mantajohn
Contributor
I have just returned from an excellent trip to Komodo. I find it easy to choose my next dive destination, but less so to choose which liveaboard. I am indebted to the many SB ers whose postings help me make my choice.
I am fortunate in having dived Komodo twice on different liveaboards, so rather than post the usual trip report saying how wonderful dive site X or Y was; I thought it might be of interest to divers thinking of a Komodo LOB, if I did a compare/contrast posting.
I took Komodo Dancer in June 2010 & Indo Siren in June 2012. Both really great trips with a top quality operation. One isnt better than the other they just do some things differently.
Nb my info on Komodo Dancer is 2 years old & a lot can change in that time e.g. new Cruise Director & new boat owners.
I travelled from UK & booked everything through Blue O2 (inc. my Singapore Airlines flights) they were excellent.
Diving
The diving in Komodo is superb from both boats but the style is different. This stems from the different tenders & how they are used.
Dancer has 2 excellent tenders upon which you assemble your kit & leave it there all trip. The tenders dive different but nearby sites & then swap sites for the next dive. It works really well & means that your group of max 8 has the dive site to themselves. The tender stays at the dive site as surface cover for the duration of your dive.
Siren has 2 of the cheapest, nastiest inflatable tenders I have ever been on. I would call them RIBs, but there was precious little rigid about them. Judging by the twice daily need to top up their inflation, they were not in great condition. The engines were clearly in need of repair.
You kit up on the lob & wear it to/from the tender each dive. They split us into 3 groups of 5 & then took us separately to the same dive site, with tender 1 dropping its divers & then returning to Siren for group 3. Both tenders stay above the site and shuttle divers back to Siren as they surfaced. The ladders to re-board the tenders were poor. We had no problems at all, but in poor seas the tenders would not have been fun. Also, the 2 tenders picking up 3 groups approach might mean that a missing diver might not be realised until everyone was back on Siren (i.e. quite late).
Message to Siren: almost every fixture/fitting on Indo Siren is top dollar & excellent. Why scrimp on the tenders? Its a diving trip! Invest in some decent tenders?
On Siren the attentiveness of the dive deck crew is amazing. They take your wet suit, rinse it for you, hang it up to dry & return it to your dive station ready for the next dive. Dancer does none of this for you but I was perfectly happy doing it myself.
Nitrox is free on Siren. In theory its paid for on Dancer, but Ive always found a deal to qualify for it free.
Dive Guides: Both boats used 3 Dive Guides & their permanent guides were outstanding. It was a privilege to dive with Gede on Dancer & Dince/Dwi on Siren.
Hotel Aspects
Rooms: the rooms on Siren are huge. No bunk beds. The standard rooms on Siren are larger/nicer than the owners suite on Komodo Dancer. Though for some reason, they have put quite tiny beds into the huge twin cabins. They have computer terminals in every cabin, which I did not use once, but the photographers (& the many people who were sick on the trip) enjoyed greatly. The boat intranet had 100s of films available.
Food: everything that you would expect from a top end liveaboard on both boats. All meals taken on deck (Dancer on the foredeck; more open, better outward looking views Siren aft deck). All Siren meals were buffet. Dancer did breakfast to order & plated dinners. Siren had the edge on food quality, but Dancer wasnt far behind & provided great snacks. Siren had a fancy coffee machine. Both boats had endless free beer, soft drinks & water. Siren provided complimentary rehydration salts.
Wine is v expensive on both boats Euro 40 upwards for a bottle that would cost 8-10 at home. Big difference being that Dancer takes credit cards for checkout & Siren requires cash. Net result was that I consumed lots of wine on Dancer & none at all on Siren! Bintang is a very acceptable decompression beer. Very generous portions of spirits are great value on both boats. Siren was Euro 5 for a quadruple (at least) measure of gin or scotch.
Massages: Dancer provided complimentary 5 min head & neck massages after the dives. Siren provided 30 or 60 minute paid massages most afternoons. I did not try one, but those who did gave them rave reviews.
Lounge/Salon: both boats had a large (Siren v large) lounge. But they are not used greatly.
Sun Deck: Siren has a huge upper sun deck which would comfortably accommodate all passengers but it had no shade at all. Almost no-one used it until c 1700 as you would quite simply fry. Dancer had a smaller (6 person) sun deck with a large awning. A great place to watch the view between dives.
Time Zone: Siren move the clock one hour to boat time. So your wake up call is actually at 6 a.m. but boat time makes it 7 a.m. Sounds daft but it works.
Storage space: Siren is a larger newer boat & has an amazing amount of space. In addition to the large cabins; each diver is allocated 2 drawers in the lounge & a third adjacent to their dive station. Dancer gave no lockers & a plastic basket at your dive station but was perfectly adequate.
Photographers: Dancer has a large camera table on the dive deck, with shared lockers beneath. Siren just has loads of space. The photographers had the charging table or one of their lockers between. Both boats had a good system of separate rinse tanks for different types of gear.
Location: Dancer is based at Labuan Bajo & Siren at Bima. As many SB postings testify, internal flights in Indonesia are a bit of a lottery. On my Siren trip, outwards 1 pax was bounced from a direct to an indirect flight to Bima & then missed the start of the cruise when they cancelled his connection. On the return, one couple had their return flight to Bali cancelled causing them to miss their international flight home. I suspect Labuan Bajo is a slightly better base than Bima. They doubtless get an equal share of cancellations, but there are many more Bali LBJ flights each day than there are Bali Bima. So there will be more options to get round a cancellation.
Overall
For me, Dancer had the edge for the diving set up & Siren on the non-diving.
One extra thing I would mention in favour of Siren was the amazing attitude of the Indonesian crew. I have rarely seen such happiness & enthusiasm in a team of people in giving great service & enjoying helping the guests enjoy themselves. Lisa, Cruise Director, is clearly a great manager.
Apologies if Ive rambled on a bit, but hopefully some of the above info is helpful to you? Komodo is wonderful but get there soon, the decline in fish stocks 2010 v 2012 was really noticeable.
I am fortunate in having dived Komodo twice on different liveaboards, so rather than post the usual trip report saying how wonderful dive site X or Y was; I thought it might be of interest to divers thinking of a Komodo LOB, if I did a compare/contrast posting.
I took Komodo Dancer in June 2010 & Indo Siren in June 2012. Both really great trips with a top quality operation. One isnt better than the other they just do some things differently.
Nb my info on Komodo Dancer is 2 years old & a lot can change in that time e.g. new Cruise Director & new boat owners.
I travelled from UK & booked everything through Blue O2 (inc. my Singapore Airlines flights) they were excellent.
Diving
The diving in Komodo is superb from both boats but the style is different. This stems from the different tenders & how they are used.
Dancer has 2 excellent tenders upon which you assemble your kit & leave it there all trip. The tenders dive different but nearby sites & then swap sites for the next dive. It works really well & means that your group of max 8 has the dive site to themselves. The tender stays at the dive site as surface cover for the duration of your dive.
Siren has 2 of the cheapest, nastiest inflatable tenders I have ever been on. I would call them RIBs, but there was precious little rigid about them. Judging by the twice daily need to top up their inflation, they were not in great condition. The engines were clearly in need of repair.
You kit up on the lob & wear it to/from the tender each dive. They split us into 3 groups of 5 & then took us separately to the same dive site, with tender 1 dropping its divers & then returning to Siren for group 3. Both tenders stay above the site and shuttle divers back to Siren as they surfaced. The ladders to re-board the tenders were poor. We had no problems at all, but in poor seas the tenders would not have been fun. Also, the 2 tenders picking up 3 groups approach might mean that a missing diver might not be realised until everyone was back on Siren (i.e. quite late).
Message to Siren: almost every fixture/fitting on Indo Siren is top dollar & excellent. Why scrimp on the tenders? Its a diving trip! Invest in some decent tenders?
On Siren the attentiveness of the dive deck crew is amazing. They take your wet suit, rinse it for you, hang it up to dry & return it to your dive station ready for the next dive. Dancer does none of this for you but I was perfectly happy doing it myself.
Nitrox is free on Siren. In theory its paid for on Dancer, but Ive always found a deal to qualify for it free.
Dive Guides: Both boats used 3 Dive Guides & their permanent guides were outstanding. It was a privilege to dive with Gede on Dancer & Dince/Dwi on Siren.
Hotel Aspects
Rooms: the rooms on Siren are huge. No bunk beds. The standard rooms on Siren are larger/nicer than the owners suite on Komodo Dancer. Though for some reason, they have put quite tiny beds into the huge twin cabins. They have computer terminals in every cabin, which I did not use once, but the photographers (& the many people who were sick on the trip) enjoyed greatly. The boat intranet had 100s of films available.
Food: everything that you would expect from a top end liveaboard on both boats. All meals taken on deck (Dancer on the foredeck; more open, better outward looking views Siren aft deck). All Siren meals were buffet. Dancer did breakfast to order & plated dinners. Siren had the edge on food quality, but Dancer wasnt far behind & provided great snacks. Siren had a fancy coffee machine. Both boats had endless free beer, soft drinks & water. Siren provided complimentary rehydration salts.
Wine is v expensive on both boats Euro 40 upwards for a bottle that would cost 8-10 at home. Big difference being that Dancer takes credit cards for checkout & Siren requires cash. Net result was that I consumed lots of wine on Dancer & none at all on Siren! Bintang is a very acceptable decompression beer. Very generous portions of spirits are great value on both boats. Siren was Euro 5 for a quadruple (at least) measure of gin or scotch.
Massages: Dancer provided complimentary 5 min head & neck massages after the dives. Siren provided 30 or 60 minute paid massages most afternoons. I did not try one, but those who did gave them rave reviews.
Lounge/Salon: both boats had a large (Siren v large) lounge. But they are not used greatly.
Sun Deck: Siren has a huge upper sun deck which would comfortably accommodate all passengers but it had no shade at all. Almost no-one used it until c 1700 as you would quite simply fry. Dancer had a smaller (6 person) sun deck with a large awning. A great place to watch the view between dives.
Time Zone: Siren move the clock one hour to boat time. So your wake up call is actually at 6 a.m. but boat time makes it 7 a.m. Sounds daft but it works.
Storage space: Siren is a larger newer boat & has an amazing amount of space. In addition to the large cabins; each diver is allocated 2 drawers in the lounge & a third adjacent to their dive station. Dancer gave no lockers & a plastic basket at your dive station but was perfectly adequate.
Photographers: Dancer has a large camera table on the dive deck, with shared lockers beneath. Siren just has loads of space. The photographers had the charging table or one of their lockers between. Both boats had a good system of separate rinse tanks for different types of gear.
Location: Dancer is based at Labuan Bajo & Siren at Bima. As many SB postings testify, internal flights in Indonesia are a bit of a lottery. On my Siren trip, outwards 1 pax was bounced from a direct to an indirect flight to Bima & then missed the start of the cruise when they cancelled his connection. On the return, one couple had their return flight to Bali cancelled causing them to miss their international flight home. I suspect Labuan Bajo is a slightly better base than Bima. They doubtless get an equal share of cancellations, but there are many more Bali LBJ flights each day than there are Bali Bima. So there will be more options to get round a cancellation.
Overall
For me, Dancer had the edge for the diving set up & Siren on the non-diving.
One extra thing I would mention in favour of Siren was the amazing attitude of the Indonesian crew. I have rarely seen such happiness & enthusiasm in a team of people in giving great service & enjoying helping the guests enjoy themselves. Lisa, Cruise Director, is clearly a great manager.
Apologies if Ive rambled on a bit, but hopefully some of the above info is helpful to you? Komodo is wonderful but get there soon, the decline in fish stocks 2010 v 2012 was really noticeable.
