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Pipefish
03-23-2011, 06:06 AM
My wife and I had initially planned a Similan liveaboard trip, and had chosen the Danish-operated Adaman International Dive Centre (AIDC) because
1. the AIDC web site states that the dives take place in a marine park, thus promising good coral and fish life;
2. AIDC offered a 5d/5n trip with 19 dives, more than most other companies,for 24580 THB per diver including gear and park fee, translating into a good cost per dive ratio;
3. AIDC is operating out of Ranong, which is accessible more quickly than Phuket by land from Bangkok.
Due to a case of death that occured in the closest family, we had to cancel the Similan trip. Note that AIDC does not offer any refunds, not even under these circumstances. In order not to lose our downpayment, we had the option to join their later Burma trip at an additional cost of 7420 THB per person. The AIDC website describes this as “one of the most beautiful and unchartered places in the world”.

Arrival at the Dive Shop in Ranong
We were asked to meet at the dive centre at 12pm on the day of departure, the operator explicitly wrote to us not to be late. Our bus arrived at 11.20am, and the staff told us that the boat would leave late that day, although it was unclear at what time. We filled in the liability release forms. We were never asked to show our diver certification cards.
We then had to chose our rental dive gear. We would normally have taken M-sized wetsuits, but found that the ones in the dive shop were too small. We were explained that they were "Asian sizes". There was only one L-size wetsuit in the dive shop, which did not properly fit either, but was more comfortable than the too small M. All the wetsuits were ripped at the bum (we sewed one of the big holes ourselves).
We had to spend the afternoon waiting for departure. At no point were we told the time of departure. So we were having coffees until we were finally picked up and driven to the harbour at around 3.20pm.

The Vessel
AIDC operates the MV Thai Sea, which has 2 upper deck and 6 lower deck cabins accommodating 2 people each. All are the same price, despite considerable differences in comfort. We were assigned one of the lower deck cabins directly above the engine. The cabin stank of diesel fuel, and one could actually look at the engine through cm-wide slits in the wooden boards below our mattresses. The boat was full, so we could not change to another cabin. It was not possible for us to sleep in our assigned cabin due to the bad smell and noise. We would spend the nights outside, on the upper sun deck, but the maximum time of sleep we could catch was 5 hours per night due to winds, and waves splashing on the deck. During the day, unfortunately, there was no place to retreat to for the so much needed rest between dives. We were promised to have engines and generator shut down for the nights when the boat was anchored and not moving to the next dive site, but after the first night other customers complained about the heat without the generator-powered aircon, so the generator was never swiched off again at night. We were boldly told that we could rest after our return to Ranong.
Due to problems with the gear box, the vessel broke down twice during the trip: once on the first day, and once on the day return was scheduled for. Necessary repairs and towing resulted in the trip being 2 days longer than initially planned. Sadly, there was no offer of apology from the management for this delay.

Dive Personnel
There were two Divemasters (including the AIDC owner) and one PADI instructor as underwater guides. The instructor was assigned to lead us and two other divers. On our first dive, my wife found that she required an additional weight, so we resurfaced after seconds. The instructor did not check for us and left with the other two divers. We obtained another weight from the always helpful local crew and dived independently.
Further, it became clear during the trip that the dive personnel were not very knowledgeable about the dive sites or the marine life to be found. At one point, we were told the next dive was going to be a wall dive, but merely found a sandy bottom at around 8 to 12 meters depth.

Diving in the Mergui Archipelago
The Mergui archipelago is not a marine national park. Each night one could count on average 40 fishing vessels with bright lights, apparently Thai boats fishing in Myanmar waters. Not surprisingly then, there was barely any fish life on the reefs. Rarely a school of fish to be seen. We had to focus on nudibranches and cowries - and indeed we saw quite a few of them. During some of our dives, we also heard the sounds of close-by dynamite fishing, and we found most reefs in a deplorable state, being heavily damaged (broken and dead) by the devastating dynamite explosions. The only positive aspect was the lack of coral bleaching, which is affecting many reefs in equatorial waters further south.

On-Board Service and Experience
In terms of diving, there were no detailed dive briefings: no hand sign reviews, no emergency procedures were ever recalled, no expected dive profiles and times were ever mentioned. We only found the duration of the night dives after wondering underwater why many divers were surfacing after a much shorter time than normal. There were no post-dive discussions. For night dives, we were handed one torch each, and when asking if this was considered sufficient, the instructor joked about how we would be unable to handle 5 torches. One of our lights promptly failed underwater and one of us was handed the instructor's torch. Now we had a dive guide without a light... We had one more torch in our group on the next night dive, when, funnily, two of them failed.
There were only 18 dives planned and not 19 as advertised. To do 19 dives, one had to ask for it and get up very early on the last day (which was difficult for us to agree to as we became more and more tired due to the cabin situation).
The food offered on board was overall disappointing. It consisted of a lot of pasta with some kind of sauce, rather than Thai dishes. Apart from fruit, there was little fresh food. Frequently we were served refried leftovers from previous meals. Overall junk food, as it was referred to by a fellow diver.
In the evenings, some of the Danish divers on board showed their dive videos, some of which contained scenes like forcefully pulling a distressed moray out of its hiding place, or cutting off a starfish's leg to feed a harlekin shrimp, all to the great amusement of many including the AIDC management and staff.

Return to Ranong
Having lost two days due to engine problems, we had only one day left instead of three for a relaxing time on a closeby island (and catching somesleep, which we urgently needed). Despite being less than 5 minutes drive off the way to the dive shop, AIDC refused to drop us off where we would have catched the boat for the island. Instead we had to first return to the dive centre in town and then make our own way back to catch the boat. We missed our boat as a result.

Conclusion
Too bad to be true? That's how it felt. Be warned!
Judging from our overall experience, AIDC has to be considered a very unprofessional and unfriendly company. The entire trip felt like a terrible mistake, a horrible rip-off. We hope to never experience anything similar again and would certainly not recommend diving with AIDC.

greenturtle
03-23-2011, 12:10 PM
So sorry to hear of your bad experience. However, we appreciate your posting to this forum and informing us. Will certainly take note of this operator. Thanks.

Aidc
03-25-2011, 03:06 AM
As manager for AIDC I will say that I’m very sorry that you had such a bad experience.

I will not comment everything, I will leave that to the other customers on board and former customers…
You can see our version on our blog http://www.aidcdive.com/Blog.htm
I can also recommend everybody to take a look on our Burma videos and make you own opinion about diving Burma.

However there are a few things I would like to say...

Its right if you cancel a trip less than 2 weeks before departure the full amount will be charged. We do that because we don’t have time to resell the space.
On the booking confirmation can you also see that we recommend a travel insurance that will cover your loss in cases like this.
You should normally have paid full price for the trip so I think I made you a very fair deal.

There is a simple reason why we say in our booking confirmation that you have to be here the day before or latest 12.00 the same day. Many times in Thailand the busses are planes are delayed.

When we have a technical problem it’s not funny for anybody, especially not for me. But I think we manage it very well and in a safe way (don’t forget that we were in Burma).
Everybody agreed about the delay, including you…

About our dive crew, Mischa, Carmen and myself, I don’t think you will find anybody else with more experience and passion for diving in Burma. Yes, sometimes we try new places and it can be good or less good.
You instested to dive alone with your dive master (your wife), maybe that’s why you missed all the good stuff everybody else was seeing.

About the food.. That’s the first time we have complaining about food… But maybe you are right about vegetarian food. We will try to do it better.
Normally we don’t serve fish on board, that’s my decision… And you know why! When you intersect an arm of a Sea star you will have 2 there is alive, when you eat a fish it will be dead forever.

About service before and after the trip, we try to do everything what we can to make everybody happy and in a comfortable way. We always pickup people and deliver them to Airport, Busses, Hotel or whatever and we do it from our dive shop. We try to plan it so it’s best for everybody. It’s not only going about you.

Everybody got an apology from me after the trip, but you decided to leave before I arrived to the dive shop.

Me and my crew (and all other costumers) think it was all in all a very nice trip, but you decided to go against that from the beginning, and I can only be sorry about that.

Good luck for your future Liveaboards…

Preben Jensen

jeja26
03-25-2011, 10:14 AM
Sorry to hear about your experience but I for one cannot recognize the experience. I have been diving with Preben twice in the past (the last trip being in Dec 2010). There were no problems at all - pick up, hotel, equipment were as promised. Friendly and accomadating.

The trip as a whole was a great experience as I put in the thread
http://www.**********.com/forums/general-asia/375336-review-5d-5n-burma-liveaboard-dive-trip-aicd-based-ranong-thailand.html#post5805889

My wife had a trial dive during the trip. Compared to the trial dive she had in Egypt she was very pleased with the competance of the instructor (very calm, experienced and competent) - to such a degree that she might take the full course.

The description of the boat is not my experience either. I have not done the Burma trip but intend to do it in the future sometime - with Preben and co.

Any vessel can have an accident I suppose - no matter how new or old. This does happen.

Once again sorry to hear your version but for my say - I cannot recognise any of it.

acelockco
03-26-2011, 03:10 AM
Wow, obviously you didn't enjoy the trip. I do understand your feelings and anger over the situation, but I also see the other side of the story. I must say, some of the things you were complaining about had nothing to do with the dive operation. I can't see how other fishermen and dynamite fishing are of any fault of the dive operator, in fact I am sure they do everything they can to fight things like that.

Waiting around for a few hours for a boat departure is common and expected. You are just starting vacation, relax, sit down, look around, have a drink, and relax....did I already say that? RELAX And although I don't purchase travel insurance, it is a good idea and would have helped in this situation. Nothing in the world is perfect.

Mechanical trouble is a very tricky situation, and it really does inconvenience everyone. And while the dive operator did not plan or want a mechanical problem, it does happen. I do feel that in a situation like that, although already costly to the operation for repairs; some type of reasonable refund should be offered as well as options. Remember travelers are limited by time, money and transportation. It is a dive operators responsibility to take the divers out and bring them back close to the scheduled time in a safe manor. The bottom line is you paid for something and you should get what you paid for.

I also understand your feelings on the diesel smell. I love diesel engines compared to gas (petrol), I can't stand the smell of diesel fuel or fumes. It is nauseating and something that would literally make me sick. There have been a few dive boats in the past that I won't use as the fumes are really bad. There are things that can be done to prevent the fumes and it is something that is a serious matter as carbon monoxide can kill very quickly! I don't know how I would have handled that situation personally, let me just say I would not sleep in there and would have made a huge issue out of it.

Dive masters, dive masters, dive masters.....oh where to start? There is so much to say about this issue I think there needs to be a thread on that alone. Here we go http://www.scubamagazine.net/showthread.php?p=20017#post20017

Food is another difficult thing to deal with, especially on a liveaboard. I think that most people on a liveaboard are going to be foreigners, so already there is going to be some issues. Things that one is used to having at home are not always available or reasonably available in that part of the world. The chef and cooks are locals who learned to cook locally but have to cook for a foreign audience, not only that, those people are also from around the world. To make things even more difficult, people have food allergies, and special diets to contend with. If you have special diet considerations, allergies, vegetarian, vegan, etc it is imperative that you make arrangements well in advance and also consider that a liveaboard vacation or maybe this location may not be right for you. And while I don't like leftovers, you are also on a boat with limited resources and wasting food is never a good thing. In my opinion leftovers would be OK as long as there were plenty of other fresh offerings as well and the leftovers were less then a day old.

I do hope that eventually you will be able to get past the bad experience and remember the good parts, and no matter what you tell me I am sure some the 18 dives were amazing. At this point there is obviously nothing more you can do and nothing more the operator is going to do. Hopefully all dive operators take these incidents and ideas seriously enough to remedy the situation if one of these or others exist on their vessel.

acelockco
03-26-2011, 03:17 AM
Oh, and another thing...I almost forgot and this one really pisses me off. DO NOT KILL, HURT, MAIM OR MOLEST THE ANIMALS OR CORAL IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!

I don't care if the starfish grows back its leg, grows back 30 legs or turns into a golden weed wacker, don't do it. You don't want me to cut your arms off do you? If I saw someone doing this, we would surely have words. If it continued, I would escalate the situation.

While I generally don't fish, I understand taking something for food so I am not completely unreasonable. Just don't bother things for your entertainment, use your eyes for that, not your hands.

Aidc
04-01-2011, 11:27 AM
Lars and Gitte ask me to put in this comment from the same trip….. Preben

When I read the comment from the Romanian couple, I could not even recognize the story. We were a group of 5 who was on the same trip.
It is true there were problems with the gear 2 times and we were delayed for the same reason. We were therefore in compensation, an extra day of diving and a private guided tour of the port city of Myanmar. All paid by AIDC.
We were all in the same boat and with good spirits (except the Romanian couple) we all got a really good experience. We knew that the Romanian couple stayed pretty much for themselves and were very often disputed our views. Now they write that someone close shortly had died. That I am sorry to hear, but that makes things clear to me . You always see the world based on your emotions. So maybe the Romanians should have chosen to postpone their travel. It makes me sorry on their behalf.

It also makes me sorry that it damages AIDC reputation, which is not justified.

I think we could have had 20 dives if we wanted.
I saw no air-condition in any of the cabins.
There was a briefing before each dive (if you were present and awake) and Romanians chose to dive alone, and since the competent diver instructors could not guide them, the Romanians obviously did not see the fantastic dive sites.
What a shame it will be if such a negative attitude is to prevent others from getting the same good experiences the rest of us got.
Some times damages occurs to a ship, that can happen to anyone and Preben did his utmost to make everyone happy.
We had a really good atmosphere on board. But maby the Romanian couple had expectations of more luxury and service. I can only recommend that they then take a luxury ship with French chefs, etc.
We had good Thai food and for fun (some of us - customers) made the dinner in the galley, because the cook was covered in oil as he desperately helped to repair the gear. That evening we made special meal for Romanians and we did our best with the vegetarian food. Here the Romanians also could have chosen to participate, but waited until we (who were also guests) served their food on the table and then they went to bed. They had a bed similar to the others on their deck and I have not heard others complain.
We had some great dives and the highlight for me was definitely the seven meter manta.
You are welcome to view pictures from this trip on our private web site under the gallery in the menu at http://www.hydrobia.dk.
We had a great trip and since it is the second time we were with AIDC in Myanmar and had not experienced any problems, I hope the readers will understand that the criticism in speak is based in an unhappy personal background more than in a sincere experience.
We clearly have a desire for another fantastic diving with AIDC, Preben, Carmen, Mischa, Pong and other crew members.

Sincerely,
Gitte and Lars

acelockco
04-01-2011, 05:00 PM
Wow, that actually sounds and looks like an amazing adventure! I don't think that manta was anywhere even close to 7 meters, it does look like it might have been 5-7 FEET.

Anyway, back to the original issue. Although it seems that Lars and Gitte had a great time, it is obvious that Pipefish did not. And while some of his complaints are not valid, some of the issues he brought up were. Everyone agreed that there were mechanical problems causing a delay. I see that you were given compensation in the form of additional dives and a land tour, that may not have been acceptable compensation for Pipefish.

I am glad Lars and Gitte enjoyed their trip, from seeing the photos I know I would have had the time of my life there. It looks like an amazing place and hopefully I am fortunate enough to make a similar trip someday. I also believe that the operator should have made a better attempt at correcting the things that happened. Hopefully the operator steps up and puts procedures into place to prevent problems in the future and has a policy in place that everyone agrees upon beforehand in case something like this happens again.

Pipefish
04-02-2011, 02:38 AM
Gitte and Lars, two Danish divers (just like Preben, the AIDC owner) had the luxury to stay in one of the two upper deck cabins, and obviously they did not had any problems with diesel fuel smell in their cabin.

I think many would dispute the views of divers who laugh about forcefully pulling a distressed moray out of its hiding place, or breaking a leg off a sea star.

Thank you for pointing out the mistake I made when I mentioned "air-conditioning". Of course I meant the fan, which of course also only runs with generator power at night.

Gitte and Lars where diving with another divemaster, so I cannot comment on their dive briefings. Our pre-dive communication with our instructor would not have passed PADI standards.

W.r.t. the food, we did not get only pasta, but "a lot of pasta". And we did appreciate the really nice food prepared for us on the last day by another Danish diver, who served this meal to all of us, not just to my wife and myself. We thanked the other Danish diver personally for preparing such a good meal, given that the ingredients were canned food left after an all too long liveaboard nightmare.

Yes, we did go to bed early, of course. If you read my review, you would know that we had not gotten much sleep at all during this trip, and you would know why.

The death of a close family member has nothing to do with the facts that I am stating in my review, apart from that it resulted in the AIDC owner pushing us onto the already full Burma boat, despite knowing about the cabin problem. You should be ashamed of even bringing it up, Preben!

Pipefish
04-02-2011, 02:49 AM
Thank you, Acelockco, for your views on this situation.

In my review I have tried to provide facts to other divers who are contemplating on taking a Burma liveaboard trip with AICD. Clearly, not all facts are the fault of AIDC (e.g. dynamite fishing). Nevertheless they are facts that potential customers should be aware of.

W.r.t. the boat breaking down, of course this can happen, but what is not reasonable is that there is no apology from the management. The owner stated that he apologised to everyone after we had left, but this is not true: a few divers actually left before us with private transport from the harbour.

Obviously given my experience it is hard for me to claim my review is objective - it cannot be. And if we were provided with reasonably professional service during our trip, I would not even have mentioned waiting for a few hours before departure on the first day. This is a minor point, that should not distract from the major flaws of the Adaman International Dive Center and the MV Thai Sea.

Aidc
04-02-2011, 06:49 AM
I will come back with some answers to some of the accusations, but we are on the way out for 5 days Burma trip and I don’t have the time now.
Will be back on April 8th.

Preben
Aidc

hallenbad
04-04-2011, 10:24 AM
Hi all, I am from germany, dive in thailand and burma since 1997 every year and have been to many liveaboards with more than 300 dives now. I don´t know why this pipefish is blaming AIDC and complaining about everything not only in this forum, maybe he is a notorious complainant or has something else in his mind only to destroy the reputation of AIDC. He should take a trip to thailand (TIT) and specially to burma as an adventure and enjoy the holiday.
I was with AIDC now 7 times on a trip and never had a bad experience. My last trip was burma march 14 to 19 and all 11 customers were happy and satiesfied, nothing to complain about. Preben, the danish manager does everything to organize a great trip, make everybody happy, sometimes it is not in his hand what happens in thailand or with the engine, The two Divemasters Carmen and Mischa have a very great passion for diving and I trust both of them to be good guides. The food on board was excellent, even a barbeque was offered, better than on other liveaboards. The atmosphäre an board was super, we had fun, talked about all the diving. Read the AIDC blog and have a look at the pics in the post above, so you can imagine how great it was. Sure, burma is not more that what it was 5 years ago due to the dynamite and overfishing , but still a great place to dive.
I must reject all what pipefish wrote and can highly recommend AIDC.
Gerd

Pipefish
04-10-2011, 01:42 PM
For my part, I will conclude this discussion by reiterating some of the facts that I stated in my original review, and which the replies in support of this deplorable organization failed to address specifically. Statements such as "I cannot recognise any of it" or "I must reject all what pipefish wrote" are easily made, but do not resolve any of these issues. For those who followed this discussion, here are the plain facts once again:

1. We would normally have taken M-sized wetsuits, but found that the ones in the dive shop were too small. We were explained that they were "Asian sizes". There was only one L-size wetsuit in the dive shop, which did not properly fit either, but was more comfortable than the too small M. All the wetsuits were ripped at the bum (we sewed one of the big holes ourselves).

2. AIDC operates the MV Thai Sea, which has 2 upper deck and 6 lower deck cabins accommodating 2 people each. All are the same price, despite considerable differences in comfort. We were assigned one of the lower deck cabins directly above the engine. The cabin stank of diesel fuel, and one could actually look at the engine through cm-wide slits in the wooden boards below our mattresses. The boat was full, so we could not change to another cabin. It was not possible for us to sleep in our assigned cabin due to the bad smell and noise. We would spend the nights outside, on the upper sun deck, but the maximum time of sleep we could catch was 5 hours per night due to winds, and waves splashing on the deck. During the day, unfortunately, there was no place to retreat to for the so much needed rest between dives. We were promised to have engines and generator shut down for the nights when the boat was anchored and not moving to the next dive site, but after the first night other customers complained about the heat without the generator-powered fans, so the generator was never swiched off again at night. We were boldly told that we could rest after our return to Ranong.

3. The instructor was assigned to lead us and two other divers. On our first dive, my wife found that she required an additional weight, so we resurfaced after seconds. The instructor did not check for us until he reached 10 meters depth. Although he apparently resurfaced to look for us, he failed to locate us.

4. For night dives, we were handed one torch each, and when asking if this was considered sufficient, the instructor joked about how we would be unable to handle 5 torches. One of our lights promptly failed underwater and one of us was handed the instructor's torch. Now we had a dive guide without a light... We had one more torch in our group on the next night dive, when, funnily, two of them failed.

5. In the evenings, some of the divers on board showed their dive videos, some of which contained scenes like forcefully pulling a distressed moray out of its hiding place, or cutting off a starfish's leg to feed a harlekin shrimp, all to the great amusement of many including the AIDC management and staff.

6. The boat was delayed for 2 days due to engine problems. Of course this can happen. However, there was no apology from AIDC, and no offer of a compensation for lost holiday time.

acelockco
04-10-2011, 06:34 PM
I really wish you had a better experience on your vacation. And honestly, at this point weather you were wrong, right or something in the middle I know I would not want to use AICD if I had the choice. No matter what the situation it is obvious that AICD did not try hard enough to make things right and are still arguing with you in regards to this.

Bottom line is you are a paying customer and should get what you paid for. If AICD couldn't provide what you paid for, a refund is in order. If AICD doesn't like it, they should reconsider their business.

jeja26
04-10-2011, 06:52 PM
Not quite sure what your intentions are Pipefish but I think you have made your point. You should however learn to accept that other people may have a different view and experiences than yourself, as in any other way of life. I also think that the readers of your ongoing verbal onslaught ( in at least 5 different forums under different names) can make their own decision. AIDC has existed for a number of years now and if they were as terrible as you want to make them this would have rumoured in the diving community by now.

The beauty of these forums are that anybody can have their say and be respected for that. A comparison may be Tripadvisor in the hotel world where readers can make their choice after reading several different opinions of the same hotel. The beauty of democracy and respect for opinions of others.

acelockco
04-11-2011, 07:20 PM
Not quite sure what your intentions are Pipefish

I think he is trying to let everyone know how unhappy he was with the services that AICD provided. I know if I spent the kind of money Pipefish spent I would expect to get what was promised and what I paid for. Anything less then what was agreed upon is a breach of contract and a refund should be issued. It is not uncommon in any business to issue a refund if services can not be rendered as specified in contract. And that my friends is the true beauty of democracy and respect for others!

jeja26
04-11-2011, 07:38 PM
Quite agree but surely that statement has been made with different points of views from management and other divers on the same trip. His grief / problem should therefore be solved between him and management and not by going on in circles and putting down other peoples points of views, solely because they are different to his. I find it odd that the same trip can be described in two so different ways.
He has made his point and it will not help trying to solve something in cyberspace and my suggestion is that he is crossing the border of respect towards others.

acelockco
04-12-2011, 03:31 PM
Obviously his problem was not solved between them and it is clear that the management doesn't want to take responsibility for their business and actions. AICD can always end this by making things right.

On another note, you mentioned you find it odd that the same trip can be described in two so different ways. I don't find this odd at all. Everyone in the world is unique and their views on things are all different. If that were not the case we would not even be talking right now. I mean why would we if we all already had the same views?

Saying that his complaints are invalid, crossing the border or disrespectful is absurd and makes me wonder if you are an employee or in some fashion being compensated for your posts here regarding this dispute.

Anyway, bottom line AICD failed to deliver what was promised, which alone is enough to make divers avoid the operation. Add the fact that AICD did not make things right with their customer and STILL refuses to take responsibility will SURELY keep divers very far away from this operation.

To take things even a step further, the 2nd line of AICD's web site says "We guarantee that you will enjoy your diving experience with us." Well where is that guarantee? AICD, put your money where your mouth is!

And after looking at the video on their web site, I instantly knew this was some 2 bit operation. STAY CLEAR.

jeja26
04-12-2011, 05:45 PM
I think I will back off. No offence but you are not gettiing the point and I won´t waste your or aybody elses time because you are reading and interpreting the stuff in your way and you apparantley do not want to see the other side of the coin. You do as you choose.

Just for the record I am not an employee. I am approx 8500 kilometers away from Thailand. My daughter is diving with AIDC at the moment on a 7 day trip. She is having a great time, everything according to plan, all arrangements (travel, lodging, visa run to Burma etc) by the book - no problem at all. I for one will be diving with AIDC in the future - I have no problem with that.

acelockco
04-13-2011, 09:11 PM
Just for the record I am not an employee. I am approx 8500 kilometers away from Thailand. My daughter is diving with AIDC at the moment

So you are not an employee but have been diving with them many times as does your family. What is your relationship with AIDC and it's employees, owner, management, etc. ?

I can't imagine that a random customer would go to such lengths to debunk Pipefish's comments and credibility. I also have seen his post on another forum, and yes under a different name because the one he used here was not available, and you were ripping him up there as well. I also noticed the majority of people over there are in his corner as well.

jeja26
04-14-2011, 04:43 AM
You just do not get it do you. AIDC is a decent company and Pipefish is trying to destroy them (and you are just enjoying it by reading what you want to read) - therefore I dive with them. End og story and comment.

For the record I have no connection to anyone in the company except enjoying their services and hospitality, so do not keep on rattling about me and my relationship as an excuse for me putting up for the company. I would do this for anyone who I can see is being slagged off without good reason. Who knows you could be in company with pipefish and therefore you keep on talking about something of whch you have no idea or clue about. You and your democracy ..............................

acelockco
04-15-2011, 04:54 AM
therefore you keep on talking about something of whch you have no idea or clue about. You and your democracy ..............................

What are you talking about? You have no idea what I know or don't know.

My democracy? When did democracy become mine?

I think you are living in LaLa land over there in Denmark and don't understand how the rest of the world operates.

jeja26
04-15-2011, 05:07 AM
"Democracy is form of government in which all citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal (and more or less direct) participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law"
Denmark is the cradle of democracy - like it or not.

You have no excperience with AIDC - your excperience and likes is this thread, which you choose to read as you please. You choose to believe one person and all others are apparantley not telling the truth and are in some way or another connected or in conspiracy with AIDC. Therefore you have no excperience in this matter and I would never judge you in any other matter, as you so correctly say: what do I know about that. Stick to the subject.

The subject here being that other divers have different opnions and excperiences with this specific company, and they have the right to be heard equally and not being slammed or put down by peolpe like you, because they have different opinions.

hallenbad
04-15-2011, 09:37 AM
Acelockco you get way too personal now. I have had experience with four different liveaboards in similan/surin and burma over the last 11 years now and AIDC was the best of all. I have also no relationship with this company but always had a great time with them.
Gerd

Aidc
04-15-2011, 11:45 AM
Sorry it took some time to give a response. We are quite busy and I just came back last night from a 7 day trip.

In regard to the cabin, it’s not a crack in the floor but a hatch we have under the madras so we can inspect the tanks behind the engine. It’s true you can see light true the hatch if you take away the madras.
I just spend 7 days in the same cabin and had absolutely no problem with smell of fuel. Ok it’s noisier when the engine is running and we will try to correct that with a double wall and floor for the next season. That should also help against the smell of fuel, if any.

I trust my Dive master and Instructor 100% and we have made a comment on that before.
I have dived in Burma the last 11 years (6 years with AIDC) and never had a dive accident with our customers, so I think we can conclude that we do it in a safe way.

About the Starfish it’s was actually from an old video and it’s not something our divers do, but me. With over 2000 dives I did it 2 times, like it or not…
To pull out a Moray there is stocked in a hole with his head, is that a bad thing?

We paid compensation to everybody if they had extra cost because of the delay.
One group had made a hotel reservation on Phuket and we paid for 2 nights, same story as if you book a live aboard. We also paid the cost for a taxi driver because he had to take one night in Ranong.
Remember pipefish only paid 7.420,-THB including entry fee for the trip and the normal price is 37.000,-THB. I will call that a very fair deal… And it’s really not our problem that he didn’t make travel insurance for his first booking.

Preben

acelockco
04-15-2011, 12:47 PM
Acelockco you get way too personal now. I have had experience with four different liveaboards in similan/surin and burma over the last 11 years now and AIDC was the best of all. I have also no relationship with this company but always had a great time with them.
Gerd

Gerd,

You don't know me, and you surely have not posted here before this, but you think you are in a position to tell me I am taking something too personally?

I am glad you have had good experiences with liveaboards, but doesn't have any bearing on the experience that Pipefish had. I do find it odd that you and other "new members" are here with all of these years of diving experience and the only thread you can comment on is this one. If you want credibility, you need to partake in more of our other discussions. At this point for all I know you are all employees of AICD, or even the same person.

acelockco
04-15-2011, 12:52 PM
We paid compensation to everybody if they had extra cost because of the delay.


As you should have, but what about the other loss of their vacation time and such? I see you just don't get it and are not going to get it. Not a problem, there are plenty of other companies out there that want our business.

Pipefish
04-17-2011, 02:35 PM
I would just like to clarify:

The amount of 7.420,-THB per diver was the "upgrade" to the 5d/n Burma trip from the 5d/n Similan trip, which we had originally booked. The total cost of our liveaboard "vacation" was more than 30.000,- THB per diver.

However, given our experience, and as I have already said, I would not take this trip again even if I was paid for it.

Thank you, acelockco, for your understanding. Indeed, "pipefish" was not available as a username on scuba-board, which is why there (and only there) I have posted as "guitarfish".
Also, it is good to see that we are not alone in our disbelief that an operation like AIDC can survive any competition at all in the long run, given their poor service.

acelockco
04-17-2011, 05:51 PM
No problem Pipefish. As a business owner I know that the best way to do well in business is to make your customers happy. I have had a few customers in the past that were not happy with something and I either made it right, gave them a refund or didn't charge them to begin with. Of course it is a loss for my business, but money is not the most important thing. I provide a service for people, and I don't expect them to pay for a service they were not happy with.

Doing business that way has gained me a lot of clients. Remember if you do a great job your customers will tell somebody, if you do a bad job your customers will tell everybody. It seems that AICD failed to do their job in making their customer happy. It also seems they failed to make things right even if it caused a loss of revenue. Now they have an unhappy customer that is going to tell everyone....seems pretty simple and straight forward to me.

Now after all of this Pipefish, I really hope you see fit to use our forum in the future for your other diving thoughts, ideas and questions. We love to see photos, dive reports and anything else dive related. Seeing that you are someone that travels the world to dive, I am sure you have a wealth of information you could share with the rest of us. Hopefully you don't use us for your rant and then move on.

Aidc
04-18-2011, 11:35 AM
Ok, again… It’s very clear in your Booking Confirmation that if you make cancellation 2 weeks or less before the trip the full amount will be charged.
I made you a very fair deal that you only had to pay 7.540,- and then you could join a Burma trip instead. In the booking Confirmation it also say that you should make a travel insurance that cover Scuba diving and it would also cover in cases like this where you have to cancel a trip.
I only gave you this deal because I wanted to help you. If you want I can put in your booking confirmation and our email conversation?
Until now I didn’t mention that you actually also canceled the Burma trip after you made the booking, because of reasons that I don’t want to put public.

Preben
AIDC

acelockco
04-18-2011, 01:37 PM
Giving someone a great deal on something and then failing to provide what was promised is no longer a great deal.

I have a great deal on a 50 meter liveaboard dive boat. I will sell it to AICD for 80.000,- THB

Oh, but when I deliver the boat to you it will be in the process of sinking.

Still sound like a great deal?

Aidc
04-19-2011, 07:58 AM
Don’t you think it a little bit strange that on the same trip we had 11 other happy customers and they all paid full price with no complaining?

Now we have been running for 6 years and I can count “unhappy” customers on 2 hands and most of them because they came with different expectations in regards to diving.
So I think we can make the conclusion that we do it in the right way and we will continue that way.

Preben
AIDC

DonqyJon
08-01-2011, 10:22 PM
I've been researching my next dive trip, thinking about Burma for a change of scene; having found AIDC's trip to Burma I then soon encountered these negative threads. It certainly makes one think (and worry) as a potential customer, and is as far as I can tell quite unfair to the company's reputation.

The booking details on AIDC website clearly state their policy about cancellations and refunds, which are pretty much standard. I for one have a diver's insurance package which covers late cancellations for certain reasons - if the couple involved had no such insurance, they took a gamble and lost.

It appears this initial lack of refund left them all bent out of shape, and the trip would be a disaster regardless. Their other points of complaint are mainly subjective, and not substantiated by the other guests' experiences.

The exception could be the first dive, to which I hold some sympathy. This is always the most stressful dive for me, and I like to be molly-coddled a little to get into the swing of things, and it is reassuring to have the guide close by. Again, there is possibly a communication mix-up regarding this and the wife being a divemaster herself; it is impossible to judge right or wrong here without having been there.

Regarding the company compensating the couple, it seems the very cheap rate given for the Burma trip was already a great deal and a decent act. The other inconveniences they 'suffered' really seem minor. Many would have been delighted with an extra unexpected Burma excursion.

Lastly, it seems there will be some remedial action taking place to improve the cabin in question, so the company is not ignoring the complaint.

I just hope I don't have to eat my words if I book with them for next year, but from the balance of what I've been reading, I would think not.