M/Y Seven Seas for June 2 Weeks trip.

[JustStig]

I am about to book the Liveaboard 7 seas for their special 2 week trip out of Marsa Alam in June 23

There has not been a lot reviews but it seems like it is a German owned boat if I am not mistaken.

Looking for some feedback as Liveaboard.com reviews are far and few in between. Also looking for recommendations for tour operator for transfers in Cairo as well as post dive trip tours for Luxor / Cairo.
From the trip reports here I have see. Nile Holiday and Steven’s Taxi mentioned

 

[Mod63]

A very nice boat, we actually considered to go on the same trip (only reason we did not is the currently messed up situation with flights to RMF). Enjoy, and Jonas the cruise director is a very nice guy. Well run operation and a really nice trip schedule.

 

[JustStig]

A very nice boat, we actually considered to go on the same trip (only reason we did not is the currently messed up situation with flights to RMF). Enjoy, and Jonas the cruise director is a very nice guy. Well run operation and a really nice trip schedule.

That great to hear. is RMF okay to fly out of or should I go to Hur to fly back to Cairo?

 

[Mod63]

If you can get a convenient flight out of RMF take that, it's a 2:30h drive from Port Gahlib to HRG.

 

[JustStig]

If you can get a convenient flight out of RMF take that, it's a 2:30h drive from Port Gahlib to HRG.

Thanks I will do that.

I was wondering if you have had any first experience with the Seven sea live aboard? I'm hoping to find more details about it. Just a bit nervous being stuck on a it for 2 weeks with no recourse.
I assume that it's all DIN boat? We have scuba pro Mk25s with yokes but planning on converting to din to avoid adapter issues on this trip.

 

[Mod63]

We did 2 7 day trips back to back in 2017 and were quite happy. It is a well run operation, food was good as was the diving. As stated above, we did consider the June 23 trip, but due to the fact that I cannot get any proper flight to RMF and do not like to get up at 5am to get a flight out of HRG on the way back we choose a different boat. As for tanks, most boats do have inserts to convert from DIN to yoke, but simply drop them an email and ask. Be aware that they cater to a mostly European crowd that is used to do most dives unguided; there are of course dive guides but if all 24 guests want to dive with a guide you end up qith a 1:8 ratio.

 

[JustStig]

Good to know, I wonder if there is an option to hire a private guide. We both have 150+ dives under our belt but do not like big groups, and I find having local knowledge of the sites is invaluable.

scuba advisor | Liveaboard Seven Seas - Egypt. The recent reviews on that site is a cause of concern for me. I am also considering 2 weeks back to back on red sea aggressor 3 as a backup.

 

[Mod63]

quite interesting - different comments for the same period

I would not worry to much about the guides, usually the majority choses to go on their own

 

[d^2b]

@JustStig We are booked on this trip, hopefully it turns nice like @Mod63 says. We will fly from Cairo to RMF. I have previously RS Aggressor I/II. I enjoyed the one in the south more but it later burned and sank, so, mixed messages I guess. The fire incident is discussed extensively on ScubaBoard. FWIW, we also considered the 2 aggressors back to back, but decided a 14 day itinerary has more diving days than 2 7 day itineraries, and might also get to some more distant spots.

 

[d^2b]

We did the trip and were overall happy with it. The crew was great, particularly the two divemaster/cruise directors Abdo and Mathias.

We got as far south as Rocky and Zabargad (St. John Island). Rocky was my favourite spot. It had the soft corals comparable with Brothers but we were the only ones there. Otherwise we spent some time in Fury Shoals and St. Johns. We only got one dive in on Elphinstone due to weather, while we spent more days than probably ideal on Daedelus (I think others have remarked on this is as well, it's due to Egyptian regulations). I did see a couple of Hammerheads and a Thresher shark (I did not expect that!).

The bad part was that at Rocky we damaged one of the generators due to heat, and that meant no nitrox for the second half of the trip. It also meant the air conditioning was kindof limping along, which was not great.
They did bring out mechanics on to the boat but didn't manage to repair.
Well, the thought they had it repaired but it blew again.

Food was good, a mix of Egyptian style and German style food. Fresh baked bread every morning. They did a couple of "banquet style" meals on the upper deck with a BBQ / grill, and those were good, although I could have been happy with one of the three main courses.

They have quite a few 15L tanks [1] which both my buddy and I ended up renting (EUR7 a day, not a big deal). It was nice to finish 1h (multilevel) dives from 100ft with 1/3 tank.

Some of my photos from the trip are at

darktable gallery

EDIT: I should mention that I felt pretty good about the safety on the boat. I didn't really see anything concerning, but probably more interesting they handed out locator beacons to each diver (I don't remember the name, but a 12km range and connected to a unit on the boat).

[1]: so they claimed anyway. My SAC figures seem to match, so I guess so?