feistymeisty
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Overall Assessment - I recently returned from a cruise aboard the Ocean Rover liveaboard vessel. Destination Raja Ampat. I am compelled to offer an honest review for anyone considering booking a cruise with Ocean Rover and its owner/captain, Roman Szalsay. My uncle (who took the trip to Raja Ampat with me) and I discovered liveaboard diving nearly fifteen years ago and, between the two of us, have logged over 700 dives and have taken cruises all over the world Palau, Fiji(2 times), Belize, Mexico, Great Barrier Reef, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea (3 times). We have always had fantastic adventures and love the liveaboard experience. After reading and hearing story after story of the grandeur that is Raja Ampat diving, we began to plan our trip with images of crystal clear water, amazing soft and hard coral diversity, unique and abundant sea life (big and small), etc., dancing through our heads.
Sadly, Ocean Rover failed to deliver. While our overall impression is that Raja Ampat has potential, and we did see some amazing sea life, corals, reefs, biodiversity, etc., the overall experience was grossly sub-par. We will never book with Ocean Rover again, nor will we ever recommend anyone else traveling with the boat under its current ownership/management. The owner captain, Roman (and his camera) made every dive and was a key reason in our decision to not recommend the Ocean Rover. This trip was a very expensive and time consuming lesson for us in the fact that, no matter how wonderful the area of the world(Raja Ampat touted as some of the best and most biodiverse diving in the world) or how amazing the accommodations and crew, a liveaboard vacation can be ruined by an overbearing, inept, rude and dangerous boat captain/owner.
Here is our story and a breakdown of the major components of the trip:
We booked our cruise through Ultimate Dive Travel (highly recommend) nearly 1 ½ years ago. For us, this was to be the trip of a lifetime. In researching liveaboard vessels and cruises in the area, Ocean Rover stood out for one reason - # of dives per day. In the literature on Ultimate Dive Travels website, under the heading HOW MANY DIVES PER DAY?, the following statement is made You chose Ocean Rover for diving and that is what we are going to do, as often as we can. Generally, there are opportunities to do at least(Italics mine) four dives per day, with additional night dives when the location is suitable. At the time of our booking, all other boats in the Raja Ampat area advertised a maximum of 3-4 dives per day. Not seeing the sense in traveling halfway around the world to sit on the sundeck, my uncle and I were excited about the prospect of 5 dives a day.
Unfortunately 5 dives a day was not the case nor even in the plan. It wasnt until halfway through a trip of mediocre dives and upon learning that the captain did not have 5 dives planned for any day of the trip that myself and three other guests pulled the captain/owner(Roman) aside and read him the previous statement from Ultimate Dive Travels website, expressing to him that we wanted to make 5 dives a day. We also expressed some concerns regarding safety, dive quality, and preferential treatment for UW photographers, but that will come next.
Needless to say, there were only 3 days the rest of the trip with 5 dives in a day, and two of those days were because some of the guests(myself included) strongly urged the captain to make a night dive even though it was not on the schedule.
Knowledge of the Area and Safety Concerns Roman (captain/owner) used Maurine Shimlock and Burt Jones book Diving Indonesias Raja Ampat as his Bible of dive sites during our Raja Ampat cruise. We literally dove the book page by page, dive by dive for the majority of the cruise. Unfortunately, the captain did not express a solid and well-rounded personal knowledge of the areas we dove and scheduled our dives without a thought for current conditions of light, currents, reefs, etc. After several dives with very strong current and adverse conditions, one of the guests asked the captain if there were tide or current charts for Raja Ampat and the response the guest received was, There are no tide or current charts available. In Raja Ampat, no one takes care of these things. Roman rarely consulted with his local (and experienced) dive guides as to where the best sites would be. The dive briefings were given straight from the book and usually started with the phrase, Weve never been here before and we dont know what the currents will be like . This lackadaisacal approach to diving created some very mediocre diving and some VERY unsafe situations. Examples include: 1.) Manta Sandy dive site - We dove this site twice with nary a sign of a manta. We only learned later that there had not been a manta sighting there in over two months???? Yep, we dove it twice. 2.) Night Dive on Arborek Jetty no knowledge of the strong, ripping current. Separated from my group 3 times. 3.) Black Rock dive site after being told we would be diving and exploring around the upjutting Black Rock (go figure), Roman had us dropped at the wrong end/side of the reef and the current immediately took us AWAY from Black Rock, which we never saw. 4.) Misool Three Rocks Dive Site My group was in the same dinghy as Roman. The first dinghy got to the site before our group. They were already in the water when we arrived. Roman said they were in the wrong spot and took us to the opposite side of the islands/rocks. Midway through our dive, we encountered a STRONG downcurrent. Our group was literally hanging onto the reef with reef hooks and our bare hands and had to claw/work our way to the side in order to get out of the current. Both my uncle (500+ dives) and another in our group (4000+ dives) said it was the most dangerous situation theyve ever been in on a dive. Thank goodness none of the UW photographers were with us (they were on the other side of the reef and had a pleasant dive). No telling how they would have fared with all of their heavy equipment. 5.) Misool Night Dive a.k.a. I dont know where I am reef. Our last afternoon dive of the day was at one of Raja Ampats most famous dive sites. Boo Rocks (Windows). It was a great dive and we were looking forward to diving the same site that night. So, that evening, we loaded up the dinghy and took off into the night. 20 minutes later we pulled up to a large rock/island jutting from the ocean and prepared to dive. You guessed it, not Boo Rocks. He took us to the wrong island! Enough said. We dove anyway and experienced a barren reef with very, very little coral, fish, or critters.
Nitrox All of the guests dove with Nitrox. During the orientation, Roman told us that we would all be diving with a 32% mix. He told us that there was no need to check our tanks every dive or sign a log, his crew checked every day and there was never any problems with the mix. We all checked our tanks the first dive and verified the 32% mix, set our computers, and then it was out of sight, out of mind. On the 9th day, I reached an 80% oxygen toxicity level and my computer told me to surface. I did and was planning on skipping the next dive as a precaution. On a whim, I checked the O2 mix in my tank and, lo and behold, it was a 35% mix, meaning my oxygen toxicity was potentially even more severe. I know, I know, shame on me for not checking every dive every day and I take full responsibility for that stupidity. However, what happened next was beyond belief to me. Very concerned, I informed the captain(Roman) about the incorrect mix and didnt receive much of a response other than, Its OK, its OK. I then took it upon myself to notify the other guests about the high mix and that they needed to, at the minimum, change their computers. Less than half the guests made the following dive. The captain never made a general announcement about the incorrect mix or that the guests should be checking their tanks. Also, when asked that day to change the mix back to 32%, Roman did not change the mix until the last day of the trip(we were all faithfully checking our tanks every dive by then).
Photography - Full Disclosure my uncle and I are not UW photographers and we were the only non-photographers on the Ocean Rover. After watching amateur and professional UW photographers and videographers thrash and destroy reefs the world over in search of the perfect shot(this cruise was no exception), we have made a conscious decision that this is NOT a hobby we will pursue. However, per the literature and advertisement, if you are an UW photographer, this is the trip for you. Roman brings his camera on every dive and seems to select his dive sites with photographers in mind. He also has little consideration for the reef as he zips from spot to spot taking pictures. Finally, as the following example illustrates, Roman has no regard for his guests underwater and is perfectly willing to push them aside in order to get the perfect shot for his portfolio.
Example: Manta Dive Misool Bayang. Before the dive, Roman gave the photographers/divers a lecture about not scaring the mantas with your cameras/photography or the rest of the group will not get a chance to see the mantas and will hate you. Turns out he is a prophet. When we entered the water, we were right on top of the manta cleaning station, with 5 mantas circling and being cleaned. Breathtaking and Indescribable!!!! I immediately dropped to the sand at about 40 feet and tried to hold my breath while the mantas circled overhead. After 5 minutes of watching, Roman beckoned the group to follow him to a better viewing location. He was unaware of the 2 mantas swimming right over him. When he moved, they were scared away. Nobody followed Roman. Our dive guide took our small group around to the other side of the bommie. We found the mantas again and were able to watch them for about ten minutes. When they left (of their own accord) our dive guide took our group back around the bommie to the original side where we found the rest of the group in a line watching 3 mantas swimming and being cleaned. Roman and another photographer were out in front of the group. Roman would take a picture and move forward a couple feet. Take another picture and move forward. Every time he moved forward, the mantas would retreat farther and farther away until they were no longer visible. Frustrated, I turned around and there was a manta being cleaned right behind me, about 6 feet away. I crouched behind some reef and was able to watch the manta for about 30 minutes. AMAZING! The party was over, however, when Roman appeared to my right with a camera, swam right at the manta, took a picture, and the manta disappeared. I was disgusted. When I confronted him(privately) after the dive about his behavior, he completely denied that he had scared any mantas.
Crew The crew was the best part of the trip. Everyone from the housekeeping staff to the cooks, to the dive deck crew, to the engineers and the dive guides, the crew were the saviors of our trip. Not only did they know their jobs expertly and intimately, they were always ready with a smile and a joke. Our rooms were always clean and smelling great, drinks and snacks were always well stocked, we were always helped with our gear (I didnt have to zip or unzip my wetsuit the entire time) and we always felt well taken care of. This crew really knew their stuff and went above and beyond in everything they did, whether it was a warm towel after every dive or remembering what we liked to drink at dinner and making sure our glasses were full. I cannot sing the praises of this crew loudly enough. They were the redeeming factor of the cruise.
Food and Accomodations As every internet review and all the available literature contests, the accommodations of the Ocean Rover were excellent. Rooms were clean and spacious, salon was comfortable, dive deck and whale deck were well organized, etc. Another high point of the trip THE FOOD. The food was always delicious, fresh, and creative. The two cooks, Tommy and Manuel prepared amazing Asian cuisine for every meal, eggs to order every morning, and delicious snacks and fresh fruit juice after the afternoon dive. Only negatives to the Ocean Rover were that you only had a 50/50 chance of getting a hot shower in your room after a dive. The time of day didnt seem to matter, sometimes the water just didnt work. Im not sure if the pumps were being turned off periodically or if the equipment was just sub-par, but there you have it. Also, the captain allowed smoking on the sundeck. This meant that, whenever you went to the sundeck after a dive or in the evening to enjoy some fresh air, the two smoking guests on the cruise were allowed to blow their cigarette smoke over everyone. The Ocean Rover needs a designated guest smoking area.
In closing, there was some very good diving in Raja Ampat and the trip was not a total loss. We did see many varieties of fish, pygmy seahores, beautiful coral formations, and coral gardens, etc. However, it was an extreme challenge to overlook the behavior of the captain on the boat. I mean, who wants to confront the captain of a boat and tell him you would like to actually DIVE on your DIVING vacation??? It will take a lot of convincing to get us to return to Raja Ampat and you will never find us or any of our friends anywhere near the Ocean Rover.
Sadly, Ocean Rover failed to deliver. While our overall impression is that Raja Ampat has potential, and we did see some amazing sea life, corals, reefs, biodiversity, etc., the overall experience was grossly sub-par. We will never book with Ocean Rover again, nor will we ever recommend anyone else traveling with the boat under its current ownership/management. The owner captain, Roman (and his camera) made every dive and was a key reason in our decision to not recommend the Ocean Rover. This trip was a very expensive and time consuming lesson for us in the fact that, no matter how wonderful the area of the world(Raja Ampat touted as some of the best and most biodiverse diving in the world) or how amazing the accommodations and crew, a liveaboard vacation can be ruined by an overbearing, inept, rude and dangerous boat captain/owner.
Here is our story and a breakdown of the major components of the trip:
We booked our cruise through Ultimate Dive Travel (highly recommend) nearly 1 ½ years ago. For us, this was to be the trip of a lifetime. In researching liveaboard vessels and cruises in the area, Ocean Rover stood out for one reason - # of dives per day. In the literature on Ultimate Dive Travels website, under the heading HOW MANY DIVES PER DAY?, the following statement is made You chose Ocean Rover for diving and that is what we are going to do, as often as we can. Generally, there are opportunities to do at least(Italics mine) four dives per day, with additional night dives when the location is suitable. At the time of our booking, all other boats in the Raja Ampat area advertised a maximum of 3-4 dives per day. Not seeing the sense in traveling halfway around the world to sit on the sundeck, my uncle and I were excited about the prospect of 5 dives a day.
Unfortunately 5 dives a day was not the case nor even in the plan. It wasnt until halfway through a trip of mediocre dives and upon learning that the captain did not have 5 dives planned for any day of the trip that myself and three other guests pulled the captain/owner(Roman) aside and read him the previous statement from Ultimate Dive Travels website, expressing to him that we wanted to make 5 dives a day. We also expressed some concerns regarding safety, dive quality, and preferential treatment for UW photographers, but that will come next.
Needless to say, there were only 3 days the rest of the trip with 5 dives in a day, and two of those days were because some of the guests(myself included) strongly urged the captain to make a night dive even though it was not on the schedule.
Knowledge of the Area and Safety Concerns Roman (captain/owner) used Maurine Shimlock and Burt Jones book Diving Indonesias Raja Ampat as his Bible of dive sites during our Raja Ampat cruise. We literally dove the book page by page, dive by dive for the majority of the cruise. Unfortunately, the captain did not express a solid and well-rounded personal knowledge of the areas we dove and scheduled our dives without a thought for current conditions of light, currents, reefs, etc. After several dives with very strong current and adverse conditions, one of the guests asked the captain if there were tide or current charts for Raja Ampat and the response the guest received was, There are no tide or current charts available. In Raja Ampat, no one takes care of these things. Roman rarely consulted with his local (and experienced) dive guides as to where the best sites would be. The dive briefings were given straight from the book and usually started with the phrase, Weve never been here before and we dont know what the currents will be like . This lackadaisacal approach to diving created some very mediocre diving and some VERY unsafe situations. Examples include: 1.) Manta Sandy dive site - We dove this site twice with nary a sign of a manta. We only learned later that there had not been a manta sighting there in over two months???? Yep, we dove it twice. 2.) Night Dive on Arborek Jetty no knowledge of the strong, ripping current. Separated from my group 3 times. 3.) Black Rock dive site after being told we would be diving and exploring around the upjutting Black Rock (go figure), Roman had us dropped at the wrong end/side of the reef and the current immediately took us AWAY from Black Rock, which we never saw. 4.) Misool Three Rocks Dive Site My group was in the same dinghy as Roman. The first dinghy got to the site before our group. They were already in the water when we arrived. Roman said they were in the wrong spot and took us to the opposite side of the islands/rocks. Midway through our dive, we encountered a STRONG downcurrent. Our group was literally hanging onto the reef with reef hooks and our bare hands and had to claw/work our way to the side in order to get out of the current. Both my uncle (500+ dives) and another in our group (4000+ dives) said it was the most dangerous situation theyve ever been in on a dive. Thank goodness none of the UW photographers were with us (they were on the other side of the reef and had a pleasant dive). No telling how they would have fared with all of their heavy equipment. 5.) Misool Night Dive a.k.a. I dont know where I am reef. Our last afternoon dive of the day was at one of Raja Ampats most famous dive sites. Boo Rocks (Windows). It was a great dive and we were looking forward to diving the same site that night. So, that evening, we loaded up the dinghy and took off into the night. 20 minutes later we pulled up to a large rock/island jutting from the ocean and prepared to dive. You guessed it, not Boo Rocks. He took us to the wrong island! Enough said. We dove anyway and experienced a barren reef with very, very little coral, fish, or critters.
Nitrox All of the guests dove with Nitrox. During the orientation, Roman told us that we would all be diving with a 32% mix. He told us that there was no need to check our tanks every dive or sign a log, his crew checked every day and there was never any problems with the mix. We all checked our tanks the first dive and verified the 32% mix, set our computers, and then it was out of sight, out of mind. On the 9th day, I reached an 80% oxygen toxicity level and my computer told me to surface. I did and was planning on skipping the next dive as a precaution. On a whim, I checked the O2 mix in my tank and, lo and behold, it was a 35% mix, meaning my oxygen toxicity was potentially even more severe. I know, I know, shame on me for not checking every dive every day and I take full responsibility for that stupidity. However, what happened next was beyond belief to me. Very concerned, I informed the captain(Roman) about the incorrect mix and didnt receive much of a response other than, Its OK, its OK. I then took it upon myself to notify the other guests about the high mix and that they needed to, at the minimum, change their computers. Less than half the guests made the following dive. The captain never made a general announcement about the incorrect mix or that the guests should be checking their tanks. Also, when asked that day to change the mix back to 32%, Roman did not change the mix until the last day of the trip(we were all faithfully checking our tanks every dive by then).
Photography - Full Disclosure my uncle and I are not UW photographers and we were the only non-photographers on the Ocean Rover. After watching amateur and professional UW photographers and videographers thrash and destroy reefs the world over in search of the perfect shot(this cruise was no exception), we have made a conscious decision that this is NOT a hobby we will pursue. However, per the literature and advertisement, if you are an UW photographer, this is the trip for you. Roman brings his camera on every dive and seems to select his dive sites with photographers in mind. He also has little consideration for the reef as he zips from spot to spot taking pictures. Finally, as the following example illustrates, Roman has no regard for his guests underwater and is perfectly willing to push them aside in order to get the perfect shot for his portfolio.
Example: Manta Dive Misool Bayang. Before the dive, Roman gave the photographers/divers a lecture about not scaring the mantas with your cameras/photography or the rest of the group will not get a chance to see the mantas and will hate you. Turns out he is a prophet. When we entered the water, we were right on top of the manta cleaning station, with 5 mantas circling and being cleaned. Breathtaking and Indescribable!!!! I immediately dropped to the sand at about 40 feet and tried to hold my breath while the mantas circled overhead. After 5 minutes of watching, Roman beckoned the group to follow him to a better viewing location. He was unaware of the 2 mantas swimming right over him. When he moved, they were scared away. Nobody followed Roman. Our dive guide took our small group around to the other side of the bommie. We found the mantas again and were able to watch them for about ten minutes. When they left (of their own accord) our dive guide took our group back around the bommie to the original side where we found the rest of the group in a line watching 3 mantas swimming and being cleaned. Roman and another photographer were out in front of the group. Roman would take a picture and move forward a couple feet. Take another picture and move forward. Every time he moved forward, the mantas would retreat farther and farther away until they were no longer visible. Frustrated, I turned around and there was a manta being cleaned right behind me, about 6 feet away. I crouched behind some reef and was able to watch the manta for about 30 minutes. AMAZING! The party was over, however, when Roman appeared to my right with a camera, swam right at the manta, took a picture, and the manta disappeared. I was disgusted. When I confronted him(privately) after the dive about his behavior, he completely denied that he had scared any mantas.
Crew The crew was the best part of the trip. Everyone from the housekeeping staff to the cooks, to the dive deck crew, to the engineers and the dive guides, the crew were the saviors of our trip. Not only did they know their jobs expertly and intimately, they were always ready with a smile and a joke. Our rooms were always clean and smelling great, drinks and snacks were always well stocked, we were always helped with our gear (I didnt have to zip or unzip my wetsuit the entire time) and we always felt well taken care of. This crew really knew their stuff and went above and beyond in everything they did, whether it was a warm towel after every dive or remembering what we liked to drink at dinner and making sure our glasses were full. I cannot sing the praises of this crew loudly enough. They were the redeeming factor of the cruise.
Food and Accomodations As every internet review and all the available literature contests, the accommodations of the Ocean Rover were excellent. Rooms were clean and spacious, salon was comfortable, dive deck and whale deck were well organized, etc. Another high point of the trip THE FOOD. The food was always delicious, fresh, and creative. The two cooks, Tommy and Manuel prepared amazing Asian cuisine for every meal, eggs to order every morning, and delicious snacks and fresh fruit juice after the afternoon dive. Only negatives to the Ocean Rover were that you only had a 50/50 chance of getting a hot shower in your room after a dive. The time of day didnt seem to matter, sometimes the water just didnt work. Im not sure if the pumps were being turned off periodically or if the equipment was just sub-par, but there you have it. Also, the captain allowed smoking on the sundeck. This meant that, whenever you went to the sundeck after a dive or in the evening to enjoy some fresh air, the two smoking guests on the cruise were allowed to blow their cigarette smoke over everyone. The Ocean Rover needs a designated guest smoking area.
In closing, there was some very good diving in Raja Ampat and the trip was not a total loss. We did see many varieties of fish, pygmy seahores, beautiful coral formations, and coral gardens, etc. However, it was an extreme challenge to overlook the behavior of the captain on the boat. I mean, who wants to confront the captain of a boat and tell him you would like to actually DIVE on your DIVING vacation??? It will take a lot of convincing to get us to return to Raja Ampat and you will never find us or any of our friends anywhere near the Ocean Rover.
