Liveaboard with fewer old people?

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I'm interested to see if there is an update from the OP regarding what ended up happening with the rest of the trip and whether she spoke to the crew about her issues and concerns.

Me too!

@ivorynightfall how did the trip work out? Did the old crabby guy leave you alone? Was the diving good? How did you like the boat and the Maldives?
 
I certainly hope that she got a resolution to it that she is happy with.

(I have to admit that I am also a little curious as to what steps were taken to reach the final resolution.)
 
She’s quitting diving.

From another thread -
The changing Scuba Industry

After diving now 6 years, I'm going to call it quits after this pretty disastrous Liveaboard with some incredibly boorish people I will be glad to never see again. Luckily I hadn't bought that much equipment - I just bought a dive computer >< - but in the interim I'll do some yoga, and enjoy my tech job perks.
 
@ivorynightfall in case you ever return:

Mike’s not speaking like a Christian Brother;

words that shock the ears of his Sainted Mother

Don’t judge every boat lodger

By one nasty old codger

But please share those nice lounges with one another. :)
 
I've been following this thread and if the issue was conflict over someone moving another person's things from a desired lounge chair after what was deemed 'too long' to claim it unattended, it's a broader issue.

If you go to CruiseCritic.com, a huge forum on cruising, check out a few cruise reviews and you may see people castigating the 'chair hog' situation; fellow cruisers using personal items to claim lounge chairs in prime locations for a few to several hours, which they don't use for extended periods (at least in the Royal Caribbean section, I'm under the impression 30 minutes is supposed to be the cut-off). Crew don't consistently enforce this. There's a LOT of contempt toward perceived offenders.

Since the Jan. 2019 Scuba Board Surge event is planned for Sunscapes Resort in Curacao, I headed there to read Trip Advisor reviews on it. Chair hogs are an issue to some; in a June 4, 2017 review by Jettsgal - "The resort is under 400 rooms so it's not massive which was nice, the beach is a protected lagoon and there were lots of beach chairs (but people do go down at who knows what hour to put their towels down and then you never see them for hours!! Even though there are signs saying barring chairs isn't allowed) we always managed to find a spot in the shade."

I don't know the specifics here and I'm not calling the OP a chair hog. Could be the other party thought so, competing senses of entitlement (for one's stuff to be left alone vs. to move it) came into play and things got ugly. Perhaps the moral of the story is be cautious with confrontation when trapped on a modest-sized boat with a set group of people for a week? Would be interesting to've been a fly on the wall for the actual interaction.

I'm surprised I don't hear of more ugly conflicts over lounge chairs, particularly on cruises. I've not heard chair hogs ascribed to any particular age range. People have debated who's ruder, the young or the old, to the point it may be too close to call.

Richard.

P.S.: If all else fails and scuba is mainly an older person's game (it doesn't have to be), at least the young have something good to look forward to! 'Cause youth is sliding through your fingers like sand...
 
I've been following this thread and if the issue was conflict over someone moving another person's things from a desired lounge chair after what was deemed 'too long' to claim it unattended, it's a broader issue.

If you go to CruiseCritic.com, a huge forum on cruising, check out a few cruise reviews and you may see people castigating the 'chair hog' situation; fellow cruisers using personal items to claim lounge chairs in prime locations for a few to several hours, which they don't use for extended periods (at least in the Royal Caribbean section, I'm under the impression 30 minutes is supposed to be the cut-off). Crew don't consistently enforce this. There's a LOT of contempt toward perceived offenders.

Since the Jan. 2019 Scuba Board Surge event is planned for Sunscapes Resort in Curacao, I headed there to read Trip Advisor reviews on it. Chair hogs are an issue to some; in a June 4, 2017 review by Jettsgal - "The resort is under 400 rooms so it's not massive which was nice, the beach is a protected lagoon and there were lots of beach chairs (but people do go down at who knows what hour to put their towels down and then you never see them for hours!! Even though there are signs saying barring chairs isn't allowed) we always managed to find a spot in the shade."

I don't know the specifics here and I'm not calling the OP a chair hog. Could be the other party thought so, competing senses of entitlement (for one's stuff to be left alone vs. to move it) came into play and things got ugly. Perhaps the moral of the story is be cautious with confrontation when trapped on a modest-sized boat with a set group of people for a week? Would be interesting to've been a fly on the wall for the actual interaction.

I'm surprised I don't hear of more ugly conflicts over lounge chairs, particularly on cruises. I've not heard chair hogs ascribed to any particular age range. People have debated who's ruder, the young or the old, to the point it may be too close to call.

Richard.

P.S.: If all else fails and scuba is mainly an older person's game (it doesn't have to be), at least the young have something good to look forward to! 'Cause youth is sliding through your fingers like sand...

I took commuter trains for years when I worked in the city and I can tell you that seat hogs are an issue in that environment too, and they were not unique to any particular generation, gender, ethnic group, or other population - and the issue often does lead to angry confrontations.
 
The last LOB that I was on was the Aquacat last fall. The passengers on that boat represented a fairly diverse group. There were people who were from Canada, USA, Italy and France. Most of us spoke English, but not everybody, so there were some challenges in communication. Ages ranged from early 30s to late 60s, and political views ranged from conservative to a couple that describe themselves as socialists (their words not mine).

There were a few things that we all had in common though. Perhaps most importantly, we all loved to dive and we all loved to laugh. When you share those two loves with others, it is amazing how little the other factors actually matter. In all honesty, many of the laughs came while watching someone trying to have a conversation with one of the people who didn't speak English as the participants struggled to convey their ideas.

After the diving was done for the day, the crew would often join us in the main salon. The crew ranged in age from mid 20s to mid 50s, and they came from all over the world.

By the end of the week, old friendships were renewed, and new friendships were forged.
 
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I see that @ivorynightfall has said that she is giving up diving. That is really too bad.

In many ways, I appear to be exactly the demographic that she hates. I am a male in my late 50s, white, conservative, and a military vet who served in the RCAF for over 30 years.

I also love to dive, although I may not get a chance to do it as often as I would like. I love to laugh and to chat (and will easily tell you a story if you let me), I love to make new friends and I tend to place far more importance on a person's character than I do on their race, gender or other factors. (If you are nice to me, then almost certainly I will be nice to you, but if you treat me like dirt, then I may tend to avoid you.)

It may be a while until I have the opportunity to go diving again (Living on a pension does tend to limit my disposable income at times.), I would like to extend an open invitation to @ivorynightfall to join me and the group that I dive with on a trip some time. I would love to travel with her and to try to show her that the experiences that she has had are not what I find to be typical.

The only things that I would ask of her is that if she does come on a trip with us that she does so with an open mind, and that she sets her pre-conceived biases aside until she meets us. The only other thing that I ask is that she pay her own way. This would ensure that I have no ulterior motives other than to try to minimize the stereotypes that she now holds.
 
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