Just finding this now - hope it is not too late for Jeremyl and the OP.
I have dove 5 10-day Komodo liveaboards in the past 4 years (NusaTara, Siren, Mermaid I, Komodo Dancer, Mermaid I) and Mermaid I was miles above all the others in every dimension (guiding underwater, dive site choice, food, crew, service, cabins). The crew is
unreal. It's actually my favourite crew and boat of any liveaboard I have dove anywhere in the world. I wish they trained crew internationally. The only reports I have heard of boats with this level or service were for AAII (RIP) and a couple of the super luxury boats (at significantly higher cost). Isabelle is truly exceptional both as a DM and as a cruise director.
IMO starting in Bali would be a negative if you were on a slower and less stable phinisi (wooden sailboat), but not if you are on a steel hulled vessel (which both Mermaids are). This is not a "transition cruise" done once or twice a year - the sites Mermaid dives en route have been chosen after a lot of thought and the guides know them well. The Moyo Isl dives are beautiful and are not easily dove any other way (only resort nearby is super high end). The Sumbawa sites too I have never seen another boat dive (one is super for exotic octos). But most importantly, Mermaid's professionalism, Swiss watch organization and steel hull ensure they
will dive the best sites in the Komodo region (not just promise them on their website, then not deliver - this has happenned more than once with boats starting in Labuan Bajo)
and at the best times. In my experience, phinisis in this tier too frequently bail on top sites due to speed or stability/weather concerns. Mermaid skips many of what I consider the average Komodo sites (often dove twice each when you start in Labuan Bajo), in favour of the truly excellent sites, and they are more generous with dive times. All the other itins I have dove had more duds. Crunching my bottom time numbers, in the end there was a small difference in total bottom time (a little less time on Mermaid) due to a couple fewer dives but the difference in quality underwater was exponential higher on Mermaid.
Feel free to PM if you want more info on the other boats. Everyone's trip is different, but we had a horrible 13 day trip on the Siren (Worldwide Dive and Sail) with the owner on board.
For budget boats, I dove Grand Komodo's NusaTara with two of my best friends in 09 and we had an excellent time. Looking back, the trade offs were 3 dives rather than 4 (although a friend dove this boat about 6 months earlier with her family and reported they were offerred many more night (4th) dives), no Nitrox, simpler vessel, and only the DM generally had enough English for us to converse with (we did have a US Bahasa Indonesian speaker in our group, which had influenced my choice). But the guiding was good, site choice very good, safety excellent, treks were the best of any trip I have done (we trekked a lot as we had more time in the afternoon). With our creativity and their flexibility, we actually ended up having the entire boat to ourselves which was incredible. Make no mistake, the facilities are more modest, but you could likely dive two 10 days on the NusaTara for one on most of the next tier of boats. The company has been diving in Indonesia a very long time with a good record. Their website is
Raja Ampat Liveaboard Diving, also Komodo, Alor, other Indonesia.
Hope that helps.
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