Is Dive Paradise truly as bad as the reviews?

[NewbieScubyDoo]

Before I dig into this, I did not want to mention this Dive Ops name, but as you will read, I have no choice as I need advise with this particular dive shop. There is no way around not mentioning their name.

I do not hold any ill will, nor do not want to smear their name. I just have concerns that I hope can be addressed with my fellow family of divers!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Murphy's law rearing it's ugly proverbial head, after booking a 10 day dive trip to Coz, using Dive Paradise as my dive ops, there has been a slew of extremely bad reviews (past several months).

I do understand the principle of statistics and the ratio and predictability of who writes bad reviews versus positive ones.

That set aside, the bad reviews have common denominators, with the same theme bordering on unsafe and even dangerous practices.

The consensus remains constant as the same issues were expressed time and time again. In my experience, that usually means there is truth and validity to the review.

Another red flag is that, Dive Paradise makes no effort to refute or explain, as I seen most all others do when a negative review has been written.

This piqued my curiosity, so I did research and sought out reviews for the most widely used dive ops on here, and they all had glowing reviews. That didn't help ease my concerns! LOL

My package is nonrefundable, so I am stuck "with the one I brought to the dance", and...I leave in 3 days!

So, am I being paranoid, or am I putting myself in harms way?

Anyone who has used this particular Ops, please share advise or wisdom!

Thanks in advance!
J.

Post:

After reading the latest bad review, I sat down with my scuba buddy, and we took each common concern, and we made a "game plan" if it happens to us. I also came up with several other contingency plans for other various scenarios that are a root of all other safety concerns I read about.

Now, I usually do this as part of my pre-dive plan, but this was different. This was specifically catered to all the complaints I read.

 

[dmoore19]

I have gone with Dive Paradise on 3 trips. Never a problem and I was quite pleased with them. I would have no problem going with them again.

I don't know where the reviews you read came from. If you were looking for someone to refute them here, there are a very limited number of shops that participate on this board.

The boats are bigger and slower. Though I have never felt crowded on one of their boats they are bigger and carry more divers than some are comfortable with. I also know they do have some smaller/faster boats but I think they are higher priced. Dive Paradise is convenient if you are staying at Hotel Cozumel. I have met Apple, she runs the place and is usually very willing to listen to complaints and solve problems.

I certainly would not be afraid to use them again. I found their DM's to be professional, knowledgable and safe.

 

[NewbieScubyDoo]

I don't know where the reviews you read came from. If you were looking for someone to refute them here, there are a very limited number of shops that participate on this board.

Thanks for your reply!

There were many review sites. The biggest (and worst) is Trip Advisor. I been using them for years, and proven themselves to be accurate and trustworthy.

You will be in for quite a shock, after reading the last 2 years worth of reviews, if you had good experiences!

Here's hoping we get your type of experience!

Thanks again for taking the time.

 

[Brules]

DP does have some small fast boats, not all are huge cattle boats.

In addition, Scuba Board used them as the dive op for the Cozumel Invasion 2 years running, so that should count for something and when they did, I don't remember hearing anything bad about it.

 

[MMM]

I don't dive with them because they aren't what I want. However, I went to TripAdvisor to check it out. They have a 4 out of 5 star average rating. Of 161 reviews, 99 rated them excellent. They have been in business in Cozumel for a very, very long time. So, in answer to your question, yes, you are probably being paranoid. That doesn't mean you should not exercise all of the personal skills and responsibilities you learned when you were certified.

 

[Mike]

I have dived with them before and while there is nothing about them that really appeals to me now, I found them no more dangerous than other average dive operators. I witnessed the lack of attention to newbie divers, and newbies with ear trouble on one dive with the dive master basically ignoring them and continuing on with the dive. Not really a very professional attitude, but that was one out of a number of dives and with larger dive operators the draw of the which dive master you get can effect the dive experience greatly. But I never witnessed anything grossly outrageous while diving with them. My experience was from over 2 years ago so I can't speak for them recently. I wouldn't dive with them again, but that's only because they don't offer the type of experience I look for in an op, where paying a bit more gets you more.

I can tell you that in my opinion, average dive operators get a wide range of reviews compared to dive operators who cater to advanced divers. I think this is because advanced divers don't need a lot of hand holding and have more realistic expectations and understandings, and the divers attracted to the more average dive ops by price are often less experienced and might sometimes have strange views on what to expect from a dive operator. I also find you have to read between the lines on trip advisor reviews, with the reviewers being completely idiots to nincompoops sometimes with very unique interpretations and expectations sometimes.

The downside also to being one of the larger volume dive operators on Cozumel also means you are exposed to more just plain goof balls, who have no experience and outrageous expectations or are just goofs. The more volume you do the more exposure you have to the general public and the general public has a wide variety of people.

When you look up reviews of wildly successful, huge businesses like Walmart and Home Depot, there are people who just paint them as basically the coming of the Devil, pretty much ruining their lives forever with the experience they had there, and yet these companies are very successful obviously must be doing something right, its just that they do a huge volume and get exposure to a big cross section of the public.

 

[NewbieScubyDoo]

Brules!


Good to see you back safe!

U made a good point (Invasion) but one has to wonder why they are getting slammed with horrible reviews (Trip Advisor being the most trustworthy out of all review sites).

Again, I acknowledge the ratio models of how review based sites base their algorithms, and people who had a bad experience will far out number the people who had good ones as far as any reviews go. And that is simply a numbers game (thousands dive compared to the number who write bad reviews).

And I am perfectly at ease with the basics (slow dive boats, etc...)

Its the safety issues (No dive briefings, DM's far...FAR ahead of the group, people seemed lost and confused and ignored) that concerns me.

But again, you raised some valid points! So thank you Brother!

 

[dmoore19]

What MMM says is absolutely right. The last trip I made I did not use DP. The trip was different than my other trips, I wanted to use a different op because I wanted a different level of service than DP offers, it certainly wasn't because of any concerns I had with them. Different levels of service also mean different prices. My first dive trip ever was with DP, I did not experience any problems, I found them attentive, there was always dive briefings and as a matter of fact they are one of the ops I have used that first day out showed me the PFDs and where the oxygen bottles were and even how to properly use the head. If you have a question ask the DM or the Captain, they are more than happy to answer your questions, like they did mine. You will have a great time with Dive Paradise!

 

[NewbieScubyDoo]

Thanks MMM!

Appreciate your feedback and the time to write it!

J.

---------- Post added July 17th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ----------

Mike??!

Hold the phone!! Walmart is NOT the "Devil"?!?!

I agree completely with what you wrote. The fundamental models for review sites are always skewed with half-wits and people demanding a million dollar experience but only paid ten bucks.

There is just a theme in the reviews as far as safety issues.

I, myself (Master Diver) now deep (pun intended!) in tec training am comfortable in any setting or challenge.

My scuba buddy....not so much! So I wanted to get the opinions that matter the most. Everyone on here.

Thanks Mike for your advise and wisdom!
J.

---------- Post added July 17th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ----------

Once again, thank you Dmoore!

Am definitely feeling better about this and will share all of these replies with my scuba buddy!

J.

---------- Post added July 17th, 2013 at 12:07 AM ----------

Once again, thank you Dmoore!

Am definitely feeling better about this and will share all of these replies with my scuba buddy!

J.

 

[Fish-R-Man]

I went one day with them when we were down last winter. Our regular guy had family obligations and wasn't able to go that day (Sunday). They run a good operation. If you have any concerns, voice them when you check in. They have a large staff and I am sure that they can arrange to have you with a DM that will fulfill your expectations for the time you spend with them.

They did me a big favor as I found during the previous dive that I had a split in my primary reg mouth piece. They didn't have one in their shop, so they sent one of their guys off and about a half hour later he had a new one for me to install, actually he brought a couple different ones to make sure I had what I needed. This was fairly late on a Saturday evening.

We prefer the smaller fast boats and large steel tanks that they don't supply, but I wouldn't hesitate diving with them again. Have a great trip.....