Cayman Aggressor: When does it become too much?

[tursiops]

Well this thread has been eye opening. I have been looking at doing my first liveaboard trip after my upcoming Cozumel trip and I can say after reading all these responses I don't think I'll consider Aggressor. The main reason is that they seem customer hostile, but a close second is my concern that if they can't offer refunds because money is so tight, what other corners are they cutting due to financial pressures?

Take a look at the Explorer Ventures Fleet. They are not as widespread as Aggressor, but you can't go everywhere anyway.

 

[SlugLife]

Well this thread has been eye opening. I have been looking at doing my first liveaboard trip after my upcoming Cozumel trip and I can say after reading all these responses I don't think I'll consider Aggressor. The main reason is that they seem customer hostile, but a close second is my concern that if they can't offer refunds because money is so tight, what other corners are they cutting due to financial pressures?

Sinking of MV Conception - Wikipedia

A couple years ago before I started diving, I'd hang out on my close friend's boat, as him & a buddy would go off diving, sometimes doing 180ft dives and all kinds of crazy stuff. I didn't know his dive-buddy that well, but he seemed like a great guy. Then one day, my friend calls me, very distraught, because his friend and #1 dive buddy was on the Conception. Within a few days, it was obvious no passenger survives. I'm certified now, and go diving with my friend fairly frequently. I even inherited a couple pieces of gear from the guy who died on the Conception. Lets just say, there's no a chance in hell I'd use a liveaboard company that cut corners.

 

[living4experiences]

We booked a trip on the Cayman Aggressor for May, 2020. When the trip was canceled due to Covid, we got a voucher for a future trip--no refund was possible. Of course, that was true of everyone who scheduled a trip during the Covid shutdown, which is well into its second year with still no sign that the Caymans are going to allow people to enter the country without a quarantine.

People with vouchers have been rebooking their trips for dates that they hope the Caymans will be open, and there have been many months of rebooked trips that have canceled again and then rebooked again. Our current rebooking is for mid-November, but it is looking like that will not happen. Based on our experience getting the November rebooking, if we wait until it will be officially canceled again due to the Covid shutdown, it will be at least a year, probably much more than a year, before we will be able to get booked because so many people are trying to redeem their vouchers.

As was explained to us, if we decide to cancel the planned trip because we fear the shutdown will still be on, we lose our money. Aggressor, on the other hand, can cancel a day ahead of time with no penalty.

So is there any limit to how long Aggressor can hold onto our money, or are we prisoners of this organization?

I wrote about my experience last year after Master Liveaboards/Siren Fleet (ML) cancelled my two liveaboard trips scheduled for May 2020. Their terms and conditions stated if they cancel (not me), I had the choice of a rescheduled booking or a full refund. Not knowing if they'd still be around when the world opened again, I chose the refund. They refused the refund and would only give me a rescheduled booking. I filed a dispute with my credit card company, and after 3 months, I received a full refund of $7400. Having heard of all the horror stories about the liveaboard industry, I feel fortunate for my outcome. As a side note, it's probably a good thing I didn't sail with ML because I've since learned that this company has a scary trend in sinking boats. This article was in Undercurrent in 2015 Palau Siren Grounds and Floods: Undercurrent 09/2015. In the last couple of years since 2015, I think they've sunk 2 more boats. (I could be wrong, but that's what I remember reading.)

If the terms and conditions of your booking only provide for a rescheduled trip and not a refund, I think you're stuck with that, which really sucks. It appears that Aggressor and ML use deposits for future trips to pay for present day expenses, which is a disaster waiting to happen financially when something like COVID hits to disrupt their scheme. In hindsight, I also find it odd that ML requires an initial deposit, a second deposit, then final payment. Most companies require the initial deposit and final payment. I guess they really need the money.

I also wonder when liveaboard travel fully ramps up again how many divers will be paying passengers and how many will be rebooked passengers. Perhaps they will operate like the airlines do with their award seats by limiting X number of award seats per flight. If they limit X number of cabins for rebooked passengers per sailing, that will make people wait for years to use their vouchers.

During the pandemic, I have dealt and traveled with Nautilus and Allstar and have had good luck with them so far. I will never travel with Aggressor or ML.

 

[wnissen]

If anyone is looking for help in a situation like this, I highly recommend consumer advocate Christopher Elliott. He has a very helpful checklist for travel disputes, a list of executive contacts for many travel providers, and can sometimes prod companies to do the right thing by directing a bit of sunshine at them.

Elliott Advocacy - Here to help

In general, you really want to ask for a refund to original payment as soon as possible. Yes, even in a pandemic. Yes, even if the policy says that they don't have to refund you. If they cancel the trip, most of the time the credit card will refund you. The thing is that the credit card representatives do not handle complication well. A simple situation they can handle. But when it stretches out into multiple cancellations, vouchers expiring, etc., they often side with the travel provider.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I had a favorable impression of my one and only Aggressor trip--the Red Sea pre-fire. However, I have been reluctant to go with Aggressor again ever since that thread in which Aggressor canceled on the day the diver arrived in Oman: When a liveaboard trip is cancelled the day you arrive..... They really do hold all the cards. In these times we live in, I'm not sure I would book ANY liveaboard again without buying one of those cancel-for-any-reason policy riders.

 

[living4experiences]

I had a favorable impression of my one and only Aggressor trip--the Red Sea pre-fire. However, I have been reluctant to go with Aggressor again ever since that thread in which Aggressor canceled on the day the diver arrived in Oman: When a liveaboard trip is cancelled the day you arrive..... They really do hold all the cards. In these times we live in, I'm not sure I would book ANY liveaboard again without buying one of those cancel-for-any-reason policy riders.

When I was on the Nautilus Belle Amie in May this year for a Socorro trip, I met a couple who had their Socorro trip with Aggressor cancelled 2 days before departure because the engine failed. They were lucky to get on the Belle Amie, but they had to leave their two kids behind due to cabin availability on Nautilus. They said Aggressor refunded their money and gave the family of four 50% off their next booking. This was in Undercurrent last year, Socorro Aggressor, Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico: Undercurrent 03/2020.

 

[Hoag]

I wouldn't be so sure that The Aggressor Fleet is holding all the cards, especially not in today's "Cancel Culture" world.

At the moment, they hold your money. That is a fact. However, you could send a carefully worded email to their corporate HQ in which you offer them the opportunity to refund your investment which I am guessing is a few thousand dollars or else you will explain what they did in a BRUTALLY HONEST social media campaign and on review sites such as Tripadvisor. Remind them that this will likely cost them more in the long run than refunding your trip would cost them and if the only thing they are considering is the bottom line then you may be able to convince them that issuing you a refund is actually in their best interest financially.

A friend of mine refers to this as the "MBA Effect". Companies have become so obsessed with looking at the short term, the next quarter, that they have taken their eye off of the long game. They have become obsessed with maximizing short term profits (or at least minimizing short term losses) that they don't see the long term effect of having their brand's reputation permanently damaged because of poor customer service.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Don't Aggressor boats often have independent owners?

 

[Wookie]

Don't Aggressor boats often have independent owners?

There are quite a few franchised boats, yes.

 

[Cert1967]

There are quite a few franchised boats, yes.

So, who’s got the cash?

Aggressor - the corporation - or the boat?