Trip Report Sea of Cortez-August 2023

[also_anon_dc]

except to say that our room, Rosario, had broken air conditioning and a nonfunctioning toilet.

You mention this pretty nonchalantly. Were you okay with this? Did you ask for it to be fixed or ask for any type of compensation? Liveaboard trips are expensive and I would make a huge fuss if I didn't even have a toilet in my room. Based on your trip report and others mentioning no AC in the cabins I will never book this boat.

 

[living4experiences]

You mention this pretty nonchalantly. Were you okay with this? Did you ask for it to be fixed or ask for any type of compensation? Liveaboard trips are expensive and I would make a huge fuss if I didn't even have a toilet in my room. Based on your trip report and others mentioning no AC in the cabins I will never book this boat.

We were very unhappy with the situation and I complained about it every day. The engineer would come to the room, or so I was told, while we were diving to work on the A/C and the toilet. Nothing changed. These are electric toilets, if that makes any difference. Only the low volume button worked, not the poop button. It was broken. But most of the time the low volume button didn't work unless you did a mid-duty flush, turn on the faucet, wait for the toilet to add water, turn off the faucet, and it may or may not flush. This had to be done about four times for each use.

On the last night of the trip, the staff wants the guests to fill out a feedback form on their iPad, and I explained the situation and did not give a favorable review. I'm sure it's not feedback that is published but more for the office to know how they're doing. I contacted the office upon my return and was only offered an apology. No compensation, no credit (not that I'd use it now) and, clearly, they haven't shown any goodwill to retain me as a customer.

 

[FLturtle]

Loved all the different sea stars.

 

[CycleCat]

Sorry to hear they continue to have boat malfunctions. This is the first time I've heard about the toilet problem but I've read numerous reports about the AC. I guess they will have plenty of time to deal with it when no one wants to book on their boat anymore.

 

[js1221]

Well, two people from our group were victims of the airport extortion ploy. One diver was forced to pay $95 for a 15 year old SeaLife camera. Another had to pay $150 for a dive light. Both had their passports taken so they could not leave and were told they would not be returned until they paid. Asking to speak to a supervisor got a cursory “yes” but no supervisor ever came. The both finally paid out of frustration, which is the point of the whole thing.

 

[Joneill]

(Continued Trip Report)

Can you help I.D. these fish?
Do you know the species of the yellow spotted eel?
Is the yellow flowery thing an anenome? The polyps were closed during the day and opened on the night dive.

When you have a good shot you can use Google Lens in the Google app to ID photo content - it does a good job if you have a decent picture:

 

[Joneill]

You mention this pretty nonchalantly. Were you okay with this? Did you ask for it to be fixed or ask for any type of compensation? Liveaboard trips are expensive and I would make a huge fuss if I didn't even have a toilet in my room. Based on your trip report and others mentioning no AC in the cabins I will never book this boat.

You would think they could have used the money they refused to refund some Covid reschedules (was a whole thread on that) to actually fix things. I’d absolutely want compensation for a non-working toilet and AC as they did not deliver the experience that was paid for!

Nautilus is a hard pass for me based on the unresolved issues I see here (and sounds like they denied the issue existed to an upcoming traveler?).

 

[uncfnp]

Eric and I were greenlighted at the airport so no luggage search and no shakedown. Sitting here in Cabo after a mocha frappe at a coffee shop trying to decide if we will do the Backscatter course.

 

[living4experiences]

When you have a good shot you can use Google Lens in the Google app to ID photo content - it does a good job if you have a decent picture:

View attachment 800523

I didn't know about this. What a great tool! I'll give it a try.

 

[living4experiences]

Well, two people from our group were victims of the airport extortion ploy. One diver was forced to pay $95 for a 15 year old SeaLife camera. Another had to pay $150 for a dive light. Both had their passports taken so they could not leave and were told they would not be returned until they paid. Asking to speak to a supervisor got a cursory “yes” but no supervisor ever came. The both finally paid out of frustration, which is the point of the whole thing.

Wow! I've never heard of a dive light being taxed. If I ever return for a dive trip in the Sea of Cortez, I will never fly to Cabo again. I'll fly into La Paz or Loreto.

Just curious, did they pay the tax with cash or credit card? My thought would be to dispute the charge to the credit card company as being a fraudulent charge with forced seizure of the passport until payment was made. I know you're not the U.S. and the laws are different, but it may be worth a try.

This really disgusts me about Mexico.