More on the Deep Blue in Galapagos

[Adventurenut]

The trip exceeded all my expectations. I thought nothing would be ever as
good as the Cocos Island trip last year. I was wrong. Overall I would rate
the diving every bit as good as Cocos, and everything else at least as good
or better than Cocos. High praise considering the really excellent quality
of the crew on Sea Hunter at Cocos. But the crew on Deep Blue was every
bit as competent, and they went the extra mile. It was obvious our
enjoyment was their agenda. One example: One spectacular dive on Wolf
Island, I was running short of air, as I always do, earlier than everyone
else. We were just about to enter a cavern system and I did not want to do
this with 750 psi in my tank. I showed my guage to our diveguide Antonio,
who then personally guided me through the caverns in a somewhat quicker
fashion, knowing I would have plenty of air to do this, and I got to see
everything. Salome, the other guide, was equally helpful and solicitous on
many dives. Regarding the rest of the nonguide crew, Alfredo (another
customer) and I both had birthdays on June 30, the crew had a big birthday
party for us, the chef baked a cake for us both, and one of the other guests
gave us disk copies of their fotos.
James from the shark diving company (Great White Adventures)
who was running the trip did a great job overall, I've never seen anyone who likes sharks so much as this guy. The crew was always respectful,
never demeaning, and beyond this just alot of fun. Regarding fellow
divers, a really rowdy and fun bunch of very emotionally expressive divers
from Venezuela (i.e. laughing, hugging, high fives, crying, etc. after our
great whale shark encounters, etc.) Also a super dive buddy did not
detract! Gourmet food for every meal, warm towels after every dive, large
hot showers for every cabin with plenty of fresh hot water rounded out the
excellent physical support on this boat. Nitrox, four dives a day, liberal
restrictions for advanced divers, and a great camera table. And of course,
the phenomenal diving with hammerheads, whitetips, galapagos sharks, eagle
rays, a manta ray, a school of golden rays, turtles, tons of morays,
seals, batfish, clouds of smaller fish, jacks, and three different
whaleshark sightings. I'd say I have very little to complain about.
Overall one of my best dive trips ever. My only criticism? They do not
take credit cards for their tips, but I was lucky to have my buddy lend me
the money for this, later reimbursing him via a visit to an Equadoran Bank.
Overall, I would not hesitate to return and recommend this destination and
this operation most highly. Ken at Galapagosadventures.com set everything
up very professionally for me.

 

[WaterKtn]

Thanks so much for the report! I'm going next year and can look forward to it that much more

 

[Doc]

My only criticism? They do not
take credit cards for their tips

A couple of different recent threads from FionaB have centered on this. Her group has been told what the "tip" was up front so it can be paid as part of the trip... in advance.

Anything like that for you folks?

 

[GalapagosDiveOperator]

The economic and banking situation in Ecuador is a lot different than it is here in the states and getting set up to accept credits cards is much more difficult in Ecuador. Therefore the Deep Blue is currently unable to accept credit cards. Hopefully this will change in the near future. Considering the Deep Blue is probably the nicest dive yacht in Galapagos and is priced at least $500 less per week than any of the comparable yachts, this is a relatively minor inconvenience.
However some passengers prefer not to carry around a lot of cash and that is understandable. I have discussed this issue with the owner of the yacht and some of the crew members and the crew has decided to set up their own bank account so that passengers will be able to pre-pay their tip prior to departure if they so choice. This service should be available in the very near future.
FionaB is part of a British group booked through a UK operator. The British groups tip so poorly the crew doesn’t want to work for them. See my post on this web site at http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=2123547 for more details. Therefore to solve this issue we requested a 10% service charge from those groups instead of asking them to a tip the crew at the end of cruise. Unfortunately some members of these groups did not like this idea and have made some posts on this web site about it. I was informed today by the UK operator that these individuals have since dropped off the trip and have already been replaced. Therefore everyone should be happy now and hopefully this will be the end of this issue. Dive safe !

 

[DeputyDan]

Regarding fellow
divers, a really rowdy and fun bunch of very emotionally expressive divers
from Venezuela (i.e. laughing, hugging, high fives, crying, etc. after our
great whale shark encounters, etc.)

I did some diving with folks from Venezuela last year. They were just as entertaining as the diving. I really enjoyed their company.

Too bad politics keeps us American's from getting to know citizens from that Country much better.

 

[Damselfish]

I have discussed this issue with the owner of the yacht and some of the crew members and the crew has decided to set up their own bank account so that passengers will be able to pre-pay their tip prior to departure if they so choice. This service should be available in the very near future.

Can they pay a tip this way after the trip? As a tip should be paid? In advance it's not a tip IMO.

 

[Darnold9999]

Can they pay a tip this way after the trip? As a tip should be paid? In advance it's not a tip IMO.

I agree, tip reflects service received. If it is up front it is the price of the trip not a tip. The tip I give reflects the service I received - good service good tip - poor service poor tip.

 

[GalapagosDiveOperator]

This is all a moot point until the crew sets up their own account. For all I know, they may decide not to even do it for one reason or another. If and when they do get their own account, pre-paying the tip will be a service for clients that do not want to carry a bunch of cash down to Ecuador with them. Anyone not wishing to use the service can simply tip the old fashion way – with cash or traveler’s checks at the end of the cruise. Once the yacht is set up to accept credit cards, this service will no longer be necessary and will probably be discontinued.

 

[Doc]

For all I know...

Thanks for responding with your statement. Good to have you here. Stick around. Join in on other Galapagos related stuff, as well.

I take one issue with something you repeated several times. You kept mentioning that the crew "would do their job" no matter what. If the tip was an issue, there might be some "above and beyond" type stuff.

Therein lies the real problem.