Jardines De La Reina

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MurTheExplorer

Registered
Messages
6
Reaction score
3
Location
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
# of dives
500 - 999
FYI

First let me make it clear I do have an axe to grind. Second please take three minutes to read what I am not happy about. It will give you and idea as to the mentality of the owner/operators of this outfit.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the boat, crew or the diving. The boat is quite nice, the crew is excellent and although the experience was not as posh as some live-a-boards it was a more than adequate. There were a couple of safety issues that need to be addressed but the overall experience was very good. The diving is some of the best I have done in Caribbean.

The safety things were thus; they place a loose towel at the top of the stairs leading from the dive deck. This is to wipe the moisture and dirt from your feet or shoes but it is a tripping hazard and one would fall headlong down the stairs if they did trip. I moved the towel twice myself and mentioned it to the one of the managers but it kept being replaced. The second was when we back rolled into the water both my wife and I had to ask if it was clear. No one made vocalized ‘clear’ when telling us to go and frankly I don’t know if they looked before giving the order. So be sure you ask if you go.

My problem arouse a couple of years ago with the onset of COVID19. We were set to head to Cuba and do some diving on a reef that had been on our radar for some time. Three weeks before we were to leave our government put out an advisory to suspend all non necessary international travel. This in itself would have been enough for us to bypass the trip but soon the airline we were book on cancelled our flight. They were not flying to Cuba at all. While talking to the airline agent I was informed the Santa Clara airport had been closed. No one was getting into Cuba.

All this led to us contacting PADI travel and have them look into what the Avalon was prepared to do in the form of reimbursement.

Some background here, the terms of the contract do not allow for any kind of compensation if the trip is cancelled within a specified number of days of the start of the trip. There are no inclusions or exclusions. This is an absolute, there is to be no refunds. I do understand this and accepted it when I made the final payment.

That said, the entire world was in upheaval and everyone from concert venues, to hotels, to airlines to live-a-board dive companies were doing the customer service thing and offering full refunds or credit on a future concert or trip. This is where the people from the Avalon took a different route. They saw the opportunity to turn this event into further profit. After all they had the contract on their side and had they said ‘we will do nothing’ they were entitled to the money.

Instead of following others they offered a 50% credit on a future trip booked between certain dates. Those dates for the most part were during hurricane season. Later, after some fairly rough negotiations they added further enticement saying they would give another 50% credit if a second trip was booked during the next year’s hurricane season.

This looks reasonable on the surface but upon analysis it is all about the bottom line. If we were to cancel they would keep all of the funds paid. The boat is not running as no one can get to Cuba so they have lain off all their staff. They pocket the cash from 16 guests. If we accept the first option of a 50% credit they don’t run the boat on the original dates and they make 150% of the regular fees to run a trip during hurricane season that would most likely not be full anyway. They fill the boat and make 50% more. If we take the second option of two trips we pay full fare for both and they fill the usually empty spots on two hurricane seasons.

After another month or so of further negotiations we finally got full credit for a trip two years from the original trip. It was no longer on the live-a-board Avalon II that moved about the reef but on the Avalon IV which moored at one spot in the mangroves and the dive sites are accessed from a skiff. There were fewer dives involved but this option was at least reasonable and we accepted it.

This whole proposal was put together to increase income and has absolutely no empathy for the fact we paid for a service and that service could not be provided. I’m not whining about the money what I take offense to is the attitude of the people in charge of this operation. Making money at all cost does not build customer loyalty and I will not be their customer again. I truly hope you decide to forgo your trip. There are many other dive spots to visit.



An addendum:

To further my impression that this operation is all about money, and customer service is secondary, here is a quote from the pre trip info we were provided with.

This is with reference to the time when one needed a PCR and/or an antigen test to return to your country. The boat offered this service.

“If you need one test the cost is $120, if you need both tests the cost is $170. These charges will be
added to your invoice and must be paid for in advance. No payments for tests on site will be accepted. A
highly suggested minimum tip of 20 EURO or 25 USD should be given by you to the testing doctor. These
tips are essential in ensuring that this additional service can be provided efficiently.”

Again seems sort of reasonable until one does some research. Getting a PCR test in Santa Clara costs $30US. What is this ‘mandatory’ tip? If it is not paid the test might not come back within the 72 hours needed, or maybe the test would show a positive. Wouldn’t that be a shame? You would have to spend more money in a Cuban tourist hospital isolating while your flight is jetting its way home without you.

The final bloodletting occurred one week before the rescheduled trip, the addition of $150US fuel levy. This is to cover the recent increase in gas prices. There was never any indication of discount when fuel prices dipped mid way through the pandemic to 60% if what it had been at the pandemics beginning when the prices for the trip were set.

If you do decide to go just be aware money is the driving force behind the decisions made by the company. I don’t think the money of potential return guests is that important to them.
 
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Reactions: Dan
Thanks for the info and interesting to hear that Cuban diving is good.

I can only react to your description as I have no independent info about the boat.

You don't specifically mention the company you booked with, though you eventually mention a boat name.

The "book two trips with us and we'll give you 50% off both" was comical.

I speculate the doc cost was a normal cost increase typical of remote locations providing services to Westerners when such opportunity arises for them. Once they had to come to you, they set the cost. I note the text you cited did not say mandatory but highly suggested. Yes, essentially the same thing but refer to the first sentence in this paragraph.

No surprise about fuel costs. I live in the other CA, California, where fuel cost only ever goes in one direction. Fuel suppliers here come up with some reason to legitimize going up and yet never fix those problems over decades. The surcharge was interesting after your description of a boat moored in the mangroves.

The towel problem was on the crew which would be minor until you slipped on it.

By the way, the board showing related posts results in the irony of seeing Trips and Marketplace posts advertising past deals on this boat.
 
@MurTheExplorer I’ll be on JA 3 in June. I paid it full before reading your post. 😏

I’ll post my experience from the trip here later.
 
Hi Shasta_man
Sorry about not mentioning the Avalon at the start of the article but I copied this from a word doc that I wanted to copy onto a website that was directly concerned with the Avalon company. AND the Avalon group has somewhat of a monopoly so it if you want to do a live-a-board in the Garden of the Queen you would have to go with them.
As far as the doctor's tip is concerned it was the last line that made things clear as to why it was highly suggested. "These tips are essential in ensuring that this additional service can be provided efficiently.” I
did check with the Cuban tourist people in Ottawa and they were the ones that told me we could get our test in town for $30. I was not until I had already researched this that the note came from the boat. When the offer was brought up on the boat a couple of days before we left they we quite sad when I told them Canadians no longer required any kind of test to return home. My cynical self say they were sorry to lose a stream of income.
In the end I just feel the company is not really ethical. Their front of being stewards of the marine park sounds good but really it is all about the cash.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dan
@MurTheExplorer I’ll be on JA 3 in June. I paid it full before reading your post. 😏

I’ll post my experience from the trip here later.
Hey Dan
As I said the crew and boat are quite good. The diving is very good. I especially liked the terrain. Many canyons and valleys. The coral is in good shape. There does seem to be a lot of algae though. The sharks on every dive was quite impressive and the 'pet' goliath grouper is amazing. We are in the process of posting about the trip to Cuba on our blog if you want to have a look.

www.havecarryonwilltravel.com

We did not want to post as the trip progressed in case we said something offensive to the powers that be. We employ this whenever we travel to countries that might keep us or boot us for some slip of the pen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dan
Thanks for the info and interesting to hear that Cuban diving is good.

I can only react to your description as I have no independent info about the boat.

You don't specifically mention the company you booked with, though you eventually mention a boat name.

The "book two trips with us and we'll give you 50% off both" was comical.

I speculate the doc cost was a normal cost increase typical of remote locations providing services to Westerners when such opportunity arises for them. Once they had to come to you, they set the cost. I note the text you cited did not say mandatory but highly suggested. Yes, essentially the same thing but refer to the first sentence in this paragraph.

No surprise about fuel costs. I live in the other CA, California, where fuel cost only ever goes in one direction. Fuel suppliers here come up with some reason to legitimize going up and yet never fix those problems over decades. The surcharge was interesting after your description of a boat moored in the mangroves.

The towel problem was on the crew which would be minor until you slipped on it.

By the way, the board showing related posts results in the irony of seeing Trips and Marketplace posts advertising past deals on this boat.
Hi Shasta_man
I responded below before I realized there was the 'post reply' button.
Murray
 
Glad to see these comments. Like the author of this thread my group was suppose to go in 2020 also. Pandemic changed everything. And we are now on the Avalon IV July 2-9. We've paid the extra $150. However getting to Cuba has become a bit more complicated since Santa Clara airport is not open. Some of my group is flying to Havana and others through Cayo Coco. Sunwing flights to Cayo Coco on Saturday were canceled to arrive way to late to be picked up by Avalon so it means some will have to leave on a Friday morning flight & stay overnight lodgings. PADI Travel does not seem to help the traveler in that they have sent no info or help on how to navigate accommodations, etc. there. This trip has been 3 years in the making so we're going its just that its the hardest trip as far as getting there we've ever had to make. There are 20 of us out of the U.S. we were also suppose to be on the Avalon II. Now we're on IV.
 
Hello Brown
Sorry about the late response but I just noticed you post now.
My wife searched the web and found a Casa Particular that had a presence on Facebook. She contacted the Casa's owner through Facebook and made the booking. When we arrive we used a taxi to get us to the proper access and all was good.
Even though the net says the $US is not any good in Cuba it is accepted for lots of things, taxis, casa particulars and other things as well. If things work out you can ask the Casa's owner to change a few dollars into CUP. Just beware the 'irregular' (black) market is really the best way to exchange money. The exchange rate for $US dollars is 8 times the official rate.
Another thing. The Santa Clara airport is closed? We land and took off from that airport in April. It was open and functioning at that time. We flew Air Canada.
Murray
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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