caliyorkie
New
When we checked in and started to discuss the dives, Lance told us our check out dive would be down to 147'. I questioned this and his reply was "Out here we throw the (PADI) book over our shoulders". When Lance left, I saw on the dive printout it was actually only to 45'. Lance gets confused easily and was referring to the lengths of the ship rather than the dive depth.
Lance tried to put my travel partner and I in one cabin in spite of the fact we paid extra for private cabins. Lance was insistent the travel agency did not communicate this to him. When we insisted that we had receipts showing we paid for this, his reply was "I don't want to run two AC units". We persisted so he finally placed us in the two separate cabins.
Lance told me I could only set the temperature in my cabin at 30*C (86*F) during the day. I questioned this because I would be in the cabin during the day between dives and he told me it would shut down the power if I ran it below 30*C during the day. Subsequently, it was very uncomfortable in the cabin. I think we can agree a temperature of 86* is not consistent with being air conditioned or comfortable.
My friend discovered the AC in his cabin did not and work and when he reported this to Lance, he was told he would not be able to get it fixed for at least three more days until someone could come after a funeral. Lance told him he has stuff to 'charge it' with but he didn't know how to do that himself. Because the cabin was stifling, my friend told him he would have to sleep on the upper deck then. The upper deck's lounge chairs are made with rope and are very uncomfortable (photo attached), so Lance offered him a mat to put on the lounge chair. My friend spent a very uncomfortable night sleeping on this lounge chair only to be forced to move to the floor in the salon after a huge rainstorm came through in the middle of the night. He experienced back pain after this night and no sleep, impacting his ability to safely dive.
When we approached Lance the next morning with our decision to leave the ship due to the uninhabitable living conditions, after quite some time, Lance told us he could use a generator to make the AC in the other cabins work and Jeff could move into one of those. We asked why he did not offer this the day before and he replied he was trying to be conservative in the use of his energy. Lance admitted this was wrong and said he was now prepared to use his generator for the other cabins' AC, whereas the AC in our two cabins came from solar power. He knew he had this option the whole time but then blamed Jeff for his not offering this the day before because Jeff was being 'so nice' about sleeping on the upper deck.
The power went off three times the night we were there. At dinner, Lance warned us it would go out throughout the night and he would turn it back on again. The third time it went out, after 20 minutes, my cabin became stuffy and hot. I tried to find any staff to see what was happening but could find no one. It eventually did turn back on again but the damage was done and my cabin was uninhabitable. I was not going to leave the cabin door open to get air because I did not feel safe with Lance and an unlocked door (please see comments below).
I was very uncomfortable around Lance.
-He referred to me as 'honey' in spite of my telling him my name was Mary Anne repeatedly.
-When speaking to me, he stared at my chest, not making eye contact with me.
-When I first got into my cabin, he came in and stood in the doorway staring at me. I asked what he needed and he began to show me the control to the AC. When done, he continued standing there staring at me. I told him I would like some privacy to get settled in my room. We went two more rounds of him telling me something inconsequential, ending in him standing there staring at me and my requesting privacy. I finally physically guided him out of the cabin and locked the door.
-Lance ate with us, causing a very awkward environment because he would easily become agitated with me and speak to me disrespectfully. One time was when I referred to the United States as America. He raised his voice and told me "No! It's the United States because America could be North or South America". I felt like he was scolding me, so I resolved to not speak because I did not feel comfortable during meals.
-I could frequently hear Lance yelling at the female young stews, to include expletives like "God damn it!"
-When my friend and I approached him in his wheelhouse to speak to him about the issue with the AC, he was watching porn on his computer.
-All of this is especially disconcerting given the reviews about Lance's inappropriate sexual conversations in front of a 12-year-old and a female customer's complaint she was groped by an employee.
Lance kept telling us Nitrox was extra but our receipt showed it was included. I really think he is very confused because he kept contradicting what his web page and our receipts showed.
I explained to Lance I would be renting a BCD, regulator, and fins. He kept repeating back to me I was renting a mask, wet suit, BCD and regulator. It was evident he was too confused to track on this, so I went to the two dive masters independently and set up exactly what I needed to rent from them. I later heard Lance contradicting me to his staff whereupon I had to intercede and correct him again.
It was difficult to try and work anything out with Lance. He would not let us finish a sentence, talked over us, called us difficult and uncooperative, and would wave his hands at us to dismiss us.
The boat was not clean. I have a photo of a vent that is coated in dust. Due to our leaving early, I was not able to take all the photos I wanted to demonstrate the filthy state this boat is in.
I would describe the THORFINN as one spark away from being a tinder box. I have a picture of a surge protector 'tree' in the salon along with what looks like a battery cable clip holding something at the junction of the AC unit. The multiple electrical junctions out of a primary outlet exceeds any intended voltage output limits and creates a highly dangerous hazard. Who knows what the battery clip is achieving but it is unsafe. As a 30-year Navy veteran, this is would not pass any safety inspection, leading me to question how the boat is allowed to stay in operation.
Lance frequently interacted with us with his shirt off. It was disgusting because his body was covered in open wounds and he had pink welts all down his back. Thankfully he wore a shirt at the dinner table because otherwise we would not have been able to eat. I have never seen crew members interact with customers partially clothed while not in the act of diving on the 7 other live aboards I have been on.
Of note, I think he had bed bug bites down his back because I am now experiencing the same type of welts. I have a medical appointment next week regarding these bites.
Per Lance's web page:
"Our team is dedicated to your diving success and comfort, maintaining a remarkable 1:1 staff-to-guest ratio. Our staff includes dedicated dive teams for personalized attention underwater, hostesses, deck and machinery maintenance personnel, and chefs crafting delicious international dishes. We are equipped to accommodate special dietary needs, ensuring a seamless experience from start to finish."
If there as such a staff, they were never introduced to us. When we came aboard, no one greeted us and we were left standing in the galley. Jeff and I eventually found the salon and were there for some time before Lance ever came to greet us. We were never offered water in spite of the salon being a furnace. There were two dive masters and one general guy who stayed in the dingy while we were diving. I think there were two cabin girls but other than that, there was no other staff. As for the chef crafting delicious meals, what we ate was nowhere near this description. The food was unappetizing.
"Plans include; Valet dive gear stowage, including cameras rinsed/delivered to C deck camera tables/All meals, snacks, teas, coffee, ice water/Soft drinks, juices served at cost/Beer, wines, spirits served after daily diving at reasonable bar prices."
The valet dive gear stowage consisted of using hangars to hang our gear on a pipe running down the port side of the boat. If it couldn't be hung, it was left lying on the deck. The rinse station was a barrel they filled with water to rinse your wet suit and gear in. There was a dirty sink to rinse your camera and computers in. We were never shown a camera table.
The snacks were paltry at best. I've included one picture of three pieces of some kind of bread that was one of our snacks. At another time it was Ritz crackers with tuna fish salad placed in between them.
We could not get beer or wine because there was never a stew available to get any for us. There was no such thing as a hostess or any staff to make our stay comfortable because everyone disappeared to some place on the boat and we could not find anyone.
Lance tried to put my travel partner and I in one cabin in spite of the fact we paid extra for private cabins. Lance was insistent the travel agency did not communicate this to him. When we insisted that we had receipts showing we paid for this, his reply was "I don't want to run two AC units". We persisted so he finally placed us in the two separate cabins.
Lance told me I could only set the temperature in my cabin at 30*C (86*F) during the day. I questioned this because I would be in the cabin during the day between dives and he told me it would shut down the power if I ran it below 30*C during the day. Subsequently, it was very uncomfortable in the cabin. I think we can agree a temperature of 86* is not consistent with being air conditioned or comfortable.
My friend discovered the AC in his cabin did not and work and when he reported this to Lance, he was told he would not be able to get it fixed for at least three more days until someone could come after a funeral. Lance told him he has stuff to 'charge it' with but he didn't know how to do that himself. Because the cabin was stifling, my friend told him he would have to sleep on the upper deck then. The upper deck's lounge chairs are made with rope and are very uncomfortable (photo attached), so Lance offered him a mat to put on the lounge chair. My friend spent a very uncomfortable night sleeping on this lounge chair only to be forced to move to the floor in the salon after a huge rainstorm came through in the middle of the night. He experienced back pain after this night and no sleep, impacting his ability to safely dive.
When we approached Lance the next morning with our decision to leave the ship due to the uninhabitable living conditions, after quite some time, Lance told us he could use a generator to make the AC in the other cabins work and Jeff could move into one of those. We asked why he did not offer this the day before and he replied he was trying to be conservative in the use of his energy. Lance admitted this was wrong and said he was now prepared to use his generator for the other cabins' AC, whereas the AC in our two cabins came from solar power. He knew he had this option the whole time but then blamed Jeff for his not offering this the day before because Jeff was being 'so nice' about sleeping on the upper deck.
The power went off three times the night we were there. At dinner, Lance warned us it would go out throughout the night and he would turn it back on again. The third time it went out, after 20 minutes, my cabin became stuffy and hot. I tried to find any staff to see what was happening but could find no one. It eventually did turn back on again but the damage was done and my cabin was uninhabitable. I was not going to leave the cabin door open to get air because I did not feel safe with Lance and an unlocked door (please see comments below).
I was very uncomfortable around Lance.
-He referred to me as 'honey' in spite of my telling him my name was Mary Anne repeatedly.
-When speaking to me, he stared at my chest, not making eye contact with me.
-When I first got into my cabin, he came in and stood in the doorway staring at me. I asked what he needed and he began to show me the control to the AC. When done, he continued standing there staring at me. I told him I would like some privacy to get settled in my room. We went two more rounds of him telling me something inconsequential, ending in him standing there staring at me and my requesting privacy. I finally physically guided him out of the cabin and locked the door.
-Lance ate with us, causing a very awkward environment because he would easily become agitated with me and speak to me disrespectfully. One time was when I referred to the United States as America. He raised his voice and told me "No! It's the United States because America could be North or South America". I felt like he was scolding me, so I resolved to not speak because I did not feel comfortable during meals.
-I could frequently hear Lance yelling at the female young stews, to include expletives like "God damn it!"
-When my friend and I approached him in his wheelhouse to speak to him about the issue with the AC, he was watching porn on his computer.
-All of this is especially disconcerting given the reviews about Lance's inappropriate sexual conversations in front of a 12-year-old and a female customer's complaint she was groped by an employee.
Lance kept telling us Nitrox was extra but our receipt showed it was included. I really think he is very confused because he kept contradicting what his web page and our receipts showed.
I explained to Lance I would be renting a BCD, regulator, and fins. He kept repeating back to me I was renting a mask, wet suit, BCD and regulator. It was evident he was too confused to track on this, so I went to the two dive masters independently and set up exactly what I needed to rent from them. I later heard Lance contradicting me to his staff whereupon I had to intercede and correct him again.
It was difficult to try and work anything out with Lance. He would not let us finish a sentence, talked over us, called us difficult and uncooperative, and would wave his hands at us to dismiss us.
The boat was not clean. I have a photo of a vent that is coated in dust. Due to our leaving early, I was not able to take all the photos I wanted to demonstrate the filthy state this boat is in.
I would describe the THORFINN as one spark away from being a tinder box. I have a picture of a surge protector 'tree' in the salon along with what looks like a battery cable clip holding something at the junction of the AC unit. The multiple electrical junctions out of a primary outlet exceeds any intended voltage output limits and creates a highly dangerous hazard. Who knows what the battery clip is achieving but it is unsafe. As a 30-year Navy veteran, this is would not pass any safety inspection, leading me to question how the boat is allowed to stay in operation.
Lance frequently interacted with us with his shirt off. It was disgusting because his body was covered in open wounds and he had pink welts all down his back. Thankfully he wore a shirt at the dinner table because otherwise we would not have been able to eat. I have never seen crew members interact with customers partially clothed while not in the act of diving on the 7 other live aboards I have been on.
Of note, I think he had bed bug bites down his back because I am now experiencing the same type of welts. I have a medical appointment next week regarding these bites.
Per Lance's web page:
"Our team is dedicated to your diving success and comfort, maintaining a remarkable 1:1 staff-to-guest ratio. Our staff includes dedicated dive teams for personalized attention underwater, hostesses, deck and machinery maintenance personnel, and chefs crafting delicious international dishes. We are equipped to accommodate special dietary needs, ensuring a seamless experience from start to finish."
If there as such a staff, they were never introduced to us. When we came aboard, no one greeted us and we were left standing in the galley. Jeff and I eventually found the salon and were there for some time before Lance ever came to greet us. We were never offered water in spite of the salon being a furnace. There were two dive masters and one general guy who stayed in the dingy while we were diving. I think there were two cabin girls but other than that, there was no other staff. As for the chef crafting delicious meals, what we ate was nowhere near this description. The food was unappetizing.
"Plans include; Valet dive gear stowage, including cameras rinsed/delivered to C deck camera tables/All meals, snacks, teas, coffee, ice water/Soft drinks, juices served at cost/Beer, wines, spirits served after daily diving at reasonable bar prices."
The valet dive gear stowage consisted of using hangars to hang our gear on a pipe running down the port side of the boat. If it couldn't be hung, it was left lying on the deck. The rinse station was a barrel they filled with water to rinse your wet suit and gear in. There was a dirty sink to rinse your camera and computers in. We were never shown a camera table.
The snacks were paltry at best. I've included one picture of three pieces of some kind of bread that was one of our snacks. At another time it was Ritz crackers with tuna fish salad placed in between them.
We could not get beer or wine because there was never a stew available to get any for us. There was no such thing as a hostess or any staff to make our stay comfortable because everyone disappeared to some place on the boat and we could not find anyone.
