While I don't know any of the dive OPs in Cozumel, I do know a thing or two about the services business and if you accept a reservation you just made a commitment to a customer. Sorry but not having enough people show up to cover costs is just the risk of running a services business. I have to agree with Aldora's policy if only one shows up then you take that person out. I would be pretty disappointed if after spending a couple of grand on airfare and hotel someone who I made an agreement with for a service decided to change my plans. No matter how much effort they spent trying to set me up with someone else. I picked that OP based on a set of criteria that was important to me, if I would have wanted a different OP then I would have chose them in the first place right?
This is just my opinion and at the end of the day we are all limited by what we are willing to tolerate as customers.
It is a very rare occasion when we only have one diver booked, but I do guarantee a morning boat everyday if someone has a reservation that is confirmed with a deposit. Last month, I ended up with only one diver for several days - he had a reservation and we took him out without complaints. I'm sure he was thrilled to have a private boat for the price of a regular charter - it cost me money to send the boat out, but he will be back and he'll bring more people with him next time! He was very happy!
You're right, it's not the responsibility of the client to fill the dive shop's boats. However, we really don't know the entire situation here, but knowing Tony, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt here.
I imagine that Tony probably wanted to check with some of the other smaller/similar ops to team up with for as many days as necessary. We do this sometimes in low season if each of us only have one or two divers - it's a win/win for everyone - including the client as long as the client is not inconvenienced by it of course. If he was unable to work something like this out, I wouldn't be surprised if Tony takes his diver out alone if he can't team up/share boat space with someone. He will not leave him high and dry - that's not in Tony's character.
We've all taken big hits this year - the diving industry is no exception. September is always slow, but I've never seen it THIS slow. Last September, I ran at least one full boat everyday, many days I had two full boats. This September is much slower and I know of
several operations who have entire weeks without a single diver.
I am blaming higher air fares, reduced flight options for the season, poor media coverage about the violence in OTHER parts of MX (that is actually further away from Cozumel than many US cities), and the economy of course.
I am not "whining" by any means, I'm simply putting things in perspective for some of you. There are base costs for sending a boat out, not even including all of the additional overhead of running the business, marina fees, maintenance, wear and tear, insurance, etc. etc. So, if the captain and DM take even one diver out - they have to be paid their "trip pay" (above their base salary). Then there are the bare necessities of tanks, fuel, and water. These base expenses come out to around USD $130ish to move the boat for one diver - and that is with minimum fuel consumption by staying at "closer in" reefs. The cost of sending the boat increases with each diver due to more fuel (more weight on the boat uses more fuel), tanks and water + whatever else the shop provides for the divers.
I suspect and hope that we'll hear back from the OP that he had a great trip and that Tony worked it all out for him