Urgent help required for Komodo

[CJS]

I booked the Busy Girl with Scuba Republic a year ago (well actually it was rebooking a Covid delayed trip having left my deposit with them). I am supposed to depart on Oct 16 and get off on Oct 21 and then fly out to Bali in the morning on the 22nd. Apparently there has been a management change and they had missed my booking and now they are trying to dump me from the trip and offering two days land based and then 3 nights on Bajak. This would require me to rebook flights and muck up my next leg, as I have accommodation and diving organised in Padang Bai afterwards.
Here are my questions:
1) should I just tell them to give me my deposit and find a different boat? But does anyone know a boat sailing Oct 16 - 21 in Komodo?
2) Should I take the offer, negotiate the price to take into account having to book a new flight and shorten my Bali stay? 2 days of day diving means northern and central sites right? But what are they like in late October?
3) Should I tell them to give me my deposit back and just stay on Bali, and dive Nusa Lembongan and Penida, during that time, heading up to Padang Bai as scheduled?
So frustrated! What would you do?

 

[matts1w]

Sorry that happened.

Get in touch with Scuba Junkies and see if they have room for you on your dates. You will get three solid dives a day, and they are good people.

 

[Centrals]

The operator is NOT reliable so get your money back first.
The rest is relatively easy.
1, Scuba Junkies is good value.
2. Stay on Bali.

Good luck.

 

[Luko]

If you want to stick to liveaboard option, which for Komodo would be the best plan, Blue Marlin operates a budget hop on/hop off liveaboard Ikan Biru, meaning you can start any day and stay any duration : maybe you should check with them.

I would favor diving Komodo than staying for the whole trip in Padang Bai.

 

[Pearlman]

Rather than stay at Bali, You can stay at LBJ and catch a full day boat ride with 3 dives everyday to get back to your hotel by 730pm. Just book the day trips with a local dive shop at the pier and they will do the pickup and drop from the hotel everyday.

 

[CJS]

After some fairly direct communication, Scuba Republic have agreed that the guy who booked months before anybody else isn't the one to bump from the boat, they have apologised and all is now good. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[dumpsterpurrs]

The operator is NOT reliable so get your money back first.
The rest is relatively easy.
1, Scuba Junkies is good value.
2. Stay on Bali.

Good luck.

What's wrong with Scuba Republic? I was considering chartering the Busy Girl for Komodo South as well as their dive safari in Raja. Would appreciate some feedback.

Spent a week at SJK and while we really loved the place, we were a bit upset with their dive op. They intentionally pair experienced divers with inexperienced divers to make the DM's job easier (confirmed by someone who used to work there and still loves them very very much - she didn't realize that's a bad practice). And they favor easier, more boring dive sites. And MANY Asian divers we've talked with independently (both offline and online) said that they feel they're not treated the same as the Western divers. And their staff smoke in the gearing up area; I even saw a very experienced, long term employed instructor flicked his cigarette butt into the ocean just minutes before we went to gear up. A GoPro went missing onboard while we were still on the dive boat and other divers weren't even told to help look for it. There were different issues every day, almost all were very avoidable. By the end of our stay, multiple groups of customers were upset over different problems. The thing is the place is absolutely gorgeous, and SJ does run a safe op even if not exactly enjoyable always. I hope they'll manage to address issues in their dive operation and would love to return. For now though, if I go to Komodo again anytime soon, I feel like I'd have to be proactive in managing my experience in SJ instead of just chilling and trusting the dive shop to try to make the "best" experience for their customers.

 

[chillyinCanada]

What's wrong with Scuba Republic? I was considering chartering the Busy Girl for Komodo South as well as their dive safari in Raja. Would appreciate some feedback.

Spent a week at SJK and while we really loved the place, we were a bit upset with their dive op. They intentionally pair experienced divers with inexperienced divers to make the DM's job easier (confirmed by someone who used to work there and still loves them very very much - she didn't realize that's a bad practice). And they favor easier, more boring dive sites. And MANY Asian divers we've talked with independently (both offline and online) said that they feel they're not treated the same as the Western divers. And their staff smoke in the gearing up area; I even saw a very experienced, long term employed instructor flicked his cigarette butt into the ocean just minutes before we went to gear up. A GoPro went missing onboard while we were still on the dive boat and other divers weren't even told to help look for it. There were different issues every day, almost all were very avoidable. By the end of our stay, multiple groups of customers were upset over different problems. The thing is the place is absolutely gorgeous, and SJ does run a safe op even if not exactly enjoyable always. I hope they'll manage to address issues in their dive operation and would love to return. For now though, if I go to Komodo again anytime soon, I feel like I'd have to be proactive in managing my experience in SJ instead of just chilling and trusting the dive shop to try to make the "best" experience for their customers.

That's very disappointing to read.

 

[dumpsterpurrs]

That's very disappointing to read.

I don't want to discourage people from going to SJK because I truly believe they have the potential to be so, so great. And I think less experienced, Western divers would have a better chance at having a happy experience there. The problems we've seen, experienced ourselves, and been told by others are all very fixable with not that much effort, starting with improving communication between the dive staff and the dive management. When we were there it felt like they just don't really talk to each other, so planning doesn't really take into account what guides see in divers during dives.

 

[CJS]

When I went with Scuba Republic there was a management restructure going on, so I think it was just bad timing. The people who were taking over the Komodo operation were just starting as I arrived and they seemed to have successfully run a shop in Thailand for many years and the bits they organised for me didn't go wrong. On the boat the staff were competent. I will say that the Busy Girl is a very old boat and there were some things that needed repairing while we were on her, but none of it mucked with our schedule or diving. I would dive with them again.