Aqua Cat - Cabin Recommendations

Because of the many good write ups here about the Aqua Cat liveaboard, am thinking of booking a trip for the last week in October. (Anybody else already booked or interested?)

I started looking at the boat layout to see if there were any cabins to be avoided.
Scuba Diving Bahamas Liveboard Aqua Cat

Am wondering if anybody here knows anything about cabin #11 (with the skylight). Am wondering if it should be avoided. Am sure I'll be up early to get in the water, but am not fond of starting my day with bright light shining on my face. Yes, I'm picky.

Am looking forward to the trip. If anyone has any recent experiences from the Aqua Cat, would love to hear those too.

Thanks all.

This thread contains some good info about AquaCat. In post #9 I summarized my (positive) experience on the vessel. Can't wait to return. Neither can my wife! My recollection was that the skylight room (#11) was smaller than the others and didn't have the big windows similar to rooms 1-10. Bottom line is that it's a big, roomy, stable boat with great diving, food and an attentive, capable crew.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cr...er-boats/224877-wanted-liveaboard-advice.html

Thanks bcaderunr. I had searched and read that post but had missed the comments about that specific cabin.

Cabin 11 is smaller but is less money. It is about the same size of cabin I had on the Cayman Agressor. There is a shade that pulls over the skylight. The other cabins are nicer, but for the amount of time you spend in them I would go with cabin 11.

The skylight in #11 is pretty much right over the top bunk. There's a shade of course, but I doubt if it blocks out all light. We didn't go in there at all on our trip (a relative of one of the crew was staying in there that week...) but from a glance thru the open door it looked "tight".

If you're going as a couple, then I imagine you'll need to decide of separate bunks is a good thing or not As a single, assuming you don't end up with someone else in the room then being on the lower bunk you'd be pretty isolated. Keep in mind that Sunrise starts from the side of the boat, not the top, so you might even be better off than somoene who happens to have room with a nice big window facing due-east.

We had technically booked #11 since we were going on a cheap deal we won on the trip at an auction -- we were very pleasantly surprised when we got on board had had been assigned to #10 instead which has a twin bed and a single in it. It was very nice to have the extra room to spread out onto. We didn't hear any complaints about any of the rooms on our trip, though one the last day someone mentioned hearing the crew stumbling back from their night on the town (last night is spent in port... most of the crew gets the night off). That was more humorous than a complaint though. Lots of "shhhhs" and giggling apparently. Even if you book #11, you just might end up in a "real" cabin depending on how full the roster is that trip.

If you have your choice otherwise, normal boat-cabin rules apply. More movement the further away you get from the center of the vessel. Also, the cabins near the aft-end of the boat will get more noise from the bulkhead door opening/closing everytime someone comes or goes from the lower hallway (which of course is just about eveyone on the boat, including most of the crew who's berths are down in the hulls).

In reality though, unless you're REALLY picky about your rooms, you won't have a bad choice of any of them. At the end of the diving day sleep will NOT be a problem, and you're not likely to want to sleep in and take a chance on missing breakfast.

Thanks again to all who replied. Anybody else going on the Aqua Cat this weekend?

My dive bag is packed and ready to go.

Praying I can avoid the 'oversize bag' fee on American. (Looks like I'm over by 3 inches, ug!)

Two Tanked Productions HD & SD Underwater Productions and video services for more info on the Cat! Also I have never heard of a dive bag being bigger before it was over wight! 50lbs and your dive bag flies free if 50lbs or less, second bag $25. If #11 is the only cabin left, take it!

Have fun! Take lots of pictures topside and underwater to share here when you get back!