Red Sea (Egypt) closed (covid-19 confined)

[Ministryofgiraffes]

LOL! I can't wait to get back.

I was in Fiji for my first time when the border closed and spent a couple of days scrambling to get on a repatriation flight to the US. I have never seen such beautiful coral in my life. And sharks on every dive. It was just exquisite. The coral. Just so nice. Some of the currents were gnarly, though.

Did you hear any updates about your 2nd trip yet or come up with a solution? I saw that ‘MY Aphrodite‘ and ‘MY Dolce vita’ and apparently sailing from PG on the 15th..also a couple from hurgh...and that’s a quick run up from PG

 

[P-Dog]

Did you hear any updates about your 2nd trip yet or come up with a solution? I saw that ‘MY Aphrodite‘ and ‘MY Dolce vita’ and apparently sailing from PG on the 15th..also a couple from hurgh...and that’s a quick run up from PG

I haven't heard anything yet. I decided what I'd like to do is the one week on the boat and the second at a resort. That makes it very simple to get home (with all the required testing).

I'll go back in April/May for the second week of the liveaboard. So, I called and told PADI Travel yesterday. We'll see what happens.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

super. did you find a resort? I was asking the Padi guys what was available in the red sea and they said that now no trips on samira are confirmed as they apparently had some cancellations and may cancel all trips in August i don't want to cause you stress, but you might want to check that... i was going to come on the 8th and the 15th trip, but they said at this stage they can't say for sure that any are sailing...even if i joined they wouldn't have enough people for either....yet. i also think that they are going to struggle to add more people as they are charging the mandatory single supplement to join the trips... i told them i would join with no discount to make up the numbers ( usual price for 1 x pax), but they then said it would be 50% more expensive than a usual single to make up the costs....

so in essence they are struggling for numbers and their strategy is to increase the costs....definitely a bit of classic 'inshallah' there

i don't hide the fact that the PADI booking site annoys me immensely as the information on it is usually incorrect and they rarely correct it when you bring the errors to their attention...but the boat then confirmed all the info to me directly..

 

[P-Dog]

super. did you find a resort? I was asking the Padi guys what was available in the red sea and they said that now no trips on samira are confirmed as they apparently had some cancellations and may cancel all trips in August i don't want to cause you stress, but you might want to check that... i was going to come on the 8th and the 15th trip, but they said at this stage they can't say for sure that any are sailing...even if i joined they wouldn't have enough people for either....yet. i also think that they are going to struggle to add more people as they are charging the mandatory single supplement to join the trips... i told them i would join with no discount to make up the numbers ( usual price for 1 x pax), but they then said it would be 50% more expensive than a usual single to make up the costs....

so in essence they are struggling for numbers and their strategy is to increase the costs....definitely a bit of classic 'inshallah' there

i don't hide the fact that the PADI booking site annoys me immensely as the information on it is usually incorrect and they rarely correct it when you bring the errors to their attention...but the boat then confirmed all the info to me directly..

What???? Padi told me that the only trip in jeopardy was the one on the 15th. Sweet baby Jesus. If this doesn't happen I will be royally pissed.

Now that you gave me this information, I'm going to call them now.

That is upsetting that you were going to go, but their price increase is preventing it. :-(

 

[P-Dog]

super. did you find a resort? I was asking the Padi guys what was available in the red sea and they said that now no trips on samira are confirmed as they apparently had some cancellations and may cancel all trips in August i don't want to cause you stress, but you might want to check that... i was going to come on the 8th and the 15th trip, but they said at this stage they can't say for sure that any are sailing...even if i joined they wouldn't have enough people for either....yet. i also think that they are going to struggle to add more people as they are charging the mandatory single supplement to join the trips... i told them i would join with no discount to make up the numbers ( usual price for 1 x pax), but they then said it would be 50% more expensive than a usual single to make up the costs....

so in essence they are struggling for numbers and their strategy is to increase the costs....definitely a bit of classic 'inshallah' there

i don't hide the fact that the PADI booking site annoys me immensely as the information on it is usually incorrect and they rarely correct it when you bring the errors to their attention...but the boat then confirmed all the info to me directly..

Okay, I just got off the phone with the best person at Padi Travel I've dealt with. I've talked with her several times now and she's located here on the same island as me. LOL

Discovery Divers, apparently, had a bunch of cancellations over the weekend for the 8/8/20 sailing. I may be the only passenger still reserved to go at this point. So, although is was confirmed to go, it isn't anymore. We have a 12 hour time change between here and Egypt, so she has reached out to them with a few solutions - a full refund, a reschedule, or still sailing (with just me, so that is highly unlikely). I suspect I'll get a re-schedule.

She says that Discovery Divers is very responsive to her emails and responds right away. Hopefully, I will know something by tomorrow.

Until then, it seems little pointless to search for a resort or anything since I may not be going. I suppose I could book with another boat that is sailing, but I've already paid to go with Discovery Divers and don't want to shell out another boatload of cash. That being said, who is confirmed sailing on the 8th?

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Ugh. It’s frustrating for sure, but at least you know I suppose.

I’m basically trying to find anyone who is sailing on the 8th and 15th in the Red Sea but it’s basically needle in haystack stuff... loads of joints are 100% definitely sailing...until they ain’t...

I am finding padi travel basically useless to be honest.. if they had at least 10 divers targeting those dates, you would think by now they would have managed to group them altogether on one boat For the dates. Your boat wasn’t even initially recommended to me until I asked specifically..and then the price as incorrect...and it still is...


I’m honestly willing to bet there will be 8boats with. 2 divers each got the same dates, all of which go on to cancel when all the divers could have just congregated on one boat and guaranteed a sail...

 

[P-Dog]

Ugh. It’s frustrating for sure, but at least you know I suppose.

I’m basically trying to find anyone who is sailing on the 8th and 15th in the Red Sea but it’s basically needle in haystack stuff... loads of joints are 100% definitely sailing...until they ain’t...

I am finding padi travel basically useless to be honest.. if they had at least 10 divers targeting those dates, you would think by now they would have managed to group them altogether on one boat For the dates. Your boat wasn’t even initially recommended to me until I asked specifically..and then the price as incorrect...and it still is...


I’m honestly willing to bet there will be 8boats with. 2 divers each got the same dates, all of which go on to cancel when all the divers could have just congregated on one boat and guaranteed a sail...

You are absolutely right. We should all just get put onto the same boat...except, of course that each of the dive companies want to hold onto the money they've been paid. In doing that, they don't sail and get to keep the money while all of the customers are unhappy.

I just talked to Liveaboard.com and asked for any boats they know that are going on the 8th and she told me the Samira. I told HER that the Samira is no longer confirmed. She was really surprised. She said the Tillis and JP Marine are confirmed for the 15th. I'm wondering if I want to go to a resort for the first week and, maybe, try to get on the Tillis on the 15th. That will mean re-working my flights again...this is starting to get a little tiring.

Have you contacted Discovery Divers directly? I'd email them directly and ask them, point blank, how many people they need to sail, how many they currently have, and tell them you want a full refund if you sign up at this late date and they don't go. See if they will play ball with you.

If you get something in writing that says they will refund you and then they don't you will win with your credit card company if you end up contesting the charges.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Yeah, discovery were very upfront with me. They also responded quickly. The 50% Mandatory upcharge is the killer as they said they wouldn’t sail without at least 10 divers...So I said it will just end up being a case of using them as a last resort if I couldn’t find another boat and still only then booking about 48hours before leaving...

‘there are some other boats not on padi ‘Oceanus? I think’ and some others.. one that is something like bielzibub...

at this stage I’m cool to jump on anything on the 8th and 15th.. but don’t want to give money to have it cancelled and then get stuck with those bozos when there is another boat I could have jumped on...

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Also I’m dealing with the tillis guys directly. I’ll report back..

 

[P-Dog]

Yeah, discovery were very upfront with me. They also responded quickly. The 50% Mandatory upcharge is the killer as they said they wouldn’t sail without at least 10 divers...So I said it will just end up being a case of using them as a last resort if I couldn’t find another boat and still only then booking about 48hours before leaving...

‘there are some other boats not on padi ‘Oceanus? I think’ and some others.. one that is something like bielzibub...

at this stage I’m cool to jump on anything on the 8th and 15th.. but don’t want to give money to have it cancelled and then get stuck with those bozos when there is another boat I could have jumped on...

I'm still waiting to hear back, as well. I don't want to/can't throw money at another live-aboard that takes three days to reach when I have so much spent already with Discovery Divers. I thought about just going and just staying at a resort, but that's two whole weeks in a resort. I'm open to resort suggestions that are affordable, but I'm traveling by myself so it may not be much fun.

I need to head to Las Vegas for two weeks for some appointments (two appointments with a two week break in between). Maybe I could head down to Cozumel during the interim and postpone Egypt until the spring....Is Mexico even open? It's easy to reach from Vegas. That might be a solution for me.