Turks & Caicos Explorer II Trip Report

[scubafanatic]

I always get a short hair cut before any dive trip, so my hair 'air dries' in 10 min anyway...

 

[Mossman]

My point is generalizing characteristics is difficult and skewed by the messanger and leads to inaccurate or unrepresentative conclusions. Generalizing just generally sucks.

I was just reminded of the time when we ran out of ice toward the end of a liveaboard in Thailand/Burma and I remarked to an experienced fellow traveler that I thought it odd they had no ice maker aboard. He was taken aback by my comment and claimed that no liveaboards have ice makers. Every liveaboard I've been on since had an ice maker dutifully cranking away.

Liveaboards range from literally "camping at sea" without hot water or any private space, to master en-suite quarters on large boats that are very spacious and comfortable. From BYO booze, to purchase on board, to inclusive beer and wine, to all inclusive. From cruddy buffets to fine dining. From tiny camera tables to huge camera rooms. From air-only to trimix and rebreather support. From jump off the stern and do your own dive to mandatory follow-the-leader diving. From 6 people aboard to 40 or 50 on (cattle) boats. Generalizations suck.

 

[koozemani]

i haven't read every post so forgive me if this was mentioned. I've tried the live aboard experience, but have dove in the turks. The poor vis was probably due to the time of year. In my experience the visibility was outstanding with upwards of 100' vis on calm waters. The dive operators i used told me that they generally shut down around that time of the year due to weather and water conditions.

 

[pndldy]

LIVEABOARDS are not for everyone. Enough said about that.
My husband and I do 4-5 live aboards a year, we really like diving. Aggressor, explorer, naia, Solmar V, and private charters, so have experienced just about everything you can but a death on board. As far as quality of the food, living quarters and crew, I would say they are all pan out the same at the end of the day.
Do crew and customers get into deco/bent, yes, seen it 6 times already this year but not on any explorer boats. Remember, dehydration can be a terrible contributing factor in this. I would not begin to question the captain’s decision on going to the chamber or to put them on oxygen for awhile. Last trip I was on, they put the gal on oxygen for several hours before making that call.
Missing a dive: oh my! I have yet to be on a boat that we did 5 dives each day. Weather is not very dependable as well as currents, illness or other unscheduled events. You need to be flexible or deduct from the tip for each dive missed if this helps you. They as well as other boats say this- up to 5 times daily, not 5 dives a day…
Short crew: It happens, so turn to your friends you came with (21) and ask to tag along. We always have couples that tag along with us on our dive.
Booking ahead instead of waiting for specials? This is just a huge dilemma, be guaranteed the exact date and room or wait for a special, with 21 people this was probably the only way to go, but I would guess someone out of the group was given a free bed. For every 7 paid people, you'll earn a free berth.
The best room or not? I booked room 2 both times I was on, and let me tell you, it is the biggest room on any live aboard. I felt like a queen in that room, and by golly, I was… You do pay more, but that is something you decide when booking the trip. You could have paid 1895.00 for a lower deck room, but then you would not have felt like a king.
Don’t expect to Date the Captain! Don’t talk politics, religion or diving accidents unless you really want to hear someone’s opinion. You’re not married so if you don’t like someone’s personality, join the 21 other people you came with for companionship. Or is that a problem?
We have been on Cap Kens different charters many times and found him to be funny, safety minded, easy to talk to and professional. But then again, I was probably drinking so……
I would not touch on hair dryers or recycling with a 10 foot pole. Silly…….

 

[mermaidalive]

"In diving, we set-up our dive gear on our tanks one time and then the captain or staff refilled our tanks in place. They did not do anything to service our dive gear. When it came time to dive, they took our cameras and gave them to us after we entered the water. Occasionally, they helped us put on our BCD."

Ummmm, what is it you were wanting them to do with your gear? Because I can tell you that I would be pissed if I caught someone "servicing" my gear without my asking for it. I have never encountered people having more problems with their gear then those that had their gear "serviced" right before a trip. And how much help does one need putting on their BCD? The beauty of a dive liveaboard is that you don't have to touch your gear all week. Did you do ANY research on this trip before you took it?
But most of all I agree with Kleppta -
Oh... and also just glad you weren't on one of my trips as one of those people determined to have a bad time!

 

[HowardE]

Other comments:
· There are no hair dryers in room. In this day and age of airline baggage weight restrictions, hair dryers in rooms would help.
· There are no wireless internet connections on the boat once you leave the dock.
· There is no recycling onboard to protect the environment. I think most divers would appreciate this.
· The dock location is inconvenient to restaurants, shopping, etc. They provide transportation on Friday for dinner, but it was a 15 minute drive. Also, their dock was only accessible at high tide.
· The swinging of the boat 180 degrees on the mooring line takes some time to get used and made the boat often difficult to find, especially at night and with the poor visibility.

In closing, there were things my wife and I liked about our first experience on an Explorer ship, but the negatives relating to the understaffed boat, no back-up plan, concern for our safety, and attitude of the Captain clearly over weigh them and we cannot recommend the Turks & Caicos Explorer II. We do not believe that we got what we paid for or expected.

With regards to your other comments... It sounds to me like you expected a cruise on the Princess or Royal Caribbean... This is unrealistic.

If you want a hair dryer... Bring one. They weigh less than a pound. If you truly can't live without one... bring one. The boat has a list on their website of amenities included. If you didn't see hair dryer, but wanted one... maybe an e-mail to explorer ventures might have answered you in advance, instead of being surprised and so disappointed by the lack of hair dryers.

Many boats do not have wireless internet. Seaboard wireless is extremely expensive. Providing this would either be an extreme additional cost, or would increase the price of the cruise. You're on vacation. Let go of your email for a few days.

You're complaining about recycling. You are not in America. Do they have a recycling program in T&C where the boat docks? Where would they recycle? Should they ship their recycling back to America to recycle? Would this make you happier?

The dock isn't convenient to shopping or dining, but it is convenient to where you are going diving. It's more about that, than adding a lot of time to the time at sea, so you can go off ship and enjoy a dinner out?

Boats on a single anchor swing period. To have a boat that doesn't swing, you need to place 3-4 anchors out. When you sleep on a boat... it moves. Sometimes the seas are rough, and sleeping is difficult. It's just a fact of life.

If you don't want to take the "negatives" of life on a boat, then by all means... don't go on them. A liveaboard is not a floating hotel, it does not have the same amenities as a land based hotel.

For me... a guy who works and lives on a 40' boat... living on a 110' yacht is a week of luxury. You get your own bathroom with a real toilet even. Wow.

Its also too bad that you didn't have stellar conditions, the visibility wasn't good, and the crew had a crisis, and couldn't airlift in another divemaster to lead the dives either.


I went on the same trip over a year ago. Stan was great, as was the rest of the crew. It was a truly enjoyable and memorable trip.

 

[jkotovsky]

With regards to your other comments... It sounds to me like you expected a cruise on the Princess or Royal Caribbean... This is unrealistic.

Howard, we were not expecting a luxury cruise ship experience, but I think it would be reasonable to expect a full crew or a back-up plan when problems arose. In my opinion it is poor management to grant a crew member (divemaster) a vacation during the time when the boat is full with 21 guests. A full crew for the Turks & Caicos Explorer is 7 with 3 of the 7 being divemasters. We started out with only 2. The following week only 7 guests were scheduled to be on the boat. I know this because the captain repeatedly tried to solicit us with great discounts to extend our stay by one week. Thus, once they lost a divemaster with decompression sickness, they were down 2 crew members to 5. I propose that that there is no way that a crew of 5 can provide the service the Explorer fleet advertises, or they would staff their boats with only 5 crew members from the beginning. My problem with this poor management was that there were no back-up plans to provide either a replacement divemaster or crew member. You may say this is an unrealistic expectation, but I am in an industry that provides 24/7/365 care and we always have back-up plans when someone goes home sick, does not show up for work, goes on vacation, or there is inclement weather. It is not about "airlifting" in another divemaster. The boat was brought back close to shore so the bent divemaster could be transported to land by the Zodiac. An exchange of personnel was possible because the divemaster was bent the night before and the captain decided to have us dive the next morning before transporting the boat back. I am sure that he was in radio conversations with his office because there was someone waiting on shore to transport the divemaster to a decompression chamber.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I respect yours and I am glad that you had such a wonderful experience. I was expecting much the same, but unfortunately my experience because of many factors (and they have nothing to do with hairdryers) did not live up to those expectations. When the time is right, I will have to give a liveaboard experience another chance.

 

[HowardE]

Let me ask you this. If you were a divemaster, and scheduled your vacation... then it just so happened that the trip filled up. Would you cancel your vacation? Do you think that there is so much staff that they (Explorer) can just call for a replacement? You are entitled to your opinion, but realistically stuff happens. Someone got bent when they were already short staffed. The reality of operations in another country make it difficult to pull someone out of thin air. "Someone waiting on shore" to transport... Was it staff? Was it a diver even?

Lets say they even HAD another divemaster on another boat that had a "slow week" or could afford to not be on their regular boat. Like lets say that there was someone in Galapagos who could have covered the shift. What kind of expense would be involved with relocation of one guy from Galapagos to T&C for a week?

It's really a shame that your trip was so ruined by the lack of a dive master to guide the dives. I know the people from Explorer, and I suggest you send an email to their main office in Wyoming, expressing your dismay at the situation. Even though there are situations that may have been unavoidable, and they may have tried to remedy things in advance even... but were just unable to relocate a person there for a single week.

 

[Instructor John]

Your complaint about not having wireless internet access reminds me of a liveaboard guest who asked why they didn't have cable TV on the boat. The captain replied (with a dead pan face) that they couldn't find a spool of cable long enough to reach shore.

I've been on several liveaboard trips with both Peter Hughes/Dancer Fleet and with Explorer Ventures, including the Turks and Caicos Explorer II and have had great time on all of them. The only time somebody "serviced" my gear was when I had an o-ring blow out on my dive computer and I asked for help. Did you ask the crew for some kind of service? Did you really need something serviced?

As for your comment about the Captain being insensitive about past diving accidents, I think you are being too hard on him. I have been around diving accidents and, if a student asks me about them, I will tell them. I don't break down crying when I do this, I simply state the facts and try to impart some "lessons learned." Many people who work in dangerous fields (police, firefighter, military) are often the same way.

Maybe you should stick with land based dive operations if you want tuxedo clad waiters but if you want to dive (and get a lot of diving on your vacation) I would recommend giving liveaboards another shot. Oh, and get a haircut so you won't need the hairdryer! LOL

 

[jkotovsky]

Howard, thank you for your response. I wanted to provide you with some additional information.

Let me ask you this. If you were a divemaster, and scheduled your vacation... then it just so happened that the trip filled up./QUOTE]

The trip was booked one year in advance by a dive shop that committed to fill the entire boat.

Lets say they even HAD another divemaster on another boat that had a "slow week" or could afford to not be on their regular boat. Like lets say that there was someone in Galapagos who could have covered the shift. What kind of expense would be involved with relocation of one guy from Galapagos to T&C for a week?/QUOTE]

We were told that the bent divemaster was not going to be allowed to dive for 6 weeks. By the time our trip was over we met the new divemaster that was recruited to be the 2nd divemaster on board for the group of 7 that replaced us.

It's really a shame that your trip was so ruined by the lack of a dive master to guide the dives. I know the people from Explorer, and I suggest you send an email to their main office in Wyoming, expressing your dismay at the situation./QUOTE]

Our trip was not ruined, it was just disappointing and not as great as our expectations based upon how others (including the captain and crew onboard) had built up those expectations as a liveaboard being the best dive vacation ever. A Trip Report is just that, a report to let others know what you personally experienced on a trip, some are great, some are good, some not so good and others bad. There are lots of things that go into an evaluation, not just a single thing.

I completed 2 reviews (their form evaluation and an e-mail) that I sent to Explorer when I returned from the trip. I have not to date received any response from them.