How do folks find/book their dive vacations?

[amoshto]

Hi there,

I am a relatively new diver and I'm looking for some advice.

How do experienced divers, like the folks on this forum, go about finding and booking their dive vacations?

For example, I want to do a dive trip later this year. When I look on the PADI site, there are a ton of dive shops and options. Of course, PADI is playing their neutral role of not advocating for one or the other but rather simply presenting a list of the certified shops. I understand that is their job as a certifying body, but I need someone to steer me in one direction or another. I have gone to TripAdvisor, but I know from my own experience that their reviews can be quite subjective. I have seen VERY negative reviews of hotels/dive shops whom I've stayed/dove with and had BRILLIANT experiences. Also TripAdvisor doesn't provide any methodology to book with the dive shop. That means I have to start calling/e-mailing the shop and hope that the arrangements I make in advance will be honoured. There have been a couple of experiences where they have asked me to wait and pay when I get there and I'm not as comfortable leaving such things to chance when I'm spending lots of money to get to this exotic location. It feels like there must be a better way to find and book my upcoming dive vacation and I'm just not experienced enough to know it.

If I break this down, there are really three tasks I need advice on:

1. How do experienced folks like you all find out about good dive destinations?
   • Personal recommendations?
   • Articles?
   • Websites?
   • Reviews?
   • If so, which ones?
2. Once you have decided on a destination, how do you choose which dive shop to book with?
   • Where do you go looking for which dive shops are available?
   • Which websites do you use?
   • What factors do you use to decide which one is good?
   • Whose recommendation do you trust and why?
3. Once you have picked a dive shop, how do you book with them?
   • Do you book directly or through an agency/website? If so, which one?
   • What are the pros/cons to each method?
   • Is it worth it to pay a bit more and have your booking confirmed in advance / have it done through a reputable agency rather than take a chance on sorting it out when I get to the destination?
     • If so, how much more should I be expecting to pay to book it in advance or through an agency/website? Which agency/website have you had good experiences with and why?
     • If not, have you folks had any problems in the past with reservations not being honoured? I've seen a couple of TripAdvisor reviews suggesting this can happen. How can you deal with that if it happens?

Please, oh experienced ones, share with me your wisdom?

Thanks,
Amoshto

 

[Wingy]

A bit randomly...a lot of dive trips have been to places ive seen on Nat Geo documentaries - I am not a crowds and resorts and nightlife person - so off the beaten track suits me. Say...Rangiroa...well to be precise, Tipuata pass at Rangi - I first saw Cousteau's doco on Rangi 8 years ago..added it to the list of when im experienced enough. In the ensuiing 8 years there were more Doco's that showed me places like Lembeh and Bunaken..so I impulsively booked a flight first then started trawling through the operators and cross referencing trip advisor and scuba boards (you will get a vastly different review from someone who has gone to say, Bora Bora for a honeymoon and thrown in a dive day than someone on a scuba forum who is looking for a more indepth review). The operator I chose responded to an email within 24 hours, in english even though they are french and asked if I needed assistance with flights and accomodation and arranged all the airport pickup and transfers to Bunaken which they organised for me given my flight was the late night Lion air arrival.
What makes one operator stand out for me - timely response, understanding that as a female diver travelling solo I do appreciate someone who will answer my questions regarding airport transfers etc. Rangiroa was a case in point - one operator emailed me back three weeks later in french even though their website had an english translation - which I then translated and it basically said they could not guarantee if they would be diving without a minimum of 6 so it would be at my risk if i turned up without bringing 5 people with me.....so no thanks to that operator. The operator I chose responded within a couple of days and was happy to answer a lot of questions and guarantee that even if there were no other divers, I would still get to dive the pass given the distance i was travelling to get there. They also were great at organising my accomodation for me giving me a couple of choices and a map of where each one was from the dive centre and peir...hence they got my business.
As the years have gone on mainly I dive spots through word of mouth.. As a repeat customer in Bunaken I get a discount on each trip, they remember me, remember where ive dived and try and give me my favourite cabin. I also like to ask dive guides their favourite spot..which is how I found Bangka. My Bunaken op gave advice about the dive site and the operators but were very diplomatic and did not bag out any of the operators there...something that impresses me, competition is healthy, bitchiness is not.
I have never used an agent. I deal with dive centres direct and have done all my own trips other than Papua New Guinea. That one was a private liveaboard.
I have only ever been a walk in randomly customer once - in Vietnam, and hey it was exactly what I expected, a cattleboat. I had a day spare, I dived, I saw a couple of bombs and a couple of fish. A couple of times in Thailand ive scouted out a few operators in an area where I did not plan on diving but decided to scope out the shop one day, come back the next when their customers are coming in from a dive or gone down to the dive boat and had a look...grumpy faces coming off boats put me off, people standing out the front of dive centres asking every passer by if they would like to discover scuba puts me off..actually any soliciting for customers out the front of the shop puts me off!.
By dealing with dive centres direct I have yet to have any problems with reservations not being met but then I do tend to dive off the beaten path.
I have also used google earths wanna dive forum..I was going to Sumatra and was googling around and saw the little red and white dive site symbol clicked on that and found a dive site that no one I spoke to had ever heard about..I was told a few times that there was no diving just surfing on the west coast of Sumatra so I did a bit of googling and found that it was a private island with one of the owners being a keen diver. Again purely via email all arrangements were made from my arrival in Padang to transport across the mountains to boat transfer to the island and back again. I was a bit hesitant as I could find Tripadvisor reviews on the ''resort'' but no diving reports...I was very pleasantly suprised and would dive that site again if I am ever in Padang area again.
I hope this helps somewhat - wannadive is actually a good resource.

 

[diversteve]

We've done it all ourselves for the last 10 years or so. Now I pretty much know where I want to go - when I first started I read the reviews on ScubaDiving and other dive sites to get some ideas. Our first couple of dive trips we booked thru Caradonna or Island Dreams (called something else now) as they're dive travel agencies. Pricing seemed very competitive as they get their commission from the seller. We were very content with the outcomes, they put us in dive resorts, arranged all the pickups/transfers and sent all the necessary tickets.

Almost all the popular dive destinations now have travel portals where a lot of the needed info is consolidated. Some examples: Cayman Islands, Curacao Travel, Info Bonaire. So it's easy to find flight options, hotels, dive operators car rentals etc. Almost all of the dive resorts also have their own websites - often you can book direct with them as well.

For flights the default tool I suggest is: Matrix - ITA Software They have all the major airlines worldwide and are the database for many of the travel portals like Kayak, Orbitz etc. also. Google Flight is the same database for domestic flights - actually Google owns Matrix. I find the best flight options for us then book online directly thru the Airlines website. Calling an airline agent now adds a fee to the ticket price in many cases.

Before I found them, I used to use Expedia to get an idea of who flew where, then I'd often book directly with the airlines - often that was a few dollars cheaper.

In terms of booking dives, I generally don't pre-pay. Except when I want to be on a specific trip on a specific day. It also depends on demand, places like Bonaire or Roatan, there are more options than can possibly be used - other locations where there are fewer dive operators - say Nassau where there's only 3 - I might pre-book more.

We went to Roatan once, dove all week with a West End operator - their policy was nothing in advance - settle on Sat. morning. As I went to settle, they mentioned that if I wanted to pay in dollars it would be easier for them for banking purposes that I use PayPal to pay them - after I got home. Needless to say that's one of the first things I did the next day.

One thing I don't like about any of the mainstream travel portals is that they didn't seem to have the dive packages that are offered directly on the resort websites - given their target market is tourists - not divers - it makes sense.

I don't personally like Trip Advisor because it seems to me that more people go there to post negative reviews than positive ones - being human nature I guess that's the case. I've dove with some of the operators reviewed there and had completely opposite experiences. A dirty little secret about TripAdvisor is that they don't screen reviews so unscrupulous dive operators have been known to post glowing reviews of their operations by proxy.

There's also companies that specialize in travel to certain areas. Bay Islands Adventures or BonairePros are two examples. But there's a lot of them - google Dive Travel Agencies for a long list.

For liveaboard travel we always book direct. Usually one phone call is all it takes. We book our own flights since all you have to is figure out when the ship sails and get there a few hours before. Although I believe both Explorer and Aggressor also have in-house travel people that can do those arrangements for you also.

Read the reviews here in our regional forums. Some of our members have been to every dive destination on Earth. Some repeatedly. Also a lot of dive operators and dive travel agents participate here as well. Many offer suggestions even if the best solution is not thru them. Those are the people I do business with whenever possible.

Your local dive shop also probably offers trips. We have one here with an in-house dive travel agency. My personal experience with them is that I've always been able to book the same exact trip cheaper on my own. You're partially paying their overhead/carrying costs of the pre-deposit for a group trip and also you may be paying part of the cost of their staff accompanying you on the trip. Some of that is offset by the industry standard of book 8-10 and get one free.
Anytime my group gets that offer, we split it amongst ourselves to lower everyone's price slightly.

 

[oly5050user]

I understand it can be difficult..If you are traveling alone, one way to keep the costs down and avoid having to pay single supplement rate is to travel with your LDS on a group trip.It will keep the costs down and you have a group of built in dive buddies to dive with. Once you do a trip and perhaps start to network with people you will find it easier.

 

[Drewpy]

This forum is a good place to start..Most destinations have websites as stated above. I don't book through tripadvisor, but there is lots of good info there as well. I have never used a TA and always book directly with the airlines, resort or dive op.

 

[cb5150]

I've gone nuts doing internet research, reading Trip Advisor, surfing websites, etc, etc. I finally just started booking through my LDS with a group of friends. I have NEVER been disappointed and have had an absolute blast on each and every trip. Let your LDS have all the trip coordinating headaches and travel with folks from your area who share a similar passion for diving. The LDS makes a little money off the trip (not much) but its worth having a Group Leader along to handle all the little details.

My LDS posts a list of trips at the beginning of the year, I choose which one(s) I want, throw them a handfull of money and then show up at the airport. Easy Cheesy!

 

[herbdb]

I travel a good bit with my LDS. This is a great option to meet new dive buddies and travel companions.

For Bonaire, I use Bonaire Pros. We like to get a family group diving on Bonaire.

Cozumel, Roatan and many Fla trips I book myself direct.

 

[boulderjohn]

I primarily use ScubaBoard. I decide on a general area first. Then I go to the regional forum for that area. Then I do a search to see who has recommended what dive operators or places to dive in the past. You have to read those carefully--different people recommend different operators for different reasons, and the needs of a newer diver like yourself will be very different from the needs and desires of more experienced divers. If I still have questions, I start my own thread to ask it.

Once I have things narrowed down a bit, I go to the operator web sites to learn what I can. I send them emails to see what kind of a response I get.

Meanwhile, my wife is working on other logistics. What airfare can she get where? Any deals? We communicate with each other until we eventually narrow things down to a specific location and dive operator. I will usually make reservations ahead of time. I will not be afraid to change, though.

That effort can be very worthwhile. I learned that lesson quite a few years ago when we got a good deal on a place to stay in Grand Cayman. The place had its own dive operator on site, and I figured they had to be good enough. I dived with them the afternoon I arrived, setting up a plan for the entire week. That afternoon's dive was so bad that I immediately went to our room and researched like mad. I found a nearby operator who would pick me up every day at the place, and it is still one of the best operators I have ever used. I would have found them first if I had done a 5 minute search anywhere because they were so highly recommended.

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

It's exactly for divers in your situation that I decided to become a travel agent after 12 years of living in the Caribbean. There are loads of travel agents in the USA that cater especially to divers, but very few of us here in Canada. We spend a LOT of time combined with our experience searching out and vetting dive suppliers so that you don't have to. My website is a constant work in progress, and I hope it will eventually be the perfect resource for divers like you. Feel free to use it as a source of reputable dive operations. All the suppliers I use are superb.
Contact me for more detailed information, happy to give free advice, even if you do not book through us.

 

[drbill]

Heading off to the Philip[pines in a few hours. Planned this trip and one two months ago to the Bahamas but reading and asking questions here on ScubaBoard, then doing a little research on the Internet. Here on SB you can get some good feedback if members have been to the region you are interested in.

Back in 2001, shortly before I joined SB, I did a three month trip circling the North and South Pacific and chose my travel options, lodging and dive ops occasionally through the Internet but often by looking around when I arrived at a destination. In many places you can get some great deals just by showing up rather than booking ahead. Of course you can also find you're out of luck if it turns out to be busy season there!