Review of 5d/5n Burma Liveaboard Dive Trip with AICD (Based in Ranong, Thailand)

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Marineresearch. the dog was a psycho who attacked a German tourist the night before he attacked me and a Burmese guy before that.

He was delicious:wink:
shame about the Burmese guy
I feel more sorry for the German guy. At least the Burmese guy was delicious.
 
To quote some movie character "what we have here is a failure to communicate". I understand how the OP thinks he paid over 30k THB for the Burma trip but he really did not. He forfeited his 23k THB when he cancelled the trip at the last minute. The operator, in trying to keep the customer happy (silly him), said okay, you can join another trip without the forfeit. Here is a Burma trip which would cost you another 7,420 THB. The operator could have just as easily said "Sorry" to the OP or, the cost of the Burma trip is an extra 37k or he could have sold it to someone else. The common practice is that you lose your trip cost on a last minute cancellation. That is why trip insurance is recommended.

Now, about all the other things the OP said went wrong, those are just as believable as what the other pro-AIDC customers have said so everyone can make their own mind up about who is more truthful. I am not sure.

So what you're saying here is that AIDC could/should have kept the 23k (x2) due to the cancellation policy then nailed Guitarfish for the full price for the Burma trip. Technically, you're correct. Assuming that is, that AIDC really wants to suck at customer relations. Yep, they could have kept the "free" 46k. crossed their fingers and hoped Guitarfish didn't book a Similians trip, what he really wanted, with some other operator and trashed any possibility of repeat business.

If you look at AIDC's pricing structure, 37k pp is the maximum amount charged. More divers on the boat, the cheaper the price gets so as it looks from here Guitarfish didn't get any special deal and paid what amounts to full price for the amount of divers on the boat. Best price, 28k + 5k park fee = 33k

I don't know about all the other stuff either however showing videos where customers or staff are messing with the wildlife is pretty poor form, don't you agree ?
 
I feel more sorry for the German guy. At least the Burmese guy was delicious.

Feel sorry for Burmese guy, he lost his livelihood as it's impossible to work a service job with half your face chewed off. German girl and i, well, all we had to do was hang out on Koh Tao for an extra week to see if doggy died of rabies, because if he had, then we would have needed two more shots of Verorab.
 
I feel more sorry for the German guy. At least the Burmese guy was delicious.

Well, according to some headhunters on Fiji, Burmese people taste great, while krauts tend to be a little sour, but nothing that a little extra kava can't cure.
 
Stout, as I noted, I was only trying to correct the impression a few people had about the cost of the trip. I wasn't defending the shop in every point of the argument.

I have had the fortune of being on many LOB trips and know how they work. The policy of "if you cancel a trip within x days/weeks/months, you forfeit most/all of the trip cost" is fairly common in the industry. So is the shop's advice to buy travel insurance. Do you have experience pre-booking LOB trips? Haven't those things been spelled out to you? Now both the OP and boat owner say the OP cancelled the original trip. Therefore, it's very believable that the OP was subject to the policy. Now I know that many shops understand the pain of a full forfeit and they often try to help the customer out, if they can. This may come in the form of a partial refund, discount on the next trip, acceptance of a change of date, etc. Again, they sometimes, certainly not all the times, do something. Most importantly, they have no obligation to make any concession. With all that in mind, do you still think the OP is truthful when he says he paid over 30k for a Burma LOB trip? I sure don't.
 
With all that in mind, do you still think the OP is truthful when he says he paid over 30k for a Burma LOB trip? I sure don't.

He paid in total over 30K p.p to the operator.
That's really all we can conclude.

When I read the OP's messages I don't think the money was the big issue here. The OP and his spouse felt they were getting no value for money. Nothing much was done for them during the trip to ease that "pain". Possibly if the operator had put a little bit more effort in making the OP comfortable on the vessel and looked a bit more after them during their dives then the OP might have still had an enjoyable trip.
 
I agree with everything you said Bowmouth, sort of. Some people though are making an evaluation of whether the OP got his money's worth based on the wrong equation. Was the trip worth it for more than 30k THB? Based on some of the things that went on, according to the OP that seem believable and relevant, probably not, IMHO. Was it worth it for 7,240? Hell yes!! That is why the money is important although I know that guitarfish disagrees with my opinion. Tough; the world is big enough for two opinions, even when he is wrong. :D
 
When I read the OP's messages I don't think the money was the big issue here.

You are exactly right I and I dare say the vast majority of people would not book on a dive trip unless happy with the price.
The only time that money becomes the issue is when we feel we have not been given what we paid for. As would appear to be the case in this instance.
 
See. :wink:
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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