Aggressor 2 for 1 weeks added

[gizmo1972]

The boats are simply STUNNING!!!! and managed and run perfectly! no complaints here

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

To be frank - one should have no reservations about diving aboard either of the Galapagos Aggressors, they are top boats with top crews and guides. The owners are professionals and they operate their trips with concern for safety and enjoymnet by their clients as well as any other dive boat in Galapagos - in fact all the Galapagos live-aboards do a great job - with some being a little larger, a little faster, or with more refined interior than others - thus charging a little more. This is not the place to talk about the pros and cons of each boat but I think what may have been questionned above is about teh quality of the Galapagos Aggresor operation and it is second to none. Those who were able to take advantage of this sale are very fortunate as I don't imagine it will ever happen again - not on this boat anyway.

 

[fred3798]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/th...dancer-fleets-new-carib-dancer-lots-pics.html

Sorry, you cannot dismiss concerns with the brand just by saying that it's a franchise. Franchises operate under agreements that give the franchisor controls of business operations and policies. They choose to band together to benefit from common branding, business models, advertising and the like. If the franchisor does not stand behind its operator when one boat has a problem, why should customers accept that things would be different if another boat had a bad week? It can happen and it's more important to know how they respond to adversity than just extolling the good times. We expect and pay for good times. But what happens if, for any number of reasons, customers have a bad time? The link above gives an example. If Galapogos franchisees do not like being linked with this story, then it's important for them to tell the franchisor and their co-franchisee to do better to protect and promote the brand. That's a check and balance. It's not unfair to bind one franchisee with the franchisor's response to another. Franchises are all about common branding. It's up to the better franchisees to protect the brand when a problem arises and the franchisor does nor respond in a manner that is consistent with the desired brand image.

 

[BDSC]

the only concern around Aggressor/Dancer is the carib dancer she needs some work doing to it! 1 boat out of 20
still one of the best companies around!

Right on. If your trip gets totally screwed up, they may offer you a $100 voucher towards another future trip.

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

Thanks for bringing that up Fred but I miss the point - are we talking about Galapagos here or are we talking about bashing Aggressor ! I have read and followed the situation with the Carib Dancer and I agree it was handled pretty badly, but I think the question raised here is about whether the GA I + II are good boats. Yes they are. There are other good boats such as Buddy, Sky, Humboldt, Deep Blue, and what I was saying is that they should not have a concern about booking one of the Aggressor boats in Galapagos . Ask many thousands who have been on the Galapagos Aggressors and they will concur they are first class. Of course when you run an operation where you have probably dealt with over 16,000 divers on your two boats over a ten year period, you may get a tiny percentage who for a variety of reasons were disatisfied with their expereince, but the overwhelming majority give them top marks. With regard to the way Wayne dealt with the Carib Dancer, I am sure if he had a similar problem arise again, he would likely handle it differently. Please note that I have no personal interest or investment in Aggressor but I have been diving for 40 years and selling dive trips for 25 years and they are one of the products we offer our clients. In many places I prefer to use other operations but overall I feel they do a great job. Nuff said - sorry for boring people :-(

 

[Shasta_man]

If you sell their dive trips, then you certainly have a personal vested interest in Aggressor. That would explain why you are giving us the "they have served thousands of people and only a tiny proportion had a problem, for a variety reasons" deflect-responsibility-it-must-have-been-picky-guests feel good line. The line about "Wayne would surely handle it a different way next time" was especially priceless. FYI, they did have further problems, as documented on the board, with no real improvement in compensation, so they handled it the same way, and secondly WHO CARES how they handle the next screwup when they don't handle your problem today. We can judge the Galapagos boats on their merits but there's no evidence that their handling would be different.

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

Thanks Shasta Man - I may have used my words unwisely but to put the record straight we have sent many people on the Galapagos Aggressors and we have never had a complaint about them - quite the opposite. This is a business where from time to time we come across - to use your words - picky guests - and up to now I have never found a reason to doubt that the professionals who run these boats would not be able to take care of those client needs. My role is to advise people on the pros and cons of many options, and keep completely transparent in doing so. Many people prefer not to book their trips thru an agent as somehow they feel that there is some disadvantage in doing so, but the truth is that in those rare cases when it hits the fan, that not only do we feel the responsibility to see the client right, but we also have the clout to do something about it. I have no vested interest in Aggressor, however I do have a vested interest in a first class and transparent dive travel industry.