bluespotocto
Registered
Has any one done the island dacner II in fiji? Just booked if for next summer and wondering how the boat is, diving, and crew.
Thanks
Thanks
Island Dancer II- Fiji
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Cohugore
New
The Island Dancer is very low quality. Poor and insulting food. Unclean rooms and bathrooms. Nasty tasting air in tanks. Good diving though.
paschen
Contributor
I have just returned from this trip.
The diving was pretty good - only a few dives didn't live up to expectations, but that was more due to the conditions than the boat.
The boat though is on par with the cheap boats in Thailand - so 2.5-3star.
The crew is very relaxed - possibly a little too relaxed. You would have to ask for things to be done, rather than them being done already.
The crew is passionate about diving though. Which is a good thing, and you could see how much they loved the experience.
It certainly wasn't live aboard luxury, and I wouldn't recommend the trip - given the state of the boat and the crew's predilection for staying up till the wee small hours of the morning drinking kava, leaving us to wait up to 45 mins after we were meant to dive before showing up for a dive brief.
The diving was pretty good - only a few dives didn't live up to expectations, but that was more due to the conditions than the boat.
The boat though is on par with the cheap boats in Thailand - so 2.5-3star.
The crew is very relaxed - possibly a little too relaxed. You would have to ask for things to be done, rather than them being done already.
The crew is passionate about diving though. Which is a good thing, and you could see how much they loved the experience.
It certainly wasn't live aboard luxury, and I wouldn't recommend the trip - given the state of the boat and the crew's predilection for staying up till the wee small hours of the morning drinking kava, leaving us to wait up to 45 mins after we were meant to dive before showing up for a dive brief.
coldwaterlloyd
Contributor
Would be allright if they charged 2.5 - 3 star prices , thank goodness for the internet to expose these overpriced ripoffs , I had considered this trip before reading multiple reports . Thank you scubaboard for sparing me the pain , It is a long ways to go and a lot of money for third rate experience at first rate fees !!!
Strapongzh3
Registered
Anyone who just recently came back from the Star Dancer 2? Has it improved since Jan? Any other comments, maybe also some positive ones? Thinking of going...
Manuel Sam
Contributor
I recently did a week (Aug. 11-18) on the Island Dancer and my experience was in many ways different than those reported. My guess is that due to all of the negative feedback, it is quite apparent that the owners made a concerted effort to make the necessary fixes.
The Island Dancer is the former Sere-Ni-Wai. Locally it is still known as the latter. The boat is obviously not new, but they have made some efforts to spiffy it up a bit. For 10 passengers, it is actually quite comfortable. My only negative comments in regards to the cabins were the awful smell coming out of the toilet, but as long as the lid was on, it was contained. The AC on one of the other cabins had a bad thermostat but they were able to get a part from land while we were out at sea and get it corrected. The common areas were not AC'd, but since we were there during their wintertime, air temperatures were comfortable enough that just the sea breezes were adequate. Of key relevance to recent threads concerning this boat, during the week we spent on the boat, we did not see any pests in the cabins or living areas. We saw only one roach and that was on the last day on the back deck after we had returned to port.
Food tends to be a very subjective topic. I consider myself pickier than average and yet, I thought the food on this boat was better than average. The chef on the boat, Peni, used to be the chef on Na'ia. He was supposedly brought over by Captain Joji, himself the former Captain on the Na'ia. The menu consisted mostly of chicken and fish, along with one beefsteak dinner, and one lamb dinner. There were also two "special" dinners: one BBQ dinner of chicken, fish and sausage, and one dinner of fish, chicken and pork that was cooked at a Fijian village. I thought that most of the dishes were well-prepared and flavorful, and of all of above, it was the Fijian dinner that was the most bland - ie, lacking in flavor.
Considering that we had a crew of only 5, I felt that the service was nonetheless on par with most other Aggressor or Dancer liveaboards I have been on. We did have occasions when dives did not start at the scheduled time, but it was mostly due to some divers doing longer dives and the time it took to fill the tanks.
The back deck is spacious and is where divers suited up, where rinse tanks are located and dive briefings are done. However, the diver stations and shower station were located on the stern platform and it felt very crowded geariung up - it was a bit of a squeeze even with just 9 divers (we had one snorkeler). Fills were always adequate but nitrox were closer to 30% O2 than the advertised 32%. And it cost $150 for the week plus $30 tax, which I consider a bit steep for a one week trip.
On two different days, there were tanks with oily taste reported.
There were 4 dives offered per day except for the last day when only 2 dives were offered to allow enough time for the boat to make it back to port by late afternoon. In addition to those 4 dives, night dives were also offered almost everyday; however, the typical daily schedule was such that night dives could only happen after dinner. And given that the water was colder than expected (77-78), that night dives early on had not been very productive, and that most of us tended to shut down after dinner, there were not too many takers.
As for the diving, Fiji still has arguably the best soft corals; however, be it due to choice of dive sites, timing of the currents or due to recent storms (as it was explained to us) we did not find them to be as impressively lush and colorful as when we did our first Fiji liveaboard in 2006. Macro photo ops were rather limited: a few nudibranchs and a pair of leaf scorpions were most noteworthy. As for big stuff, Grey Reef sharks and Dogtooth Tunas were the highlights. 2 shark feed dives offered the best photo ops for Grey Reefs and large Groupers.
All in all, I thought that while the boat is by no means luxurious, in its current state, it is satisfactory. I've seen worse.
Thanks to those who wrote about this boat before because it is their feedback that probably brought about the improvements that I observed.
The Island Dancer is the former Sere-Ni-Wai. Locally it is still known as the latter. The boat is obviously not new, but they have made some efforts to spiffy it up a bit. For 10 passengers, it is actually quite comfortable. My only negative comments in regards to the cabins were the awful smell coming out of the toilet, but as long as the lid was on, it was contained. The AC on one of the other cabins had a bad thermostat but they were able to get a part from land while we were out at sea and get it corrected. The common areas were not AC'd, but since we were there during their wintertime, air temperatures were comfortable enough that just the sea breezes were adequate. Of key relevance to recent threads concerning this boat, during the week we spent on the boat, we did not see any pests in the cabins or living areas. We saw only one roach and that was on the last day on the back deck after we had returned to port.
Food tends to be a very subjective topic. I consider myself pickier than average and yet, I thought the food on this boat was better than average. The chef on the boat, Peni, used to be the chef on Na'ia. He was supposedly brought over by Captain Joji, himself the former Captain on the Na'ia. The menu consisted mostly of chicken and fish, along with one beefsteak dinner, and one lamb dinner. There were also two "special" dinners: one BBQ dinner of chicken, fish and sausage, and one dinner of fish, chicken and pork that was cooked at a Fijian village. I thought that most of the dishes were well-prepared and flavorful, and of all of above, it was the Fijian dinner that was the most bland - ie, lacking in flavor.
Considering that we had a crew of only 5, I felt that the service was nonetheless on par with most other Aggressor or Dancer liveaboards I have been on. We did have occasions when dives did not start at the scheduled time, but it was mostly due to some divers doing longer dives and the time it took to fill the tanks.
The back deck is spacious and is where divers suited up, where rinse tanks are located and dive briefings are done. However, the diver stations and shower station were located on the stern platform and it felt very crowded geariung up - it was a bit of a squeeze even with just 9 divers (we had one snorkeler). Fills were always adequate but nitrox were closer to 30% O2 than the advertised 32%. And it cost $150 for the week plus $30 tax, which I consider a bit steep for a one week trip.
On two different days, there were tanks with oily taste reported.
There were 4 dives offered per day except for the last day when only 2 dives were offered to allow enough time for the boat to make it back to port by late afternoon. In addition to those 4 dives, night dives were also offered almost everyday; however, the typical daily schedule was such that night dives could only happen after dinner. And given that the water was colder than expected (77-78), that night dives early on had not been very productive, and that most of us tended to shut down after dinner, there were not too many takers.
As for the diving, Fiji still has arguably the best soft corals; however, be it due to choice of dive sites, timing of the currents or due to recent storms (as it was explained to us) we did not find them to be as impressively lush and colorful as when we did our first Fiji liveaboard in 2006. Macro photo ops were rather limited: a few nudibranchs and a pair of leaf scorpions were most noteworthy. As for big stuff, Grey Reef sharks and Dogtooth Tunas were the highlights. 2 shark feed dives offered the best photo ops for Grey Reefs and large Groupers.
All in all, I thought that while the boat is by no means luxurious, in its current state, it is satisfactory. I've seen worse.
Thanks to those who wrote about this boat before because it is their feedback that probably brought about the improvements that I observed.
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