BAIT AND SWITCH: Oceanic III Liveaboard sold by All Star Liveaboards, Tubbataha

[CZS]

gummybun,

Did you speak with All Star's home office about your experience? I'm curious how they responded... It's my understanding that they have (or will be shortly) removed the Oceanic III from service.

I'm going to call and discuss these issues personally with All Star because at this point, I'm not comfortable going forward without some reassurance that these issues have been resolved. I'll let you know their response..

 

[gummybun]

Hi CVS, sorry for taking so long to reply, both away from the desk, and quite honestly, I find it rather upsetting and stressful relating this stuff.

The short answer is yes we contacted the office and yes, compensation without condition was offered. The reality is however, that even if we achieved a full refund, we would never get the experiences out of our memory, or our time back. We only travel to the Pacific side every 2 years or so, so it's not like, "oh here's another 5 grand, lets just go out again next week". I must stress that all the issues we listed in our letter to All Star were not accidents but forseeable and avoidable events/behavior that lead to disappointment, or worse, placing guests in harms way, possibly resulting in illness, etc. There were six divers (we were aware of) with gastrointestinal illness on our one trip including both by wife and myself. Lucky for us we carry a full medical bag, but we still missed dives. And I am not prone to succumbing to 'the revenge' - I have not experienced it since 1990 in Marrakesh (but it was worth it)!

 

[CZS]

gummybun,

I can completely understand your reluctance to talk about it, but I appreciate the follow up. I spoke to All Star yesterday and they claim they have severed ties and will not be booking new trips on the Oceanic III OR the Stella Maris. Our May 2020 trip would be at the tail end of their working relationship, so I can't imagine the ships' owners would be overly motivated to make us (or All Star for that matter) happy with the trip. I'll be evaluating options and very well may cancel the trip at this point. The comfort and condition of the ship is important enough, but safety and health is another. Thanks for sharing your experience, as bad as it obviously was.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Is this the same as @All Star Liveaboards ? Tagging here in case that helps.

 

[gummybun]

Yup, sorry to report, the same folks.

 

[Shasta_man]

Commenting purely on the concept of "compensation", and not about what specifically happened here... "Compensation" for problems on liveaboards or really any travel is difficult for both sides. The problem for the traveler is it usually works out to be some voucher for future travel with them. That means investing a lot of money again to go back to the same place that you had trouble with the first time based solely on their promise that the experience will be better. Sometimes that is also a limited time offer which might expire so it might work out to you getting nothing because you can't get back, for any number of reasons, to use it. For the business, they have to offer something of reasonable value but they are a business so they won't succeed as a business if they give everything away, so they have to find a balance. Of course, they shouldn't get into this position in the first place or be prepared to compensate when circumstances work out to reflect badly on them (however you want to describe that). Of course, the loser in all that is usually ultimately the traveler.

 

[BDinSH]

I had the good fortune to go on this boat in April on what apparently their third trip. Much they same problem if not worse. Our cabin C3 was flooded. Had to spend the night sleeping on the floor in dining area. Crew were apologic and trying. But boat design and quality of work are both so bad it is doomed from the start.

 

[CZS]

I had the good fortune to go on this boat in April on what apparently their third trip. Much they same problem if not worse. Our cabin C3 was flooded. Had to spend the night sleeping on the floor in dining area. Crew were apologic and trying. But boat design and quality of work are both so bad it is doomed from the start.

Were you booked on the Oceanic III or was this another case of them changing the boat at the last minute? Sorry for your experience, definitely sounds like an awful way to spend a week long liveaboard vacation.