Socorro Aggressor shut down

[Scared Silly]

The e-mail from Bluewater said, "As of now they are offering credit, but we are going to give you credit that can be used on any boat, not just aggressor, so you can still go to Socorro."

Whether that's true or not, I don't know. For me, while I object to not being able to get a refund in principle, it doesn't matter that much, because I'm going to use the credit to book a different liveaboard.

I feel like, in my case, Aggressor offered Bluewater a credit, which I imagine they can use for a future trip. So they can collect the $3100 from another diver, offset it with the Aggressor credit, and still give me my credit elsewhere.

Like a very expensive shell game, except hopefully there's something under the shell.

You have summarized it quite well. They all want to keep the $$ offering a credit so not to lose the profit from a booking. Is Bluewater offering any discount for another trip?

All-in-all rather unscrupulous. And up front agency should be offering your money back no questions asked. At the same time offer a discount on a different trip book through them. With a larger discount if an Aggressor trip (but given their history Aggressor will do zip).

 

[tridacna]

Would trip insurance cover these instances? I imagine that insurance with a “cancel for any reason” option would do so. (But stand corrected).

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Would trip insurance cover these instances? I imagine that insurance with a “cancel for any reason” option would do so. (But stand corrected).

Depends on who you buy your insurance from. Read the fine print.

Lower cost trip insurance will exclude some (more) reasons for cancellation. Higher cost insurance may (will?) cover more reasons.

When we buy insurance we sit down and write out the specific situations we want to be covered for. In general our list pushes us away from the low cost insurance providers. This has worked well for us over the years.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Depends on who you buy your insurance from. Read the fine print.

Lower cost trip insurance will exclude some (more) reasons for cancellation. Higher cost insurance may (will?) cover more reasons.

When we buy insurance we sit down and write out the specific situations we want to be covered for. In general our list pushes us away from the low cost insurance providers. This has worked well for us over the years.

Our current trip insurance has the following verbiage:

"A refund less a cancellation fee is available only if:
1) The tour operator (airline etc.) cancels the trip and all penalties are waived; or,
2) You cancel the trip prior to the effective date ofany cancellation penalties; or,
3) The tour operator changes the travel date and if you are unable to travel on the new dates, the tour operator waives all cancellation penalties"

So it covers any reason. BUT: the trip cancellation limit is way smaller than the trip interruption limit: $2,500 vs $25,000 per person per event. Increasing the trip cancellation limit significantly increases the premium. Maybe we need to bump it up a bit?

 

[SlugLife]

In a separate section it says "All deposits are non-refundable."

My interpretation of this is that a customer who calls to cancel cannot get the deposit back. It in no way suggests the vendor can simply refuse/cancel/etc service, and not refund.

We are not responsible for compensating or crediting any traveler for any loss incurred due to medicalissues, family emergencies, delays or cancellations.

The way I'd normally read this, is that the delays or cancelations are on the customer side. NOT the idea that the vendor is not responsible for delays or cancelations in providing the service. Even if one could interpret it that way, I doubt any court would consider that enforceable. (Not that I'm suggesting taking it to court)

We are not responsible for compensating or crediting any traveler for any loss incurred due to medicalissues, family emergencies, delays or cancellations.

A major problem I've had with "credits" is they come with terms and conditions. For example, maybe I'm unable to use them in time. Alternatively, if I see an AMAZING deal with another vendor, well, my money is stuck with the original vendor who failed to provide what I paid for. I lost an airline credit once, because I was too busy to travel and nowhere to go.

When covid hit, many vendors canceled events on me that I purchased early bird tickets for. (Some just took my money and ran) 2 years later, there was still no way for me to use those credits, and 3 years later I've moved to another city.

 

[CantamarLaPaz]

last i checked, diesel was trending down and expected to get back to about 4 to 4.50 soon. and the peso has been pretty steady at about 20 to 1 USD. so I am a bit skeptical on their story.

but if i was to go back to socorro, i would look at the nautilus belle amie

Please remember that diesel pricing in US is different from Mexico.
By the governments' website: Precios de expendio de gasolinas y diésel - Precios gasolinas y diésel

Pricing for Diesel is around 24.60 pesos per liter (91.97 pesos per gallon).

The US dollar has not reached 20 pesos per dollar in some time now, oscillating between high-demand 19.77 and all the way down to 19.1230. This means 4.651 to 4.79 per gallon.
M/Y Cassiopeia complies with all Federal, State, Local and National Park regulations. We are working hard every day to improve the boat and service, together with the sister ship Southern Sport which has a very busy schedule for 2023.

Lots of our friends and customers are rebooking to the Cassiopeia schedule, and we know they are going to have a great time onboard.



US-MXN chart courtesy of Histórico Dólar estadounidense/Peso mexicano (USD/MXN) - Investing.com MX

 

[admikar]

Please remember that diesel pricing in US is different from Mexico.
By the governments' website: Precios de expendio de gasolinas y diésel - Precios gasolinas y diésel

Pricing for Diesel is around 24.60 pesos per liter (91.97 pesos per gallon).

The US dollar has not reached 20 pesos per dollar in some time now, oscillating between high-demand 19.77 and all the way down to 19.1230. This means 4.651 to 4.79 per gallon.
M/Y Cassiopeia complies with all Federal, State, Local and National Park regulations. We are working hard every day to improve the boat and service, together with the sister ship Southern Sport which has a very busy schedule for 2023.

Lots of our friends and customers are rebooking to the Cassiopeia schedule, and we know they are going to have a great time onboard.



US-MXN chart courtesy of Histórico Dólar estadounidense/Peso mexicano (USD/MXN) - Investing.com MX

View attachment 759135

You are just trying to make yourself look good.
It's not my problem that you put forward falsely decreased pricing to attract customers and now trying to get even. And what happens if fuel prices crash? I've never heard of customers getting back the difference. I will never book anything where fuel surcharge is required as an extra expense on my part.
And just to avoid "it's common practice" here are 2 out of first 3 hits on Red sea boats that do not require extra for fuel

Emperor Elite

The Emperor Elite, winner of Best Liveaboard 2020 offers year-round diving to some of the best spots in the Red Sea. Free nitrox and WiFi are included.

www.liveaboard.com

Tillis

Tillis

www.liveaboard.com

 

[broncobowsher]

Some friends did the Aggressor Socorro trip earlier this year. There were stories of break downs, leaving the dock broken, O2 concentrator (Nitrox) broken, and the list went on. Then they mentioned the following group sat on the boat and never left the dock.

From what they were saying the boat was not up to the Aggressor standards, and Aggressor cut ties as they didn't want there name dragged down by a sub-standard boat.

Some of the information is directly from the group that was one one of the trips (motored back on only one engine was one example) and some of the information is what that group heard about.

I'm more of a rust diver and not so much a wildlife diver, so I wasn't that interested in the trip and didn't go.

 

[admikar]

Some friends did the Aggressor Socorro trip earlier this year. There were stories of break downs, leaving the dock broken, O2 concentrator (Nitrox) broken, and the list went on. Then they mentioned the following group sat on the boat and never left the dock.

From what they were saying the boat was not up to the Aggressor standards, and Aggressor cut ties as they didn't want there name dragged down by a sub-standard boat.

Some of the information is directly from the group that was one one of the trips (motored back on only one engine was one example) and some of the information is what that group heard about.

I'm more of a rust diver and not so much a wildlife diver, so I wasn't that interested in the trip and didn't go.

It looks like if you went you would see rust without even getting in the water.

 

[Luca Brasi]

Buyers beware, the aggressor company has taken a turn for the worse! I have had customer service issues with the main office recently.