I'm not prepared to write a whole trip report at the moment, but having not found any threads about Blue Planet I wanted to give them a few shoutouts. While I had some doubts on initial booking due to some communication/translation issues, the experience onboard was truly exemplary.
We were on their boat Blue, which apparently has the best chef, and the food was plentiful and amazing. Not only was it delicious, but they went out of their way to accommodate my dietary issues, literally making me special dishes proactively and bringing them out to me separate from the buffet.
The divemasters were always on top of things, communicative, organized, and ready with a joke. Two things of note in this regard: they reordered our itinerary early on in the hopes of avoiding crowding at some sites (we did EBD instead of BDE), and succinctly and clearly explained the number of ships to expect at each stop.
The other thing was that towards the end of our first full day, the captain discovered an issue with one of the engine's remote starters, and the team handled it really well. They communicated the issue to everyone immediately and what the consequences were (easy to start the engines manually but in the interest of being very conservative about safety, we would avoid an overnight transit to Elphinstone and instead leave at daybreak), what measures they were taking (ordered a part delivered to the nearest port; we sailed there in the evening, they sent a zodiac out when they got close and retrieved the part in literally minutes - they must have had someone waiting at the dock to hand it off), and even did some extra sailing to make up for one missed morning dive at Elphinstone towards the end of our trip.
The ship itself was totally comfortable and adequate, but it was the team that really made it an excellent experience, from the captain to the DMs to the waitstaff. Hoping to book with them again in the near future.
We were on their boat Blue, which apparently has the best chef, and the food was plentiful and amazing. Not only was it delicious, but they went out of their way to accommodate my dietary issues, literally making me special dishes proactively and bringing them out to me separate from the buffet.
The divemasters were always on top of things, communicative, organized, and ready with a joke. Two things of note in this regard: they reordered our itinerary early on in the hopes of avoiding crowding at some sites (we did EBD instead of BDE), and succinctly and clearly explained the number of ships to expect at each stop.
The other thing was that towards the end of our first full day, the captain discovered an issue with one of the engine's remote starters, and the team handled it really well. They communicated the issue to everyone immediately and what the consequences were (easy to start the engines manually but in the interest of being very conservative about safety, we would avoid an overnight transit to Elphinstone and instead leave at daybreak), what measures they were taking (ordered a part delivered to the nearest port; we sailed there in the evening, they sent a zodiac out when they got close and retrieved the part in literally minutes - they must have had someone waiting at the dock to hand it off), and even did some extra sailing to make up for one missed morning dive at Elphinstone towards the end of our trip.
The ship itself was totally comfortable and adequate, but it was the team that really made it an excellent experience, from the captain to the DMs to the waitstaff. Hoping to book with them again in the near future.
