Mergui Archipelago liveaboard recommendations

[Vie]

The Panunee is always recommended by these guys from the club in Bangkok - do you guys pay the Thai price for it? Or the full farang price? I went to see the boat a couple of weeks ago and was not very impressed. I mean, it's decent but way overpriced. Only 2 of the cabins have bathrooms, the rest are small. The "photographers suites" looked nice in the photos, but would only suit photographers who are about 5 foot tall.

Ocean Rover is certainly one of the top dogs. Built and run by people who really know what they are doing.

I recommended the Panunee but I am in no way associated with the “guys from the club in Bangkok” (I am assuming that you are referring to the nice chaps of Damnam Sub Aqua Club). I’m sorry to hear that you are not impressed with the Panunee—if you want en suite bathrooms, I would suggest the Aqua One.

http://www.dive-aquasports.com/

 

[ssra30]

The Panunee is always recommended by these guys from the club in Bangkok - do you guys pay the Thai price for it? Or the full farang price? I went to see the boat a couple of weeks ago and was not very impressed. I mean, it's decent but way overpriced. Only 2 of the cabins have bathrooms, the rest are small. The "photographers suites" looked nice in the photos, but would only suit photographers who are about 5 foot tall.

Ocean Rover is certainly one of the top dogs. Built and run by people who really know what they are doing.

Well, I am one of those guys from the club in Bangkok. Some of us use the Panunee a lot because we do like the boat and the service we get. We do get certain amount of discount from the published price because we are frequent guests ( I never paid farang price since I am not a farang either, Farang price is a little steep but seeing what other boats's farang prices are, I still think the Panunee is very competitive). I have tried some other boats, some very nice, some not so nice but I do believe that Panunee offers very good value for the kind of boat and service that they offer. I do like Aqua One a lot but they seem to spend a lot of time on chartered trip and it is not always easy to book a trip for one individual or small group.
Interior wise, it just depends, I am not a big fan of Ocean Rover (never stayed on it but have visited the boat), I like the bedroom and sundeck area on Aqua One better but prefer the Panunee indoor public area. I suppose I can't find one single boat that is better than every other boats in every area yet.

btw I am 6ft tall and like the photographer studio a lot and no, I am not a contortionist either

 

[Batfish]

I would suggest the Aqua One.

Did you know Aqua One is for sale?

Hey, Panunee would be OK but not at the price they sell it for. And we were not real impressed by the owners attitude and the way he laughed when we suggested that dual pricing might cause a problem if we booked guests. It seemed he would prefer only Thai customers. In the same price range, Mermaid 1 is better, and starting next season you have Nautica. Panunee charges 1200 U$ for 5 days, and a cabin with no bathroom, this is too much in my opinion.

Also, Panunee has no trips to Burma in November.

Quero - I agree on the Mermaid 1 Standard cabins, though the manager tells me they have now moved the compressor into the engine room to make these cabins quieter. In any case, the price difference between the standard and deluxe cabins is not much, and if you book standard you'll wish you had booked deluxe!

6 boats to Similan is certainly limited, steven, because now it's the low season, and in November you will find about 40 boats or more, who knows these days. For Burma the options are relatively limited all the time. There are not many choices even in peak high season. Are there any other boats running to Burma in April and not in November?

 

[stevenl]

Are there any other boats running to Burma in April and not in November?

Yes, there are a couple more boats running from February till April, and they are in a different, cheaper price category.

BTW, I prefer the Panunee over the Mermaid I, especially because of the atmosphere on the boat, much more relaxed.

 

[Batfish]

btw I am 6ft tall and like the photographer studio a lot and no, I am not a contortionist either

Glad you like it. But we are probably looking from a different viewpoint. We are a liveaboard agent, and wanted to add Panunee to our program. The owner gave us a Thai Baht price list at the ADEX show, so we arranged to meet him in Phuket. Only then did we find out that the price he gave at ADEX was the Thai price. The "real" price is in US$ on the web site. We offer a range of boats at different prices and told him we could probably book people at the Thai price, but not the "farang" price. At the Thai price the boat would be a good deal, especially for the suite cabins with bathrooms (only 2 of these). I would say nearly all customers booking with us, if they want a 1000 U$ + trip, will want a private bathroom. Panunee, at full price, competes with other boats which offer this. Also, most customers we book (from US, Europe etc..) will expect to have a farang divemaster on the boat, which Panunee does not have. For me, an experienced Thai guide is great, but looking from the perspective of the average customer, they expect someone speaking fluent English, and maybe other languages too (we often get requests for German speaking divemasters).

The photo on Panunee web site of the photo suite made it look huge, but must have been taken using a tiny Thai lady as a model. The workbench under the bunk - how in hell do you use it without getting a sore back? I am 6'3" and felt that cabin would be way too small.

Anyhow, unfortunately, we decided not to add Panunee to our program, not at that price. I looked into it originally because it was recommended by damnam, but another agent did warn me that you guys probably get a nice deal on it. I would say for a group charter it may be a good deal.

And that, said John, is that.

 

[ssra30]

Did you know Aqua One is for sale?

Hey, Panunee would be OK but not at the price they sell it for. And we were not real impressed by the owners attitude and the way he laughed when we suggested that dual pricing might cause a problem if we booked guests. It seemed he would prefer only Thai customers. In the same price range, Mermaid 1 is better, and starting next season you have Nautica. Panunee charges 1200 U$ for 5 days, and a cabin with no bathroom, this is too much in my opinion.

Also, Panunee has no trips to Burma in November.

Quero - I agree on the Mermaid 1 Standard cabins, though the manager tells me they have now moved the compressor into the engine room to make these cabins quieter. In any case, the price difference between the standard and deluxe cabins is not much, and if you book standard you'll wish you had booked deluxe!

6 boats to Similan is certainly limited, steven, because now it's the low season, and in November you will find about 40 boats or more, who knows these days. For Burma the options are relatively limited all the time. There are not many choices even in peak high season. Are there any other boats running to Burma in April and not in November?

Aqua One is for sale but not because they are going out of business or in financial trouble. I happen to know the owner quite well and his livelihood is certainly not depends on Aqua One. It is a little strange because it seems to be a one man show as far as reservation, coordinating a trip etc as nobody else in the office seems to know or able to assist me in anything when the owner is not in town. The owner is also busy doing all kind of other things so yes, like any business man, if the price is right, he may be interested in selling.

Dual pricing for Thai and farang is a problem but consider this, Thai price is significantly lower and the Panunee seems to be doing ok catering to a lot of Thai divers (who are usually repeated customers) while many other lesser boats/boats in the same class charge single farang price that is a lot higher and cater mostly to farang/tourist divers. So if the Panunee decided to join the club and charge expensive fee for farang, is that the Panunee's fault or are they just following common practice established by other boats? Even with farang's price, I still happen to think that the boat offers very good value, but of course other people may have different preference.

 

[stevenl]

As said, I like the Panunee, but I do have a problem with dual pricing. Every operator has the right to ask what he/she thinks is fair for the trip, but that price should be the same for everybody (of course, discount for repeat customers is something different).
Some operators cater to the Thai market, others to the Farang market, with different prices because the boat is defferent, the service is different, the market is different, etc.
But charging for the same service/trip/boat a different price to Thai and a different price to farang is something different, and IMO not the way it should be.

 

[buksida]

Thanks for all the recommendations, will take a look at their websites, one that stuck out was the Fah Yai, it seemed to be the only one that fitted our schedule.

Generally speaking what is the diving like in November? Sure there is probably a better chance of seeing the big visitors in march/april but I'd rather sacrifice that and have dive sites to ourselves rather than sharing with 4 other dive boats (as someone has already mentioned).

Price wise what would be about right for a 5D/6N trip ? around $1200 seems to be the going rate although I hope to get a discount or at least the "Thai price"

 

[cocasana]

I've been there few years ago; I had a wonderful trip with Fantasea. The dive master that time was Mark Stikland (do you know him? Excellent underwater photographer). The boat was very simple, but now they've change it! Beautiful place anyway!
Carlo

 

[ssra30]

As said, I like the Panunee, but I do have a problem with dual pricing. Every operator has the right to ask what he/she thinks is fair for the trip, but that price should be the same for everybody (of course, discount for repeat customers is something different).
Some operators cater to the Thai market, others to the Farang market, with different prices because the boat is defferent, the service is different, the market is different, etc.
But charging for the same service/trip/boat a different price to Thai and a different price to farang is something different, and IMO not the way it should be.

Dual pricing is a problem especially when a farang customer found out what their Thai trip mates paid for exactly the same trip. But I hope the Panunee won't raise all prices to farang price though (at least from my thai customer's perspective).
A manager of one very good boat that shall remain nameless told us outright that they prefer foreign customers/tourists rather than local Thai/ex pats as they can charge a lot more money for those customers. Needless to say, I have not used their boats nor buy anything from their diveshop since.

Sunrise, I am sure the manager of Panunee did not make it easy for you to deal with him since I know him relatively well as well Sorry the business plan did not quite work out. For the price, it would be nice for en suite bathroom and I certainly would prefer that. However I do like other aspect of the boat well enough to compensate for the lack on en suite bathroom (being single, I don't want to share the Queen size bed with someone else for the en suite bathroom unit either, well, let me take that back, depending on who the room mate is but so far, none from Damnam group anyhow )

Diveguide is a bit iffy. In the past the Panunee did try to get us English speaking guide for our non Thai members, usually european DM or such. For some reason, we never had good luck with those DMs and prefer the current Thai DM staffs (although I wish Ali is still on board). In the past I had one European DM that was rather condescending and rude toward the Thai customers. May be we just had been having bad luck with those DMs as I am sure there are both good and bad Thai and non Thai DMs around.

I guess you just have to find a boat that offers whatever that you feel most comfortable with as no boats will completely satisfy everyone.