Trip Report: Raja Ampat on the WAOW Liveaboard

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Yeah, I decided that the parties involved are all barely moving the needle on the credibility dial.

People claiming RA diving isn't any good. And cruise directors referring to themselves in the third person on forum posts don't really do much for me.
 
I also went on a trip aboard the WAOW to Raja Ampat and feel diversusan's report is quite fair. The cruise director did indeed have an attitude problem and spoke in a rather rude way to the guests and this over the entire duration of the trip.

I wouldn't say the diving wasn't good, there were several dives that were top notch. But in general many sites were rather similar and I have to admit I was sometimes expecting more, but maybe this was my fault for not knowing how to manage expectations.

The food was not exceptional but it was definitely decent, some meals were really good while others were just average. There seemed to be quite a few dishes being the same over and over. I wouldn't complain about the meals, just that it was nothing truly special.

The boat is very nice, although the decor is not my taste. The owner seems to be a bit eccentric and I certainly would have not opted for those paintings in the room.

Overall I'd also rate the trip as OK. I agree there were too many repetitions and the cruise directors always made us feel under pressure for making decisions. In the end it didn't really feel like such a relaxing time and diversusan's comments about the way one of the cruise directors would speak to guests was accurate, as he was definitely out of line. I can't say I would go back with them and I believe there are other liveaboards with better reputations who have been around longer and are in high demand, such as the Dewi Nusantara and the Arenui. I would be curious to go on one of them next time to experience the difference. I'll be happy to write a trip report on them once I do.
 
I know a lot of posters here take exotic dive trips often-lucky, lucky people! But for a lot of us, a trip to Indonesia is a very big deal. The money, the time, the air travel, the knowledge that this could very well be the last big trip so it had better be good--these are huge considerations for most of us.

Which is my roundabout way of saying I come to SB to get accurate information and to read honest reviews from divers who were paying guests and have no other agenda than that they want to share their experiences with their fellow divers. It's kind of a way to "pay it forward" and I appreciate these posters very much. (Thank you, Susan!) I don't have a problem with people questioning Susan--what were her expectations or where has she been or what she likes, etc.--because I figure they are just trying to get a feel of how her specific experience relates to them. Fair enough.
I once wrote a TR of Utila diving which, while an honest review, angered some people very much--including a divemaster who accused me of hurting the way she makes a living. That made me sad, but my only obligation, IMHO, is to give MHO, which I did, hoping it would be useful to other divers.

In any case, Susan, I will keep an eye out for your other reviews, and you, too, SteveJobs1950!
 
Yes, Sorrows, I totally understand how you feel, it is a lot of money and when you pay such a high price for a five star "luxury" liveaboard in a far far away place, you expect nothing short of the best. I would have liked to disagree with diversusan and say she was wrong in every regard, but sadly I too was rather disappointed, and the people leading this boat were part of the issue. This is only my opinion and based on my experience on board, I'm sure some people can disagree and have found their experience to be extraordinary on the WAOW, but I too find the responses written by the cruise director in this thread do indeed show his true colours.
 
Well, one man's meat is another man's poison and all that; I mean, I don't really care about messages on board (although they sound lovely) but hot showers and clean towels and good food? Yeah... So everybody has the things they can put up with and the things they can't. And while I don't expect anyone to be subservient or anything like that and I don't mind advice/guidance/suggestions or even a lecture if I deserve it, I figure I didn't come all that way and spend all that money just to feel bad or unwelcome. That sucks.

There is a woman from Singapore who has this marvelous website--divewithsus--a website for lady divers. She gets into some very specific details (airport bathrooms! ) and I appreciate them all. And I like it when people are truthful about when to go where. How many times have you read "Year-round", under the caption "Best time to dive" and you know that isn't true? My only complaint is that SUS needs to go to some more places! Anyway, thanks again for the info!
 
Wendy is still on-board Dewi-Nusantara and we would be delighted to welcome you on-board!
 
Susan, I felt your post was in excellent taste and totally appropriate, and I thank you for it. As has been mentioned, a trip like this is likely a huge part of a travel budget for several years. If the trip had deficiencies for whatever reason, I really want to know. As to interaction with other guests, I find that very useful indeed; not that I need to know who they were, but that from time to time the thought of doing a live aboard comes up, and that reminds me that I take a risk of being forced into very close proximity with strangers some of whom could ruin a trip for me. Also, I much prefer to show off my superior judgment in choosing my dives so I don't have to show off my superior underwater skills, and I distrust an operation who in any way ridicules a diver for not respecting limits.
Just like the early space program, where "the only failure is a perfect launch from which we learn nothing", I find the posts that are totally uncritical of a trip not very useful. What may be minor irritations to one might be a huge deal to another. Was the food kind of monotonous after a few days? Could you check e-mails easily? Was there entertainment opportunity beyond diving if you just didn't want to do another dive that day? Was anyone with any knowledge available to help out if you got a stomach bug?
So, from my perspective, your post was wonderful. Thank you. Please continue to help me out.
 
Thank you, dgrauman, for PMing me to let me know this thread was active again after 9 months. And thanks to SteveJobs1950 and Sorrows for your recent comments.

In my trip reports I do of course give my opinions - and in this case they weren't all positive - but many things (decor, amenities, aircon, hot water, food, entertainment, wifi, how the diving is done...from a zodiac, chase boat, main boat...any land excursions offered, etc, etc) I just try to document so that people know what to expect, so that they can make a decision according to how important that is to them.

I have no problem with people questioning me more deeply, for the reasons Sorrows mentions. And I understand that some people who love Raja Ampat will think that I must be wrong about everything I said, because I was wrong to say I wasn't that impressed with RA diving. :)

Once the thread got ugly, what really drove me away from SB was the lack of oversight by the moderators...

I saw TinPanMan's post on Friday morning and I immediately PMed a moderator saying I thought it crossed lines (personal attack) and should be edited. She said they'd take a look. 24 hours went by and the thread continued to flame. I finally broke down and responded myself on Saturday morning. And then the thread to continue to flame for nearly 48 more hours. It wasn't until Monday morning that Quero - who'd been reading it over the weekend, he'd 'liked' some of the posts - edited the thread and gave us all a warning. But this was after he/the other moderators had let it go on for 3 days.

I am active on a well-known travel website; it's volunteer, I'm not their employee, but I have been designated as one of their Destination Experts. If a situation like this had occurred on those forums, the posts would have been deleted within minutes. SB, in contrast, seems to be much more of a Wild West.

We've actually just returned from a trip that included 5 nights on a dive boat in Fiji. The boat wasn't gorgeous and the diving wasn't amazing - it was off season, we knew that going in, and it was indeed rainy - but the crew was wonderful. They made the trip. I've hesitated to post another SB report, but your recent comments have made me consider it...

Thanks again, and happy diving in 2014!
 
Completely agree with dgrauman, it is a hell of a lot of money and sometimes even a once in a lifetime trip for some, so you want to get it right.
Sorrows I was not against a lecture if I deserved it either, but in all honesty I just couldn't understand for the life of me how one could be so unpleasant and at times downright nasty. I wasn't sure whether it was just us that the WAOW cruise director didn't like or if he was in a bad mood or what during that trip for us to be barked at every time we asked a question or shared our opinion (in a polite way), so this pretty much confirmed what I thought of him as well.
Diversusan I hope you don't stop posting trip reviews as I've also found your posts to be very useful, balanced and fair.
Happy diving to all!
 
Diversusan, please do write a trip report about your trip to Fiji! It would be a service to all of us. I've never been there, it's on the bucket list, but the weather/winds seem so dicey? Liveaboard vs. resort? So many questions--I need to read as many unbiased reports as possible. I know I can't be the only one.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom