Snorkel Gear

[dornahasa]

I was planning on purchasing my own snorkel gear for sanitation reasons. A friend told me that when you do a snorkel excursion that they give you your gear to KEEP. Is this true? Is it brand new?

Dorna

[RobRen]

We've been on a lot of snorkeling excursions and never once did they give people the snorkel. We prefer to bring our own snorkel and mask and use their fins.

[mehawk]

Not true.

[nicnatmom]

We also brought our own snorkels and masks and rented the fins.

[Longhorn]

My BIL brought his own snorkeling gear and then enjoyed snorkeling every time he went to the beach. He got a better view of a stingray at Costa Maya then he did later on an excursion!

[Darcy]

We bring our own masks and snorkels and rent the fins.

[Mary P]

Bring your own mask - sanitary and better fit. To give you an example, on my first snorkle in Grand Cayman - (I had my gear) they toss the masks in the same bucket as the folks put their feet in - they say this is sanitary - not in my opinion!!!!

I use their fins - used to bring my own fins - that just added to the weight.

Go to a good sporting store to purchase - try on in the store for fit.

[BlueChef]

I've never heard of excursions giving their guests the equipment to keep.
Somebody's pullin' your leg!

I take my own snorkle and mask, and rent the fins. I can't imagine using a snorkle others have used. They SAY they are sanitized, but still.... EWWW.

[ESS]

I would recommend that you purchase your own snorkeling gear. You are paying a great deal for the cruise - and one of the highlights of the cruise will be your snorkel trip. A good set of snorkel gear can be purchased for under one hundred dollars. My wife and I bought some gear during the off season for under 50 dollars.
There are a number of reasons to purchase your own gear

Fit - your mask should be purchased to fit your face. Using a borrowed mask that does not fit your face properly reduces the snorekling experience
Fit part 2 - different people like different types of fins. Personally - I hate the strap on fins that never seem to stay on my feet. I bought a pair of fins that slipped over my foot - and they are comfortable and don't fall off when I am swimming
Hygene - the snorkel that you borrow has been used by countless people. Yes they say they wash the snorkels out each time - but why take chances. Even a good snorkel costs under twenty dollars
Freedom to snorkel on your own. WIth your own gear - you don't have to join overcrowded, expensive snorkel tours to do some great snorkeling. On cruises to Cabo as well as Cozumel - we got off the ship - grabbed a taxi or bus, and went to our favorite snorkel beaches where we decided how long we wanted to stay. Of course - some trips one needs to take a tour as the destinations are off shore - but even so it helps to have your own gear because...
Discounts - we went on one snorkel tour and we recieved a discount of a few dollars for having our own gear

We have used our gear about 5 times. In other words, our gear cost us about fifteen dollars per trip. About two drinks on board the ship - or ten minutes at the slot machines. We think money well invested

There are a number of good brands - we have US Divers and the mask has held up well. You can obtain information from the internet, and even stores such as Costco have US Divers sets for sales

Have a great snorkel trip - and if you run into any great whites - give him a pet for me

ESS

[LisaK]

totally agree with the others, we bring our own mask & snorkel and rent the fins.
There is another option if you think you will not snorkel in the future, rent your snorkel gear for the week from the cruise ship, that way you are in control of how you take care of them.

[dornahasa]

Thank you everyone. I guess my friend was trying to pull my leg.
Dorna

[reneeva]

on snorkle a snorkle trip in mexico (not cruise affliated) YOu rented the equip. but purchased a mouthpiece for the snorkle. (maybe this is what your friend was referring to)
Still I was glad to have my own equipt. You can get good price abd decent equipt. even from Sams or costco. I FINALLY shelled out the bucks for a prescript mask! SO much better!!

I've ton tons of snorkling and a few trips to the caribbean but I am now taking the kids so we are doing our first cruise!!!

[rescuedad]

First time cruiser here. sailing on fascination in july to KW and cozumel. just found out they changed destination to calico. Can anyone tell me where I can find good snorkeling that is just off the beach. I have little ones who like to snorkel but I prefer to keep them in somewhat shallow water near the beach. I did a boat trip out of KW once the water was 15 feet deep and being out in the middle of the ocean kind of scared em.

[RobRen]

reneeva,

I wear contacts and also wanted to buy a prescription mask. I used one in Florida and thought it was great...except I couldn't see clearly when I was out of the water. I thought I had to had a prescription mask so I wouldn't lose a lens when clearing my mask of water (you know how the water slowly leaks in your mask).

A really helpful clerk at Sport Chalet told me to get a purge mask instead. When underwater, all you have to do is blow out of your nose and the entire mask clears of water. It worked so great that I bought one for my husband and son. We no longer have to "empty our mask of water" while snorkeling. Make sure you get one that purges from the bottom (some require you to turn your head which totally defeats the contact lens problem). Now I snorkel confidently with my contacts on! Mine is made by US Divers, it's the X-Ray model. It came in a box with a snorkel. I believe it's in the $40 range.

[landshark]

I've been looking into snorkel trips in Cozumel and there is one that definately says that you keep the snorkel as a souvenir. (Sorry, I don't remember which one.)