liveaboard.com Can I trust them?

[Shasta_man]

@LiveaboardCom Thanks for your interest in our input. Reviews are important to me, while number of stars isn't because I get my info from what the reviewer says. What would be valuable to me is describing the reviewers experience level and expanding the review format slightly to get a fuller picture of the experience than the summary paragraph reviewers usually create. For experience level, I'd like to see dropdowns for number of previous liveaboard trips (1, 2, 3-55, 5-10, greater than 10) and what parts of the world (Indo Pacific, Caribbean, etc) the reviewer has been in. Their experience level would help frame their review. All comments can be helpful but people with more experience but also experience in that part of the world would be most helpful. It would also be helpful to create a review form that asks for both pros and cons of the different categories of info you have there (Vessel, food, diving, etc) with "none" being acceptable for either. It's hard for people to summarize all of the good and bad in a paragraph so it would be helpful to give them the ability to consider each question.

 

[LiveaboardCom]

Yes, the Fiji Aggressor was condemned and we removed booking availability from our site in 2019 when it ceased operations.

The review page you're referring to is our old Fiji Aggressor page and the reviews you mentioned were likely written long before the vessel was showing signs of disrepair. I looked into that last week for you to confirm but unfortunately I don't have review dates to be able to provide those.

Added to that, different customers have different experiences and expectations, so if someone joined that vessel and enjoyed their time on the boat, then we will of course publish those reviews - just as we share negative reviews if we receive them.

Thanks,

Kathryn

 

[LiveaboardCom]

@LiveaboardCom Thanks for your interest in our input. Reviews are important to me, while number of stars isn't because I get my info from what the reviewer says. What would be valuable to me is describing the reviewers experience level and expanding the review format slightly to get a fuller picture of the experience than the summary paragraph reviewers usually create. For experience level, I'd like to see dropdowns for number of previous liveaboard trips (1, 2, 3-55, 5-10, greater than 10) and what parts of the world (Indo Pacific, Caribbean, etc) the reviewer has been in. Their experience level would help frame their review. All comments can be helpful but people with more experience but also experience in that part of the world would be most helpful. It would also be helpful to create a review form that asks for both pros and cons of the different categories of info you have there (Vessel, food, diving, etc) with "none" being acceptable for either. It's hard for people to summarize all of the good and bad in a paragraph so it would be helpful to give them the ability to consider each question.

Thank you, that's really helpful and you've got some great ideas there. I will pass your comments on now to the team that deals with the reviews process and see what we can do.

If you think of anything else, let me know.

Thanks again,

Kathryn

 

[Alberto Ruiz-Larrea]

Hello,

I just want to add that yeah, liveaboard does not publish negative reviews at all. I mean, have a look at their reviews, no one ever gives below 7ish stars. That is impossible some people are bound to have bad experiences etc. I also know this is the case since I was recently on Orion in the Red Sea and all of us had a pretty bad experience (terrible safety highly unrecommended) and even though many of us tried to write reviews, none ever got posted. In fact they only have 2 reviews for that boat. The reality is that they delete the other negative reviews.

I honestly think this is a pity since this made me not trust them. I recently booked through them and a week before my trip they changed my boat (I am sure it was the operators doing) but when I saw the reviews on Orion I thought it was fine...had I known, things would have been very different. It is a pity that they do this, since in my experience most of the other issues, they dealt with them in quite professionally and I would use them again, they were great intermediaries. But since they hide the truth they are untrustworthy.

BTW I think that a lot of other liveaboard booking companies do the same, since most of our boat has faced the same issues. Thats maybe why there are almost no reviews of Orion.

 

[LiveaboardCom]

Hello,

I just want to add that yeah, liveaboard does not publish negative reviews at all. I mean, have a look at their reviews, no one ever gives below 7ish stars. That is impossible some people are bound to have bad experiences etc. I also know this is the case since I was recently on Orion in the Red Sea and all of us had a pretty bad experience (terrible safety highly unrecommended) and even though many of us tried to write reviews, none ever got posted. In fact they only have 2 reviews for that boat. The reality is that they delete the other negative reviews.

I honestly think this is a pity since this made me not trust them. I recently booked through them and a week before my trip they changed my boat (I am sure it was the operators doing) but when I saw the reviews on Orion I thought it was fine...had I known, things would have been very different. It is a pity that they do this, since in my experience most of the other issues, they dealt with them in quite professionally and I would use them again, they were great intermediaries. But since they hide the truth they are untrustworthy.

BTW I think that a lot of other liveaboard booking companies do the same, since most of our boat has faced the same issues. Thats maybe why there are almost no reviews of Orion.

Hi Alberto,

I very sorry to hear you have had a negative experience. I just wanted to send you a short reply to let you know I am looking into this and will reply in full when I have more details.

I'm checking both issues: the reviews you mentioned not being published and also the vessel change you mentioned.

Many thanks,

Kathryn

 

[LiveaboardCom]

Hello,

I just want to add that yeah, liveaboard does not publish negative reviews at all. I mean, have a look at their reviews, no one ever gives below 7ish stars. That is impossible some people are bound to have bad experiences etc. I also know this is the case since I was recently on Orion in the Red Sea and all of us had a pretty bad experience (terrible safety highly unrecommended) and even though many of us tried to write reviews, none ever got posted. In fact they only have 2 reviews for that boat. The reality is that they delete the other negative reviews.

I honestly think this is a pity since this made me not trust them. I recently booked through them and a week before my trip they changed my boat (I am sure it was the operators doing) but when I saw the reviews on Orion I thought it was fine...had I known, things would have been very different. It is a pity that they do this, since in my experience most of the other issues, they dealt with them in quite professionally and I would use them again, they were great intermediaries. But since they hide the truth they are untrustworthy.

BTW I think that a lot of other liveaboard booking companies do the same, since most of our boat has faced the same issues. Thats maybe why there are almost no reviews of Orion.

Hi again Alberto,

I have spoken with our Customer Support Manager and she looked into why your review hasn't been published. She confirmed your mention of the boat owner's wife and the length of the review (it was too long) meant it didn't match the policy, and so wasn't published.

If you'd like to rewrite your review in line with the review policy then we'll be more than happy to publish it.

In terms of publishing negative reviews - I have mentioned before that we do publish negative reviews, so long as they're in line with the policy i.e. not abusive etc.

As a result of the recent comments on this thread mentioning the reviews appear overly positive, we're actually now in the process of checking our guidelines and the review process, so we can see what changes may need to be made.

You'll see in the thread I've asked for input regarding what improvements we could make to the review process - which I have already been passed on to the relevant team. If you have any information you'd like to see included or have some suggestions, then do let me know.

Many thanks,

Kathryn

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Probably best to specify max # characters allowed so reviews aren’t discounted for being too long...

 

[Alberto Ruiz-Larrea]

Hello Liveaboard,

I am by no means trying to be rude or anything like that but I am pretty sure you are lying. You are telling me that no one has ever left a review with under 7 stars? Really? I know you are bound to have negative reviews, its the way life works. People also have a tendency to leave negative reviews more than positive ones. I was also on the Orion and it was a terrible boat, yet there are only 2 reviews, and both positive? Highly unlikely. I also want to point out that people that have bad experiences are likely to post longer reviews explaining the reasons (I would never leave a negative review without an explanation). You could also maybe accept the star rating given and not post the entire review. Basically, it is impossible that no liveaboard ever received a rating below 6 stars on your site.

I have been asking around and this is the case throughout. Furthermore, if you have a character limit shouldn't you tell people? Otherwise you are being deceptive. Additionally you do not state a maximum number of characters in your review policy, so apparently it is on a case by case basis. All of this highlights how this is deceptive.

 

[diveUAE]

Alberto: did you publish your review here on SB? Otherwise I suggest you do.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Don’t agree with star review and no explanation/ you wouldn’t know if it was left in error.