PADI and the others

[stevenl]

1500-2000 would be fair

On what did you base this amount?

 

[h90]

With what? only needing 50% to pass the rescue course, rescue courses offered in 1 day, not being able to rent tanks, PADI DC's not allowing divers from other agencies to dive there, etc.

the red one is not from me, the rest: take your advance c card if you still have it and visit the DC in Pattaya...you can verify that.

 

[h90]

On what did you base this amount?

On the quality and on the prices at other areas.

The Dive Site Asia once offer 4500 Baht for 5 day-trips with own equipment (I think at the TDEX was the offer).
Unfortunately they sold their business.

 

[stevenl]

On the quality and on the prices at other areas.

Ok, so no connection to the business point of view, but based on what you think the quality of diving and service etc. is worth. fair enough, that is one way to look at it.

the red one is not from me, the rest: take your advance c card if you still have it and visit the DC in Pattaya...you can verify that.

That would mean low service quality and low standards.

 

[h90]

Ok, so no connection to the business point of view, but based on what you think the quality of diving and service etc. is worth. fair enough, that is one way to look at it.

Just based on willingness to spend money there and in compare with other places.
Of course everyone has different opinions on that.

 

[Thalassamania]

In any case, paying to be taken diving by someone who is also paying seems a bit strange to me.

 

[h90]

In any case, paying to be taken diving by someone who is also paying seems a bit strange to me.

Many of the smaller DC in Pattaya don't have an own boat, so you end up at the mermaid boat (I think, at least the last time it was the former Paradise now Mermaid boat with 3 companies on it).

 

[Bowmouth]

Many of the smaller DC in Pattaya don't have an own boat, so you end up at the mermaid boat (I think, at least the last time it was the former Paradise now Mermaid boat with 3 companies on it).

In Phuket it's basically the same. Although there are lots of DC's, not all of them do operate their own vessel.
DC's that operate their own boat try to get as many divers as possible on their boat by paying a (rather large) commission to other DC's booking divers on their vessel.
This also counts for tour operators and other "agencies" or shops that sell dive tours on Phuket.

Sometimes it leads to a "commission-war" when there are few tourists around and day trip boat operators desperately try to get their vessels full (and cover their overheads).
This is nice for the DC that sends its divers (and reaps a large commission) but it doesn't do anything good for the customer; they still end up paying the same day trip rate.

 

[lord khram]

I checked realdiver and mermaid and the charge 3000 incl equipment (and less with own equipment).
But it is still to much....1500-2000 would be fair.

Where did you check? are the websites up to date.? Check Aquanauts and Dive South East asia and Pattaya dive centre. By Aquanauts own admission on another thread all the shops in Pattaya agreed to up their prices in November to 3300 baht, but mermaids never increased theirs, and as I have stated previously DSEA charges even more if you want to go to the far islands, the khram or Samae san. This increase was due to the high fuel prices at the time. What about a comparable reduction now the fuel is down to pre 2008 prices?

 

[lord khram]

I checked realdiver and mermaid and the charge 3000 incl equipment (and less with own equipment).
But it is still to much....1500-2000 would be fair.

Totally agree. for the level of service offered around Pattaya that would be more than enough.