MV Orion - very disappointing

[Jim Lapenta]

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:

• 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.

 

[Shasta_man]

Sounds like some legitimate concerns though also expecting some hand holding due to lower experience level. You can expect guides to guide you but handholding onboard is not automatic. As I'm going to places I don't live or know, and intentionally going to current dives because that's where the critters are, guides are always OK with me and a good thing if they are the quality guides usually associated with good boats. Unless they are 30 minute dive guys, but I don't go those places because I know that.

Giving nitrox unknowingly is not OK. While it is easy to get certified, that's not the point. If you knowingly use Nitrox without training, it's your fault. If you're unknowingly given it, it's not. The best way to get the best experience is bring your own gear. Everywhere. At least the stuff that fits good or you know how to work, like your computer or even regs. Particularly if you are less experienced, you don't want to be troubleshooting a computer at depth because you may not realize what it's trying to tell you. Easiest way to screw up a good dive trip is with bad equipment. Focus on the critters not the leak in your wife's BC.

<<an isolated (one charter on one liveaboard) event>> I don't believe that. Glad to hear you are working on it, though. Good luck.

 

[M/V Orion]

First to the OP, thank you for following up. A lot of new posters put up a complaint and disappear, so it means a lot.

To Jim
The Nitrox is free on board and we do offer a course for those who want to learn. I promote, in this situation, the SDI computer Nitrox course and off you go. Diving Nitrox and not knowing it is not good in any way, shape or form. You are right. We have a system in place that did not occur that week apparently but be assured it will not happen again on the Orion. A simple explanation is we always dive air on our check out dive, then switch to nitrox for those who are certified and want to take advantage of it. Confusion happened during that switch and the rest is history so to speak.
You would also be surprised at the number of people here who either rent or have their own kits who know nothing about them and need help setting up. Of course it is not required that we help set up a newly (or oldly for that matter) certified diver's kit (unless it is rental), but we usually provide all of the attention they need to get ready properly. You would also be surprised at the number of people who come here who do "need their hands held". It is the nature of the business that I think you yourself have not experienced yet, but stick around and you will see more and more of what I am talking about.

17 dives is a full week of diving here in the Maldives. We don't advertise it but usually we are usually able to slip in a 4 dive day if everything works out that day and we do a night dive. Again, most people don't understand the geographic layout and how important current is (timing) to have a good dive as opposed to a not so good dive here in the Maldives.

To Shasta_man,

<<an isolated (one charter on one liveaboard) event>> I don't believe that.

​

The OPs concerns were about one trip. That was all I was saying. I understand your skepticism regarding operations, but I was just trying to keep this thread on topic. The statement was not meant to imply we never have a problem, though we rarely do. Believe it or not.

Thanks everyone for staying civil and on topic and thanks again to the OP for responding with an update.

M/V Orion

 

[reefseeker2]

I was planning to use MV Orion, is that true about 10 divers per guide? That would make me choose another boat. 6 is OK.. 8 is pushing it, 10 is no way...

Hi,

I am sorry you felt so disappointed with your trip on board the M/V Orion. Please contact info@mvorion.com and we will certainly try and resolve some of these issues with you person to person.

M/V Orion

 

[M/V Orion]

I was planning to use MV Orion, is that true about 10 divers per guide? That would make me choose another boat. 6 is OK.. 8 is pushing it, 10 is no way...

On Average our groups are divided into 6 per group.

Just because you are in a "group" does not mean you can not dive as a buddy team.

The "group" system is just used to efficiently get people off on sites that are hard to get to the reef without following your guide down. The rest of the dive you can do on your own with your buddy normally.

If there were 10 divers with one guide it was an outside reef dive that meant it was a straight shot and there was not navigation involved and everyone was free to do their own thing I am pretty sure.

Team M/V Orion