Damselfish
Contributor
Yeah, many places grab a cab, no biggie. But it's always nice to have someone, guaranteed to have a vehicle with room for all that dive gear, waiting with a sign so you don't have to mess around figuring it out when all you want to do is get there and crash. I like the idea of a little extra incentive to arrive early, even if they charged you but would set it up. It's going to depend some on what sort of land support arrangements a boat has in a place. (And we all know whatever the name on the boat, it's usually up to the local owner to do whatever they want.) Some places it's actually crew that runs to the airport to pick you up and they won't be in port yet. (And some places not, maybe because there's a taxi monopoly that says they can't.)
When we did the Atlantis Azores to Tubbataha they did this, arranging things somewhat out of the scope of the airport/departure day/preferred hotel. But Atlantis generally seems to go above and beyond on the logistics stuff. We actually took the free hotel airport shuttle at least one way in Manila, which might not have been the case if we stayed at their preferred hotel. But they had someone meet us at our hotel and make sure we and our bags were on our way to the airport in time. Then they reappeared at the airport and shepherded us through, in the handy way only a local who does this can expedite you through Manila airport without them paying too much attention to what your bags weigh. Mind you, the boat was departing from a different island - the same guy showed up at the Puerto Princessa airport to make sure things were ok and usher us to ground transport. Like a fixer - I think he would have gotten you and your stuff into a cab, chased down missing luggage, or done whatever to make things smooth. It might be enough to make me pick Atlantis Dumaguette over some of the other nice places in Dauin, which I'm sure is the goal. (Probably not enough to make me pick Atlantis Puerto Galera though.)
When we did the Atlantis Azores to Tubbataha they did this, arranging things somewhat out of the scope of the airport/departure day/preferred hotel. But Atlantis generally seems to go above and beyond on the logistics stuff. We actually took the free hotel airport shuttle at least one way in Manila, which might not have been the case if we stayed at their preferred hotel. But they had someone meet us at our hotel and make sure we and our bags were on our way to the airport in time. Then they reappeared at the airport and shepherded us through, in the handy way only a local who does this can expedite you through Manila airport without them paying too much attention to what your bags weigh. Mind you, the boat was departing from a different island - the same guy showed up at the Puerto Princessa airport to make sure things were ok and usher us to ground transport. Like a fixer - I think he would have gotten you and your stuff into a cab, chased down missing luggage, or done whatever to make things smooth. It might be enough to make me pick Atlantis Dumaguette over some of the other nice places in Dauin, which I'm sure is the goal. (Probably not enough to make me pick Atlantis Puerto Galera though.)
