Feedback Please... Opinion On What You Would Like To See In A Dive Operation

[Charles S]

Good Day All,

I head a large Blue Water Marina Operation which entails many sub-divisions within. Marinas, Ship Yards, High Speed Ferries, Salvage, Dive Operations and so on... Anyhow... I need some opinions as I personally do not dive, just not my thing.

I recently lost my technical advisor for dive operation due to death but none dive related. (sad) so I find myself at a bit of a loss when developing a new product for the diving world.

If you look at my aviator you will see I have a large vessel which we are planning on converting to a stay a board type dive operation. The vessel is 131 ft. in length and 26 ft. wide. Lower, Mid, and Upper deck area. Currently we have bunk house style quarters that accommodate 40 passenger (Lower Deck) I also have compressors and other dive equipment to be installed onboard and dive engineer to do the technical portion for the conversion.

Before my technical and diving advisor's passing we had some preliminary discussions with becoming part of the Aggressor Fleet but I wonder if I can offer a better and more affordable dive product specific to what divers want without all the bells and whistles.

So, What I need to know is what would be a perfect Caribbean Dive Excursion. We are based out of St Maarten and operate in the surrounding area. (Saba, St Eustatius, St Kitts, Anguilla) Please, also note that I actually have a operating dive shop now and the vessel mentioned was one of my commercial ferries but with the passing of the hurricanes last year the ferry market has declined for such a large ship and so I feel that I could better utilize this vessel in another area of operation.

Feedback I am looking for:

1. Stay A Board (1 night 2 nights or 3 to 5 nights or just all day diving)
2. Co-Ed Bunk House Accommodations or Single Suite Style
3. High End Accommodations or Comfortable Low Key Style
4. Expectations on number of dives per day
5. Classes Available
6. Meals & Drinks
7. Type of diving??? sight seeing, technical diving, exploration diving, new dive sight development, science related diving ....

Please add anything I may have missed as I am not a diver myself.

My goal is a great product at an affordable price that people will want and enjoy.

The thing a learned a long time ago was ask the people who know what they want and what they expect.

I have the vessel I have the equipment, I have the personnel... now I just need to develop a great product for the ones that will be using it.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated... Thank You

 

[kelemvor]

Before my technical and diving advisor's passing we had some preliminary discussions with becoming part of the Aggressor Fleet but I wonder if I can offer a better and more affordable dive product specific to what divers want without all the bells and whistles.

That company has something of a shady reputation, at least in my opinion. If you google the name (or just search on this website), you'll find report after report of customers having shockingly bad experiences. You might want to look for a company with a more positive reputation to become a part of.

 

[Charles S]

That company has something of a shady reputation, at least in my opinion. If you google the name (or just search on this website), you'll find report after report of customers having shockingly bad experiences. You might want to look for a company with a more positive reputation to become a part of.

Which Company are you speaking of....Aggressor or Mine? As for my dive company we are one of the top rated dive operation in the Caribbean according to Trip Advisor... As for Aggressor Fleet... I stated that we were only in the early stages of talking and fact finding ... But as you mentioned ???? ... is why I reached out to the dive community, asking for opinions on putting a dive product together that actual divers will use and enjoy and that will not break the bank. Allowing them to experience the true sense of exploration without a bunch of added nonsense to increase cost,,, I am a business man who cares about my customers... safety, satisfaction are my priority in all my businesses and making money will follow a good safe product.. "Always"...

I value my customers and the public in general opinions and seek knowledge wherever it may be found...

" I am not the smartest man in the room"

Thank You for posting and noted:

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Charles S

The Caribbean Explorer II operates between St Maarten and St Kitts and offers diving off Saba and St Kitts. I'm sure you have taken a look at their website to check offerings, specs, prices Saba, St. Kitts & St. Maarten Liveaboard Diving - Explorer Ventures I don't have a good idea regarding how successful they are, but they have been in business for quite a while.

Good luck

 

[Dogbowl]

I'm just a dive consumer so consider my thoughts based on that.

First, I wouldn't call Aggressor Fleet shady. It is a very successful fleet of liveaboards. The corporate owned ships in the Caribbean have very good reputations. Some of the franchised ships around the world have had incidents which the owners of those ships and corporate headquarters failed to resolve in a satisfactory way. I believe all businesses have weaknesses, and their failure to resolve customer complaints is one of them. However, they are very good with marketing their fleet, and have amazing sales throughout the year in an effort to fill their ships, and they do fill them, in many of their destinations. And, at least with the corporate owned ships, you can have a pretty good sense of what you'll be getting into. Much is standardized and I like that. 5 dives a day, good food, good accomodations, good service. It's definitely a fleet I would go on again. My opinion is not based on any insider information, just what I observed as a consumer.

In the Caribbean, there are several liveaboards who have good to excellent reputations. They include: Blackbeards for low-cost camping at sea style diving (not my cup of tea but they certainly have their loyal following due to price); Aquacat in the Bahamas; the Aggressor ships in Belize (2), Grand Cayman, Roatan; and the Turks & Caicos Explorer. These ships all have very good reviews and they are all very similar in terms of # of dives, level of service, quality of food and accommodations, and price. I think most liveaboard customers would not hesitate to go on these, if they were considering liveaboard diving in the Caribbean. Emulating one of these successful business models might be one way to approach it. I would suggest going on some of these as a paying customer to get a feel of how they are run and how the customers like it.

I would also highly suggest becoming a diver. You can't really understand your customers unless you've been in their shoes. That's what I would do.

 

[boulderjohn]

If you are looking for advice on this topic on ScubaBoard, your best source would be @Wookie, who used to operate such a business himself.

 

[jgttrey]

I can only offer very general thoughts from the perspective of a potential client with little specific knowledge of those islands or the diving options. So, basic stuff.

First, for me and probably most others, the appeal of liveaboards is primarily three situations: (1) the shore accommodations are crappy or land-based diving infrastructure is weak, (2) dive sites are far from shore or cover a wide area and liveaboards cover more ground, or (3) all you want to do is dive 'til you drop at a decent price point.

My guess is that your customer demographic is going to be motivated primarily by #2 and to a lesser extent #3 because (1) St. Maarten is not crappy and has land-based diving and (2) St. Maarten is not as easy or cheap to get to as many other destinations (GCM, CZM, Turks, Bahamas) and may be less appealing to the dive 'til you drop group.

Put another way, I'm not likely to spend a lot of money and time to travel to a premier beautiful island with many land-based attractions only to immediately jump on a camp-aboard. Basically, you're looking for the same divers that look to the Cayman Aggressor because it can (in theory) let them dive all 3 islands even though the island and land based diving are great -- except in your case, I think, they need willing to spend more time and money getting there.

So, I would think "Group 2" is the primary target -- nice but not excessive accommodations for a reasonable but not excessive number of divers and decent grub. No point in trying for some luxury operation, since the customers that are hung up on such things are going to stay on shore anyway - at least you won't be able to fill many boats with them - and your target group would be put off by the higher price. On the other hand, in a million years, I'd never fly to St. Maarten just to jump on a floating dormitory with a jillion other divers, so I'd take that option right off the list.

Two cents on your other questions: While personally I'd love a tech boat, realistically I can't imagine you'd get enough traffic in that category to justify it. In any event, it sounds like you are a long way, staff-wise, from being able to plan for or support that sort of activity, though being rebreather-friendly eventually would be a plus. Still, it'd be a recreational boat. You can't really be a technical boat without technical objectives and St. Maarten is not Bikini Atoll. Same with "exploration," "science" diving, etc. All that sounds great in theory, but you can't just invent it out of whole cloth and I'm guessing most of your customers would simply want to hit as many sites as they can in decent comfort, and that's about it. They're going to want the option of diving 4x a day, nitrox availability if not inclusion, and a number of guests in line with the other operations.

But, instead of asking a bunch of guys like me, who don't know your business or perhaps the island, and are likely just to give you abstractions, I'd start with consulting both with experienced liveaboard operators and local dive professionals. You need to find the unmet need that is specific to your area, not just plop down sort of a generic, sum of all opinions on scubaboard, operation.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Feedback I am looking for:

1. Stay A Board (1 night 2 nights or 3 to 5 nights or just all day diving)
2. Co-Ed Bunk House Accommodations or Single Suite Style
3. High End Accommodations or Comfortable Low Key Style
4. Expectations on number of dives per day
5. Classes Available
6. Meals & Drinks
7. Type of diving??? sight seeing, technical diving, exploration diving, new dive sight development, science related diving

Hi Charles. Certainly a brave adventure.

I think each of your questions can relatively easily be guided by teh demographic of client you wish to attract (and which are available)

The older crowd (such as myself, would probably like more comfort, the younger crowd would possibly be happy with shared bunk house. My wife and I prefer a twin or double bed room with power for recharging electronics and a small safe. a little storage to hang clothes on a 6-7 night trip

I'm happy for shared facilities, but there needs to be enough. nothing worse than queing for the loo, or showers after a dive, or limited hot water

I prefer a good breakfast after the first dive, light lunch and hearty evening meal. others might differ. likewise,included tea coffee water and soft drinks, but a small bar or beer fridge on a pay as you go or honesty method.

I can forgive lots, but not a poor dive deck. I want somewhere I can easily stow my gear including the little things like masks and computers etc. some boats have draws some have plastic boxes

I want to be able to hang my wetsuit on a rail to dry.

Easy access to the tender boat with gear on.

I won't use a boat without nitrox - but whatever you still need to figure how to recharge the cylinders to allow for a minimum 3-4 dives per day ( some prefer more) without causing delay to the schedule

As John stated - Wookie is the go to guy here, these are just my thoughts biased by my own personal preferences

 

[Charles S]

Hi @Charles S

The Caribbean Explorer II operates between St Maarten and St Kitts and offers diving off Saba and St Kitts. I'm sure you have taken a look at their website to check offerings, specs, prices Saba, St. Kitts & St. Maarten Liveaboard Diving - Explorer Ventures I don't have a good idea regarding how successful they are, but they have been in business for quite a while.

Good luck

They use my docks when in St Maarten...

 

[Charles S]

Hi Charles. Certainly a brave adventure.

I think each of your questions can relatively easily be guided by teh demographic of client you wish to attract (and which are available)

The older crowd (such as myself, would probably like more comfort, the younger crowd would possibly be happy with shared bunk house. My wife and I prefer a twin or double bed room with power for recharging electronics and a small safe. a little storage to hang clothes on a 6-7 night trip

I'm happy for shared facilities, but there needs to be enough. nothing worse than queing for the loo, or showers after a dive, or limited hot water

I prefer a good breakfast after the first dive, light lunch and hearty evening meal. others might differ. likewise,included tea coffee water and soft drinks, but a small bar or beer fridge on a pay as you go or honesty method.

I can forgive lots, but not a poor dive deck. I want somewhere I can easily stow my gear including the little things like masks and computers etc. some boats have draws some have plastic boxes

I want to be able to hang my wetsuit on a rail to dry.

Easy access to the tender boat with gear on.

I won't use a boat without nitrox - but whatever you still need to figure how to recharge the cylinders to allow for a minimum 3-4 dives per day ( some prefer more) without causing delay to the schedule

As John stated - Wookie is the go to guy here, these are just my thoughts biased by my own personal preferences

Thank You... makes a lot of sense... maybe a combination of both suite and bunk house. $$$.. Absolutely yes on having good meals... well run and maintain ship is a must... As for dive tech we are the top of the line in what we have available including nitrox. It is not my specialty as mentioned before but I have put good people in place. This vessel is only an extension of the current dive operation.

Thank You for the feedback that kind of input will help guide me..