MY Emperor Raja Laut LOB to Komodo

[OrcaBoy87]

Hi

I am considering to do LOB at Komodo in mid Aug 2018. Phinisi Lady Denok is my first choice but too bad a group has already chartered the whole boat. So I am currently looking at MY Emperor Raja Laut. Has anyone tried this LOB before? any reliable review?

As Emperor Raja Laut only do 3 dives a day (which is not enough for me ) I plan to stay for another 3 days after the 7D LOB at Scuba Junkie to continue diving. Not sure if this is a good plan though.

 

[OrcaBoy87]

Hmmm now considering this ILike Liveaboard instead, also doing Komodo in mid Aug this year. Did anyone here join their trip before and is willing to give me some review on this operator?

Link is here: Liveaboard Ilike

Thanks!

 

[outofofficebrb]

I’ve done a LOB in Komodo but not the ones you speak of. It was earlier in my dive portfolio and I did a 4 day stint when i was a newer diver. I have read from others on this board who have said you don’t need more than 7 days here. They’ve mentioned you really can see it all in 4-5 days and the rest is icing on top. So, to stay another 3 days after your 7 day liveaboard might be a lot. I can’t remember which thread this appeared in but maybe you’ll have luck with a search.

Have you dived Bali before? It might be fun to throw in some diving there. Or if you have extra time and can add on even more days you can head up to Sulawesi and check out Lembeh or Bunaken if their diving interests you.

 

[OrcaBoy87]

I’ve done a LOB in Komodo but not the ones you speak of. It was earlier in my dive portfolio and I did a 4 day stint when i was a newer diver. I have read from others on this board who have said you don’t need more than 7 days here. They’ve mentioned you really can see it all in 4-5 days and the rest is icing on top. So, to stay another 3 days after your 7 day liveaboard might be a lot. I can’t remember which thread this appeared in but maybe you’ll have luck with a search.

Have you dived Bali before? It might be fun to throw in some diving there. Or if you have extra time and can add on even more days you can head up to Sulawesi and check out Lembeh or Bunaken if their diving interests you.

Thanks for the helpful input.

For Bali i have done Tulamben and Nusa Lembongan & Penida. Any other places in Bali would you recommend?

 

[Scubajeg1]

Menjangen island.... Wonderful.

 

[Mower]

Hi
I’ve recently did a LOB on Raja Laut in Raja Ampat and enjoyed it. From chatting to the Cruise/Boat Director I found out it’s a boat that is now partly owned by a couple of parties. I booked through Emperor Divers and the boat was full, equipped, but with a newly hired chef and 2 newly hired guides plus the director. This meant in honesty the quality of the dive guides were mixed, though RA dive sites were very good. To be fair I got a good price so it hard to get super fussy but I can’t help but feel with a bit more organisation from the parties involved(no communication between Emperor and the Boat/Cruise Director) and maybe more experienced guides and director( we couldn’t get on some of the famous Misool sites because they weren’t fully booked) it could have been better. All said food was very good, enjoyed the boat, crew superb, and the boat director seemed after some long enjoyable conversations to be more experienced in Komodo than RA so I’d feel you could see the best of that area , if it’s the same person. That said they all the crew, etc seem to change a lot from what was said in the conversations I had. I’ve never done Komodo, though it’s on the list, but have done Emperor Diver LOB’s before, Maldives, which were good.

 

[OrcaBoy87]

Hi
I’ve recently did a LOB on Raja Laut in Raja Ampat and enjoyed it. From chatting to the Cruise/Boat Director I found out it’s a boat that is now partly owned by a couple of parties. I booked through Emperor Divers and the boat was full, equipped, but with a newly hired chef and 2 newly hired guides plus the director. This meant in honesty the quality of the dive guides were mixed, though RA dive sites were very good. To be fair I got a good price so it hard to get super fussy but I can’t help but feel with a bit more organisation from the parties involved(no communication between Emperor and the Boat/Cruise Director) and maybe more experienced guides and director( we couldn’t get on some of the famous Misool sites because they weren’t fully booked) it could have been better. All said food was very good, enjoyed the boat, crew superb, and the boat director seemed after some long enjoyable conversations to be more experienced in Komodo than RA so I’d feel you could see the best of that area , if it’s the same person. That said they all the crew, etc seem to change a lot from what was said in the conversations I had. I’ve never done Komodo, though it’s on the list, but have done Emperor Diver LOB’s before, Maldives, which were good.

Thanks for the heads-up. I did not book Raja Laut eventually, have booked another LOB called iLike for Komodo this coming August. It seems to be owned by folks from Belgium, not sure about the quality, am just gona try it out.

 

[divenski]

OrcaBoy - how was the Ilike? I'm considering them for next fall and it's hard to find reviews. I'm interested in the boat, dive guides, overall organization of the trip, etc. Thanks!

 

[OrcaBoy87]

OrcaBoy - how was the Ilike? I'm considering them for next fall and it's hard to find reviews. I'm interested in the boat, dive guides, overall organization of the trip, etc. Thanks!

Sry for the late reply. The boat and operation is fine. The dives were conducted professionally. Local guides know where to look for stuff. The accommodation is decent, not luxurious. If your main aim is to dive, not so much on luxury, it is a good choice imo.