If 14 is too many than what exactly is the right number of dive ops to talk with? Some people walk into the first car dealership they see and pay full retail for a car. Others spend six months looking at multiple dealers and trying to get their cost as low as possible. Anyone who has been in business for a while knows this and has already determined which types of customers they want to deal with. I suspect the same is true for most dive ops in Cozumel. If they want his business they will respond. If they don't, they will ignore his email.
Regardless, why attack the guy’s approach to making his purchasing decision. Belittling him isn’t going to change his mind. But it likely means he won’t come back after he has made his purchasing decision and relate his lessons learned. He is currently doing a ton of work and If I didn’t already have a favorite dive op on the island or if he was doing this for a different location I would certainly be interested in hearing all the details.
Hey, lets back up a bit here.
I simply made a comment that I was confused why people were advising a guy who is looking to save money by finding a cheaper dive op, to look toward circumstances that normally would increase a divers costs.
So far, most local operators in Cozumel who we've looked up have similar pricing as the ship's, or not much savings under the $89 (all equip included) price.
Also, using the ship's operator, we'll insure that we won't miss our ship departure time , usually not a problem in our previous diving excursions when we booked by ourselves previously, but the savings must be significant to offset that worry.
Why is everybody telling this guy to get his own boat? Unless you can get your own boat for 75% less then a cattle boat the guy ain't in.
The question he is asking is does anybody know a dirt cheap dive op?
West houston diver instead of agreeing comes back with
Mike: I've never said I'm looking for "a dirt cheap dive op" & "a 75% off discount"
I'm just looking for better service at a better price than the cruise ship's inflated $89 price. Not just $5 off, but maybe around $15 - $25 off would make it worthwhile. .
Not dirt cheap? Only wants a
30% discounted price
with better service!
So get serious, stop the denial. West Houston Diver wants a dive op that offers superior service at rates 30% below the norm in Cozumel.
I'd like a Porsche for the price of a Honda Civic too.
Sorry if you get offended by a dose of reality being interjected into a guy looking to get a dive op to donate a 6 pack boat for 4 people, deal with his cruise ship schedule which loses them their afternoon dives, deal with junior divers, and do it during their busiest times of the year all for somebody who will do so if he can get them to do all that at a 30% discount.
AND with the guarantee that he will never come back even if they would do all that.
I remind you, that he has already demonstrated no loyalty what so ever to a perfectly good dive op he has used before :
We have used Sand Dollar before when we stayed in Cozumel hotel over the years. We were very satisfied w/ their operation.
Yeah, I'm the jerk here. Dive ops in Cozumel don't need to make a profit to stay in business, so that a once every 5 year visitor can come in and shop 14 of them to save himself what amounts to a tank of gas.
The guys a boob, and if you all didn't see it or are so polite to not call it out then I'm not. Stone me for it. This guys in la la land at the expense of hard working dive ops.
Oh and lets not even talk about this -
Carnival is requiring us to pay extra for another separate dive master for our 2 teenage Jr divers (guess it's for their legal reasons) & probably won't let us dive a normal 2 dives & limit them to 40'.
He doesn't want to pay a dime in regard to his jr divers -
Our 2 Jr divers.... once the dive masters see them excel during the check out dives, they usually let them dive with our adult group to the normal 80 - 90' dives thereafter.
What check out dives will there be with somebody in port for 5 hours?
I can just see the outcome of it all too. He will find somebody desperate enough to cowtow to him, try to do their best they can with their little operation and the guy will show up expecting the red carpet, open bar and a massage and when he doesn't get it, he will skewer them on an online review website.
This is how it works - when you have special needs and have superior demands on a business you should expect to pay more, not less for service that will meet your needs.
It blows me away that only a few people here get this. The rest must be cheap ass divers like jr here from houston who expect taking advantage of people isn't a big deal as long as you get what you want out of it. All done under the credo of here is my money... if you want it jump through hoops, beg like a dog, roll over...
