Scuba lessons (Help)

[Tuckster]

Has anyone done the scuba instruction on board ?? I'm considering doing the basics @ home & using the referral to complete my open water dives with the ship...or doing the whole thing on board....or just doing the resort dive thru a local dive co.

The onboard class is NOT a full PADI Open Water certification! It is a junior certification or something like that. You still have to dive with a Master Diver or Instructor. If you want to be able to dive open water without having a master diver or instructor with you, you can't do this on board. Their class is sort of a step up from a resort course, where you do get a level of certification, but you are not free to dive on your own.

[bluefish]

After reading what RCI has on their website, I have to disagree with browezilla. RCI DOES offer PADI Openwater Certifications, the full deal.

You CAN complete the open water dive certification on their Voyager class ships.
Here is the link to the page that tells about it:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/asp/on...t=ACTV&pg=aqua

In my opinion, the referal is the best way to go. You don't spend time on vacation doing the book work or the pool dives, just the 4 openwater dives. You also get more time to do the class work and if you need more pool time, it is much easier to get it locally than on the cruise where you have a definite deadline to complete the pool work before the openwater dives.

Check with your local dive store for more information about the referal

[Tuckster]

Thanks for your replies. I'm waiting to hear back from RCL. I'm thinking I don't want to waste time on my cruise studying !! I did find out that some dive shops will give you a PADI approved "Blue Card" after you do their Resort Dive which will allow you to dive again @ another port supervised !! I figured the 2 dives would run approx. $400 for my wife & I which is approx. 1/2 of the cert. cost. I'd like to get certified but it may be a year or 2 B4 I dive again !!