Last minute Liveaboard and underwater housing advice

[Calgaryjay]

Hey guys,

Just wondering what people think about trying to book a liveaboard last minute by walk in for the Red Sea? I'll be in Egypt from May 1-13 and was thinking about doing a liveaboard. I've found a couple that still have space and was wondering if it would be best to book now or just do a sort of walk in type thing? Is there better deals to be had doing it either way?

Right now it looks like Emporer Divers has their MY Emporer Superior going to the "Famous Five" for 600 Euro and BlueOtwo is doing the "Deep South" on their MY Blue Horizon and "Project Shark:Simply the best" on their MY Blue Voyager, both for 900 Euros.

Any advice on what might be best to do right now and whether it's best to walk in and book or pre-book.

Also, I'm wondering if anyone happens to know of any shops that might sell an underwater housing for my Canon S100 or Canon 220HS? I hadn't planned on doing a liveaboard or else I would have got one before I left. I'd really like to be able to do some photography during the liveaboard.

I'd also like to get a dive computer but it looks like I should be able to find some shops selling them in Hurghada.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FinnMom]

I would think you want to pre-book and not take the risk of missing out on a place. Hope you have a great time!

 

[ocdiver1]

I take advantage of last minute, heavily discounted trips all the time. I would absolutely prebook rather than show up...plus you might be able to negotiate your own cabin (if you are on your own), etc. With that short a time window until the trip it's not likely the price will get any better.

 

[Calgaryjay]

What do you guys think about the trips I posted, I'm not sure on regular prices as it seems to vary from boat to boat and from month to month. It looks like I would get about 18 dives on the "Famous Five" trip and possibly 21-25 on the "Deep South" trip.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Depends on a few things. Is the 900 euro trip encompassing more days overall, any things that could be considered upgraded from the 600 euro trip? If not then you are paying 300 euro more for 3 more dives? Of the two itineraries, is there one that covers more specific dives that you want to do?

 

[ocdiver1]

Blueotwo is a top notch operator who I've dove with before, and "Simply the Best" is a great itinerary. Haven't dove on an Emperor Boat (have done day diving with them before though), but they carry a great reputation too. Where does their "Famous Five" go to?

 

[Calgaryjay]

Depends on a few things. Is the 900 euro trip encompassing more days overall, any things that could be considered upgraded from the 600 euro trip? If not then you are paying 300 euro more for 3 more dives? Of the two itineraries, is there one that covers more specific dives that you want to do?

No more days overall between the 2 trips, there just seems to be more dives on the deep south trip due to the fact that there is either less travel or more opportunity to do night dives.

Not sure if anything would be considered upgraded between the 600 euro trip but the Emperor boat does have a hot tub which would be an added bonus. There doesn't seem to be one on the blueotwo boat.

As for the dive sites, simply the best would cover all sites I'd like to see and the Famous Five would cover quite a few I would like to hit. I'm worried that the "Simply the best: Project Shark" route might not be best as it's not really the best time to be seeing sharks, at least from the research I have done.

---------- Post added April 28th, 2013 at 09:58 AM ----------

There is also a South and St.John trip with Emperor on their Emperor Elite boat for 949 Euros.

 

[Calgaryjay]

Just so everyone knows, I ended up booking the "Famous Five" trip on the Emperor Superior for the week of May 3-10. Wwill see how it goes, got a pretty good deal so I figured I would save $400 or so and see how it is.

Now just gotta find a dive computer in Hurghada and possibly an underwater housing and I'm all good to go.

Will update as it goes!

Jason

 

[Venus]

I was very close to booking the Famous Five on superior on May 10th [I think]
This will be my eleventh trip to Egypt

Then lots of stuff delayed my booking and booked Whirlwind - Northern wrecks & reefs with 'old faithful' Scuba Diving Holidays | Scuba Travel based in the UK [as are Blue O2]

Superior was 300$ more even though Superior was discounted and Whirlwind was not discounted, both one week trips

I really did like the Famous Five itinerary and am interested in hearing your experience

 

[Calgaryjay]

Hey guys,

Just got back to Canada from my vacation in Turkey/Egypt.

As I mentioned, I booked the Emperor Superior boat on the "Famous Five" route. Overall I was really happy with the trip, sea conditions were great and the people on the boat were really good.

The boat was less than half full so it was nice to be able to get to know everyone a lot better than on a trip with 24 people. Plus all the guests were from different countries so it was nice to have a real diverse group. Since it was less than half full we all got our own cabins which was an added bonus as well.

The rooms were nice and the boat itself was quite nice! We didn't end up using the jacuzzi on the deck which was a little dissapointing but it was hard to fit it in with all the traveling we had to do at night. The food was also pretty good on the boat but I'm glad I wasn't a vegetarian as their meals were pretty basic and a lot of the time consisted of pasta and fries.

The dive sites were great and spending 2 full days at the "Brothers" was really nice. We were lucky enough to see hammerheads and a thresher shark there as well as a few grey reef sharks.

The guides were good although they didn't spend much time actually showing us cool stuff underwater and rather seemed like they were just diving with us. I guess that's good if you wanted to go off on your own but since they knew these reefs and sites better than I, I had hoped they would spend more time showing us places to find the harder to find fishes of the region or point out when they seem something worth looking at. If you weren't right with them then they saw something then you likely missed it as they didn't stay to show anyone else really. It was minor as I was really good at finding stuff on my own, a lot of the times better than most on the boat as I really liked to take my time going over the reef as a lot of others just flew by.

I'm really happy I did the trip and was even more happy that I managed to get it at quite a discount. Ended up paying 525 Euros.

If you guys have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Jason