I have debated myself a really long time whether to share this or not. I know no company is perfect, there’s a lot of things that can go wrong and people working in these boats (or corporately within the same enterprise) are trying their best. However, because of what just happened in the Red Sea, I believe that stating my personal experience might help both the company, in terms of their quality control, and other fellow divers, to make a more informed decision.
I booked the Socorro Aggressor through
liveaboard.com last August when they had a really good deal for Guadalupe. Booked my flights from Santiago, Chile to Mexico City and then another Volaris return to Tijuana. I also booked my hotels through
Booking.com and chose a couple of “free cancellation” ones.
A week before my long haul flight I was informed, via email, that the boat was not ready to depart and that they would compensate us with a very reasonable travel voucher (applicable to any other later trip) and that they would cover any fees for changing flights and hotel rooms. So far so good.
I chose the next available departure and they actually delivered and covered all the changing flight fees. Naturally, I didn’t charge them for hotel fees because I cancelled for free. I was so surprised with their service I blasted my social media recommending them for their swift damage control.
But, as soon as I got to Tijuana, things went downhill. I stayed at the hotel they recommended and the next morning I asked the concierge about the “Aggressor” van but they were dumbfounded. I speak native Spanish, so this was not something lost in translation: they had absolutely no idea who I was talking about. An hour and a half later than was promised, two vans showed up. We drove to Ensenada and eventually boarded the Cassiopeia.
Three hours later than when we were supposed to sail, we finally did. According to the crew, this was the Mexican authorities fault, which may or may not be true. What I know for a fact is one of the other passengers was a District Staff Officer for the USCGAUX and he mentioned serious safety shortcomings, which, for all I know, could have been part of the reason for the delay. He did, after the trip, email the captain and Aggressor CEO about all of the faults he found and they said they are working on them.
Long story short, according to the e-mails I received after the whole thing, the weather conditions forced the trip to Guadalupe to take 24 hours instead of the advertised 18. It is possible, but several of us were woken up at 5am when one of the engines blew up (in fact, the USCGAUX staff officer confirmed it to me).
When we finally got to Guadalupe, at 3-3:30pm on the second day, the crew tried to sink the cages but the bolts snapped. They worked tirelessly for a couple of hours, and actually managed to get them working, but it was already too late to dive that day. We were supposed to have been diving by 10am, but we literally lost a full day. Fair enough, things happen.
The diving on the third and the morning of the fourth were great. The crew was amazing and the sharks even better. I even scored a runner-up prize on their latest instagram contest with one of the pics I got on that trip.
By the fourth day, we left on schedule but I was already weary about the ride back. My Tijuana-MEX flight was at 12:30pm and my MEX-SCL was at 3am the next day. When I realized I wasn’t going to make it to the first flight, I just waited until we got close enough to Ensenada, to try to find another later flight to Mexico City. I was pretty confident that Aggressor would cover that small expense. Boy was I wrong.
After a lot of hassle and wasted time, I managed to get off the boat around 3pm. There was a 5:15 flight that I thought I could manage to board. I purposely decided not to book it online in order to avoid Aggressor more money and took an Uber to Tijuana airport to see if I could. I couldn’t. I got there around 5pm and all flights were closed. “Oh well, I’ll just stay at a cheap(ish) hotel tonight, book a flight for tomorrow and change the MEX-SCL”. $150 for changing the latter and roughly $200 for the former. “No worries -I thought- they have been very understanding, I’m sure they will deliver”. When I got to the hotel (which was way cheaper than the one they’d recommended) I emailed
liveaboard.com telling them of the whole situation. They said they had contacted Aggressor and would get back to me.
From here on is where **** hit the fan and by no means I am saying is Aggressor’s fault, but, they could have helped me out a bit.
Next day I get to Tijuana airport, and my Volaris flight was delayed for 4 hours. That meant that I couldn’t make it to my MEX-SCL and had to change it again: another $150. I had to stay in Mexico City that night and pay for a hotel. I got to the Mex airport the next day and there was a protest outside my terminal, so the Uber driver left me on the other one. I tried calling Latam for two hours to let them know of the situation to no avail. I lost my flight, had to stay yet another night in Mexico City and had to book a new MEX-SCL flight. All in all, I spent 2k because the boat was late.
I sent
liveaboard.com all of the information, usually as it happened, with all documents that proved my claim. All I got got in the end was a “sorry”.
What was supposed to be a quick 7 day cheap getaway, ended up being more like 11 days, with the latter 4 being more expensive than the liveaboard itself.
I now have a $200 travel voucher for Aggressor but I’m not even sure if I want to use it. What a shame, because my trip to Galápagos with them was perfect.
Sorry for the long rant. I have all receipts and email conversations, should anyone doubt what I just said.
