Liveonboards can be MUCH better elsewhere
As divers know it takes a lot of money to be able to go on a liveonboard, even more so if the destination is on the other side of the World.
End of June/beginning of Juli 25 I was on a liveonboard with Spirit of Freedom, departing from Cairns Australia.
I went on my own and had chosen the shared cabin with other 3 people to keep costs down.
The shared cabin on this liveonboard was only offered with mixed (female and male) passengers which is not what I have experienced so far on other liveonboards and wasn‘t a pleasant nor restful experience.
More upsetting was that the majority of the non Australian divers were totally unaware of what buoyancy is and have destroyed corals after corals during this trip and that the dive masters did nothing about it. And supposively this is a certified eco tour. I pointed this out to the head dive master since it is unacceptable to have such low standards of divers onboard: they should all have received a first assessment dive before being allowed on the dive sites but I guess hope for good tips was high in the crew not wanting to upset divers. I had pointed out from the very beginning that I needed to follow a very strict diet due to health ressons but although the chef was very kind and putting a lot of effort in the kitchen first of all management on land had not passed on all details and so the needed fruits (only pineapples and papayas) weren't purchased at all (nor was I informed they hadn’t organized them… would have brought them myself since supermarkets in Cairns had plenty of them!!!) so of course they couldn't be served and he didn't stick to the requirements of very plain grilled chicken and steamed zucchini but daily offered much more elaborated plates (young people in good health cannot fully relate to severe food intollerances and probably mean well in wanting to offer sth different every day) resulting in me vomiting in a dive (thank goodness food gets through the erogator) and frequent diarrhoea, not ideal for a diving trip.
Just a few days into the trip we were asked not to have showers or to keep them to very very short ones since by mistake one entire tank of water (out of 2) had accidentally been emptied by the staff (the weather was miserable and it was freezing the whole weeks with nothing, wetsuits, swimsuits nor towels being dry after day 1). So not even normal hot showers for most of the week.
And as a cherry on top the dive trip to Osprey which was one of the things that had make me chose this liveonboard trip was cancelled alltogether because the sea conditions (ok safety first but no partial refund? They stick to the fineprint they said so peeps, mind the fineprints with this Company!!!)
The weather was miserable almost all week which wasn‘t their fault of course but barely a hot shower or a dry towel isn‘t normal, especially for those prices!During my stay in Australia (I've lived there 3.5 years) I've been on many types of tours and it is custom in Australia that if one hasn't had luck with weather or encounters, a partial refund is issued by the company with the intention to make everyone happy, without the passengers having to ask for anything. Not this company, no kind gestures of any kind.
They even placed 18 seconds of my footage of some wild dolphins without asking my permission nor crediting me on their social medias when we wete not even sllowed to see footage taken by the fivemaster „due to copyright reasons“. Passangers tastes in music were also never considered in a week.
Besides the fact the dives have been much more exciting in Mexico, Palau Maldives.