, scuba diver, certification rather than the full open water level.

If you do want to go totally independently, I'd recommend Eagle Ray Divers or Dive Paradise in Cozumel. Both are excellent and work with cruise ship divers. In Grand Cayman, try Neptunes Divers, Off the Wall or Wall to Wall as well.
 
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