Socorro on Cassiopeia?

[outerbarkness]

Has anyone been on the Cassiopeia after it left the Aggressor fleet? The rates are appealing, even with the slightly sneaky 'fuel surcharge.' Also, has anyone successfully gotten the teacher-discount on the national park fee with your School ID? Thanks!!

 

[gserranol]

I'll let you know in 1 month...

 

[outerbarkness]

I'll let you know in 1 month...

I noticed future departures have all been canceled. Did you make your trip?

 

[shkshk53]

Anyone know what happened to Cassiopeia?

Suddenly their schedules were deleted everywhere.

 

[gserranol]

Hi, everyone, 5 days before my trip I received an urgent email saying the trip was canceled due to failures in both engines during their trip to Socorro on November 16th. Since I wanted to go and that was the only window I had to travel, I booked with Nautilus thanks to a last-minute cancelation spot.

After communications with my travel agency, the company that operates the Cassiopeia, CANTAMAR is not taking responsibility for refunds, they are just offering credits for future trips with them.

I am waiting for an answer from my travel insurance to try getting a refund.

After being in Mexico and sharing this info with locals, I realized Cassiopeia had the worst reputation among the liveaboards companies, I talked to people who used to work on that ship, in short, IS NOT SAFE. From poisoned gas on the bottles to skipping minimum safety regulations.

I hope to update you with a positive outcome.

Regarding Nautilus, from someone who works on vessels, I can tell you this people take it seriously concerning safety, no complaints at all and it was the scuba trip of my life... so far.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Hi, everyone, 5 days before my trip I received an urgent email saying the trip was canceled due to failures in both engines during their trip to Socorro on November 16th. Since I wanted to go and that was the only window I had to travel, I booked with Nautilus thanks to a last-minute cancelation spot.

After communications with my travel agency, the company that operates the Cassiopeia, CANTAMAR is not taking responsibility for refunds, they are just offering credits for future trips with them.

I am waiting for an answer from my travel insurance to try getting a refund.

After being in Mexico and sharing this info with locals, I realized Cassiopeia had the worst reputation among the liveaboards companies, I talked to people who used to work on that ship, in short, IS NOT SAFE. From poisoned gas on the bottles to skipping minimum safety regulations.

I hope to update you with a positive outcome.

Regarding Nautilus, from someone who works on vessels, I can tell you this people take it seriously concerning safety, no complaints at all and it was the scuba trip of my life... so far.

Any resolution from CANTAMAR? DId they offer you credit for future trip and/or you getting compensated from your travel insurance?

I booked a liveaboard with Southern Sport as part of whole boat becoming available. Southern Sport is part of CANTAMAR. I've booked liveaboards with engine failures a couple of days before my trip while I was staying over thousands of miles away from home and liveaboard boarding location. It wasn't even a question of getting a refund, but how they were going to compensate for our stranded situation (they weren't, just offering refund or future trip credit). Only after booking the Socorro trip on Southern Sport, did I see reviews here and there about the reliability of the boat. I guess its not the boat, but CANTAMAR. I never bothered with trip insurance, but I thought it was strange that this liveaboard requires trip insurance. Now I know why.

Are the few bad reviews because of few incidences that occurred? Or are this type of situations happening regularly, with a review popping up here and there once in a while?

 

[hawthorne]

Anyone know if Cassiopeia has been operating as normal after November 2023? It's not available for booking on cantamar's website before 2025 (might be rented out for charter of course), and they only post updates from M/V Southern Sport on Facebook.

I have a booking with Cassiopeia coming up, and I'm not happy to be a boat engine beta tester. The Nov 2023 situation was not very promising safety wise (according to this article): Buzos quedan a la deriva en Los Cabos y acusan negligencia de empresa tour operadoras

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Anyone know if Cassiopeia has been operating as normal after November 2023? It's not available for booking on cantamar's website before 2025 (might be rented out for charter of course), and they only post updates from M/V Southern Sport on Facebook.

I have a booking with Cassiopeia coming up, and I'm not happy to be a boat engine beta tester. The Nov 2023 situation was not very promising safety wise (according to this article): Buzos quedan a la deriva en Los Cabos y acusan negligencia de empresa tour operadoras

Some website listed the few sailings they have this year as fully booked. Other website indicate that they are only available for private charters.

CANTAMAR requires travel insurance for their liveaboard, but most travel insurance don't compensate on mishaps in the midst of a boat trip (its not cancelled). Plus whats the point of travel insurance if people are still demanding refunds from CANTAMAR? If travel insurance compensate the travelers, does that mean CANTAMAR is off the hook or does the travel insurers still go after them?

 

[hawthorne]

Some website listed the few sailings they have this year as fully booked. Other website indicate that they are only available for private charters.

I'm on a private charter in a couple of weeks, but I can not find any hints in social media of recent Cassiopeia trips (Facebook posts, Instagram images, YT videos, forum posts etc). Not very promising if the boat has been offline for weeks or months.

 

[hawthorne]

At least the boat is floating Currently docked at Club Hotel Cantamar. They are (still) fixing the engines, but promised it will be ready for Socorro on Wednesday.