On our first trip to Coz we hired a private DM from Blue XTsea since my wife hadn't been in the water in a while and had never done a drift dive before so she was a little apprehensive about the currents. Ended it up also doing it for the next day just because it was such an enjoyable experience just having the two of us with a DM. But the other days there were usually just 4 on the boat, max of 6 so no issues like happen with crowds on a larger boat.
I really like small groups and can appreciate even having the private guided experience of your own DM. We went to Dominica in June and did 11 dives with a small op (Nature Island Dive). Of the 11 dives 5 had only my wife and I and the other 6 had only two other divers, it was great. One day we went out with the big op (Dive Dominica) who run a really good operation but there were 11 divers (all very experienced) and 2 DM's in the group, so even though the staff and operation were good, and the other divers experienced, the overall dive experience wasn't nearly as fun. But I also like talking to other divers on the boat so for me the ideal probably wouldn't be a private boat, but maybe a small boat and my own DM for the diving. But even at only $50 a trip for private DM it adds up to $300 for a week and I'd rather use that money to add a night and dive day, as long as the group was 6 or less.
