Narayana Liveaboard Tubbataha
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Please note that this review is 100% based on our experience on board with M/Y Narayana trip #2. 1st to 7th April 2019 - 14 divers collectively from Thailand, Brunei and Malaysia.
Boat and kitchen crews - 5 of 5 stars. We could tell they did their best to accommodate us. There are instances when the dive gears had issues, and they had work tirelessly to fix.
Boat facilities - 2 of 5 stars. The dive gears could have been serviced/maintained properly prior to departure. Some bcd are faulty, one of the bcd inflated itself every few minutes underwater. There were issues with the dive gears everyday, sometimes up to 3 issues a day. Once we had to wake up at 5am for a dive, when everyone was ready on the boat/dinghy, we had to wait as 2 divers found their regulators to be leaky. Compromised quality of dive equipment is unacceptable especially considering we are diving in a remote location in the middle of the sulu sea. One diver was told to skip a Dive because his BCD had issues and there were no replacements. How would you feel, if you travel all this way to the middle of nowhere and got told to skip a dive cos the dive gears you RENTED is faulty? There are also a few instances when the crews had to fix the generators. We basically chartered the entire boat, and they split us into two dive groups - but there’s only one dinghy. So the boat had to drop off the first dive group and be back to ferry the 2nd group.
0 of 5 stars for accommodating to underwater photographers - please note that there’s no camera room and no proper care of your cameras - we had to inform them to use a towel to cover the cameras on the dive boat so salt wouldnt crystalized on our camera casings.
We are given one towel only to dry ourselves after every dive throughout the entire 5 days of diving. Fresh water on board is also limited. In one of the room’s toilet, there’s minimal (almost dripping) water coming out of the faucet, the guests had to use the shower to brush their teeth and wash their face every morning.
Side note, food seems to be rather limited and is always not enough for all 14 divers.
0 of 5 stars CRUISE DIRECTOR/BOAT Manager - Rudi. HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED to be on board with him.
Unfortunately, the cruise director/boat manager on board is the WORST we have encountered by far. Most of us are seasoned divers, with 5-9 years of diving experience. Despite the fact that we are all in our late twenties to mid thirties- Rudi treated all of us as if we are kids. We are not sure if it’s because we are Asians. Or perhaps he has had bad experience with Asians but that’s not the way to treat guests.
During the first day of sailing from Puerto Princessa, we were all winding down after all the air/ground travels and having a few drinks. Rudi came out of his room at night and said and I quote “If I even smell a whiff of alcohol in anyone of you, you’re not going diving!” Then he stormed off. We were all dumb founded and shocked. We understand that it’s for our safety and believe us if any of our dive buddies are drunk, we would never allow them to dive. We are grown ass adults, capable of making our own decisions. Throughout the entire trip, Rudi would make bad and stern remarks on how “young people” cannot handle alcohol - eventho we haven’t been drinking. He’s such a Captain kill joy who really dampened and killed the vacation mood for everyone on board.
On the 2nd day of diving - one of us got a small cut on one of our finger, hence we requested for plaster. Upon checking the first aid box, there’s no plaster. Rudi then commented he will give his own “private” plaster to us. As he was helping to put on the plaster, he then commented that “next time rather than spending money on alcohol, spend money on some plaster, aspirin etc”. We thought this comment is rather uncalled for. We felt like we are being stuck on board with a grumpy Grandfather who’s never going to treat us as equal.
One of the dive groups saw tiger sharks in their early morning dive, but the other group didn’t. During surface interval, the DMs asked if a few of us present on the deck if we would like to visit the same dive site to give the other dive group a chance to see the tiger sharks. Without asking any of us for our preference, Rudi said “to ****” the tiger sharks and that the dive site is boring - he decided there and then we should go to another dive site instead. Our opinions don’t matter, clearly.
Lastly, there were a few instances whereby we had issues with some of the rented dive gears. Rudi was all geared up and ready to dive and despite knowing the boat crews are working on fixing the issue, Rudi sat on the dinghy with the rest of us and not lift a finger to help. He did not even said a word. It’s almost as if he’s just tagging along to dive, eat and kill all the vacation joy of all guests (or maybe crew). We would definitely recommend this liveaboard if it’s not for him.
We have been on other liveaboard and by far he is the most useless in terms of helping out the crew and ensuring guests are happy. It is as if he is just a guest who wants to dive eat and go to sleep.
Hidden charges - during the last day when we are calculating all the rented gears fees, one of the diver was caught off guard because he has been using 15ltr tank for his dives however no one had inform him that there’s additional charges. Together with his rented gears, dive comp and 15ltr tanks for 19 dives - he had to fork out approx 10,000 pesos (SGD260)
Boat and kitchen crews - 5 of 5 stars. We could tell they did their best to accommodate us. There are instances when the dive gears had issues, and they had work tirelessly to fix.
Boat facilities - 2 of 5 stars. The dive gears could have been serviced/maintained properly prior to departure. Some bcd are faulty, one of the bcd inflated itself every few minutes underwater. There were issues with the dive gears everyday, sometimes up to 3 issues a day. Once we had to wake up at 5am for a dive, when everyone was ready on the boat/dinghy, we had to wait as 2 divers found their regulators to be leaky. Compromised quality of dive equipment is unacceptable especially considering we are diving in a remote location in the middle of the sulu sea. One diver was told to skip a Dive because his BCD had issues and there were no replacements. How would you feel, if you travel all this way to the middle of nowhere and got told to skip a dive cos the dive gears you RENTED is faulty? There are also a few instances when the crews had to fix the generators. We basically chartered the entire boat, and they split us into two dive groups - but there’s only one dinghy. So the boat had to drop off the first dive group and be back to ferry the 2nd group.
0 of 5 stars for accommodating to underwater photographers - please note that there’s no camera room and no proper care of your cameras - we had to inform them to use a towel to cover the cameras on the dive boat so salt wouldnt crystalized on our camera casings.
We are given one towel only to dry ourselves after every dive throughout the entire 5 days of diving. Fresh water on board is also limited. In one of the room’s toilet, there’s minimal (almost dripping) water coming out of the faucet, the guests had to use the shower to brush their teeth and wash their face every morning.
Side note, food seems to be rather limited and is always not enough for all 14 divers.
0 of 5 stars CRUISE DIRECTOR/BOAT Manager - Rudi. HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED to be on board with him.
Unfortunately, the cruise director/boat manager on board is the WORST we have encountered by far. Most of us are seasoned divers, with 5-9 years of diving experience. Despite the fact that we are all in our late twenties to mid thirties- Rudi treated all of us as if we are kids. We are not sure if it’s because we are Asians. Or perhaps he has had bad experience with Asians but that’s not the way to treat guests.
During the first day of sailing from Puerto Princessa, we were all winding down after all the air/ground travels and having a few drinks. Rudi came out of his room at night and said and I quote “If I even smell a whiff of alcohol in anyone of you, you’re not going diving!” Then he stormed off. We were all dumb founded and shocked. We understand that it’s for our safety and believe us if any of our dive buddies are drunk, we would never allow them to dive. We are grown ass adults, capable of making our own decisions. Throughout the entire trip, Rudi would make bad and stern remarks on how “young people” cannot handle alcohol - eventho we haven’t been drinking. He’s such a Captain kill joy who really dampened and killed the vacation mood for everyone on board.
On the 2nd day of diving - one of us got a small cut on one of our finger, hence we requested for plaster. Upon checking the first aid box, there’s no plaster. Rudi then commented he will give his own “private” plaster to us. As he was helping to put on the plaster, he then commented that “next time rather than spending money on alcohol, spend money on some plaster, aspirin etc”. We thought this comment is rather uncalled for. We felt like we are being stuck on board with a grumpy Grandfather who’s never going to treat us as equal.
One of the dive groups saw tiger sharks in their early morning dive, but the other group didn’t. During surface interval, the DMs asked if a few of us present on the deck if we would like to visit the same dive site to give the other dive group a chance to see the tiger sharks. Without asking any of us for our preference, Rudi said “to ****” the tiger sharks and that the dive site is boring - he decided there and then we should go to another dive site instead. Our opinions don’t matter, clearly.
Lastly, there were a few instances whereby we had issues with some of the rented dive gears. Rudi was all geared up and ready to dive and despite knowing the boat crews are working on fixing the issue, Rudi sat on the dinghy with the rest of us and not lift a finger to help. He did not even said a word. It’s almost as if he’s just tagging along to dive, eat and kill all the vacation joy of all guests (or maybe crew). We would definitely recommend this liveaboard if it’s not for him.
We have been on other liveaboard and by far he is the most useless in terms of helping out the crew and ensuring guests are happy. It is as if he is just a guest who wants to dive eat and go to sleep.
Hidden charges - during the last day when we are calculating all the rented gears fees, one of the diver was caught off guard because he has been using 15ltr tank for his dives however no one had inform him that there’s additional charges. Together with his rented gears, dive comp and 15ltr tanks for 19 dives - he had to fork out approx 10,000 pesos (SGD260)
OP
gkrane
Contributor
Wow, Rudi sounds like a real gem. It's unfortunate when a sour individual can ruin a trip of a lifetime. How was the diving overall?
He is a gem indeed.
Rudi aside, I think the dives are pretty awesome. The reefs are healthy and pristine, we managed to catch a glimpse of 2 whale sharks, 1 tiger shark, schools and schools of Jacks, barracudas, baby grey reef sharks, a handful of huge dog tooth tunas, napoleons and turtles! Oh, and from afar (on our boat) we saw dolphins and a huge whale (unsure if it’s sperm whale).
Thanks for the recent feedback about M/Y Narayana liveaboard.
I have the option to go diving Tubbataha with this boat from March 24th to 30th this year for $1400 (25% off due to late cancellation) but I am not sure I want to meet Rudi...
Could you tell us what you thought about the cabins, and especially about the bed and AC? Was it good or just barely okay?
After all, if we remove Rudi from the equation and knowing that I have my own gear (so I will not have to rent any faulty diving equipment), would you recommend this liveaboard for this price?
Any other recent feedback about diving Tubbataha with M/Y Narayana?
I have the option to go diving Tubbataha with this boat from March 24th to 30th this year for $1400 (25% off due to late cancellation) but I am not sure I want to meet Rudi...
Could you tell us what you thought about the cabins, and especially about the bed and AC? Was it good or just barely okay?
After all, if we remove Rudi from the equation and knowing that I have my own gear (so I will not have to rent any faulty diving equipment), would you recommend this liveaboard for this price?
Any other recent feedback about diving Tubbataha with M/Y Narayana?
Kate0703
Registered
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