I have a hard time imagining that the PADI certification program would be cancelled on the PG in "high season." We were on the PG for two weeks just a few weeks ago and one week they had two or three folks in the PADI cert program -- and there were fewer than 125 total guests aboard!

I can't say enough good things about the dive staff on the PG and if you choose to do the certification aboard I'm sure they'll be wonderful. Let me suggest (even though you didn't ask) that you consider doing the classroom portion of the certification process at a local dive center before you go on the ship. You can then, from the dive center, get a "referral" that will allow you to do the Open Water Diver certification dives on the PG and get signed off by the PG dive staff. The advantage to this approach is that you don't end up spending a significant chunk of your cruise time doing studying and classroom work.

george