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

[acelockco]

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.

[acelockco]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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