Scuba certification before your cruise.
A Disney sailing is a common reason to get certified, and the same card works on other cruise lines. BluWave Divers is an independent shop at 3465 Edgewater Dr in College Park, Orlando. We teach the course here. Excursions are booked with the cruise line.
BluWave Divers is not affiliated with Disney or Disney Cruise Line.
Photo: Bernd Dittrich / Unsplash
Castaway Cay is a snorkel stop
Castaway Cay has a snorkel lagoon. Scuba is not offered on the island, and dive tanks are on the prohibited-items list. When a Bahamas itinerary includes scuba, it runs at another port, often Nassau, and that operator sets the rules for the trip.
A try-dive and a certification card
Discover Scuba Diving is a supervised introduction: you breathe underwater with an instructor beside you, and you finish the day without a certification card. Open Water is the course that issues the card cruise operators ask to see. At BluWave, Open Water is $699. Confined-water sessions run in the shop's own training pool in College Park, with a PADI IDC Staff Instructor, and the certification dives finish in open water.
How recent the card needs to be
Public guidance uses more than one window, so read the excursion you actually want. planDisney's write-up of Disney Cruise Line's certified scuba details asks for a certification card and a logged dive within the past 24 months. Stuart Cove, the Nassau operator on that listing, tells its own two-tank divers that a gap longer than three years calls for a refresher before the boat. If your last dive sits in that gap, or past either window, the refresher at the shop is $299.99: theory, pool skills in our training pool, and an open-water dive in a day.
Junior divers: 10 here, sometimes 12 on the ship
PADI Junior Open Water starts at age 10. Full Open Water certification starts at 15. Disney Cruise Line's certified scuba listing for Stuart Cove in Nassau is posted for ages 12 and up. That operator's own boat page lists certified divers from age 10. Check the age line on the excursion for your sailing. A 10- or 11-year-old can earn Junior Open Water here, and some cruise listings still start at 12.
Where to start
If you're new to diving, start with PADI Open Water in Orlando. If you already hold a card and the last dive was a while ago, book the refresher. The full ladder, from Discover Scuba through Divemaster, is on the certifications page. The shop is at 3465 Edgewater Dr, Orlando, FL 32804, open Wed – Sat 10 AM – 7 PM, Sun & Mon 12 – 5 PM, closed Tuesday. Call (407) 312-8959.
Questions we hear before a sailing
- Can you scuba at Castaway Cay?
- Castaway Cay has snorkeling. Scuba is not offered on the island, and dive tanks are on the prohibited-items list. When a Bahamas sailing includes scuba, it is at another port, often Nassau.
- Does Discover Scuba Diving count as a certification for a cruise?
- Discover Scuba Diving is a supervised try-dive. You finish without a certification card. Open Water is the course that issues the card cruise operators ask to see. Open Water at BluWave Divers is $699.
- How recent does my scuba certification need to be?
- planDisney's write-up of Disney Cruise Line's certified scuba details asks for a certification card and a dive within the past 24 months. Stuart Cove's own two-tank page asks for a refresher when the last logged dive was more than three years ago. A refresher at BluWave Divers is $299.99.
- What age can a junior get certified before a cruise?
- PADI Junior Open Water starts at age 10, and full Open Water certification starts at 15. Disney Cruise Line's certified scuba listing for Stuart Cove in Nassau is posted for ages 12 and up. That operator's own boat page lists certified divers from age 10. Check the age line on the excursion for your sailing.