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Booked through Liveaboard.com and chose an Aggressor trip mostly through the dates being what we wanted, coupled with some brand awareness. We've previously dived about 8 times in the Red Sea, with Emperor, Elite, and Blue O Two (before the acquisition by Master Liveaboards.)
Tl;dr - it was a disaster and - if you weren't already aware - Aggressor is a franchise setup, so you're subject to how good (or otherwise, in this case) the local owners are.
We were impacted by the changes to Egyptian maritime regulations which were first rumoured on 12 December. This would still have been enough time for the local owners (Scuba Adventure Fleet) and/or Aggressor to have informed all incoming passengers and cancel, so we could claim on insurance, but we didn't hear anything about this until late Sunday.
Finding the boat was really difficult - unlike with other companies who meet you at Hurghada airport with a minibus - we had to find our own way. The 'El Foly Marina' name in the provided information didn't appear on Google maps, and nobody seemed to have heard of it. The beach reference point provided didn't match up either - not a great start. The welcome on the boat was really lacklustre - not the kind of hospitality we've experienced previously in the Red Sea.
We were offered an Aggressor voucher for the same cruise/cabin on a future date within two years, but because of the overall experience here, nobody wants to use them again. (To add insult to financial injury, one guest was on this trip using a voucher he'd previously received from Aggressor, to apologise for a Galapagos trip where the boat's engines failed and they were without power for 20 hours.)
Liveaboard.com have this week come forward with an offer of some cash compensation for the additional day diving costs passengers incurred (nothing for additional accommodation costs) and have said that that they will make the voucher fungible, so we aren't limited to an Aggressor boat.
I guess I need to write this off as a lesson learned; to do more extensive research into a new brand/company before booking.
Got Socorro to look forward to in March; hoping for humpbacks!
Tl;dr - it was a disaster and - if you weren't already aware - Aggressor is a franchise setup, so you're subject to how good (or otherwise, in this case) the local owners are.
We were impacted by the changes to Egyptian maritime regulations which were first rumoured on 12 December. This would still have been enough time for the local owners (Scuba Adventure Fleet) and/or Aggressor to have informed all incoming passengers and cancel, so we could claim on insurance, but we didn't hear anything about this until late Sunday.
Finding the boat was really difficult - unlike with other companies who meet you at Hurghada airport with a minibus - we had to find our own way. The 'El Foly Marina' name in the provided information didn't appear on Google maps, and nobody seemed to have heard of it. The beach reference point provided didn't match up either - not a great start. The welcome on the boat was really lacklustre - not the kind of hospitality we've experienced previously in the Red Sea.
- Saturday 14 December - on arrival we were informed we might not be able to sail on 15 December, due to “bad weather” (I think this was actually legit; the waves were 4m or so)
- Sunday 15 December we were told that, in addition to bad weather, there was a "local paperwork issue" with the coastguard, which- it was implied - would be likely rectified that same day or on Monday
- Monday 16 December we weren't given an update, and so arranged our own local diving with Colona Divers, up the road from the marina. Later in the day, the we were told that the issue was not resolved, and told informally by one of the staff that the local owners and Aggressor had known about the problem since Thursday 12 December. Two passengers left the boat to continue their trip at a hotel.
- Tuesday 17 December, still no resolution. We booked some day diving with a local company (Splash, who were pretty great, and who provided far greater insight into the scale of the problem and the steps needed to meet the revised regulatory standards.) It became clear that it was highly improbable that the liveaboard trip would ever depart, and more people made diving arrangements elsewhere, at additional cost.
- On the evening of 17 December, the local director of Scuba Adventure Fleet visited the boat and was grudgingly said the dive company would provide ongoing day diving with the same local company for the remainder of the week, for passengers who stayed on board. He was combative and unhelpful, and four further passengers left the boat that evening.
- Wednesday 18 December: faced with the limited local diving options, my husband and I left and headed to Fort Arabesque Makadi Bay for the remaining 3 nights. There we dived with iDive who have a great shore based setup.
- Additional problems: there was little to no hot water for most of the time we were on board, despite repeated flagging of the issue, and four of us came down with food poisoning.
We were offered an Aggressor voucher for the same cruise/cabin on a future date within two years, but because of the overall experience here, nobody wants to use them again. (To add insult to financial injury, one guest was on this trip using a voucher he'd previously received from Aggressor, to apologise for a Galapagos trip where the boat's engines failed and they were without power for 20 hours.)
Liveaboard.com have this week come forward with an offer of some cash compensation for the additional day diving costs passengers incurred (nothing for additional accommodation costs) and have said that that they will make the voucher fungible, so we aren't limited to an Aggressor boat.
I guess I need to write this off as a lesson learned; to do more extensive research into a new brand/company before booking.
Got Socorro to look forward to in March; hoping for humpbacks!
