Turks & Caicos Explorer II Trip Report

[Kleppta]

That was the the most useless thread I have read in a long time!



Eat, Sleep, Dive....REPEAT.

Bad diving is better than no diving.

Enough said.

 

[Mossman]

Whatever guy... it's plain you just want to argue and I don't really care what you think. You haven't been on the Galapagos Aggressor or the Explorers boat so I don't think you are in any position to tell me what it was like. You can continue to try and argue with me if you want, I've said my part and I'm done.

Why would you think I haven't been on the Galapagos Aggressor?

Actually, that was a very luxurious boat. Excellent food served by a tuxedo-clad waiter (breakfast made to order, high-quality buffet lunches and dinners). No bartender or mixed drinks aboard, but we did enjoy the hot tub with wine and cigars making for a very luxurious ride up to Wolf.

The Sky Dancer had a bartender who made great cocktails, but no hot tub. Honestly I don't remember whether or not the Galapagos Aggressor II had hair dryers, which is why I cited the link to the Aggressor website. The Sky Dancer did have hair dryers, yet another counter-example to your generalization that only the Kona Aggressor has hair dryers (and a counter-example to your generalization that you have to get your own drinks on liveaboards).

I don't really care what you think either. It's what you write that has me correcting you.

 

[Damselfish]

your hair's gonna get wet soon again anyway...

 

[MN Lakeman]

I have a total count of 5 different liveaboard companies that I have dove with now. After my nearly 10 years of diving, I consider the Aggressor AND the Explorer companies equally tops on my list for what I expect out of a liveaboard experience. I am embarking next week on my first repeat experience with one of the five: Explorer. The factors that I think of when rating a liveaboard are: competence & professional attitudes of the crew, exceptional safety priorities, & a balance of divemaster control and freedom. I am in the camp that I do NOT need a DM guiding me around like a novice tourist. Yes, from time to time its nice to have one come along & show where say, cool swim throughs begin, or where a sea horse or two are commonly found in the sea grass. In nearly all of my liveaboard experiences, I found that those divers who enjoyed themselves the most, were the ones who had a few hundred dives under their belts & as mentioned earlier, knew how to use a compass & navigate on their own. I can honestly not remember anyone ever complaining about not having a blow dryer in their cabin.

 

[jkotovsky]

I think everyone is misunderstanding a comment that is meant as a suggestion to improve an experience versus a complaint. I was not complaining that there were no hair dryers on board, but suggesting in this time of weight restictions on airlines that it would be nice for the Explorer fleet to make them available in their rooms. I spend over 30 nights a year in hotel rooms ranging from Holiday Inns and LaQuinta to Marriotts, Hiltons, and Hyatts. Every hotel room that I stay in now provides a hair dryer. Why? They think it is an amenity that their guests value, otherwise they would not do it. This is a change that has taken place in the last 3 years. Ask yourself the question about how quckly hotels have swithced over from incandescent light bulbs to CFL's. Why? It saves money and consumers want/accept it. If Explorer or any Liveaboard fleet wants to make lives easier for their guests, it would seem to me that they would provide hair dryers. It does not in and of itself make the liveaboard experience better, just nicer. And if customer service is their priority they should add it for little incremental cost.

 

[jkotovsky]

Liveaboards by their nature have to provide service to a diverse group of divers. Some may want to left alone and dive without the intrusion of a divemaster. That is fine. But there are also some people on the boat that may feel more secure having a divemaster in the water with them or having a divemaster pointing out things they may miss on their own. This should be fine too and one group should not belittle the other for their needs or expectations, but accept it.

It should not be an either or situation, especially for a company (Explorer) that is in business to provide a service. If they do not want to provide the service, that is fine too, but they need to communicate to their potential customers before their customers are committed to the trip. In the case of Explorer, they clearly communicate that a divemaster is in the water for al dives. They do not clearly define whether this is for safety's sake or jsut to provide tours.

 

[SeaHorse81]

In terms of generally available amenities, I don't think you can compare a 140 foot boat to a land-based resort or hotel. I think they (ExVen) accomplish a lot with the pittance of space that they have to work with. Another consideration is that the space on the liveaboard is all geared around an activity, whereas I'd guess the space in a hotel is geared toward the comfort of your stay, with the expectation that your main activity is elsewhere. It is logical to me that a hotel room would be far superior in terms of overall comfort and convenience of stay, because that's the only thing the hotel is there for, and they have much more space and resources with which to accomplish their mission.

I fear your trip was marred by a combination of bad luck (weather, bent DM), some administrative issue with ExVen (short-scheduling a full boat), and perhaps, unrealistic expectations on your part. Search out some threads on other companies, especially Blackbeard, and then see what you think.

 

[Pelagicsal]

Hairdryer.
hee hee hee...

 

[jkotovsky]

Thank you SeaHorse81. Your points are well taken. I will not "throw out the baby with the bath water".

 

[Shasta_man]

nicely said SeaHorse81 as well as some others here. Nice hair dryer/luxury debate. It's usually so hot outside, I just comb and go. Some boats I'd consider luxury but without as many amenities as the cruise ships, but I don't want those other "amenities" so they are valueless to me.

arkstorm: I agree that SF has more than its share of the sometimes nutty views/interests you describe, but just disagree with generalizing that everyone here thinks that way, though some certainly do. Living here, there are an equal number of people just as virulently against those things you ascribed to this location. My point is generalizing characteristics is difficult and skewed by the messanger and leads to inaccurate or unrepresentative conclusions. Generalizing just generally sucks.