jmendels
Registered
Hi all,
For anyone who is interested, I thought I would take a few minutes to post about my experiences aboard the Emperor Elite in the southern Red Sea during December 2011. I wont discuss the acutal diving sites since these have been discussed quite a bit elsewhere. Instead, Ill stick to my experience during the booking process and while onboard.
As a first time passenger on a liveaboard, I had lots of questions. My (many!) questions to the company were always answered within just a few hours by their rep Anka. Not once did she neglect to get back to me with a complete answer to any question that I had.
I went ahead and booked. The boat didnt look like much from the outside but the interior was beautiful. Other passengers told me that it was among the nicest liveaboards they had been on. The cabins were small but comfy with ample space to store belongings. There was a spacious lounge with a flatscreen tv and hundreds of movies available. I was very pleased to see that the WiFi on board actually worked and was available for about 70% of the trip. I was even able to Skype with my grandmother back in Nashville, TN showing her all around the boat on the video!
On the whole, the food was terrific and there was plenty of it. The chef clearly took pride in his work and although it wasnt always perfect, I didnt hear a single complaint over the week and was typically better than what I eat at home! The chef and kitchen staff always took care to see if people were pleased with the food and were more than happy to accommodate special requests. Mustafa manned the espresso machine with impressive diligence making a better latte than the vast majority of coffee houses back here in the States although, no doubt, international divers might legitimately claim that my standard are on the low side! Still, even my European friends agreed that he did a terrific job.
The dive crew also did everything they could to make our trip a great one. When a couple of people put in a request to dive Elphinstone, the captain took us over four additional hours away from our planned itinerary to get us there. Every time we geared up or down, it felt like we were being swarmed by crew members helping us into equipment, checking tanks, donning fins, etc.
The dive guides, Daniela and Czaba (whose name Im afraid Ive brutally misspelled!) were simply fantastic. They were cheerful, friendly, and extremely capable. It got to a point where I was afraid to ask them for anything since they would immediately drop whatever they were doing at the time to answer my question or help with a request. Also, after every single dive without fail, one of them would check in to ask if I enjoyed the dive.
Another thing that impressed me was that when Czaba came down with a nasty bug at towards the end of the trip, he and Daniela were able to organize themselves in such as way as to keep things running smoothly. Well done!
With 23 divers, there was a bit of a crowd and I was a bit concerned initially. However, once underway, I never felt like it was a problem. The dive platform was spacious and they simply divided us into two groups so it was never an issue. There were a couple of people who inevitably lagged and slowed things down for the rest of us, but that had nothing to do with the number of people diving.
A+ and Five Stars, Emperor! You guys made my first liveaboard a wonderful trip to remember. Thank you!
Joseph Mendelsohn
Chicago, USA
For anyone who is interested, I thought I would take a few minutes to post about my experiences aboard the Emperor Elite in the southern Red Sea during December 2011. I wont discuss the acutal diving sites since these have been discussed quite a bit elsewhere. Instead, Ill stick to my experience during the booking process and while onboard.
As a first time passenger on a liveaboard, I had lots of questions. My (many!) questions to the company were always answered within just a few hours by their rep Anka. Not once did she neglect to get back to me with a complete answer to any question that I had.
I went ahead and booked. The boat didnt look like much from the outside but the interior was beautiful. Other passengers told me that it was among the nicest liveaboards they had been on. The cabins were small but comfy with ample space to store belongings. There was a spacious lounge with a flatscreen tv and hundreds of movies available. I was very pleased to see that the WiFi on board actually worked and was available for about 70% of the trip. I was even able to Skype with my grandmother back in Nashville, TN showing her all around the boat on the video!
On the whole, the food was terrific and there was plenty of it. The chef clearly took pride in his work and although it wasnt always perfect, I didnt hear a single complaint over the week and was typically better than what I eat at home! The chef and kitchen staff always took care to see if people were pleased with the food and were more than happy to accommodate special requests. Mustafa manned the espresso machine with impressive diligence making a better latte than the vast majority of coffee houses back here in the States although, no doubt, international divers might legitimately claim that my standard are on the low side! Still, even my European friends agreed that he did a terrific job.
The dive crew also did everything they could to make our trip a great one. When a couple of people put in a request to dive Elphinstone, the captain took us over four additional hours away from our planned itinerary to get us there. Every time we geared up or down, it felt like we were being swarmed by crew members helping us into equipment, checking tanks, donning fins, etc.
The dive guides, Daniela and Czaba (whose name Im afraid Ive brutally misspelled!) were simply fantastic. They were cheerful, friendly, and extremely capable. It got to a point where I was afraid to ask them for anything since they would immediately drop whatever they were doing at the time to answer my question or help with a request. Also, after every single dive without fail, one of them would check in to ask if I enjoyed the dive.
Another thing that impressed me was that when Czaba came down with a nasty bug at towards the end of the trip, he and Daniela were able to organize themselves in such as way as to keep things running smoothly. Well done!
With 23 divers, there was a bit of a crowd and I was a bit concerned initially. However, once underway, I never felt like it was a problem. The dive platform was spacious and they simply divided us into two groups so it was never an issue. There were a couple of people who inevitably lagged and slowed things down for the rest of us, but that had nothing to do with the number of people diving.
A+ and Five Stars, Emperor! You guys made my first liveaboard a wonderful trip to remember. Thank you!
Joseph Mendelsohn
Chicago, USA
