Good to see you posting about your resolution to the issue. Thanks for being fair and thanks to Orion for standing up and addressing the issue. I have yet to do a liveaboard mostly due to the cost. My GF does one every year and just booked for this year. I also know a few others who have taken liveaboard trips. All of them had for the most part positive experiences. I am sure like any vacation there will be some issues but my take on those is that many are due to differences in expectations. Not only on the part of the divers but the boat itself. The trick seems to be meeting in the middle.
From their site it says they offer this:
To me this is pretty cool. What I would expect out of this for the prices they offer would be Nitrox so I'm going to get my card before I go and would expect others to do the same or be offered a free class. C'mon it takes three or four hours of classroom and you're diving the stuff anyway. No biggie as long as they are requiring each diver to analyze their own tanks. Problem if they do not.
17 dives is ok but I'd like to sneak in a couple more
Tanks, weights as it should be. Dive guides ok but rather do my own thing and hope it's not required I use them. Nothing here about rental gear but would assume it available and would allow me to inspect it before boat leaves the dock. Personally I'd bring my own so there was no surprises. I would also assume that everyone on a boat like this would not need help setting gear up or developing a dive plan.
Everything else is expected and no big deal to me. Would not care about tour of city, fishing, and hope the drums and dancing are done early so as not to affect my sleep.
I'd expect everything to be clean but remember this is a dive boat. Looks good.
From their site it says they offer this:
- Nitrox
- 17 dives per week
- Tanks, weights and dive guides service
- 3 meals per day
- 24-hr tea, coffee, drinking water and fresh fruit
- Local style night fishing and trawling upon request
- Desert island dinner under the stars (weather permitting)
- Male City tour (Capital of Maldives) upon request
- Traditional drums and dance by the crew
- Airport transfers
To me this is pretty cool. What I would expect out of this for the prices they offer would be Nitrox so I'm going to get my card before I go and would expect others to do the same or be offered a free class. C'mon it takes three or four hours of classroom and you're diving the stuff anyway. No biggie as long as they are requiring each diver to analyze their own tanks. Problem if they do not.
17 dives is ok but I'd like to sneak in a couple more
Tanks, weights as it should be. Dive guides ok but rather do my own thing and hope it's not required I use them. Nothing here about rental gear but would assume it available and would allow me to inspect it before boat leaves the dock. Personally I'd bring my own so there was no surprises. I would also assume that everyone on a boat like this would not need help setting gear up or developing a dive plan.
Everything else is expected and no big deal to me. Would not care about tour of city, fishing, and hope the drums and dancing are done early so as not to affect my sleep.
I'd expect everything to be clean but remember this is a dive boat. Looks good.