Trip Report *live* Indo Aggressor Komodo deep South trip quarantine @ LBJ March 2024

[staggsSevin]

I don't think Aggressor quite understand the whole trip insurance thing it appears. They cancelled our Philippine Aggressor II trip for April 13th and luckily they offered a full refund of the trip. They said for anything extra like airfare/hotel to file a claim with insurance....that is their easy scape goat answer. For us had we filed a claim it would have activated the policy which alone isn't cheap either and you couldn't get a refund on the policy.

 

[Jackie]

Insurance is expensive and it can be very time consuming to make a claim and get paid, depending on the circumstances.
Few people read the terms and conditions and assume that many more circumstances are covered by the policy.

 

[tsuyoshi]

Post trip (or lack of ) update for reference.

According to those who remained onboard, the port was open on March 17th and they embark for most likely about 1/2 day of diving since March 18 was the scheduled date for return to port. They did have an offer to extend for additional charge.

Besides Liveaboard.com offered some credit at a fraction of the cost that I paid for this trip and few other guests getting minor compensation from their travel agents for extra incurred cost, Aggressor.com claimed to be justified in their "approach" of ZERO entitlement, refund, etc. according to their Policy. The argument being that the boat was ready to sail at appointed time. No exceptions can be made for it would "unfair" to other Aggressor customers. BTW, Aggressor's Payment & Cancellation policy is not clearly stated any where on their website. I had to Google search it. Otherwise, it would only be found at the end of their guest registration after booking confirmation with payments.

From the perspective of us as customers, the announcement of Port Closure after boarding felt deliberate so the claim of guest cancellation can be made especially for those of us that chose to leave early. Harbor closure was known 2 days officially before the scheduled departure date. None of the guests received any form of notification which were readily available in the information we provided in registration. Even with given the benefit of doubt that Aggressor.com stated they were not notified early on either, their approaches as the event unfold is anything but 5 star service. The boat basically almost never embark and to actually extend the trip when it was able to sail, they asked to charge more.

As an irony to the hard to find Cancellation Policy, one can find reassuring statements from Aggressor's "StormCheck" program such as:

"If weather forecasts or conditions appear threatening to the safety of the passengers and staff, the captain will make necessary arrangements to evacuate guests. The captain will order and arrange for guests to be removed from the vessel, accompanied by a staff member and taken to an inland resort/hotel or government approved shelter. The vessel will be moved to a sheltered harbor away from the storm's predicted path, prepared and secured by the remaining staff."

Although that pertains to a named storm, nonetheless the boat was stranded due to weather forecast. The only accommodation offered to the 12 of us on this trip was to remain on board or be considered as cancelling by abandonment if leaving early

Just for the sake of some "accounting" speculation. Fare for this trip per person is approx. $3000-3500 USD, so that would make the total guest payment approx. up to $42000 USD in gross profit. Staff number is about 12+ with four local dive master. According some of the Indo dive guides/dive masters I met, average DM salary is usually considered higher and roughly $125-300 USD monthly (2-5 Million IDR). Soon after the Indo Aggressor contract fiasco, any info with Indo Aggressor is completely removed from Aggressor.com. This should provide some interesting perspective.

We go through the trouble of paying thousands, hopping planes for 20+ hours for the love of diving in renowned & remote sites like Batu Balong, Secret Garden, Yellow Rock etc. A preventable, expensive "staycation" was the only offer in the end. One cannot help but felt Aggressor's approach to be manipulative, complete disregard of customer's precious time, and totally "lose-win" against the customer.

 

[Fortiphil]

Post (or lack of ) trip update for reference.

According to those who remained onboard, the port was open on March 17th and they embark for most likely about 1/2 day of diving since March 18 was the scheduled date for return to port. They did have an offer to extend for additional charge.

Besides Liveaboard.com offered some credit at a fraction of the cost that I paid for this trip and few other guests getting minor compensation from their travel agents for extra incurred cost, Aggressor.com claimed to be justified in their "approach" of ZERO entitlement, refund, etc. according to their Policy. The argument was that the boat was ready to sail at appointed time. No exceptions can be made for it would "unfair" to other Aggressor customers. BTW, Aggressor's Payment & Cancellation policy is not clearly stated any where on their website. I had to Google search it. Otherwise, it would only be found at the end of their guest registration after booking confirmation with payments.

From the perspective of us as customers, the announcement of Port Closure after boarding felt deliberate so the claim of guest cancellation can be made especially for those of us that chose to leave early. Harbor closure was known 2 days officially before the scheduled departure date. None of the guests received any form of notification which were readily available in the information we provided in registration. Even with given the benefit of doubt that Aggressor.com stated they were not notified early on either, their approach as the event unfold is anything but 5 star service. The boat basically almost never embark and to actually extend the trip when it was able to sail, they asked to charge more.

As an irony to the hard to find Cancellation Policy, one can find reassuring statements from Aggressor's "StormCheck" program such as:

"If weather forecasts or conditions appear threatening to the safety of the passengers and staff, the captain will make necessary arrangements to evacuate guests. The captain will order and arrange for guests to be removed from the vessel, accompanied by a staff member and taken to an inland resort/hotel or government approved shelter. The vessel will be moved to a sheltered harbor away from the storm's predicted path, prepared and secured by the remaining staff."

Although that pertains to a named storm, nonetheless the boat was stranded due to order of weather forecast. The only accommodation offered to the 12 of us on this trip was to remain on board or leave and be considered as cancelling by abandonment.

Just for the sake of some "accounting" speculation. Fare for this trip per person is approx. $3000-3500 USD, so that would make the total guest payment approx. up to $42000 USD in gross profit. Staff number is about 12+ with four local dive master. According some of the Indo dive guides/dive masters I met, average DM salary is usually considered higher and roughly $125-300 USD monthly (2-5 Million IDR). Soon after the Indo Aggressor contract fiasco, any info with Indo Aggressor is completely removed from Aggressor.com. This should provide some interesting perspective.

We go through the trouble of paying thousands, hopping planes for 20+ hours for the love of diving in renowned & remote sites like Batu Balong, Secret Garden, Yellow Rock etc. A preventable, expensive "staycation" was the only offer in the end. One cannot help but felt Aggressor's approach to be manipulative, complete disregard of customer's precious time, and totally "lose-win".

What sticks in my throat is that Aggressor knew two days before we boarded that the port was going to be closed. We were set up by both the boat operator and Aggressor to ensure all the losses for the trip were transferred to their customers. It’s very interesting how the operator and Aggressor have now severed their relationship. Not only have we incurred the loss for the dive trip but all of the other associated costs, travel, work time etc. what they did was immoral and probably illegal.

 

[cetacean]

Post (or lack of ) trip update for reference.

According to those who remained onboard, the port was open on March 17th and they embark for most likely about 1/2 day of diving since March 18 was the scheduled date for return to port. They did have an offer to extend for additional charge.

Besides Liveaboard.com offered some credit at a fraction of the cost that I paid for this trip and few other guests getting minor compensation from their travel agents for extra incurred cost, Aggressor.com claimed to be justified in their "approach" of ZERO entitlement, refund, etc. according to their Policy. The argument being that the boat was ready to sail at appointed time. No exceptions can be made for it would "unfair" to other Aggressor customers. BTW, Aggressor's Payment & Cancellation policy is not clearly stated any where on their website. I had to Google search it. Otherwise, it would only be found at the end of their guest registration after booking confirmation with payments.

From the perspective of us as customers, the announcement of Port Closure after boarding felt deliberate so the claim of guest cancellation can be made especially for those of us that chose to leave early. Harbor closure was known 2 days officially before the scheduled departure date. None of the guests received any form of notification which were readily available in the information we provided in registration. Even with given the benefit of doubt that Aggressor.com stated they were not notified early on either, their approaches as the event unfold is anything but 5 star service. The boat basically almost never embark and to actually extend the trip when it was able to sail, they asked to charge more.

As an irony to the hard to find Cancellation Policy, one can find reassuring statements from Aggressor's "StormCheck" program such as:

"If weather forecasts or conditions appear threatening to the safety of the passengers and staff, the captain will make necessary arrangements to evacuate guests. The captain will order and arrange for guests to be removed from the vessel, accompanied by a staff member and taken to an inland resort/hotel or government approved shelter. The vessel will be moved to a sheltered harbor away from the storm's predicted path, prepared and secured by the remaining staff."

Although that pertains to a named storm, nonetheless the boat was stranded due to weather forecast. The only accommodation offered to the 12 of us on this trip was to remain on board or be considered as cancelling by abandonment if leaving early

Just for the sake of some "accounting" speculation. Fare for this trip per person is approx. $3000-3500 USD, so that would make the total guest payment approx. up to $42000 USD in gross profit. Staff number is about 12+ with four local dive master. According some of the Indo dive guides/dive masters I met, average DM salary is usually considered higher and roughly $125-300 USD monthly (2-5 Million IDR). Soon after the Indo Aggressor contract fiasco, any info with Indo Aggressor is completely removed from Aggressor.com. This should provide some interesting perspective.

We go through the trouble of paying thousands, hopping planes for 20+ hours for the love of diving in renowned & remote sites like Batu Balong, Secret Garden, Yellow Rock etc. A preventable, expensive "staycation" was the only offer in the end. One cannot help but felt Aggressor's approach to be manipulative, complete disregard of customer's precious time, and totally "lose-win" against the customer.

First, I totally agree that the Aggressor corporate entity should be held at fault here, however....

As many have said previously - the Aggressor Fleet is run as a franchise model. The corporate entity owns no boats, is not responsible for itineraries, etc. All they do is market the boats under a brand, take bookings (like a travel agent), and create franchise deals for indepedent boat owners in each of the areas they do business.

The owner of the boat (most likely an Indonesian) is the person you really should have the beef with. However, it will be very hard to track that person down, and given Indonesian law, you will have little to no recourse. The boat in question has already been removed from the Aggressor site.

Aggressor will not give you anything other than possibly trip credit for a partial payment on another of their boats (although that is unlikely as well).

Unfortunately, the lesson here is don't book Aggressor boats. This is a lesson a number of divers have learned over the years (although your situation is exteme - no diving at all during the week). This is the equivalent of booking travel through a travel agent - some remain very reputable, some are not - either way, I always try to book directly with the boat, resort, airline, etc. if given a choice, because recourse (if needed), is more direct.

 

[Indah]

Post trip (or lack of ) update for reference.

According to those who remained onboard, the port was open on March 17th and they embark for most likely about 1/2 day of diving since March 18 was the scheduled date for return to port. They did have an offer to extend for additional charge.

Besides Liveaboard.com offered some credit at a fraction of the cost that I paid for this trip and few other guests getting minor compensation from their travel agents for extra incurred cost, Aggressor.com claimed to be justified in their "approach" of ZERO entitlement, refund, etc. according to their Policy. The argument being that the boat was ready to sail at appointed time. No exceptions can be made for it would "unfair" to other Aggressor customers. BTW, Aggressor's Payment & Cancellation policy is not clearly stated any where on their website. I had to Google search it. Otherwise, it would only be found at the end of their guest registration after booking confirmation with payments.

From the perspective of us as customers, the announcement of Port Closure after boarding felt deliberate so the claim of guest cancellation can be made especially for those of us that chose to leave early. Harbor closure was known 2 days officially before the scheduled departure date. None of the guests received any form of notification which were readily available in the information we provided in registration. Even with given the benefit of doubt that Aggressor.com stated they were not notified early on either, their approaches as the event unfold is anything but 5 star service. The boat basically almost never embark and to actually extend the trip when it was able to sail, they asked to charge more.

As an irony to the hard to find Cancellation Policy, one can find reassuring statements from Aggressor's "StormCheck" program such as:

"If weather forecasts or conditions appear threatening to the safety of the passengers and staff, the captain will make necessary arrangements to evacuate guests. The captain will order and arrange for guests to be removed from the vessel, accompanied by a staff member and taken to an inland resort/hotel or government approved shelter. The vessel will be moved to a sheltered harbor away from the storm's predicted path, prepared and secured by the remaining staff."

Although that pertains to a named storm, nonetheless the boat was stranded due to weather forecast. The only accommodation offered to the 12 of us on this trip was to remain on board or be considered as cancelling by abandonment if leaving early

Just for the sake of some "accounting" speculation. Fare for this trip per person is approx. $3000-3500 USD, so that would make the total guest payment approx. up to $42000 USD in gross profit. Staff number is about 12+ with four local dive master. According some of the Indo dive guides/dive masters I met, average DM salary is usually considered higher and roughly $125-300 USD monthly (2-5 Million IDR). Soon after the Indo Aggressor contract fiasco, any info with Indo Aggressor is completely removed from Aggressor.com. This should provide some interesting perspective.

We go through the trouble of paying thousands, hopping planes for 20+ hours for the love of diving in renowned & remote sites like Batu Balong, Secret Garden, Yellow Rock etc. A preventable, expensive "staycation" was the only offer in the end. One cannot help but felt Aggressor's approach to be manipulative, complete disregard of customer's precious time, and totally "lose-win" against the customer.

The salaries for dive masters are much higher. The official minimum wages start at 230 USD. For dive masters the salary on live a boards is often 7 - 8 Million.