Yeah, it's different...but I don't think it is sneaky. Every airport on this planet charges the plane that lands there, not the client in it. Many resorts charge the taxi's that come there, not the client. The massage companies are charged to service the clients within the resort, not the client directly. It really is typical business practice that someone using another companies grounds or property to make their living pays for that use.
The difficulty here is that the resorts have not, in the past, charged outside ops to use their piers so the status quo is that the piers are free. The world economy is in the tank and looking to get worse before its better. Everyone is tightening their belts. Everyone. Perhaps Iberostar has chosen to protect their onsite dive op from competition, or they are getting people who profit from it to chip in on pier maintenance....it doesn't matter what the reason is, the fact is they can choose to do so if they wish to and if enough people stop going there, maybe it will change their minds but I seriously doubt that will happen.
To answer your question directly, yes it is distinctly different situation at IB than it is at the other two pay docks..but that doesn't mean it is distinctly worse. There is no reason that I've heard why the divers can't pay a separate fee if they are picked up at Iberostar. There is no reason the dive op can't tack on $5 per diver to be picked up there. We are all charged $2 per day for the marine park fee, why can't there be a separate charge for picking up at a dock that charges? It's simple math and simple book keeping and despite the assurances that it is 'far more complicated than that' it just isn't. $8 a day for BC's, various charges for other gear and $10 a day for Nitrox doesn't seem to stress the book keepers out...so why would a charge for the pier. This is being made into far more of a problem than it should be. Two dive ops are attempting to whip the public into a frenzy in order to better their business. I have no problem with that, but when someone disagrees with them they start throwing around insults. When a dive op ignores their picket line and proceeds business as usual, they start throwing out insinuations about their safety or their business practices...and when called on it....both of them are curiously silent on the matter and offer nothing whatsoever to back up their previous insinuations. Seeing Dressel and DWM take a beating simply because they are not in here to defend themselves bothers me. This isn't a commercial board, it is a board for divers....and I'm a diver, so I voice my opinion even if it bothers those whose commercial interests are the only reason they log in here.
CV I respect your decision to stay elsewhere, of course I do. It is the right of every consumer to make that decision for themselves. On my part, if the fiance tells me she wants to stay at Iberostar, then we will....and if not one dive op will pick me up there, I would dive with Dressel and enjoy it. No, it would not be as good of a dive as I get with Aldora/Living Underwater/Dive with Martin....but it would likely be cheaper and have free nitrox so I would suffer through it with a smile on my face. While I fully respect your decision and your determination as a consumer, I don't respect the two dive ops original attack on dressel and further attacks on Dive with Martin. Neither of them are consumers, they are competing business slandering other business on the internet and then refusing to give specifics when called out on it. I don't respect their way of jumping on and attempting to shout down anyone who disagrees with them and attempting to get the thread locked or deleted by turning it into a insult slinging fight.
