Of your choices, probably Juliet. A couple of their cabins are even ensuite and all have
doors. Blackbeards have bunks/curtains only in larger areas plus the interior bunks (mostly twins for couples) face the galley where meals are at least prepared and laid out. Since the ship has to carry everything,
freshwater showers are limited to 30 secs. and the heads are pretty primitive. You can have all the saltwater you want for rinsing things. I believe most people eat and live on deck all week as well.
Aquacat as mentioned is nice but twice the price plus. There's you'll be sharing a cabin with 2-4 depending on the price you pay. All are ensuite IIRC - waiting for the head at 7am is something you only want to do once...
Liveaboards with people on them tend to be louder. In the case of the sloops, everyone is walking over your head on the main deck. Hpwever 3-4 dives/day puts most in bed by 9PM. And they're wood so they creak. I'm a very light sleeper so I usually sleep with my iPod or up on deck. One night a group on ours found the liquor cabinet - several loud hours later most fell asleep. So it can happen on better boats also but most people are respectful after about 9am. On some steel boats some cabins are a deck or two above the others so they're the quietest - and priced accordingly. Tend to be the biggest also.
Also look at Cat PPalu, it's a better version of Blackbeards - about the same size boat but all cabins IIRC. None en-suite but all heads are nearby One other thing is they don't limit the freshwater for showers like Blackbeards does. A few hundred dollars more buys a much nicer experience. Also check out Lost Island Voyages, Cat PPalu's direct competition in most amenities and price and location.
There's also a
Bahamas Aggressor priced around Aquacat's level. Amenities and refinement on either are much higher yet they leave from Nassau also. Plus there's just more room, you share a cabin, not a bunk in a compartment with others, often self-controlled AC, better food, an actual dining room, an actual lounge area plus the Cat has at least 2-3 deck levels. Mpst have some sort of video entertainment system - often with camera hookups for the guests to show their dives from that day/wk.
Sometimes you just need to get away from someone obnoxious - having a cabin door helps.
I've done a Bahamas liveaboard some years ago, my buddy has done two different boats/trips. If you aren't married to the cheap flights and price, there are better options for the quality of diving. The Bahamas in some areas have weathered invasive algae, Sargassum weed and crown of thorns infestations in the past 20 years - they aren't what they once were.
There's two Belize Aggressor's - the older looking one is the bigger one. Southwest flies there direct now from southern US hubs now - Houston is one - the crew will pick you up at the airport in Belize City. Belize has one of the longest barrier reefs in the world running parallel offshore.
Turks & Caicos is
exceptional deep wall diving that easily rivals the Bahamas. There's both an Aggressor and an Explorer Ventures boat there - both pickup at the airport so you have little to no other costs besides the trip price and airfare. Look into connecting thru Charlotte - it's not $400 but it wasn't $800 either. Turks and Caicos is very
sharky once you move away from Provo - lots of turtles, grouper, possible dolphins and so many rays you'll lose interest. Around most coral heads is a little macro world also. Both move over sometime around Dec-Apr. to the Silver Banks to Humpback whale watch but those are
non-dive trips.
Aggressor Fleet - Official Website
Turks and Caicos Liveaboard Diving - Explorer Ventures
I've never been on a boat where any solo travelers weren't immediately added to a group - both to dive and at dinner. It's happens because there's just enough seats plus your buddy might be your room-mate or an extra with his/her group. We've dove two all week, 3, 5 on night dives and once about 8 of us decided to dive the same site. On that trip, a guy we met on the van ride from the airport asked to dive with us all week - which we did.
Plus the non-working DM's will dive if asked when they can depending on their nitrogen loading for the week. A couple on one boat had their own all week (no charge) because they asked - everyone else of 22 was comfortable with their buddy situation. Almost every DM on a liveaboard is actually an instructor also - boats can pick/choose for the coveted job openings. Do
tip well at the end, they don't make much.
Contact them b4 you go to see if you can bring anything - sometimes it's the smallest thing. I delivered tea once to a British DM who couldn't get it locally. Once a boat contacted my buddy about bringing a small pump - they had it delivered to him at home b4 he flew out.
have fun,
PS, get on Explorer's e-mail list - they offer regular discounts on certain trips. We saved $400pp. on ours. The best deals go fast - sometimes on the same day so call if interested in one.
