Truk Blue Lagoon Resort Review...

[Geoff_H]

Generally speaking that's true, in most locations, but in Truk I would not do a liveaboard. The liveabords are right out in the same lagoon, mere yards from us land based divers. The liveabords did not get to any wrecks that we coud not get to, if we had asked. We also have the luxury of mobility, not to mention we paid a lot less for essentailly the same thing.

You had mobility - but what the hell is there to do on Chuuk island? My friends rented a car for a day and returned if after 2 hours. Are there any bars, restaurants or attractions outside the resort?

Personally I'll jump at the chance to do five dives a day by falling off the back of the boat rather than have access to drive up and down the Chuukese roads that go nowhere all day long. No bumpy rides out, no setting up/breaking down gear and the ability to dive when I want to - not when the boat leaves!

Typically we would moor up somewhere at 6am, have the whole morning free for diving anytime and then gently motor over to somewhere else at lunch. You could dive at 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00 10:30, 11:00 or any combination that took your fancy. Very mature and laid back diving!

Given the costs are similar, I think you'd have to be completely mad to choose the resort over the Odyssey. The food and service are incomparably better on the boat too.

 

[pilot fish]

RJP, I don't have the figures at hand but I think I rememebr pricing both out and the Blue Lagoon was cheaper by over 1500 usd? But, that aside, you do get to dive more on the liveaboard and, from what I'm seeing, you got better tasting food. I did not have the experience of waiting that long for food but whatever the wait, I'm sure yours was quicker. I thought the food was Coz resort quality

Geoff, yes, that type of diving is far superior to land based, but I felt I did all the diving I wanted to, 3 and sometimes 4 a day, mostly 3. I have heard very good things about the Odessey. If you can't book the Odessey then book the Blue Lagoon. Wasn't the Thorfin wrecked in a fire last year? Chuuk/Truk was dismal nothing to see. I never left the resort but the resort was large and had great places to relax under the palms.

 

[RJP]

RJP, I don't have the figures at hand but I think I rememebr pricing both out and the Blue Lagoon was cheaper by over 1500 usd?

Not sure how that could be the case, given the following "back of an envelope" calculations...

Blue Lagoon Costs/Day

DIVING
Three Tank Dives $135
Night Dive $75
Nitrox $30 (if they have it!)
= $240 daily diving costs
= $1,440 for 6 days of diving

ACCOMMODATIONS
Hotel $150
Meals $50
Drinks $10
Soft drinks $10
Snacks $5
= $225 daily accommodations cost
= $1575 for 7 days accommodations

Week at Blue Lagoon $3,015 total

Week on Odyssey $2,795 total

I know I've seen 5 day "packages" for Blue Lagoon at $1500 or so, but they only included hotel and 2 dives/day. When you do as close as possible to an "apples to apples" comparison the math shows there's no real savings.

 

[pazz]

Pardon my interruption of your discussion about pricing, but I have a question for RJP. When you priced out both options did you use single occupancy for the Blue Lagoon and double occupancy for the Odyssey? I ask because shown below are the prices from the Odyssey website.

Per person double occupancy: $2,795
Guaranteed single occupancy: $4,195

When I go on vacation I have no desire to share a room with a stranger (unless she’s really good looking), and I am very reluctant to pay the single rate that liveaboards charge. Although, I have paid the single rate when the area had no good land based options (e.g. the Solomons, Komodo, etc.). Also, I have become very happy with 3 dives per day. I had a single room at the Blue Lagoon and I was very happy with the resort and the diving (really liked the SAN FRANCISCO MARU).

 

[RJP]

I ask because shown below are the prices from the Odyssey website.

Per person double occupancy: $2,795
Guaranteed single occupancy: $4,195

When I go on vacation I have no desire to share a room with a stranger...

I, on the other hand, have no desire to pay an additional $1,400 to AVOID sharing a room with a stranger!



Seriously, on a liveaboard essentially the only time you're in your cabin is when you're asleep so what's the difference? You're sharing the whole boat with strangers anyway. Why lay out what amounts to enough money to pay for a whole nother dive trip to avoid seeing one of those strangers for a few minutes each morning and evening?

That said, I got lucky on my first week as I had a whole double cabin to myself. Second week I had a roommate and he was fine.

PS - I know several people who have traveled on the Odyssey as a single, didn't pay for the "guaranteed single occupancy" and ended up getting a single cabin anyway. If you're traveling as a single they need to put you somewhere, and if the single cabin is available that's where they're going to put you.

 

[Geoff_H]

Yeah, the Odyssey has a couple of single cabins at the end of the hall.. I had one of these on my first trip and used one of the regular cabins on the second.

 

[bill22]

I'll be moving to Guam the end of this year and hope to dive Chuuk next year.

Great trip report and great info in this thread, thanks!