Trip Report *live* Indo Aggressor Komodo deep South trip quarantine @ LBJ March 2024

[tsuyoshi]

Update 3/17
Port band was to last til 3/20. It was lifted 3/17 about 1pm ironically with the trip ending 3/18. There is an offer for extending the trip if the remaining guest is willing to pay more!
While those on board couldnt be allowed dive, a DM/guide took the crew member out to do OW dive/training.
Aggressor management's lack of add'l offer remains same until the end and no consideration for refund or credit will be given.

 

[Centrals]

This episode has nothing to do with travel insurance etc etc.
The guilty parties are so plain for all to see : Aggressor and liveaboard.com.

 

[cetacean]

I do it from shore for ⅒ the cost.

Yeah - except you can't even get to Darwin or Wolf in Galapagos, Tubbataha in the Philippines, or Cocos Island in Costa Rica without a LoB. Good try though...

You might want to "shore dive" Richelieu Rock while you're at it

 

[living4experiences]

I'm reading this and I feel so bad for you. Everything went wrong for you and Aggressor didn't even make an effort to salvage anything out of the trip. Please feel free to post here Larry Speaker's phone number and email address. Undercurrent.org is another forum you can post your experience.

This makes me think that I need to do yet another inquiry of the liveaboard company I choose next. Send an email daily during transit to verify the port/harbor is open and the trip is proceeding as planned.

 

[tsuyoshi]

There are some amazing sites in South Komodo that really enticed me hence I took the gamble that the raining season of the North opens up the south according to some publications. I am ambivalent about not getting any trip insurance this time given some feed backs here.
Expensive lesson here of oppotunity cost and time off from work & income with an aweful return. I should count my blessings that I didnt experience some other Aggressor experiences with death or serious injury.
Deeper research of nature of the trip and operators is indeed warranted.

 

[Jackie]

Insurance claims are very tough, and in this case since they had your board the boat and never canceled the trip, it may be an uphill battle to get money back.
I broke my hip once on a hiking trip and it was a full time job getting reimbursed.

 

[also_anon_dc]

I'm curious to hear how the insurance claim plays out- please keep us updated. Aggressor's POV that you boarded the boat and the trip wasn't cancelled is egregious since you boarded the boat assuming the boat was going to leave the port. They knew before you boarded that would never happen and intentionally chose not to share that info. If they had I'm sure you never would have chosen to board.

If this happened to me my first approach would be to try a chargeback with my credit card company. You paid for a service that was never rendered. You paid for a diving liveboard trip, not to sit on a boat docked in the port for a week.

 

[SteveM54]

Hi Tsuyoshi (Jason), Undercurrent would like to hear from you first-hand. Please email me john@undercurrent.org. See if you can get anybody else stuck on board to do the same

Once "Undercurrent" bites into this I'd say Liveaboard.com & Aggressor is going to have a BAD couple of months................or more.

 

[Moray]

I'm reading this and I feel so bad for you. Everything went wrong for you and Aggressor didn't even make an effort to salvage anything out of the trip. Please feel free to post here Larry Speaker's phone number and email address. Undercurrent.org is another forum you can post your experience.

This makes me think that I need to do yet another inquiry of the liveaboard company I choose next. Send an email daily during transit to verify the port/harbor is open and the trip is proceeding as planned.

He might also want to post on Facebook’s Aggressor Addicts site about his ordeal

 

[John Bantin]

Since Force Majeure was invoked by Nautilus to avoid paying booked passengers for canceled trips to Guadalupe, I bet a lot of boat operators will use this in future to avoid refunds.