Question Opinions About White Manta Liveaboard

[living4experiences]

I am planning my second trip to Raja Ampat. As a single traveler who needs my own room, I have found that the White Manta (WM) and Blue Manta (BM) have the lowest single penalty of all the boats in Indonesia, 20%. For the difference in price, White Manta is cheaper, so I'm looking at their itineraries. One of my questions has to do with their response to COVID cancellations. Because of my really bad experience with Siren/Blue-O-Two/Master Liveaboards for my 2020 bookings, I'm very untrusting of the liveaboard industry. COVID is not quite in the rearview mirror yet, so I'm hesitant to plan too far ahead. The terms and conditions of the Damai (my liveaboard trip last month) gives the customer no recourse for a disruption or cancellation of the trip.

For anyone that had a trip scheduled during the pandemic and was cancelled by WM or BM, were you offered the choice of a refund or future credit or only offered a future credit?
If you chose a refund, did you receive it in a timely manner?
Did they honor your original pricing for a rescheduled future trip and not charge you the new rates?
Did they give you a time limit to use your credit?
Did you find their offer of a refund or a reschedule to be satisfactory?

I would like to hear some candid comments and remarks, good and bad, about your experiences. I really just want to hear about the WM or BM (since it's the same company) and not other liveaboard companies (although that may be a good thread to start in a different post).

 

[outofofficebrb]

I have been on the Blue Manta before. It's a comfortable boat and the dive guides are good. Cedric, the CD, was excellent and one of the best I've had. However, I did not do Raja Ampat with them. It was Komodo. My friends just chartered the White Manta for a short Banda Trip in October. I can't comment on their cancellation policies since I didn't cancel but I wanted to provide you that feedback. For what it's worth, I've been to Indonesia a few times since they reopened and no testing has been done by anyone anywhere past April 2022. Nothing in Sept/Oct 2022, April/May 2023, or Sept/Oct 2023 either. Anyone could have it anywhere and can board with it assumed to be a cold.

I suggest that you look into travel insurance that covers COVID interruptions and cancellations. That will be a better play to guarantee the outcome you are looking for and it can apply to all aspects of your trip, not just the liveaboard...Dive Assure. Their fine print is here, just do a search for "covid" in the doc and it will give you all the hits that pertain to it. : https://diveassure.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DiveTravel-DOC-USA.pdf

 

[Joneill]

I am planning my second trip to Raja Ampat. As a single traveler who needs my own room, I have found that the White Manta (WM) and Blue Manta (BM) have the lowest single penalty of all the boats in Indonesia, 20%. For the difference in price, White Manta is cheaper, so I'm looking at their itineraries. One of my questions has to do with their response to COVID cancellations. Because of my really bad experience with Siren/Blue-O-Two/Master Liveaboards for my 2020 bookings, I'm very untrusting of the liveaboard industry. COVID is not quite in the rearview mirror yet, so I'm hesitant to plan too far ahead. The terms and conditions of the Damai (my liveaboard trip last month) gives the customer no recourse for a disruption or cancellation of the trip.

For anyone that had a trip scheduled during the pandemic and was cancelled by WM or BM, were you offered the choice of a refund or future credit or only offered a future credit?
If you chose a refund, did you receive it in a timely manner?
Did they honor your original pricing for a rescheduled future trip and not charge you the new rates?
Did they give you a time limit to use your credit?
Did you find their offer of a refund or a reschedule to be satisfactory?

I would like to hear some candid comments and remarks, good and bad, about your experiences. I really just want to hear about the WM or BM (since it's the same company) and not other liveaboard companies (although that may be a good thread to start in a different post).

I was on Blue Manta over Christmas 2022/New Years. It was a COVID rescheduled trip from Feb 2022. They still had a few openings on that Christmas trip so I got on that while the rest of the group including @Dan are doing the reschedule in Feb 2024.

I don’t believe anyone wanted a refund so can’t speak to that - Dan may know. The reschedule was easy - no hassles or extra charges. It was all booked through Bluewater Travel.

Blue Manta was a great boat and I will be on White Manta for another trip organized by Dan in Jan 2025.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I was on Blue Manta over Christmas 2022/New Years. It was a COVID rescheduled trip from Feb 2022. They still had a few openings on that Christmas trip so I got on that while the rest of the group including @Dan are doing the reschedule in Feb 2024.

I don’t believe anyone wanted a refund so can’t speak to that - Dan may know. The reschedule was easy - no hassles or extra charges. It was all booked through Bluewater Travel.

Blue Manta was a great boat and I will be on White Manta for another trip organized by Dan in Jan 2025.

In Feb 2022, Indonesia was not open yet (though, you could have gone in with a B211A with a sponsor and through an agent) and I don't think they resumed operations until after that month so the context is quite different. I'm glad it was super easy to reschedule; that's reassuring.

@living4experiences did you or your agent reach out to them to inquire about what their policies are surrounding that now? I am also curious. (I'd definitely return to the Blue Manta but I usually carry Dive Assure since my trips are usually quite complicated and long. It's always nice to work with the op directly if it's straight forward and instead use insurance as a backup for other things.)

 

[living4experiences]

In Feb 2022, Indonesia was not open yet (though, you could have gone in with a B211A with a sponsor and through an agent) and I don't think they resumed operations until after that month so the context is quite different. I'm glad it was super easy to reschedule; that's reassuring.

@living4experiences did you or your agent reach out to them to inquire about what their policies are surrounding that now? I am also curious. (I'd definitely return to the Blue Manta but I usually carry Dive Assure since my trips are usually quite complicated and long. It's always nice to work with the op directly if it's straight forward and instead use insurance as a backup for other things.)

I have read their T&C's and it says that only credits will be given for a cancellation made by them. So, no refunds.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I have read their T&C's and it says that only credits will be given for a cancellation made by them. So, no refunds.

An interesting question that I will ask Dive Assure (in writing!) is if the travel provider offers a credit, is a refund with the 20% co-insurance option possible or is that only offered if the provider has a no refund policy with no reschedule or credit as an option.

 

[Joneill]

In Feb 2022, Indonesia was not open yet (though, you could have gone in with a B211A with a sponsor and through an agent) and I don't think they resumed operations until after that month so the context is quite different. I'm glad it was super easy to reschedule; that's reassuring.

@living4experiences did you or your agent reach out to them to inquire about what their policies are surrounding that now? I am also curious. (I'd definitely return to the Blue Manta but I usually carry Dive Assure since my trips are usually quite complicated and long. It's always nice to work with the op directly if it's straight forward and instead use insurance as a backup for other things.)

Op mentioned COVID so I think context is still relevant.

We had booked the Blue Manta trip back in 2020 and made the decision on rescheduling in November 2021 (3 months before trip) as RA had not firmed up reopening and Blue Manta had no date yet for resumed operations. They gave us options to reschedule and the whole process went very smoothly.

 

[living4experiences]

I'm not concerned about getting COVID or the insurance issue; just wanted to know about WM's handling of their reschedules as mentioned in the first post. Noticeably missing is language about if they cancel for reasons within their control. Here's an excerpt from their website and, coincidentally, as of today, they've updated their website. White Manta Diving - COVID-19 Travel & Visa Information

Travel Insurance:​

• Travel insurance is compulsory for our trips. Our trips are not inclusive of any form of insurance. White Manta Diving cannot be held responsible for any trip disruption or cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control or any flight / hotel expenses. This includes any costs related to COVID-19 issues, resulting in delay/ medical/ extraction/ quarantine/ or trip costs incurred due to potential positive testing / refusal of admittance to the country or your trip, before, during or after.
• In the case of trip disruption or cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control any compensation provided will be in the form of future trip credit ONLY.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Op mentioned COVID so I think context is still relevant.

We had booked the Blue Manta trip back in 2020 and made the decision on rescheduling in November 2021 (3 months before trip) as RA had not firmed up reopening and Blue Manta had no date yet for resumed operations. They gave us options to reschedule and the whole process went very smoothly.

Yes, it's relevant since it's COVID but the significant difference is that the operator was not running the trip with boats in the water at the time. A reschedule is expected unless they were giving refunds because even if the guests wanted to go, it wasn't possible. Today, the op is running and all boats are in the water...Business as usual. Not going because a guest can't/won't because they are sick is a different matter.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I'm not concerned about getting COVID or the insurance issue; just wanted to know about WM's handling of their reschedules as mentioned in the first post. Noticeably missing is language about if they cancel for reasons within their control. Here's an excerpt from their website and, coincidentally, as of today, they've updated their website. White Manta Diving - COVID-19 Travel & Visa Information

Travel Insurance:​

• Travel insurance is compulsory for our trips. Our trips are not inclusive of any form of insurance. White Manta Diving cannot be held responsible for any trip disruption or cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control or any flight / hotel expenses. This includes any costs related to COVID-19 issues, resulting in delay/ medical/ extraction/ quarantine/ or trip costs incurred due to potential positive testing / refusal of admittance to the country or your trip, before, during or after.
• In the case of trip disruption or cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control any compensation provided will be in the form of future trip credit ONLY.

Thanks for sharing. What I gather here is they mean if a trip is disrupted or canceled due to THEM and because of circumstances beyond their control, a trip credit is issued to their customers/guests. However, if the guest has COVID issues, then they aren't responsible for any disruption or cancellation. In this case, you would have to claim with your travel insurance. Is that how you interpret it as well?

I can understand that. If someone cancels at the last minute, and the op still had to provide a credit/reschedule, they are still losing out on the empty spot that they likely can't fill at the last minute and if it weren't booked by the person canceling due to health issues, they may have been able to sell that spot. If multiple people did that, it adds up in lost revenue.