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Thread: Review of 5d/5n Burma Liveaboard Dive Trip with AICD (Based in Ranong, Thailand)

  1. #1
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    Thumbs down Review of 5d/5n Burma Liveaboard Dive Trip with AICD (Based in Ranong, Thailand)

    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.

  2. #2
    Registered Users greenturtle's Avatar
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    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.
    "And God created great sea-animals, and every living soul that creeps with which the waters swarmed after their kind..." (MKJV) Gen 1:21

    www.vimeo.com/greenturtle

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    Default Reply Aidc

    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

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    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/gen...ml#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.

  5. #5
    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    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/showthr...0017#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.

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    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    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.

  7. #7
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    Default Comment from the same trip....

    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

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    Wreck Diving Moderator acelockco's Avatar
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    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.

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    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!

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    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.

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