Nekton boats may come back!!

[diverdoug1]

We did the 10 day trip to Cay Lobos and having those few extra days of diving were great. I agree with a more professional crew. We could tell a TREMENDOUS difference in crew behavior/attitude after Nelson left. Unless YOU plan on running the boat 24/7, try to get Nelson back. He runs a tight ship.

Nelson was very good, He was my wife's Nitrox instructor.

 

[John_B]

If your finances are so tight that your tour operator's failure is going to strand you, then trip insurance might be a good idea. Skipping the trip would be a better one though.

If you're going to spend several hundred dollars on airfare a liveaboard trip that could cost a few thousand dollars -- where either one failing could set you back a lot of money and ruin the whole trip -- then a little trip insurance is probably the prudent thing to do. Esp. with liveaboards that make you pay a significant amount of that money months or even a year in advance.

If it's just the return airfare or the return berth on a ship and the total cost is a few hundred bucks then most people would just decide to wing it.

But just skipping the trip and just being "out" thousands because the liveaboard or travel charter company failed is probably more financial hurt than most people could reasonably absorb.

 

[iztok]

This is one reason that I don't deal with middlemen, like travel agents, if I can avoid it. As the DIR guys say, it's another failure point, and they offer a service most people don't need. I book my diving with the dive operator, hotels with the hotelier, and flights directly with the airline.

Well I have an excellent travel agent that I book for work and private trips. She is the reason why I snagged last seat on a flight back home several times vs. being stuck somewhere for a couple of days due to cancellations of flights.

 

[Tom725]

Seventeen pages speaks pretty well to the passion behind the loyal following of the swath boats.

 

[bleeb]

About 1,200 vacationers were stranded in Mallorca and the Spanish coast due to the sudden collapse of a British tour operator
The Guardian newspaper says it is unclear how the British travelers are going to make it home.

Two words: trip insurance.

It's worth noting that in many jurisdictions, travel agents have to be licensed, and in some jurisdictions, that licensing includes insurance specifically against the failure of any operators they may book for you, such as tour companies, airlines, cruise lines, hotels, etc. Unfortunately, this would generally not help you if you booked directly with the operator, such as through an airline or hotel web site. Worth checking what the rules are where you or your travel agent are.

 

[SouthSideScubaSteve]

If your finances are so tight that your tour operator's failure is going to strand you, then trip insurance might be a good idea. Skipping the trip would be a better one though.

I would agree that trip insurance can be a good investment for someone (like me) who me has to budget & save to for a nice vacation; but it also can be for someone who wouldn’t financially notice having to cough up the extra $ to get back home (if “stranded” as the folks in this article) …. It’s really just a matter of how risk-averse an individual is.

What I don’t get is why skipping the trip would be a better idea?

 

[vladimir]

What I don’t get is why skipping the trip would be a better idea?

If you can't afford to lose the price of a vacation, then, in my opinion, you can't afford the vacation. Save the money until you can. Certainly, if you can't afford to return from your destination if your ticket somehow becomes invalid (like the Brits stranded in Mallorca), then you should have more financial reserves before you go on vacation.

 

[SouthSideScubaSteve]

If you can't afford to lose the price of a vacation, then, in my opinion, you can't afford the vacation. Save the money until you can. Certainly, if you can't afford to return from your destination if your ticket somehow becomes invalid (like the Brits stranded in Mallorca), then you should have more financial reserves before you go on vacation.

In my case, even though I budget / save for my vacations; if push came to shove and I got stuck somewhere I wouldn't be truly "stranded", because I could tap my financial reserves and get myself home. Even so, I’d likely buy trip insurance, particularly if I had bought a “packaged vacation” thru an agency (or was traveling to an area where weather or remoteness might cause my vacation to be canceled / interrupted). If I didn’t have those reserves, I’d absolutely buy trip insurance....

What I don’t get is why skipping the trip would be a better idea than buying trip insurance?

Steve

PS – Going back to the original article, I wonder how many of the Brits stranded in Mallorca are really “stranded” (as opposed to just being pissed off at having to dig into their wallets at having to pay for a 2nd ticket home)??

 

[diverdoug1]

In my case, even though I budget / save for my vacations; if push came to shove and I got stuck somewhere I wouldn't be truly "stranded", because I could tap my financial reserves and get myself home. Even so, I’d likely buy trip insurance, particularly if I had bought a “packaged vacation” thru an agency (or was traveling to an area where weather or remoteness might cause my vacation to be canceled / interrupted). If I didn’t have those reserves, I’d absolutely buy trip insurance....

What I don’t get is why skipping the trip would be a better idea than buying trip insurance?

Steve

PS – Going back to the original article, I wonder how many of the Brits stranded in Mallorca are really “stranded” (as opposed to just being pissed off at having to dig into their wallets at having to pay for a 2nd ticket home)??

Not to speak for Vlad, but I think his point was that if your finances are in a low state, you should skip the trip by NOT BOOKING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE (ie; you should be saving your money).

 

[chinacat46]

I stopped buying trip insurance about 6 years ago. I figure with all the money I've saved by not buying it I'm now self insured except for the most catastrophic of events.