Nekton boats may come back!!

[cappyjon431]

Honestly, that 'vote' would highly piss me off! I paid good $ to be on a DIVE trip, and I expect the boat to honor their commitment to me as a paying customer for a DIVE (not football watching) trip. As you can likely tell, I couldn't give a 'rat's azz' about football, but whether it was football or whatever, the other divers don't have a right to vote me out of diving, if it's billed/sold as a dive trip, that's what it better be! If the rest of the guests want to change THEIR plans, that's fine, but I'd better be allowed to do my own dives, and the boat better have a DM stay behind with me too, if I need a buddy.

I agree with you, but this was a GROUP (D2D from scubadiving.com) who had chartered the entire boat. It was their decision, and if I remember correctly (it's been eight or nine years so I can't be sure) it was a unanimous decision. As a captain, I would never change an itinerary for such a thing unless it was requested by all the guests.

 

[deepdiver4u]

This is for Leviathon

I do not know who you are as you haven't stated your name. However, you have made some very serious accusations as to my character and integrity.

Please send me either a reply or a personal message so that I can know who you are. If you are going to attack me like this, the least you can do is allow me to defend myself.

The idea of getting the Rorqual back to sea is a big venture. As far as the Costs that are being posted such as "tens of millions of dollars" or "6 to 7 million" I strongly disagree. A brand new boat can be built for the 6 million dollars and would have none of the stigma attached.

I will not go into the actual costs of this venture because they are simply not relevant to the discussion. I came here to get input from all of my fellow divers about how the would feel to have the Rorqual back in service. For those of you that have given me that input, I am grateful.

As for the name of the vessel, of course it would be changed. As for JD, I have no intention of having him as a business partner. He wants to be as far away from the diving industry as he possibly can. He is fully aware that he is "the most hated man in the business" and just wants to go away.

So let's let JD go away and focus on the idea of diving.

Leviathon, please contact me.

Kris Pierce

 

[donhealy]

Kris,

Frank offers the best advice I've seen on this board. Of course he's had the opportunity to have experienced it himself. Take his advice and include the suggestions in a solid marketing plan.

I love an entrepreneur who has a great idea but understands the risks associated. Good luck with the financing and I hope you make the correct business decisions.

I would sail with you again.

BTW, life is too short. Forget about Leviathon. Bitter and angry never heals.

Don

 

[DebbyDiver]

I don't want to sound like a hard a$$, but I think having TV in crew areas would be a major mistake. If I ran a liveaboard company, I wouldn't want my crew huddled in their cabins watching the boob tube when they should be out socializing or diving with the guests. Don't get me wrong, I lived on a liveaboard for a long time and I missed the ability to occasionally watch the news or catch a football game, but remember that customer service should always come first.

On a scarier note, I would hate to think that crew members who were scheduled to do night watches or perform other safety duties could possibly become distracted by the presence of TV. Our night watch crew was never permitted to even watch videos on the TV because it was too much of a distraction. Having a live TV signal would increase potential distractions.

There is nothing wrong with reading a good book. Liveaboard guests should always consider leaving books behind once they have been read. The crews really appreciate it!

All good points! I hadn't even thought of those. I personlly do not watch TV, I never have, so I don't "get" the appeal of it. It would surely be tempting for those who indulge. I would find having TV on a liveaboard to be a major turnoff. When I was on the Pilot last year, many of us brought our laptops to the salon and spent the evening editing our pictures and admiring others' photos. I found it to be a very special time with my fellow passengers. If they were sitting around watching TV, I would have been really lonesome editing my pics all by myself.

 

[blibecap]

I agree with Debbie on several parts, Thanks frank for the advice. I don't want TV and I really didn't like the addition of satellite radio on the boat. A little music is fine but news, weather and sports who needs it on vacation. Also be careful of the station you chose as we all have varied music preferences. The crew is there to take care of the passengers, it's not there vacation it's there job and work. I don't care if there happy they need to do a good job or find another occupation. I also agree with dress code and better hiring practices especially in the kitchen. The boats need a strong seasoned captain not someone like tucker who couldn't lead because he was still wet behind the ears regardless of his navigational or boat shills. Someone with customer service skills, leadership skills and people skills and life skills is whats needed.

Well how is that for a high horse... been on 6-7 nekton trips, each one was not as good as the previous one, last one last year.

 

[tia126]

I was only on two Nekton trips, both on the Pilot - one was the St. Croix itinerary, the other was one of the Bahamas itineraries. I don't have anything to compare the experience with (although I'm doing an Aggressor trip later this year), since those have been my only liveaboard trips. Honestly, I loved the first one, but the diving was meh. By the time I took the second trip, the boat had clearly deteriorated in all aspects - infrastructure, crew, etc. - but the diving was awesome.

I would absolutely give it another shot. It was nice being able to fly solely within the US to get to the boat, but I wouldn't mind going another short hop - say, to the Bahamas. Price point is not so much of an issue. Other than a do-it-yourself jaunt to Cozumel, I expect to pay around $2,000 for a week of diving. If your price point is somewhere in that neighborhood, it seems reasonable, assuming reasonably high quality of life on board (professional crew, nitrox that works!, a hot tub that works!, Heike's cookies - I'm just sayin', and a cabin that doesn't drip).

Please keep us posted on your progress. I think it's an ambitious plan, but I wish you the best of luck with it!

 

[scrivic]

I would dive again with you, Kris, and wish you tons of luck and hope you are able to bring the Rorqual back.

I'd be open to just about any itin. I wanted to do the Belize itin on the Pilot next year and would hope you would consider doing that itin if you get up and running.

Tammy

 

[uwphotoer]

I would dive again with you, Kris, and wish you tons of luck and hope you are able to bring the Rorqual back.

I'd be open to just about any itin. I wanted to do the Belize itin on the Pilot next year and would hope you would consider doing that itin if you get up and running.

Tammy

She will too, as she was just telling me how she misses that boat so.....

 

[didi440]

Hi Kris.

It's awesome to hear from you and I would definately dive the Roarqual again. I have been on her three times, Medio, St. Croix and Mayaguana. I wanted to dive Medio again this summer, but that didn't happen. I have heard good things about Belize and would consider that one as well.

I would dive the Medio, Mayaguana, Cay Sal and Mona iteneraries. Not sure about doing St. Croix again. Of the three trips I did with Nekton, Mayaguana was the best (even if the wind was nuts). The reasons: Jeff's cooking was awesome. The boat was as neat and clean as it could be in the condition it was in. You and Kendall were looking for ways to improve everything and listened to us.

I would be willing to pay more for the experience, AND I would like to see some longer trips built into the schedule at some point. Seven days wasn't long enough for Mayaguana because you lost a day in travel each way.

Some suggestions (a bit rambling):

Have the crew wear some kind of uniform.

Get the nitrox running reliably and have more than 15 nitrox slots. Nitrox makes a big difference when doing multiple dives a day over a 5 day span.

Hire Jeff back. He had great ideas and was an awesome chef. (or someone of his calibur.)

Move the camera tables if you can. Everyone liked to dump everything on them from wet towels to glasses to shirts, etc etc. It gets a bit frustrating to try to set up your camera or make changes to your kit when there is no room. Also, please make sure all the air hoses are working.

Since you are totally refitting the boat, see if you can redo the area to hang suits and add an area to have gloves and boots so we aren't using deck chairs. Also, for those of use that would be wimps and use dry suits in Mayaguana in April (yep that would be Kamela and me), a different set up would be needed.

These are just some thoughts that come to mind and I'm sure I can think of others if I really put my mind to it.

I have seen some of the other posts that deal with the start up and refit of the boat from people who would know more that I would about those things so I will leave that alone.

I wish you the best Kris and I truly hope that you are able to get this up and running. I would definately sail with you again.

Dorothy Catapano

 

[tregrrr]

not having a dog that hunts, let alone fights in this here game, but...

Has any operator considered chartering a flight to their final boat departure port??

A charter of a twin prop out of MIA or some other american hub?? 20 people should be able to get a small-ish charter plane. This would allow all the guests to arrive all at one time, the land agent to forward them all one time and arrange a truck to haul luggage and supplies. It would allow guests much higher RESTRICTED WEIGHT for the final leg (provided the operator plans the flight with an eye for this increased weight allotment) so that those guests so inclined on taking EXCESS camera or dive kit could FEDEX or Greyhound it to an office IN MIAMI, who would then be able to confirm it's arrival during the week or two prior to the flight, and then forward that gear along with whatever spares and supplies the boat ordered from stateside on the charter plane. Since the previous week's contingent of guests would be heading back to the states, the incidence of dead-head flights would be lessened. This would make sure that kit and heavy luggage sent ahead of time can be accurately accounted and forwarded, and excuse guests from the hassle of arguing with airlines about their overweight pieces. Its possible this might only be cost effective for rebreather pilots and shutter bugs with bad a$$ pelican boxes full....

Just a thought from a mere instructor who washed out after 6 months on a liveaboard, but one formed from hearing constant complaints from guests about overweight charges. a quick pricing with greyhound put a 50lbs bag shipped from seattle to miami at 65$... MIGHT open some options including rebreather, photo and video exceptionally friendly boat....