looking for a good dive op Grand Cayman

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Erroneous info is posted everywhere, every day. The biggest problem with the internet is that opinion suddenly is morphed into fact. I've been asked repeatedly by dive ops to post positive reviews on Tripadvisor. I think their ratings mean nothing.
 
I have been researching dive trips and dive operators for 20 years. I look at Undercurrent, I look at SB, I ask specific questions on SB, and I communicate directly with operators with my questions. I have looked at Tripadvisor a few times and found many of the reviews biased, uninformed, and generally useless for this purpose.
 
TripAdvisor is interesting. I don't like the way the Review section is organized and I know of venues including dive ops that pay for Reviews. A dead giveaway is when someone only has 1 Review and has said nothing else about their trip. However, sadly many potential customers do search on sites like TA especially causual recreational divers and they believe what they see (I did the same thing with a hotel in the Florida Keys a few years back -- went to highest rated and it was poor). However another problem on the forums is when people who have not actually experienced something cut and paste what they have "heard" or "read". The point is that it is supposed to be travelers who have used a service or venue and are actually sharing first hand experience. Another issue the "advice" being doled out by people who are not qualified to give it and because they are prolific, the advice may be taken. When it is a specific question I think it is best to contact the venue or contact a professional in the field where the question originates. I have been diving for many years and while I am a good recreational diver would not give advice unless it is something like where to find a good mask, or can you recommend a good op (my advice on that one is usually to use an inhouse if there is one because the level here is pretty much excellent across the board). It is actually mean when people write things like I have heard that so and so is this or that unless they have actually dove with that op in the last year or so to give credence to what they are saying. Cutting and pasting from SB to TA or vice versa is also counter productive. I could say something really bad about a competitor here which is totally untrue and someone could cut and paste to TA and actually hurt that business based on totally false info. All of us have ability to google if we can get on these sites. Would be really nice if people could just be honest and stick to what they actually experienced to be the trust. I do know (kid in the industry) that the hotels at least actually give better internal reviews to employees who get mentioned for giving good service from guests who write about their experience on TA. The TA rating system is set up in such as way as to almost encourage venues to push guests to write reviews. There are certain people that will never be the "review writer types" and they are often the long term repeat customers who really know how an op works. It is a shame that there is no way to actually monitor who is writing but it is no different than the forums where I guess you just have to become savvy. Sadly not only does negative info get posted unfairly, but downright harmful advice can be given which as someone who loves diving and is involved in the industry I find downright shameful. It is what it is.
 

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