Paradise Dancer versus Arenui Best Boat, Best Route, Best Time

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divekraz

Contributor
Messages
211
Reaction score
18
Location
Ft Lauderdale, Florida
# of dives
500 - 999
My wife and I will be going on either the Paradise Dancer or the Arneau in 2012 or possibly 2013. I've decided those are the two nicest boats for that area. Before deciding I'd like to get any suggestions, thoughts, opinions before making this very expensive decision on which boat is the best. We're looking at a 12 night trip on the boat. We're flying from Miami Florida so there's probably at least 2-3 days of travel time. I'm looking at close to $13,000.00 for the boat for total cost plus air and other incidentals so we're probably close to $18,000.00 when all done. I'm also looking at the Raja Ampat trips vs Komodo for the best in bio diversity and I definately take video on every dive so I'm always looking for something different/interesting in wildlife to film. We've just come back from our 2nd trip to Fiji (mainly because of a great deal on price to Beqa lagoon and the Nai'a, it was absolutely great) and this will probably be the only trip I every take to Raja due to the cost and time to get there. If anyone can give me any insights to help me with the decision process regarding which boat to use, the time of year, or alternative thoughts I will Thank you in advance. We are experienced divers for 20yrs so conditions really isn't a issue. We do have trips set up for the Gallapagos and Socorro islands and have done Cocos island. I say this only because those trips have been taken care of and diving in the Carribean is not something we wish to do anymore as we've been to most locations. Thanks again for any thoughts.
 
Short answer is I don't think you'll find many tangible differences between the two charters.

$13K for the boat alone? Last I knew, it was ~$4700 per person for normal cabin on Paradise Dancer. Perhaps you are doing the masters cabin. IMHO, the normal cabins are fine as they are already huge compared to most. The masters cabin is really big, taking up the entire back end of the boat. Very cool, but unnecessary if you are cost conscious.

I've been to both Komodo and RA and both ran pretty neck and neck for good diving. I did feel that RA had more, as in larger schools and more stuff than Komodo though not a huge difference. I've been to a few places myself and definitely Indo diving is among the best except sharks, but you get the wobbegong instead. I think you may change your tune about returning to RA. Komodo is a bit easier to get to.

For RA, I paid about $1500 to get to Jakarta on Singapore Air coach and another $650 to get to Sorong. We took Singapore Air to Bali and caught the boat there to go to Komodo. That was only about $750. You might want to fly over to closer to Komodo (the name escapes me) but I think that was like a $200 flight.
 
I've been on the Paradise Dancer and it was a very nice trip and the boat is great. Another boat I have heard great things about is the Damai you might want to check them out as well. Welcome To Dive Damai
 
Have a look at Damai. Welcome To Dive Damai

I have been on both Paradise Dancer and Damai and from a service and amenities perspective there is no comparison - Damai wins hands down. Both do similar dive sites - depending on weather and length of trip - however I did find that the presence of beginner divers on Paradise restricted the sites we dove. The sites were much less current intensive. I suspect that this will very much depend on the guest mix on any boat. On Paradise I recall that there were 18 divers. On Damai there were 9 - one more than normal on this trip as there was a pair of guides checking out the boat and they were in the tour guide cabin which is a bit smaller than the guest cabins. I was travelling alone and had a room with two queen size beds to myself - HUGE room.

Loved both trips, but after doing the Damai I realized how much the presence of the less experienced divers affected the boats choice of dive sites. Saw much more current, much more and more colourful coral and much more fish on the Damai.

Friends just did Arinui and were very impressed. It is virtually identical to Damai in size and layout but has 16 divers in the same space that Damai puts 8. Arinui is quite a bit more crowded than Paradise Dancer which is a significantly bigger boat with ony a small number of additional divers.

The reality is that all three boats will give you a great trip and treat you very well.

Damai is best (by far) in terms of personal service. They met me at the airport in Bali and took care of everything until they dropped me off at my hotel in Bali two weeks later. Meeting me at every stop and making sure I made the next plane. Paradise just met me at Sorong and on the way back let us make our own way to Bali. (Which was a complete disaster - plane was more than 4 hours late so no connection to Bali.)

Damai has an individual rinse tank for each diver. A camera room with lots of space and power. We had a dive guide for the three of us that were diving as a group.

Food is better on Damai, but good on PD. Quite a bit more selection. Breakfast is indivudually cooked to order after your first dive (a pre dive breakfast is also served). Meals are cooked to order on Damai. On PD the meals are buffet style.

Paradise is a big boat and the rooms are bigger than Arenui - the master cabin on PD is huge and quite a special room. All the rooms on Damai are nearing the size of the master cabin on Paradise. More room than you will use however.

Massage on Damai can be scheduled at any time - just sign up on the board. Included in the price - as is everything on Damai. More choice of tanks on Damai and no time limits on your dives. I was diving an AL 100 and my last dive was 117 minutes (manta dive at 60 feet) We were regularly at or over 90 minute dives. No problem the panga was always there waiting - if a diver came up early the panga took them back to the boat and came back to the dive site. With two pangas and only 9 divers this worked very well. There was always at least one panga on site and one available to shuttle divers.

Bottom line is that any of these three will give you a great dive trip. Arinui is a bit crowded in comparison, PD is bigger boat with more divers to be on the dive site - so lots of room on the boat but the diving is fairly regimented. Damai is the same size as Arinui and the diving is the least crowded and the most flexible. You want to come back to the boat, change a lens, get another tank and go back in - they will make it happen.

I chose Damai last december because they were offering a 14 day trip leaving when I wanted to leave. Really only care about the diving. However if you want great diving and great service this would be my choice.

Cost is more, but when you are adding a few hundred $ to a trip that is already costing many thousands I view it as worth it.
 
Hmmm...thanks for the comparison Darnold for future reference. The only diff in my experience on PD was breakfast and dinner were cooked to order, and lunch was buffet. I was satisfied.

If Damai picked you up in Bali, where did you catch the boat, Sorong? That's the first time I'd heard of any boat escorting you through multiple legs of a trip. And both ways?! I'd prefer such an experience but would be comfortable without it as I'm thinking they couldn't affect any changes. I went in/out through Jakarta and planned on having to stay over to catch the international flight out to SF the next day.

Damai rooms similar to the PD master cabin is really saying something. :-)
 
I took a group to Raja Ampat aboard Dive Damai and found it to be one of the best live-aboards I've been on. Having only eight divers totally spoils you. Every two divers has their own dinghy with a DM, dinghy captain and spotter. You dive as long and as much as you want and you don't need to go with the group. You never have to carry anything. The crew does it all. They also offer free use of all diving gear for those who don't want to pay the outrageous excess baggage fees the airlines charge. Also, they will do your laundry onboard for free, so you don't need to bring a lot of clothes.

The food was gourmet all the way. On a 14 day charter we had amazing meals with fresh fruit and fresh salad right up until the last day.

Flying out of Sorong is a bit of a crap shoot, as flights change constantly. The airport there is awful, but Damai let us stay on the boat until our flights were ready to go. The staff from Damai made sure we all got to where we were going, and we were lucky that Alberto, the owner was also flying to Bali with some of us, but this isn't how it normally works. Those of us who went on to Bali didn't pay a penny in excess baggage fees in spite of all our camera gear. I wrote up a detailed Raja Ampat trip report with lots of dive site info and photos. We liked Dive Damai so much we immediately booked the boat again for a Komodo to East Nusa Tenggara coming up in March.

I've heard great things about Arenui and Paradise Dancer also and I'm sure you would have a fantastic trip on either boat. The trip to Raja Ampat is worth every penny.
 
As to boats I don't think "you can go wrong" with any of them. We always figure it costs about a $1000 per day, per person on a trip like this. As to Komodo vs. Raja, we loved both but would probably, will, go back to Raja first. There are trip reports, gallery and video shows (multimedia) for both destinations at our site: Aquablue Dreams. Either way with whatever LB you pick you will have a great time.
 
Hmmm...thanks for the comparison Darnold for future reference. The only diff in my experience on PD was breakfast and dinner were cooked to order, and lunch was buffet. I was satisfied.

If Damai picked you up in Bali, where did you catch the boat, Sorong? That's the first time I'd heard of any boat escorting you through multiple legs of a trip. And both ways?! I'd prefer such an experience but would be comfortable without it as I'm thinking they couldn't affect any changes. I went in/out through Jakarta and planned on having to stay over to catch the international flight out to SF the next day.

Damai rooms similar to the PD master cabin is really saying something. :-)

Similar in size - the master cabin on PD is truly quite something:-)

The room I was in was the width of the boat immediately under the dining area - windows on both sides of the boat in the same room. HUGE and the other rooms are all similar is size. Overkill, but nice just the same.

Much more choice re food on Damia cooked to order and a number of choices at every meal - however the trip I did on PD they had issues with a shipment of food that did not arrive so my experience may not have been typical. Don't misunderstand PD food was excellent - Damai was just better.

Yes they met us both going and coming in Bali. Don't particularly need that level of hand holding but it was something that was significantly different. I met the travel agent at the airport in Bali (I had been in Bali for 3 weeks) He walked me to the ticket agent and made sure that everything was in order spending quite some time dealing with luggage and weight issues (met the cruise director at the same time as he was traveling to the boat on the same flights - Mike Veitch - which was a bit of a surprise at the time as he is from Vancouver) When we arrived at the next stop a rep from Damai met us at the departure lounge and walked us through the airport to the next leg of the flight. At Sorong we were met at the "departure lounge" and the bags were managed from then on to the boat. Same thing in reverse going back to Bali except that Damai drove us to our various hotels in Bali and dropped us off. You have to leave at least a day in country before your international flight leaves. The airlines in Indonesia are just not reliable enough to cut connections any closer.

For someone travelling in Indonesia the first time this would be a very reassuring touch.

An additional thing that may be useful in the future is the availability of dive gear on the boat. Damai suggest that you leave your gear at home and use theirs - no additional charge. The gear is good quality and would save on additional luggage fees. I took my own, but I wanted to dive in Bali and want my own regs anyway. I did use the boat fins as mine were just not up to the currents we were diving and one of the guests ripped their suit and used one of the boats for the week.

They have just taken service to the next level. Don't need it, but it sure was nice:-) and the price differential was not that much.
 
Short answer is I don't think you'll find many tangible differences between the two charters.

$13K for the boat alone? Last I knew, it was ~$4700 per person for normal cabin on Paradise Dancer. Perhaps you are doing the masters cabin. IMHO, the normal cabins are fine as they are already huge compared to most. The masters cabin is really big, taking up the entire back end of the boat. Very cool, but unnecessary if you are cost conscious.

I've been to both Komodo and RA and both ran pretty neck and neck for good diving. I did feel that RA had more, as in larger schools and more stuff than Komodo though not a huge difference. I've been to a few places myself and definitely Indo diving is among the best except sharks, but you get the wobbegong instead. I think you may change your tune about returning to RA. Komodo is a bit easier to get to.

For RA, I paid about $1500 to get to Jakarta on Singapore Air coach and another $650 to get to Sorong. We took Singapore Air to Bali and caught the boat there to go to Komodo. That was only about $750. You might want to fly over to closer to Komodo (the name escapes me) but I think that was like a $200 flight.

I'm considering a 12 night charter with Paul Human who does the pictures for the reef books. The dates are specific and he will control the dive locations. All the divers will be experienced as it's a invitation only trip. Cost is $5,250 & $5,900 for the master so when you add the tip taxes etc your probably around $13,000. The per night cost is $437pp for a standard room. Thanks Divekraz
 

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