LDS Trip Pricing Out of Sight

[Damselfish]

I don't see how this is a symptom of a sick industry. The shop can package up whatever they want at whatever price and you can choose to buy it from them or not. (Unlike some other stuff.)

Price boths ways being sure to compare apples and apples, decide if any extras you get are worth any extra cost, do what makes sense for you. Easy.

 

[Doc]

Believe me, I have the math right. The example I gave was not the worst one that I have seen. Last year when I returned from fantasy Island I saw the same trip priced for $1595..

To Roatan, figure the flight from IAH Houston to RTB (Roatan) at around $650 or so. Figure it, obviously, from your home base. Continental, American, TACA, whatever. I would deduct that out of any package price that includes air from gateway MIA or IAH... just for comparison sake.

Fantasy Island pricing might be the confusion. They sell any given week (no air) for prices between $450 and $1600 with no apparent rhyme or reason. Their website shows ranges of 850-1100 but that is simply not the case, just like you found out. I believe they sold it to the PADI Singles Trip for $450.

What follows are "apples" as best I could provide. (Xfrs, diving and meals, no taxes, etc) They should be for the roughly the same serices and details. Obviously, the character and quality of the resorts are all over the map....

$1300- $1900 will get you into Anthony's Key (they just had a little increase)

$799- $899 will get you CoCoView.

$785- $1100 does Bay Islands Beach Resort

$995- $1095 for Inn of the Last Resort

$1000 for Paya Bay

(Kind of a) Disclaimer: There are other options on Roatan. You could sleep in a hammock and buy your dives from Paulo's Dive Shack and Taxi Repair. AI resorts were the ones I showed as you get the maximum bottom time with the least hassle. It's always up to the indvividual.

 

[divengolf]

Let me offer another view. I work at a LDS part time and know the owners of other shops in the area.

Most if not all LDSs do not treat trips as a profitable item. They take excessive time to deal with the travelers, esp. the whiners. 80% of the people are fine. The other 20% consume so much time with demands, changes, last minute cancellations, etc, that any profit is consumed by the shop's time.

Our shop no longer does trips, even for BOW open water dives. Many BOW students are taking the course for an already planned trip and will do the OW cert. dives there.

IMHO the only reason that shops do trips is to maintain a relationship to sell gear. That's where the (meager) profit is, not in trips or training.

I do travel a lot and it's worth a few hundred $$ for someone to handle all the incidentail issues and planning. All I want to do is pack my gear and show up at the airport.

I went to Dominica in Feb. on my own. Between Scubaboard, Undercurrents, and other dive websites, I spent 10-15 hours deciding where to stay and who to dive with. Turns out that I spent my time well 'cause there were other divers I ran into who were very unhappy with their choices. I'd gladly pay someone a reasonable amount for this sort of "local knowledge".

Just one opinion.

 

[scubapolly]

I forgot about the taxes. The prices my dive shop publishes on our packages typically includes all taxes (unless otherwise specified).

But lead weight, you are really paying for convience. travel with most shops- you pay the money, (have the opportunity to test out your gear before the trip) you show up at the airport, you dive, you go home.

Do it yourself- you research a hotel, book a hotel, reasearch a dive op, book your dives, check out flights, book a flight or flights depending on the location, arange transfers, get to the airport, dive, go home.

Not to mention if you are single, or traveling solo etc, that you need to find someone else to go with you or fork out the $$ for a single room. Our shop also arranges some trips specially geared to people with non-diving spouces, and this year are doing a trip to the keys for people with young children, where they have co-ordinated the diving schedule so that there is always someone watching the kids.

 

[Lead_carrier]

Believe me, I have the math right. The example I gave was not the worst one that I have seen. Last year when I returned from fantasy Island I saw the same trip priced for $1595. It had cost me about $1150 including everything except parking at the airport. When I politely mentioned this to the owner of the LDS, at the same time that I was buying something for about $400, he kind of fubbed around and avoided giving any kind of real answer.

OK, they might throw in a pre/post trip party, but that should not be worth more than $50 for both.

I could see paying more from the point of view of a new diver, especially the the one looking to make their qualifying open water dives, but I am way past that.

Personally, I see this as one more symptom of a sick industry that makes a great activity a bit less enjoyable.

Talk to the shop owner/manager and see if they will let you offer a trip thru their store. Let them know that you will be the leader and take care of any problems that arise. You will be coming up with any deposits that are required. You'll handle all communications, all bookings, all customer complaints, credit card fees, etc.

Be sure you let us know how much the trip is going to cost, some of us might want to take you up on it.

 

[Cacia]

I have had more fun on the trips I have not made with a dive shop group. First, it is more expensive. secondly, you have less freedom and flexibility, third, there are always a higher percentage of whiners in a "group" than what you find in the population that will figure it out on their own. You will not be alone, because there are people at the destinations and in general, it is very easy to make friends with people at those sorts of places. The few hundred dollar discount you get leading a tour is not worth listening to the lady complain every night at dinner about the mold in some corner of her room. Just my opinion....

I have done two trips to Palau as a " leader" (sort of) and two without. The two without were vacations and a blast. The other two were two weeks of being around 20% people I would never choose to spend five minutes with. Unlike real life, you can't make a polite excuse and duck them. The majority of the people were fantastic, but you always get those few that are just not who you want to vacation with. I felt a little like one of those farm dogs they tie the dead chicken around his neck to try and convince him to not to kill the hens.

Like the previous poster said, if you put together a group of your own friends and call the destination operator...you can usually get a deal.

Of course, then there are the people who would not want to be stuck with me....I don't do live-aboards out of my empathy for those people. Two-three days, I think I can be okay. A week? on a boat? I know better than subject anyone to that.


Don't do a group tour for a discount, only do it because you want to be WITH the people going. (how can you ever know that, signing up anything but last?)

By buddies say I am sounding jaded.....sorry just spent a day with some loud profanity and keep imagining having her on my trip.

 

[DeputyDan]

I think you should consider who is going on the trip.

At my LDS - some trips are right in line with the do it yourself costs and some have a 4-5 hundred dollar mark up.

The difference "I THINK" is that on the trips with an in line cost - the trip leader/organizer travels as a single i.e. gets the free slot.

On the expensive ones the trip leader takes the girlfriend/wife/kids and you are paying for those extra folks to go free.

At least thats my 2 cents.

 

[RonFrank]

So let me get this straight, LDS's don't make money on Travel, and don't make money on training, they don't make money on air fills, they don't make money on service, and they BARELY scrape by on retail? I just don't buy it. They are all in business because they like us.. .hogwash! Our LDS runs a travel agency, are you suggesting they do so at a loss?

If LDS's don't make money on anything but retail (which is getting seriously undercut by internet sales) what the heck DO they make money on?

I'd LOVE to see the books on my LDS, because I think they make profit on EVERYTHING! I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Business are NOT in business to loose money, and loss leaders can only go so far.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Of course, then there are the people who would not want to be stuck with me....I don't do live-aboards out of my empathy for those people. Two-three days, I think I can be okay. A week? on a boat? I know better than subject anyone to that.

Well. Feel free to expound...

 

[dmblack58]

I'm new to the trip thing but a bunch of people I met on a liveaboard down in the Caribbean have created a kind of virtual dive club to pass on discounts to the divers instead of making some money.

Most liveaboards and hotels offer diveshops a 10% commission and a complimentary diver if you book 10+ divers. The deal we've worked out with one another is that we take the 10% commission and knock it off the price of the trip. If we have more than 10 divers then it's up to the organizer whether they:
1) keep the comp for themselves
2) put it into a draw with the winner getting a free trip next time
3) bring another person along and cut everyone's cost a bit more (knocks another 10% of the price)

If you are interested in joining just pm me with an e-mail address and I'll get you added to the list.

It's an interesting group because we are virtual and there are so many people on the list from all over North America that no one really knows each other that well. Its just like doing a liveaboard as though you were on your own or with one other person but you save a bit more money.