Which Operators Are Doing Phuket Daytrips During The Pandemic

[JonnieB]

Most hotels have breakfast included. As I said "Only part of what we sell on a personal basis,", I am not going to comment on operators here on the open forum unless there is a specific need for that.

Enjoy your trips.

Actually most don't...except for an additional charge. As I'm writing from the consumer side, I definitely will give my thoughts on sites and operators wherever I'm diving at the moment.

 

[JonnieB]

To make sense of stevenl's reticence, you need to understand that Thailand's over the top anti-defamation laws make it extremely ill-advised for locals to publicly state anything beyond the barest facts about a Thai business.

Posting anything negative about a business or person can result in fines or jail time and even expulsion from the country for non-citizen residents. Unlike US law, it does not matter if the the post is pure opinion or demonstrably true.

Yes this is true.

 

[Centrals]

Unless one is staying in any resort miles from no where, it is never an issue to find good local eating places in Thailand. The varieties offered is mind boggling!
Tremendous.

 

[JonnieB]

Unless one is staying in any resort miles from no where, it is never an issue to find good local eating places in Thailand. The varieties offered is mind boggling!
Tremendous.

Have you been to Thailand since the start of Covid...in tourist areas like Phuket, Samui, and Pattaya, 80-90 percent of businesses are closed.

 

[Centrals]

Have you been to Thailand since the start of Covid...in tourist areas like Phuket, Samui, and Pattaya, 80-90 percent of businesses are closed.

I could not afford the time for quarantine.
I would imagine most of the places are SHUT but this is Thailand and the local have to eat.
Are you suggesting that you could not find anywhere to eat?
You could not even find hawkers on trike or pick up selling food? That must be really bad for everyone.

 

[JonnieB]

I could not afford the time for quarantine.
I would imagine most of the places are SHUT but this is Thailand and the local have to eat.
Are you suggesting that you could not find anywhere to eat?

No it's not a problem but I wouldn't characterize the variety of food available at the present as "mind-boggling."

 

[Centrals]

I was referring to the normal time. Did not make it clear in the beginning.

 

[JonnieB]

So I was doing the rounds of the dive shops in Chalong Bay and am informed that from 19 March, the MV Mandarin Queen will be doing a full schedule of day-trip dives. The ship is currently in dry dock having some work done. So I plan to do some dives with them and compare my experience with Seabees. All of their days are 3 dives for B3900, including 2 meals. That works out to 1300 baht a dive.

 

[stevenl]

To make sense of stevenl's reticence, you need to understand that Thailand's over the top anti-defamation laws make it extremely ill-advised for locals to publicly state anything beyond the barest facts about a Thai business.

Posting anything negative about a business or person can result in fines or jail time and even expulsion from the country for non-citizen residents. Unlike US law, it does not matter if the the post is pure opinion or demonstrably true.

Your latter paragraph is true but to a certain extend. But that is not the reason I am not posting negatives here, I simply don't want to be drawn in a discussion about personal opinions here.

Mandarin Queen and Sea Bees cater to a completely different market segment and have therefor a completely different setup.

 

[JonnieB]

Mandarin Queen and Sea Bees cater to a completely different market segment and have therefor a completely different setup.

Can you elaborate...I'm a bit confused by your posts in this thread. I take it you have some affiliation with a dive shop in Kata Beach you linked to earlier. Are you saying this shop offer a more personalized dive experience than Seabees/Mandarin or cheaper or what? I'm not looking for a comparison really but what do you mean when saying they offer a "completely different setup"?