Cozumel Trip Report (Blue Angel) -- 5/23 - 5/28

[Tunaman68]

Hmmm

We dove them last year and only needed 3 paid spots. I am going to double check with them, as we were thinking to pay the third spot and go almost every night. If they are sticking with four, then I will book twilight/night dives with another op ahead of time.

Don? Suggestions for ops that will pick up at the BA dock?

 

[DandyDon]

Hmmm

We dove them last year and only needed 3 paid spots. I am going to double check with them, as we were thinking to pay the third spot and go almost every night. If they are sticking with four, then I will book twilight/night dives with another op ahead of time.

Don? Suggestions for ops that will pick up at the BA dock?

Ok things change of course, so my experiences there over the years might be outdated. To get a boat out afternoons or evenings (1 or 2 tank evening trip) required 4 divers I thot, and it takes a lot to equip & staff the boat appropriate so you can appreciate that they have to have to enough to bother - and enough lead time. You can't have a skipper & DM sitting around for a maybe trip; got to either plan the trip or give them the time off to go home.

Now if pretrip emails said minimum 3 required, I'd pull that email up on the lobby computer, show it to them, and insist they honor it. Fair is fair. I suppose Jeanie is still handling reservations and pretrip planning? Whoever is doing it tho needs to be on the same page as the local staff of course. Are Tom & Eva still there running the property themselves personally?

My last trip tho, we didn't do any PM dives. My bud & I did the morning dives, then loafed, so I cannot confirm this from my own experiences - but ScubMau does seem to take a more assertive approach: "You want a dive trip; we'll make it happen," at least for their customers - maybe not so eager for someone diving elsewhere mornings? It's costly for them when they send out a boat with two, but we've seen many reports here where they did. They will pick you up at the BA, but they will rinse and store your gear for you if you'd like.

 

[ligersandtions]

Now if pretrip emails said minimum 3 required, I'd pull that email up on the lobby computer, show it to them, and insist they honor it. Fair is fair. I suppose Jeanie is still handling reservations and pretrip planning? Whoever is doing it tho needs to be on the same page as the local staff of course.

I should have done exactly that....I didn't think about it at the time though. It's kind of disappointing to know that we might have been able to get those extra dives in had I brought it up, but not much we can do about it now.

BTW, it is still Jeanie handling pre-trip correspondence.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok well, you might do them the service of reporting the problem and the broken promises to Jeanie and to the resort itself. I met her there once but I don't know how often she is there or how involved these days - obviously not enough for your experiences.

 

[Tunaman68]

I let Jeanie know and she is going to investigate!

I know it's expensive to run the boat, that is why we would always be willing pay for the third spot, and then tip the crew heavily to compensate their time and energy. Paying for four spots works out to $130 each for a two tank - that's like Hawaii prices!!!

 

[azscubadude]

Ok well, you might do them the service of reporting the problem and the broken promises to Jeanie and to the resort itself.

There is another dive op (that will go unnamed) that has a habit of offering free night dives with their "Specials" but when you try to take them up on it and they can't get the 6 required divers for the boat they won't take you out.. saying "you didn't pay for them (their claim of being free with the package) so you aren't loosing anything". And.. they won't help in any way to get the required 6 divers.. you are on your own (not 4, not 5, you have to have 6).

I even tried to swap my two night dives for a Twilight / Night dive that had room for me and had enough divers already signed up to go out and what I got was.. "you can't swap two night dives for a Twilight/Night dive". I was told that if I wanted to go out on the Twilight dive I would have to pay the full price even though I had two night dives included in my package that they couldn't fulfill. The boat had plenty of room, it wouldn't have cost them anything extra and that would have satisfied the package I paid for.

Had this happen twice, won't happen again.

 

[DandyDon]

I let Jeanie know and she is going to investigate!

I know it's expensive to run the boat, that is why we would always be willing pay for the third spot, and then tip the crew heavily to compensate their time and energy. Paying for four spots works out to $130 each for a two tank - that's like Hawaii prices!!!

Did you notify the resort directly too?

There is another dive op (that will go unmentioned) that has a habit of offering free night dives with their "Specials" but when you try to take them up on it and they can't get the 6 required divers for the boat they won't take you out.. saying "you didn't pay for them (their claim of being free with the package) so you aren't loose anything". And.. they won't help in any way to get the required 6 divers.. you are on your own.

I even tried to swap my two night dives for a Twilight / Night dive that had room for me and had enough divers already signed up to go out and what I got was.. "you can't swap two night dives for a Twilight/Night dive and have to pay the full price for the Twilight dive.

Had this happen twice, won't happen again.

Why keep the secret? They deserve the publicity.

 

[lbussell]

I've always used Dressel (out of Iberostar Coz.) (4 separate weeks and counting!). They're not the cheapest, but they're great. This last trip I also went on their Cenotes excursion..... I've gotta get there again... just amazing!!!

 

[azscubadude]

Did you notify the resort directly too?

Why keep the secret? They deserve the publicity.

I'm trying to get it worked out with the "higher up's" at the resort so for now I won't mention the name. If it isn't resolved I will gladly let you know since I think it is a real bait and switch (without the switch).

 

[sharky60]

Thankx for the TR...by the way, for future reference, Blue Angel has 100cu tanks available for a nominal fee.

I've taken quite a liking to them, I used to do only a 100 on the first dive, used them for all dives on this past trip and really enjoyed them.

besides, my tank wasn't occaisonally falling out of my BC on my second dive because we forgot to tighten the strap up after using the larger tank on the first dive :shocked2: