Problem guests on a liveaboard

[Doubler]

We have never had a bad trip. We did run into a couple of French guys that kept hitting on my wife all week. It was kind of annoying but funny at the same time. We did all we could to avoid them, on dives if they went right, we went left. On this one dive the whole group had taken off down the wall so Trish and I went the other way up over the wall. About 1/2 hour later, here they come, up over the reef heading right for Trish. I looked at her, she took her mask off and looked like she was sniffing the water, put her mask back on and shrugged her shoulders. I started laughing so hard I almost drowned. I also got rid of her Yum Yum Yellow fins, a dead give away.

 

[Geezer]

Guess I have been fortunate. I saw one self-professed photographer drop $5000 of photo equipment over a wall because he couldn't equalize. Other than that, all of the live-aboards I've been on have been big enough to get any needed privacy. Of course, spending lots of time in the water with my dive buddy helped as well. Bottom line - I feel that dive aboards offer the best value in terms of dive per dollar value.

 

[scubamaverick]

Bottom line - I feel that dive aboards offer the best value in terms of dive per dollar value.

I completely agree with Geezer.

When I have to deal with obnoxious people on live aboards, I confront, avoid, but most of all I DIVE, DIVE, DIVE it's the reason for being there.

 

[Martha]

Tell them,

"The skipper has a customer service representative who handles complaints like yours. Her name is Helen Waite. If you have any more complaints, just go to Helen Waite."

Thanks for a good laugh.

 

[Martha]

I've only been on one liveaboard (so far), but I didn't really find it that difficult to steer clear of the onboard "know-it-all". If you really want to guarantee you're on a trip without drama, you should arrange a group charter, otherwise it's a crap shoot. I really doubt the staff on any liveaboard would intervene under the circumstances you mentioned, because although some of the people were annoying, they weren't endangering anyone.

 

[Jackie Cousteau]

One thing I should have mentioned in my opening post was that the liveaboard was very small, the one we booked was out-of-service, as something happened to it one week prior to our trip. The replacement liveaboard was very nice, with the same amount of rooms, but a lot less deck space to get away. There was only one table to sit around, so there was really no where to go except your own room when you weren't diving.

We, and other guests did give the complainers the cold shoulder, but it seemed to make them want to complain and whine even more. Surprisingly enough they did not seem to mind the change in liveaboard, but could not accept that things were not done the same as in north america, and the standards for everything were low (in their opinion). We did tell them they should not leave the country in the future, that way they would know what to expect.

The diving diva was very tiring with her grandiose expert diving adventures and stories, she said she had over 1,000 dives, but she still did the bicycle kick! She did provide amusement to the guests at times, but she expected to be treated first by the staff, and she would not allow anyone close to her or her equipment, so in cramped space to start off with, the staff let her have what would have been space for three on the dive tender so know one would touch her very expensive equipment, while the rest of us barely had 3/4 of a space to gear up.

 

[Hemlon]

Another option is to take an iPod. Anytime that you are bored or the obnoxious people are complaining, you could always put your ear buds in and listen to your music/audiobook/whatever.

While you do this, have a smirky grin on your face. They will know exactly what you think of them and their pissy attitudes.

 

[cruiser]

I completely agree with Geezer.

When I have to deal with obnoxious people on live aboards, I confront, avoid, but most of all I DIVE, DIVE, DIVE it's the reason for being there.

Even the most obnoxious big mouth gets silenced underwater and it's grand

 

[cruiser]

...she expected to be treated first by the staff, and she would not allow anyone close to her or her equipment, so in cramped space to start off with, the staff let her have what would have been space for three on the dive tender so know one would touch her very expensive equipment, while the rest of us barely had 3/4 of a space to gear up.

Encroaching on other guests' space, hmm, this is where the princess needed a reality check. The staff should have said something here since it encroached on other guests. But since they didn't, the other guests could have nipped this in the bud by plopping down right next to her "precious" equipment and saying something to the effect that ALL of our equipment is expensive and that's just the way it is on a liveaboard since space is limited. I'm thinking she would have backed down quickly, people this brash usually do.

 

[cowdog77]

Even on a very small liveaboard, I've been able to find "space" away from the tiresome ones. Such is life..........onboard or off.