-Comprehensive update-
Right. Several things have come up in this thread. So I thought I'd post a comprehensive update. First of all, seahorse_1977 was indeed my bunkmate who wrote his own account of the experience. Thats why the issues are similar. The same review from the original post has also been posted on Taucher.net so that's also me.
I did not only post the issues with this boat here, but also notified the owner of these issues. La Galigo has since responded to me. The answer reads like something out of a dream. Not only do they deny that there are any issues at all, but they also chose to resort to ad hominem arguments to discredit us. So I've decided to give you an insight into the complaint process as well.
Below, I posted their response to my review, with the issues discussed in this post. What follows is my answer to them.
---Start of original message---
La Galigo are deeply dismayed that you felt our trip did not meet your expectations, especially in light of the positive feedback we received from the remainder of the guests.
We must confess that we are a little disappointed that you didn’t extend us the courtesy of addressing your complaint before publishing your feelings on public forums.
However, we take your comments very seriously and we thank you for taking the time to share your feelings in a full and frank manner.
I have spoken to the crew and I have someone from the Bali office investigating the points you made.
I will try and respond to each of the points you made in turn.
We recommend our guests arrive the day before departure as flights can often be delayed or canceled by some of the domestic air carriers. Unfortunately on this trip, one of our guests had his flights cancelled and rescheduled to a later arrival time of 9:30am. This delayed the Habour Master inspection to 11am, leaving the crew unable to depart until noon when this was completed.
When circumstances beyond our control occur we have to be able to adapt our schedule accordingly. The crew made the recommendations based on available time and preferential choice of dive site, which the guests voted as the most favorable option.
The unpleasant smell can occur on occasion, if the water lock is broken, this sometimes happens with movement of the boat, I believe that crew rectified this problem immediately. We will review the cabin crew training to ensure such checks are done and the cabins are ready before our guests arrival.
With regard to the cabins and leaking in the restaurant, this is not the standard of service that we want to offer. Although we tried to identify and fix the leak a number of times, we are unable to resolve it at the time of the event. It is something that we will rectify as part of our dry docking refurbishment and maintenance procedure during May 2017.
The crew took measures to prevent the leak as soon as they were aware it would be a problem. They notified us that they had dealt with it, but raised concerns that you had removed the plastic on more than one occasion, which they replaced. The crew noted that the porthole window had been opened in the cabin, which could explain why there was the smell of engine fumes in the cabin. The portholes should remain closed whenever the boat is moving to prevent water entering the cabin, or indeed the possibility of engine fumes. Air flow can be achieved through the use of the climate control in the cabin.
Whilst the owner very much enjoys spending time on the boat and with guests, it would be impossible for him to be present on every trip. When not on board he is based at our Bali office, Indonesia.
We very much pride ourselves in our Indonesian heritage and feel that having a full Indonesian crew on board is an asset that customers have come to know and love.
The crew was notified by guests of drunken behavior coming from your cabin late that night, It was not clear to them in the early hours of the morning why you dragged your bedding out of your cabin and up the stairs into the restaurant. Given the time of night and the impact on the other guests, they felt the best thing would be to let you sleep, and resolve it fully in the morning.
Staff only areas are clearly marked on our boat and are put there for the welfare of all staff and guests, there is absolutely no reason for any guest to let them self into the engine room. Issues relating to the engines should have been raised to the staff. Once our crew was aware of the issue regarding the fumes it was addressed immediately. The engineers have verified what the crew confirmed to you at the time, non of the pipework is damaged and non of the pipes run under the cabin that you were allocated. The Crew did raise concerns with you that if you left the porthole window open whilst the engine was running, it was likely that the smell of fumes would be present in your cabin. They recommended that you close the cabin and use the climate control within the cabin. I think it is important to be clear on this point, there were no dangerous or noxious fumes expelled from either the engine room, engine or pipes.
Once the crew had identified that the fumes were entering your cabin via the porthole and had refixed the leak, they didn’t understand why you continued to sleep in the lounge, as it delayed the breakfast and diving of all guests on the boat.
With regard to dive practices on the boat, the dive guides will always set maximum depths and times as part of their over all dive briefing. As certified divers, guests plan their dive accordingly within their safe limits using their computers and dive within that plan.
Nitrox tanks are blended onboard by trained individuals, each tank is analysed before being presented to our guests. It is the responsibility of each Nitrox certified diver, to verify the fill and adjust their computer/ dive plan accordingly. Any problems with analyzing tanks should be brought to the attention of the Dive crew immediately, in order that they may assist with the analysis and verification process and address any errors.
All our guides are certified divers with experience of diving in all conditions throughout Indonesia, they have thousands of dives and in some cases have been guiding for over 15 years, all are EFR certified.
We pride ourselves in being an Indonesian business, employing only Indonesian crew and the care and service they provide is always exceptional.
We have a program in place for those that are not already Instructor or Dive Master certified, to provide additional training to the minimum certification of Dive Master.
I hope that we have addressed the issues above to your satisfaction. I would like to conclude that all the points you raised regarding the cabins and restaurant will be included as part of our annual refurbishment and maintenance program in May 2017. We will also be reviewing all staff processes and procedures on the boat, to ensure that we continue to provide the level of customer experience La Galigo has become synonymous with.
----end of original message----
