Deep Blue October 1 - 11

[tiggerbella]

Lou,

I am sure that having the words Italian and German in the same paragraph as the label Seychelles Live aboard did not give it away, but I will spell it out for you. There were no Italians or Germans on Deep Blue on the week that I was there. I was the closest that you will come to an Italian on that boat and my citizenship is American. And I have not discussed how our tipping was handled nor will I. There was one European on the boat, a young kid from Holland.

The Italians were on the Seychelles Live aboard not the Galapagos Live aboard. I was using this past story as an example.

Fionab: Thanks for your honest reply. I am asking these questions because I recall another live aboard that I went on that directly asked how many cans of soda you drink a day and what brands do you drink. Of course with the clause about no guarantees etc.

I was giving some feedback to our trip organizer and we were discussing that it might be a good idea to minimize discomfort of the people that go through this organizer if perhaps he tries to have a heads up and ask these questions of his own group and then passes it on to the correct individuals that might be able to make sure that all tastes are counted for on these boats. Your feedback helps as it also outlines the importance of checking up on the requests before arriving and immediately after getting on the boat.

Anyway, this is the reason that I was asking these questions. This conversation came up as a direct result of your posts on this board as well as the comments in the book on the Deep Blue boat.

I've got friends who say that they are vegetarians who will eat fish and chicken, some only fish,,, I can't keep track. Some who won't eat butter or jello or anything like that in addition to not eating fish and chicken.

Anyway, Thanks!

 

[LouUK]

That'll be what comes of skim reading ina hurry! Apologies, but I read your whole post as about the Galapagos, completely missed the "Seychelles" bit. :embarrassed:

On the veggie front, it is hard to keep track, which is why we were quite specific (although I can never understand how someone can eat chicken and adopt the veggie label????). I believe it was all passed on through our agent as it was mentioned at the opening meeting, but apart from the issue of understanding, it was just a poor show. that said, I think the meat-eaters felt worse about it sometimes than we did - I tend to go off my food after a few days on a liveaboard anyway as it all ends up tasting the same.

Asking up front about the soda...must stop calling it that...fizzy pop drinking habits is a great idea and one that could be so easy for liveaboards to take on board. Of course you will always get those who say none and then want them for mixers etc, but a bit of contingency on top would save too much disappointment.

Anyway, the update is that despite the owner's wife saying she would contact us about our issues (that I raised directly with her at the end of the trip) I haven't heard a sausage in 4 weeks.....past money is past money, I guess.

Lou

 

[samui13]

i was on the 06 trip that has been refered to within this posting. I have done my fair share of liveaboards and i would certainly not go back on the deep blue. i really felt sorry for other guys and girls that were already booked on this years trip because of the demand for an up front tip. i would have been amazed if they did actually receive a good service from Jeff, that guy is the laziest guide i have come across.
then they had to wait and wait and wait to find out if their trip was actually going to be going at all due to the problems that the dive boats have had. ( seperate issue )

I have spoken to many people since i have returned and have advised them to go with other boats up to darwin and wolf, which they have, and they have had a great time.

There was one veggie on our trip and the food which she used to get served up was shameful.
this boat is just NOT value for money. there were a couple of good hard workers on their, Louis and Washington in particular. but the rest as far as i am concerned were there on holiday. if they worked for me, they would have been ass kicked a long time ago.
i also feel that MST who i booked with do not do enough to ensure that their customers get a good deal. we pay MST ( from memory ) £500 or $500 more than what the trips are sold for in the states, and this is not including the pre paid tip. I have booked my trip to cocos in two weeks time with them again, and i am not happy with the way that their organisation operates, and will not be putting anymore money their way again.

www.scubastew.com: UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEW SMITH

 

[LouUK]

Aaargh - don't even get me started on MST (Maldives Scuba Tours). After all the grief and back and forth and incorrect or incomplete info, we didn't even get a quick e-mail from them on our return asking how the trip had been. Most operators that I have used before have customer satisfaction surveys ready and waiting!

We used them because of the good service folk had got from them over several Maldives trips from the UK, however, I think it is fair to say they have lost ALOT of respect over their handling and communication on this trip.

We even spoke to them severap times during the difficulties and explained that most of our frustration was over a lack of communication from them. Another 2-3 weeks then went by without contact or updates. Bloody appalling.

I will certainly avoid using them in the future - they seem like they are great when all goes well but fall apart in a crisis. Not what you want really.

Lou

 

[samui13]

when we booked our galapagos trip we were given a price from MST and when we went to pay our final payment we were told that the trip had gone up because the flights were now more expensive, if it was just because of fuel costs then i would have happily of paid. but it was not, it was because they had not booked the flights when we paid our first deposit.

suprise suprise we paid our final payment for cocos 6 weeks ago only to find them saying that we now have to pay an additional £100 + each because the flights had now gone up. i telephoned rob and told him exactly what i thought of his company. he tried to say that they had only asked me for £28 each but when i asked him to check the email in question that was sent by holly he told me that i was right. This i must add was after he had accused my wife of over reacting to her email and saying that my wife didnt know what she was talking about.
I obviously demanded an apology for his words about my wife and told him that it was his, his companys and his employees incompetence that would stop me from ever booking with him again.
this was 2 days before the NEC dive show and had i been in a position to do so i would have had a t shirt made up with DO NOT BOOK WITH MST and walked around the NEC for 2 days wearing it.
he got off lightly this time and i will never even consider giving him another penny of mine.

sorry for going off topic !!!!!!

 

[NTSilver]

Fionab
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I know you had been fretting all summer about whether the trip would actually take place. That is why I made the decision to cancel our trip next July. I was fretting too much over something that was more than a year away.

You and your dive group may want to check out Cocos and the Undersea Hunter if you haven't already. They do not require tips upfront, they are very hard-working crew, and very professional outfit. We just returned from our second trip and it was just as great as the first.

Nonie

 

[Fionab]

Thanks Nonie

A couple of guys from the YD forum have recently been to Cocos and they enjoyed it, but I wanted to see whale sharks and schooling hammerheads and I did that in Galapagos, I now have other things and places I want to go, and Cocos just isn't on the list.

It wasn't just the tipping issue, the whole trip just didn't do it for me.

We were also promised some communication with the boat owners and this hasn't happened I guess they just aren't interested now - and why would they be, I am sure that our experience isn't going to make one bit of difference to their bookings as presumably the number of boats offering Wolf and Darwin will decrease next year so they certainly won't have any problems filling trips with clients from the US.

I wish everyone who books on Deep Blue a good safe trip, it just doesn't get my recommendation - which is a first for me.

Lets hope Deep Blue at the very least clean out their water tanks and there was a book at the airport on Ecuadorian vegetarian food - perhaps they would like to buy Roberto a copy.