Trip Report Disappointing Experience on the Turks and Caicos Explorer II

[MidOH]

Hopefully you can distinguish between fact and opinion. For example, you can describe the food choices; that's a fact. Your opinion was it was too fancy.
Distinguish between information and judgements. If you present facts and unbiased information, the review is useful to everyone. Once you start coloring your info with your own opinions and judgements, the review degrades.

Meh. That would be a dry review.

What's the big difference between MotorTrend magazine, and Bike magazine (UK). MT sticks to facts so that they don't offend sponsors, while Bike has no problem telling you how a product felt. Sometimes to the point of saying,: "this one's my favorite, there is no reason why".

I absolutely want to hear how the OP feels. No, it's not supposed to be fair. It doesn't need to be.

 

[buster243]

Hopefully you can distinguish between fact and opinion. For example, you can describe the food choices; that's a fact. Your opinion was it was too fancy.
Distinguish between information and judgements. If you present facts and unbiased information, the review is useful to everyone. Once you start coloring your info with your own opinions and judgements, the review degrades.

So you are not supposed to use your opinion in a review? Really??? It's up to you to read the review and take what you want from the review.

 

[buster243]

Yes, it is clearly posted on the website at Current Onboard Charges | Explorer Ventures Liveaboard Fleet.

We knew charges were coming but we missed that page with the total amount. If they know before hand you had to pay this, why don't you pay it in your main payment instead of expecting to take a fairly large amount of currency around on your person? OK maybe the prices change they could still send a payable invoice the week prior to the trip.

 

[Wookie]

We knew charges were coming but we missed that page with the total amount. If they know before hand you had to pay this, why don't you pay it in your main payment instead of expecting to take a fairly large amount of currency around on your person? OK maybe the prices change they could still send a payable invoice the week prior to the trip.

That probably has to do with what country the credit cards are processed in. Obviously there are tax implications for the company to process credit cards in the USA, I don’t know if Wyoming has an onerous business tax or not, but avoiding it altogether is the best solution.

I ALWAYS processed credit cards for trip incidentals (hats, t-shirts, helium if a tech trip) outside of state waters so I didn’t have to charge sales tax to my clients. Taxation is theft, and sometimes those breathing gas bills would exceed a grand for a week of open circuit trimix diving.

 

[Joneill]

We knew charges were coming but we missed that page with the total amount. If they know before hand you had to pay this, why don't you pay it in your main payment instead of expecting to take a fairly large amount of currency around on your person? OK maybe the prices change they could still send a payable invoice the week prior to the trip.

It's common on liveaboards to have charges that you need to pay on board - usually at the end of the trip (some boats let you use a credit card but charge you the extra ~4.5% processing fee that they incur so cash is usually better) . You missed it so that is on you and not really a valid complaint. I have no issue with the rest of your review as it reflects your actual experience - so thanks for sharing!

Link to actual details from above:
Current Onboard Charges | Explorer Ventures Liveaboard Fleet

 

[buster243]

So you know, this a review and all opinion as most review are. There are some facts and some biased opinion base on other trips.

We did not go hungry, but we though the food choices were unusual for a dive boat, our opinion. That said, we did enjoy a lot of what was served.
The boat was old, which is typical for dive boats, but we noticed several things that could have been fixed but weren't. Again My opinion. Those thing never hampered the boat nor put us in any jeopardy.
The extra costs were higher for us because we had to either carry large amounts of cash or have our credit card information written down and processed elsewhere. We also missed the page showing the total cost of the extras. There we two of us, and carrying $1500 plus in cash isn't something most people do, and we’re uncomfortable with our credit card information being written down. We didn’t bring enough cash, and while we could have skimped on tipping the crew to make up for it, we didn’t think that was fair. So we reluctantly gave them our credit card number.
We did tip and were prepared for that. We also knew there would be costs for fuel and park fees, but we didn’t know the amounts. We still don’t understand why these costs can’t be paid before the trip.
The dive sites were disappointing, and the crew knew this before we left the dock. You go on a liveaboard to reach dive sites that are usually inaccessible from the shore and are among the best diving around. Most of our dives were off West Caicos, and they were all poor. If these were the best sites available that is a sad state for TnC diving. When you book through a dive company, you expect them to provide the best diving sites. We did not go for, the boat, the food or the room. We’ve had great diving experiences on other liveaboards, even within the same company, but this was not one of them. This is also an opinion base on other liveaboards.

This are all my opinions, as normally done in a review. I put it out this for information that happen to me(and my wife) and gave my review accordingly. If we offended someone so be it.

 

[buster243]

That probably has to do with what country the credit cards are processed in. Obviously there are tax implications for the company to process credit cards in the USA, I don’t know if Wyoming has an onerous business tax or not, but avoiding it altogether is the best solution.

I ALWAYS processed credit cards for trip incidentals (hats, t-shirts, helium if a tech trip) outside of state waters so I didn’t have to charge sales tax to my clients. Taxation is theft, and sometimes those breathing gas bills would exceed a grand for a week of open circuit trimix diving.

You really think the taxes are less in Turks and Caicos? Every where we went the had that 30% tax placed on everything. Unless they are avoiding paying taxes, doubtful Wyoming was more. On an online invoice the credit card cost is normally the same as in person. At least it is for our company.

 

[buster243]

Well obviously that's on you, it's not the fault of the dive charter that you didn't read carefully. They put it there, it's up to the customer to do their homework. So anything related to "surprise charges and fees" and you having to incur inconveniences for not bringing enough cash should be eliminated from your review because it is not a valid complaint (along with the poor visibility and possibly the choice of dive sites - because as I said as per my experience they were ALL bad). Toss the weird grumble about the "food being too fancy" and the silly rant about the midweek towel exchange and infrequent bed linen swaps (seriusly dude this is a DIVE boat not the Ritz Carlton) there isn't all that much to whine about except maybe the dive crew wasn't as friendly as you'd like and the boat was a bit run down.

Actually, no. Since you directed your post at me (and everyone else who read it), that is not necessarily why I go on a liveaboard. I go on a liveaboard for the convenience and the ability to do a ton of dives in a short period of time without constantly boarding and unloading heavy wet dive gear and wasting time on long boat rides and having all my gear right there ready to go without having to swap tanks and do a bunch of mundane tasks that do not apply when there is a dedicated gear station right near the platform (including a charging station for camera and torch batteries). If I forget something in my room it's never more than a 45 second walk to retrieve it, and on the way back I can usually grab a snack from the lounge. You can't put a price on that.

It seems you took away exactly what you wanted from my review. The comment about the bedding was a simple observation, not necessarily a complaint. While we've been on dive boats that provided better room service, you're reading too much into that remark.

Remember, this is my review, and I’m allowed to express my opinions and experiences. You’re welcome to disagree with me, but this space is for sharing my honest perspective.

 

[Cornellxc]

1) TCI is EXPENSIVE. $1500 is not a lot of cash to bring down there (or anywhere) for a vacation. Bringing enough cash for an emergency in a foreign country is always a good idea. There are plenty of ways to secure it when traveling. A budget friendly destination this will never be.

2) Sorry to hear about the quality of diving, most days of the year vis is 100ft+. You haven't said anything about the sea conditions. If there was a north swell you generally have to hide on the southwest sites and it severely limits options.

3) All the more reason to stay in Grand Turk, eat whatever you want and make 3 dives a day (5-15 minute boat rides). Spend the extra money on diving the Endymion off of Salt/Great Sand Cay and have beers at sandbar after.

4) Cous cous is not exotic or fancy. I'll die on that hill.

 

[DC Diver46]

I think not including port fee/gas prices etc is a deceiving practice. Just like an example that was given by @Wookie about two identical boats and a la cart did better - it is because operators found a way to deceive a customer on the total fees.
On the other hand, it is incumbent on the user to do his own research to determine the final costs ahead of time and avoid surprises.
I like to book through a local dive shop and it is VERY clearly stated what is included and what it is not. The final cost that I pay to dive shop travel is everything except maybe marine park fee if there is one and tips.
Also I disagree with @Wookie that we can not comment on the OPs experiences. He posted here probably to vent, but really to see if he can get support of others or to see if he was off base. I think it is very helpful to have others comment on his experiences (it is not denying them) but looking at everything from the different angles. This is what makes these boards fun and learn from them.

I did this trip about 6 weeks ago. A list of all charges is on the website. Current Onboard Charges | Explorer Ventures Liveaboard Fleet