Dive Review of Sand Dollar Sports/Carnival Fantasy Cruise in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Santa Rosa & Chankanaab Reefs

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Sand Dollar Sports/Carnival Fantasy Cruise, Nov, 2009, by Carol Cox, FL, USA ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 5269.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	My husband and I went on a cruise with our daughter and my sister for Thanksgiving. We booked a dive through the cruise ship while in Cozumel. My husband and I are used to doing dedicated dive vacations so we didn't really expect much, but decided to make the best of it. We were plesantly surprised and had an excellent experience. The dive boat met us at a smaller pier next to the cruise ship pier. We didn't see the meeting area when we passed through the busy shopping plaza, and had to go back to fill out the paperwork, but the dive boat watched our gear so we didn't have to schlep it again. The paperwork went quickly and they actually looked at it--I was questioned about a medicine I am taking for my stomach. We boarded the dive boat and made a short trip to the dive shop where most of the guests picked up gear. The operation went smoothly and we were off to our first dive site only 15 minutes away. We received a minimal safety briefing. It was OK for my co-divers, but some of the resort divers could have used a good briefing about staying off the coral. The 18 divers were put in 3 groups. The divemaster paired off with the lone individual in our group that he correctly pegged as someone needing extra attention. After getting bumped around by him, we soon learned to keep our distance from this fellow--he should have signed up for the beginner boat. We saw the usual Cozumel fish life, but I gave our guide extra points for finding a splendid toadfish early in the dive. Just as I was lining up my shot, the flailing diver hit the bottom and kicked up a snowstorm blotting out the toadfish. This was after the diver had already looked at the toadfish, but apparently he wanted to make sure we didn't get any good photos. This dude, along with a diver from another group that kept trying to join our group, kept the divemasters pretty busy. Fortunately for my family, we were allowed to hang back and let the sandstorm settle so we could get a few some shots of the toadfish. This dive may sound bad, but my family had a great time and saw lots of fish. I appreciated the divemaster for letting us hang behind and do our own thing, instead of keeping us tightly coraled with the less experienced divers. We enjoyed ourselves because we accepted that we would be limited by the cruise ship's schedule and we expected inexperienced divers. Despite the expected inconveniences, diving was the favorite part of the cruise for my husband and me. If doing a cruise to Cozumel, I recommend it.
Websites	Sand Dollar Sports Carnival Fantasy Cruise
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Red Sea, Caribbean, Palau, Truk, Guam, Rota, Florida, North Carolina, Honduras, Turkey
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	cloudy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	2
Water Visibility	80-120 Ft/ 24-37 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Max depth was supposed to be 80 feet but it wasn't strictly enforced :-) Time was 40 minutes on each dive.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There was a water bin on board reserved for cameras. It barely accomodated the housings for my husband and myself with a total of 3 strobes. Since we were just doing two dives on one day, we didn't really need any other camera facilities. I didn't see the onshore operations.

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Dive Review of Sand Dollar Sports/Carnival Fantasy Cruise in Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Santa Rosa & Chankanaab Reefs

Sand Dollar Sports/Carnival Fantasy Cruise, Nov, 2009,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Sand Dollar Sports/Carnival Fantasy Cruise in
Cozumel and the Mexican Yucatan/Santa Rosa & Chankanaab Reefs