Nekton Pilot Aug. 29 - Sept. 5 Northwest Bahamas

[H2O Gal]

Nekton is best savored by people who want 5x dives a day, they want to be stinky wet all week.

Gee RoatanMan, were you on the boat sitting next to me all week and I didn't know it? I'm still drying out crevices I didn't even know I had.....:shocked2:

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Wow, you really put the a** in assumptions. You have FAR too much time on your hands, researching people on here (another prime example is your assessment of agwatts career choices and movements in the other Nekton thread).

1st: In case you haven't figured it out yet: GTOPH is my husband and those would be MY PHOTOS. I'm surprised you didn't recall them since I'm sure you have undoubtedly perused them before during your investigation of me.

2nd: We have been on 2 liveaboards (Nekton Pilot and recently the Explorer Ventures CEXII, neither of which are anywhere near luxury boats). Perhaps you aren't aware of the condition of other competitors boats since you apparently only travel on Nekton. For the record, I believe we paid around $1500-$1700 pp for the Nekton trip in Belize and we paid around $1200 pp for the CEXII trip. If we are comparing room accommodations they were actually somewhat similar. Of course, the Explorer venture boat lacked the mold, leaking water from the ceiling (which would have soaked one of my camera bags had I not noticed) and the towels soaking up water outside our room as we saw on the Pilot.

3rd: I'll admit that I used to work in the hospitality industry for a couple hotels so I can be somewhat picky as to where I stay. I would classify most of our stays as median properties, some higher and lower. We've stayed at Habitat in Curacao and it's not a high class resort but I would DEFINITELY classify it as a divers resort. I consider luxury to mean 5 Seasons, Hyatt Regency, Ritz Carlton... For liveaboards I would say from the research I've done online previously that Peter Hughes, Aggressor and many Pacific liveaboards are far more luxurious and much more expensive than the two we have been on so your comments make NO SENSE.

Your group leader booked at a reduced rate, you may have paid full price, but "the value" of your trip was less than standard rate. That's probably why you have to return with the group.

And then they're giving you an additional free trip.

I should be so lucky in life. Sell it on eBay.



Not my intention to be or sound mean, I'm just seeing what I'm looking at....

Okay, since you phrased it that way, I went and looked at your pictures in your signature line albums for a second time since you weighed in on this issue. You have amazing skills as a Photographer! Many beautiful above water images, of the Nekton and your other travels. The pictures you have there make the Nekton look pretty darned nice.

But you reference only having been aboard only one other liveaboard? And your underwater images show some very basic pix of sponges, corals, lobsters, lizzardfish, turtles and a shark.

Gee Thanks, I guess. You sure know how to give a backhanded compliment. I may not be anywhere close to having the underwater skills of someone like alcina or Pacman but I get a lot of compliments on my photos and happen to think they aren't too bad.

Your opinion in this matter has considerable value as a past customer of the Nekton Fleet, but debatable weighting in a basis for comparison to other boats. looking at your pix- you usually travel in pretty high style! Something not found on liveaboards, at least not in our backyard bathtub, the Mar Caribe.

To compare, let's say to your visit to The Stanley Hotel, you might want to look to a couple of liveaboards in the Maldives and Red Sea- (not the ones in Scuba Diving Magazine) start out in the $3500 range (and up). The Sheraton Tahiti, AKR, White Sands Belize, Cobalt Coast Cayman, Antlers in Estes Pk, Hotel Telluride... you have excellent taste!

Yes the Stanley hotel, beautiful lobby. I take it you have not been to the Stanley or you would know that looks can be deciving. This is a beautiful old hotel that unfortunately could use some TLC much like Nekton. See our shabby, old room furniture like these dirty couch arms which you would never see in a hotel like the St. Regis in Aspen which I have NOT BEEN to:A very worn Sofa pictures from colorado photos on webshots

Since you want to dissect my past vacations I'll let you know that the Hotel Telluride, Antlers in Estes Park and the Stanley were all ANNIVERSARY trips we took. I guess I should feel bad that my husband wanted to take me somewhere somewhat nice. You don't know my husband though, he could give a crap about luxurious hotels. Cobalt was our first dive trip ever, they largely cater to tech diving and most of the people staying there were divers. AKR was a group trip we decided to take with our scuba shop, I didn't pick the resort personally just the trip. We stayed at White sands in Belize for a couple of days NOT TO DIVE but to chill before heading out on the NEKTON WHERE WE FULLY EXPECTED AND WANTED GUERRILLA DIVING. I'm the type that doesn't want to miss a single dive on a liveaboard or trip in general. The Sheraton Tahiti was a trip I was asked to go on at the last minute for FREE, BEFORE I WAS A DIVER TO FILL IN FOR SOMEONE THAT WASN'T GOING TO MAKE THE TRIP. Playa Del Carmen was a trip BEFORE WE WERE DIVERS THAT MY HUSBANDS FAMILY PAID FOR.



The Nekton is/was never presented as a luxury liveabaord. There are dive operations and there are resorts with some diving. In the second category, you will find vacations with some diving at places such as Tahiti, Cozumel, Curacao, Playa del Carmen (well, even that would be a stretch), Cayman and others... all in your photo log. Nice places all, but I'm not seeing "dive resort", I'm seeing "Resort with Diving".

We NEVER expected it to be a luxury boat nor was this mentioned by either of us on here. See we actually do know how to research a trip. I think your list would be broken apart on here regarding dive locations and your opinion of their worthiness. Actually, you come across as pretty snobbish after this comment. I won't apologize for my dive experiences, after all I am only 29, only started diving in 2005, live in a landlocked state with limited chances to dive, maybe someday I can achieve your greatness.

I'm really not picking on you, but you did make this, what I believe to be unsupported, statement.


REALLY? Unsupported? This is just laughable.

Nekton has never held itself out to be a luxury cruise. One recent trip with bad engines aside, and disregarding a number of anonymous posts by unpaid ex-employees, you see a lot of good trip reports. You never hear anyone ever rave about the food. Very few complaints, either.

Again, we didn't expect it to be luxury. Yes, there are positive reports on here. There are also a ton of negative ones from paying customers. We didn't think the food was that bad.

What you do hear? ...Or more directly what you see, is the u/w pictures the guests shoot. Click on this->Photo Contest Winners That tells the story. It tells a lot about who this ship is geared for. Nekton is best savored by people who want 5x dives a day, they want to be stinky wet all week. It is "dive camp", much as all dive resorts used to be in the 1970's. If you want diving, and everything biased towards diving, it fits that niche.

It simply isn't offering the luxury experience that you have savored and documented in all of your superb travel photos.

Actually we do want 5 dives a day, we don't care about being stinky and we look forward to many more liveaboards in the future. Your last comment is just plain ignorant.

I will let you know in vivid detail how the ship operates on the 9/27 sailing. My pictures of the ship will be nowhere near as perfect, and I doubt I'll even bother with a UW camera as this is the St Croix itinnerary- I've already seen all of my Lobsters and Sponges.... But I have been on 12 or so Caribbean liveabaords. I'll throw in my critical view after that trip, probably my 20th week on a Caribbean Liveaboard.

I can already tell you how your trip will be. I have ESP. As for your photos, maybe you should look into a refresher. Have a great trip! Check out my crappy photos at this link:
Exuma Islands Bahamas - bumblebeeimages' Photos I'm clearly only good at taking stock shots of turtles, beautiful coral, rays, etc... Such trivial things to take photos of....

 

[Doc]

I can already tell you how your trip will be. Check out my crappy photos at this link...I'm clearly only good at taking stock shots of turtles, beautiful coral, rays, etc... Such trivial things to take photos of....

No, I believe that you create truly stunning images of terrestrial objects. Again- investigate? No... I just looked at your sig line- it directed me to the images. In terms of your diving experience level, this is all that was provided. That was part of the equation in evaluating your view. UW imagery and what we decide to point our cameras at speak volumes about the diver's progression. The holy grail? The real experts are shooting examples of creature behaviors. There's a lot of room between that and Coral shots.

I myself do no longer possess cameras and lighting sufficient (nor the desire to drag it around) to get the well lit images that you achieve. I have a 4 meg point and shoot and get these (admittedly crappy) images: http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd106/Doc_Adelman/NOT Macro its MICRO/ These are with a $100 box I bought off of eBay. I was not critical of your photographic technique- I was only observing which subjects have so far caught your attention. That is a huge distinction. Early in a dive career, using a camera really tends to dramatically block your view of the reef.

In case you haven't figured it out yet: GTOPH is my husband and those would be MY PHOTOS.

Okay, those are your images in his signature line. Thanks for the clarification.

I'm sorry I didn't know you were married to Gtoph, since your posts do not feature your name in the sig line.
His style of response is so dramatically different- who'd have thunk it?

Why you tradionally select luxury (okay then, high cost, is that more accurate?) accommodations is irrelevant. That is your experience base.

We've stayed at Habitat in Curacao and it's not a high class resort but I would DEFINITELY classify it as a divers resort.

Okay, I see... that tells some readers quite a bit. That's the resort that has diving listed on one of the website's "back pages"~ not on the "home" screen. http://www.habitatcuracaoresort.com/pages/resort.aspx

I consider luxury to mean 5 Seasons, Hyatt Regency, Ritz Carlton...

....................................................... What? No Holiday Inn? That list is of some pleasant little B&B's

The original topic here was quite different. It "somehow" morphed into yet another "lets bash the Nekton" thread.

Whenever someone makes a comment about the Nekton, your user ID is one (in a small group, now along with your hubby) that seems to always appear and adds a pile-it-on post, reminiscing about a prior trip you had that went South.

I will print my critical opinion upon my return. I won't have seen a "new" liveaboard (for me), but I'll now have logged maybe 35 weeks at sea while diving off of various of them. Decry my experience if you will, but in another 43 years of diving, if you keep at it, maybe you'll be as circumspect (and unfortunately just as crusty) as am I.

I hope so.

 

[scubapro50]

I seen a lot of bad press on Nekton lately .... too bad ..... I dove with them 4 years ago and everything was great. My Nekton trip was one of the best vacations I have ever had. I can only hope that what ever the problems they are experiencing will be over come and they can return to the 1st class operation I remember.

 

[Shasta_man]

<<Your quantity of posts regarding your opinion of the Nekton is also well documented.>>

And that opinion is that people should be able to post their experiences, positive or negative, without being labelled a whiner, liar or disgruntled ex employee and/or that their experiences couldn't happen because it didn't happen to the responder, and that it doesn't take multiple trips to be allowed to express an opinion. That's it in a nutshell. The various posts in sum will speak for themselves. Post the good experience you have in your own thread. I take them all with a grain of salt and add them together to decide whether I can handle the potential situation I might encounter. I want this forum to be one where I can get real experiences over the things I'm going to spend thousands on.

Your non-Caribbean trips sure do matter because it tells me what you are comparing it to. I attempted to understand the angle of your insight by asking you about it. Your experience colors your opinion. If McDonalds is a gourmet meal to you, your opinion of gourmet restaurants will be affected. Not invalid but in context of your experience.

For example, I can decide if I want to use my only vacation time and nonrefundable flight money on a trip which is cheaper but which may run into engine trouble. I could decide it's worth the risk for the savings.

But I think you already know all this...so back to wishing everyone a good trip. Hope it works out for all.

 

[Doc]

If McDonalds is a gourmet meal to you, your opinion of gourmet restaurants will be affected. Not invalid but in context of your experience.

I go out of my way to "eat" on both ends of the scale. This applies to diving, as well.

The ones in Egypt were pretty good.....(So you know it was baaaaad!)

The ones in the Philippines? Not so much. (What's with that compressed, greasy rice, hockey-puck they use as a bun?)

Maybe I should go native?

I think we'll eat at the Dive Resort's restaurant tonight, instead...

(Philippines, Hotel Atlanatis, Pto Galera)

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Well since (according to you) I travel in high style and you travel beneath me, we should hope to never meet in our travels. I'd suggest you keep your unsolicited photo critiques to yourself, especially when your hamburger photos are quite a bit more in focus and well lit than many of your underwater "behavior" photos. However, I know you wouldn't listen to anything I say. I've never claimed to be an expert diver or underwater photographer so I'm not sure how this even relates to our experience with Nekton which we apparently didn't experience according to you. You obviously do much more reading up on people on here than most. Your responses are all over the place and most of the time not relevant to what's being discussed. It's amazing that you have the time to scrutinize every detail about certain posters profiles and posting history and sad that you can conclude that you know what kind of people or divers they are based off such limited information. I have my opinions about you and I'll leave it at that. I'll stick to my kind of diving and you can just stick it. Please keep your crustiness to yourself.

 

[DebbyDiver]

I went on the Nekton trip after having read all the trip reports, both good and bad so I think I went in with my eyes wide open and knew what to look for as being a possible problem. I had a hard time finding major fault with this company. Yes, we had problems with the Nitrox, but they got it working after the first three days, and then they gave us a refund over over 50% of the cost even though we used it more than for 50% of the dives. Yes, the boat broke down the week before our trip causing us to miss our trip, but not only did they put us on the very next cruise out, they are giving us an additional trip to use within the next three years. I felt they met their obligation to us when we got to go out the next week, but for them to throw in an additional trip more than made the minor inconveniences of having to reschedule and shows their willingness to keep customers happy. As far as safety, I saw nothing that looked unsafe, and we had very informative dive briefings for each dive we did, and yes, some of the crew was young, but very enthusiastic about their jobs even though I know it must have been frustrating for them to watch us dive all day while they hardly ever got to get wet.
I know I have limited experience with live-aboard boats, but I was very satisfied with the diving, the boat and the crew of my Cay Sal banks trip on the Nekton and look forward to diving with them in the future. They are a great choice for people like me that are diving with limited funds and want a great value for their diving dollars.

I was on the same trip (hi Laura and Marc!) and I didn't know you two have another trip coming...I'm green with envy! Even though I know that it was a major inconvenience for you two to miss your first one due to engine problems. As you know, my only complaint for that entire week was my roommate...and her behaviors are hardly Nekton's fault, although I do wish they would have paired up two of the single guys on the trip and given me my own room but they had no obligation to do so since I did not pay the single room supplement.

The original topic here was quite different. It "somehow" morphed into yet another "lets bash the Nekton" thread.

I'll say!!! DiverDoug is happily blowing bubbles in the Bahamas while some people choose to have a catfight here on his friendly thread. He didn't ask for reviews of the Nekton, good or bad, he is already ON the boat. It is his thread where he simply asked a friendly "hey who's going on this trip?" and he's going to come back to all types of negativity. Can y'all just stop it, or move it to a Nekton review thread?

 

[Doc]

As you know, my only complaint for that entire week was my roommate...and her behaviors are hardly Nekton's fault....

Okay, you did mention this before. Let's have some of the gory details. Quit teasing us. You can't be afraid of offending her any further, just call her "Penelope" or something

I'll say!!! DiverDoug is happily blowing bubbles in the Bahamas while some people choose to have a catfight here on his friendly thread. He didn't ask for reviews of the Nekton, good or bad, he is already ON the boat. It is his thread where he simply asked a friendly "hey who's going on this trip?" and he's going to come back to all types of negativity.

Gawd I hope he lived through it. We'll know soon enough. I haven't been aboard the Nekton in a couple three years and I don't know if I'm ready to row in the galley deck. But~ our deposit has been paid for our 9/27 trip, and we are on our way down the rabbit hole, essentially being shanghied on a ship of doom.

Pray for me.

Must quit breaking bee-pollen pills in half.
:evilbunny:

 

[vladimir]

although I do wish they would have paired up two of the single guys on the trip and given me my own room but they had no obligation to do so since I did not pay the single room supplement.

I wish I knew what the criteria were for allocating single rooms. I usually pay the single supplement, but on some boats it is equal to the full charter cost. I have gotten lucky twice and gotten singles that I didn't pay for, and I'd love to be able to handicap it so I could maybe save the supplement. You do kick yourself a little if you pay an extra 50% and see a lot of empty berths.