Dressel Divers, Should I Avoid?

[Cherokee180c]

I am leaving for Cozumel on Saturday and staying at the Iberostar. I have seen older negative posts about Dressel. Have they improved any? Should I avoid them? My first time to Cozumel last year I dove with Blue Angel and loved them. I am thinking of having them pick me up at the Iberostar if Dressel is no good.

Also I got their price list in the mail and was appalled at the rental rates! According to the price list they charge multiple times a day for the same rental equipment. I have my own equipment but my wife needs to rent. It said that they charge / dive not per trip (ie 2 tank dive) or per day for rental equipment. That makes no sense on a 2 tank dive trip that I need to pay twice for the equipment rental. That made the prices much higher than the US and made the equipment rental more than the dives on a multi-dive package per day! Any comments appreciated.

 

[Cherokee180c]

Update, I asked them about their rental rates two days ago and they have not even responded back to my email about it yet. It does not look like they believe in prompt customer service in Spain. Anybody have any experience with these guys? Also how do you actually book with them, as they did not have any credit card form that I could find on the website and I am not even sure if their request for information form is secure or not. Please comment if you have experience with these guys quickly as my patience and time before my trip is running out quickly.

 

[El Orans]

You may want to have a look at Christi's operation: http://www.bluextseadiving.com.

 

[smokey braden]

cherokee180c,
welcome to this board.
y'all might be better off making arrangements with another op off the property.
there are many good ones mentioned on this forum.
please do a search.
before you make your final decision, make sure they will be allowed to pick you up at y'alls resort.
there was some talk about the resort not allowing outside ops to do pickups.
upon your safe return please post a trip report for us.
regards,

 

[yak]

I have used them on the PDC side. They mainly cater to Discover Scuba and OW students. I would go with another op. I have also heard that they do not allow other dive ops to use their pier. Worst case - you wade out to your boat instead of using their pier. Show them your finger and go have some nice dives.

 

[Christi]

I am leaving for Cozumel on Saturday and staying at the Iberostar. I have seen older negative posts about Dressel. Have they improved any? Should I avoid them? My first time to Cozumel last year I dove with Blue Angel and loved them. I am thinking of having them pick me up at the Iberostar if Dressel is no good.

Also I got their price list in the mail and was appalled at the rental rates! According to the price list they charge multiple times a day for the same rental equipment. I have my own equipment but my wife needs to rent. It said that they charge / dive not per trip (ie 2 tank dive) or per day for rental equipment. That makes no sense on a 2 tank dive trip that I need to pay twice for the equipment rental. That made the prices much higher than the US and made the equipment rental more than the dives on a multi-dive package per day! Any comments appreciated.

There are 99 better choices.

 

[Brules]

Also note than non-response to emails is not indicitive of their lack of professionalism though.....just about everyone down there has major email problems.

 

[ggunn]

I am leaving for Cozumel on Saturday and staying at the Iberostar. I have seen older negative posts about Dressel. Have they improved any? Should I avoid them? My first time to Cozumel last year I dove with Blue Angel and loved them. I am thinking of having them pick me up at the Iberostar if Dressel is no good.

Also I got their price list in the mail and was appalled at the rental rates! According to the price list they charge multiple times a day for the same rental equipment. I have my own equipment but my wife needs to rent. It said that they charge / dive not per trip (ie 2 tank dive) or per day for rental equipment. That makes no sense on a 2 tank dive trip that I need to pay twice for the equipment rental. That made the prices much higher than the US and made the equipment rental more than the dives on a multi-dive package per day! Any comments appreciated.

Some ops won't pick you up there, since the Iberostar gives them so much grief about it. Also, some ops won't pick you up there for dives on the reefs closer to town because they'd have to go back south afterwards to drop you off.

 

[aboalreem]

I would not recommend them....pick others

 

[Cherokee180c]

Thanks for the advice. I decided to go with the known quality of Blue Angel. I have nothing but great things to say about them from our vacation last year. I am going to give the Iberostar a ton of crap if they give the Blue Angel any problems. I am also going to write back to Apple vacations and tell my travel agent to avoid the Iberostar at all costs for divers if this happens. Diving is a sport that is all about safety and half of safety is your own confidence and comfort level with yourself and your operator. If I don't feel comfortable about the service, number of divers on the boat, or any other aspect of the dive operator than I have the right to choose another, especially because my life may depend on it. I am not saying that Dressel is an unsafe operator, it is just that I should not be forced to use them if I don't feel comfortable with them!!! The Iberostar can kiss my +++ if they think I am going to give up that right!

As an update, Dressel got back to me and confirmed that their rental policy is a PER DIVE (Tank) policy. I am sorry, but I am not going to pay for same rental equipment
(4) times in one day. This smacks of being a rip off arrangement between the dive company and the hotel company. All others beware of this policy before booking with these guys. There are much better values on the Island. Thanks again to Fin59 for recommending DivewithMartin. They look like a really good operator if somebody has experience with them they may want to comment. I might try them on a future trip, but Blue Angel are my guys for now!

Brules, Dressel Divers runs the pre-booking operation out of Spain, not Cozumel. They are an international dive operator. I also suspect that part of their high prices might be due to the fact that the profits need to be converted into the Euro at the end of the day and do not stay in Pesos.