Am in Coz now, had my Dive Op cancel due to lack of bookings

[idive2]

It is not unusual for one of the smaller companies to refer their customer to other similar ops, I have been there and done that when I have been to Cozumel solo. I was happy to dive and that my op put me on a competitors boat that did not disappoint. She was not concerned that I would be "lost" to the other dive op and the other dive op was not out to "steal" me away.

We have a lot of this at the local level as well here in florida. When a charter
is having mechanical trouble they each try to cover the other charters bookings.
Occasionally a captain will see one of his regular divers on another boat and make
some kind of remark usually in a funny and good spirited way. The charters know divers
may try other charters but if the charter is providing friendly and safe trips their customers
will continue diving with them.

 

[scubafanatic]

Just a "tritto" of what the above posters have stated. If Tony said he would take care of it for you, then give him the chance to do so. He may not even be able to get you on with his first, second or third choice, but he'll find you a spot somewhere. He's a great guy!

The island is HORRIBLY slow right now and quite a few operations are in the same boat (pun intended) with few or no customers this week. This is evidenced not only by seeing very few boats out there and the Caleta full of boats - but also at the fill station. I went by yesterday to pay my bill and the fill area was FULL of diveshop tanks not being used, big shops as well - it was something I've never seen here except after Wilma and quite sad actually.

I was in Cozumel 8/23-8/29/10 (Casa Del Mar-Del Mar Aquatics, 18 boat + 1 shore dive) and even I (who was last in Coz 02/06, shortly after Wilma in '05) noticed how incredibly SLOW business seemed ! I discussed this with the DM's/shop staff and they chalked it up to 'slow season'......but there's "slow" and then there's "SLOW!", and to me it was "VERY SLOW!" Yeah, I'm told all the gringo kiddies go back to school end of Aug-early Sept......but the water conditions and weather conditions were gorgeous, and the hotel/dive op was still a ghost town.......saw a small number of other dive boats out on the water...but it was SPOOKY empty overall! On most morning dives the boat had 4-6 divers max (near the end of the week Thur-Sat the size of the morning group picked up a little, with a max of 8 - 12 divers).....and the boat was essentially empty for the afternoon dives.....on 3 afternoons I was the ONLY diver, so I did 6 afternoon 'solo' dives--just me and the DM, which actually turned out to be my fav dives, as I could do my own thing......they cut me some slack as I rapidly demonstrated to them that I was an experienced diver that had a 'clue' and didn't need babysitting.

As I said, I haven't been to Coz in 4 1/2 yrs (since Wilma) so I had no way to gauge the apparent slownwss-factor, for all I knew it WAS typical for Cozumel in late August, but now it appears something WAS/IS wrong down there, not just the usual seasonal timing thing.

So Christi, what do YOU think is going on in Coz to cause the 'slowness' ? Is it the ongoing 'gringo economic crisis' up north, hurricane season fears, or something else ?

 

[ggunn]

So Christi, what do YOU think is going on in Coz to cause the 'slowness' ? Is it the ongoing 'gringo economic crisis' up north, hurricane season fears, or something else ?

Pardon me for barging in, but it's all the above and more. Some are recurring cyclical factors, like kids going back to school, travel jitters during hurricane season, etc. Others are not, like the economic situation in the US and the rest of the world (but mostly the US), general uneasiness about travel to Mexico with all the news about "drug violence", etc. Right now (apparently) several factors are acting together to depress tourist travel to Cozumel. It's sort of a "perfect storm" scenario.

 

[scubafanatic]

Pardon me for barging in, but it's all the above and more. Some are recurring cyclical factors, like kids going back to school, travel jitters during hurricane season, etc. Others are not, like the economic situation in the US and the rest of the world (but mostly the US), general uneasiness about travel to Mexico with all the news about "drug violence", etc. Right now (apparently) several factors are acting together to depress tourist travel to Cozumel. It's sort of a "perfect storm" scenario.

well, my LDS who organized my 'solo' trip said (before I left) that it might actually be more busy in Coz than usual since the oil spill shut down so much tourism in the Gulf of Mexico area, hence there might be overflow into Cozumel....didn't turn out to be the case from what I could tell. I'm not seeing the US economic situation/problems or the drug wars going away for the forseeable future so I wonder if an ugly contraction in Coz tourism is pending?

BTW, the hotel immediately upgraded me to a double room for free, since business was so quiet, which was nice.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

When we went to Cozumel in June, there were only 40 people on our plane. I dove with Tony(great guy) all week. Two days there were 5 divers and the rest of the week there was only 3. He would pick me up beside the Dressel pier, so I won't have to pay there pier fee. The last day we (3 divers) dove the Devil's Throat and then up to dive the wreck by the cruise ship pier. Tony called and paid for a cab to take me back to the Iberostar. This was our first time to Cozumel and would definitely recommend Tony and will use him again when we return to Cozumel

 

[Christi]

While I don't know any of the dive OPs in Cozumel, I do know a thing or two about the services business and if you accept a reservation you just made a commitment to a customer. Sorry but not having enough people show up to cover costs is just the risk of running a services business. I have to agree with Aldora's policy if only one shows up then you take that person out. I would be pretty disappointed if after spending a couple of grand on airfare and hotel someone who I made an agreement with for a service decided to change my plans. No matter how much effort they spent trying to set me up with someone else. I picked that OP based on a set of criteria that was important to me, if I would have wanted a different OP then I would have chose them in the first place right?

This is just my opinion and at the end of the day we are all limited by what we are willing to tolerate as customers.

It is a very rare occasion when we only have one diver booked, but I do guarantee a morning boat everyday if someone has a reservation that is confirmed with a deposit. Last month, I ended up with only one diver for several days - he had a reservation and we took him out without complaints. I'm sure he was thrilled to have a private boat for the price of a regular charter - it cost me money to send the boat out, but he will be back and he'll bring more people with him next time! He was very happy!

You're right, it's not the responsibility of the client to fill the dive shop's boats. However, we really don't know the entire situation here, but knowing Tony, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

I imagine that Tony probably wanted to check with some of the other smaller/similar ops to team up with for as many days as necessary. We do this sometimes in low season if each of us only have one or two divers - it's a win/win for everyone - including the client as long as the client is not inconvenienced by it of course. If he was unable to work something like this out, I wouldn't be surprised if Tony takes his diver out alone if he can't team up/share boat space with someone. He will not leave him high and dry - that's not in Tony's character.

We've all taken big hits this year - the diving industry is no exception. September is always slow, but I've never seen it THIS slow. Last September, I ran at least one full boat everyday, many days I had two full boats. This September is much slower and I know of several operations who have entire weeks without a single diver.

I am blaming higher air fares, reduced flight options for the season, poor media coverage about the violence in OTHER parts of MX (that is actually further away from Cozumel than many US cities), and the economy of course.

I am not "whining" by any means, I'm simply putting things in perspective for some of you. There are base costs for sending a boat out, not even including all of the additional overhead of running the business, marina fees, maintenance, wear and tear, insurance, etc. etc. So, if the captain and DM take even one diver out - they have to be paid their "trip pay" (above their base salary). Then there are the bare necessities of tanks, fuel, and water. These base expenses come out to around USD $130ish to move the boat for one diver - and that is with minimum fuel consumption by staying at "closer in" reefs. The cost of sending the boat increases with each diver due to more fuel (more weight on the boat uses more fuel), tanks and water + whatever else the shop provides for the divers.

I suspect and hope that we'll hear back from the OP that he had a great trip and that Tony worked it all out for him

 

[pjhansman]

Well I for one intend to do my part to help Coz tourism......

I just wish I could spend even more time there

 

[cruiser]

Having your dive charter cancel on you is disappointing. It's like saying you're not worth their time (and financially you probably aren't but this should be about more than money). That would be a deal breaker for me to ever use that op again.

Thank goodness Christi offers a quality service and fulfills her obligation

 

[Jim Baldwin]

So I'm looking for recommendations, I won't slander the guy for the cancel as he's working to get me an alternate that he would trust. If you search TripAdvisor, he's the #1 operator based on folks experience. He even went so far as to give me a local cell phone so he could call with the arrangements and not have to hassle (me) with my phone or such. That's a nice accomodation.

Appreciate any pointers, have 32 dives logged, am Advanced and EANx cert, am looking for photo ops and night dives (1-2) over the next 7 days.

Reid

Down for nine days and dove this morning with Living Underwater. We had four scheduled and one had to pass. We dove Columbia and Yucab. Perfect weather, great vis and plenty of life. Not trying to rub it in but truly one of those great days. My buddy and his wife came down with me. Taking a couple of days off to work on the house and let them see some sights. We will be diving Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a night dive thrown in if the weather is still good. Think there will only be two of us diving if you are interested drop me an note. Can't speak for Jeremy but I'm pretty sure he won't turn away a paying customer. If Tony can't get you lined up with someone drop a PM. Sorry for the runon paragraph my return key is broken.

 

[5615mike]

Just for the record: If you have a reservation with Aldora we will take you out if it is just one person--never a complaint about it either.


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

PS We have done that plenty of times and our customers appreciate it. That is just part of our overhead.

As a customer of Aldora for about 10 years I can attest to this being a fact. Dave you run a great operation. Cant wait to see Memo, Javier, Edgar and the boys in just 13 days.