Is luxury important in a cruise?

[vladimir]

Like others we have done a fair amount of live-aboards, from basic to luxury. Our deciding factors in order are....

1. How many people does the boat take. I prefer boats that take 16 or less. The less the better. 10 is about perfect.
1a. Length of trip. We love 10 days plenty of diving.
2. How many dives per day? Minimum of 4 with no cap on bottom time. If they do 5 great, open dive deck even better, solo diver program Fantastic!
2b. Will they let us dive our own pace. As amateur photogs we move very slowly.
3. Reviews and Reputation. A poorly maintained boat or unmotivated crew can ruin a trip. Plus good dive guides can be the difference from seeing pygmy seahorses or not.
4. Have to agree with the private bathroom. When you are doing 4-5 dives a day, eating, drinking I don't want to be in a queue for the loo.
(For us camera friendly boat is also important with a decent camera room, charging stations and camera friendly crew. Can be another reason rooms can be important if you are doing all your camera work in there)

In general you get what you pay for!

My priorities are pretty close to these. My preference for an ensuite bathroom is not just on utilitarian grounds, though, I just prefer a greater measure of privacy. I frequently opt for a private room as well. I have even considered a private, crewed boat--when I was feeling particularly flush--but I do enjoy socializing with my fellow divers and have made a few good friends on liveaboards.

 

[robint]

the bathroom thing, 30-45 people sharing two heads, is that there always seems to be a line.... and when you are a girl, and need to pee, you don't want to stand in line for 20+ minutes behind some jerk who decides to take a shower, shampoo, rinse clothes and change into dry clothes! This happened to me several times. It is annoying and rude. Most of the time it wasn't an issue, but there were times when everyone on the boat got annoyed about it.

 

[H2O Gal]

the bathroom thing, 30-45 people sharing two heads, is that there always seems to be a line.... and when you are a girl, and need to pee, you don't want to stand in line for 20+ minutes

The ocean is ALWAYS open.....

If the diving's good I don't care what the boat is like, as long as there is working AC--I went on a liveaboard years ago and the AC died...there were no windows where the cabins were, and it was hot as hell, so everyone dragged their mattresses out onto the bow of the boat and the sundeck and slept there. Thank goodness it didn't rain!

 

[potato cod]

The bathroom thing--for some it may be a luxury, for me it is a necessity. I don't have a lot of demands and don't normally go in for luxury accomodations, but I just don't want to share my bathroom with anyone but my husband on a live aboard.

You're traveling and eating richer food than normal, so upset stomachs happen (Mexican buffet on a liveaboard in Australia = bad idea), and I don't want to be rushed if I'm in the bathroom. Or desperately waiting for the bathroom if I need it. I also don't want to get dressed and have to wander down the hall to the loo in the middle of the night. Or lug stuff to the bathroom all the time. And a shower at the end of the day is just nice. I've gone for 12 days without showering while doing fieldwork and camping, but if I'm on vacation I like to be a little fresher.

 

[robint]

The ocean is ALWAYS open.....

uuhhhh, in the Caribbean maybe..... but in Calif when the ocean is 60 degrees or even colder, and waves are 1-4' with the boat rocking, I don't think so!!!!!