Reviews

This is my 1st review on this website. I am a dive insructor. I am traveling a lot. I did more then 15 liveaboards. This was the worst trip I ever had. By sharing my experiences I try to prevent others having the same troubles.

Report about diving trip Amphibiya 24-31-10.2015

We booked a one week diving trip on board the Amphibiya. (24.10-31.10)

The boat was advertised as a luxury floating hotel and it was claimed that there was a 40% discount. The Quote stated: “Amphibiya is a floating hotel, equipped with luxurious restaurants, a cozy saloon and a well furnished pub, with a friendly and anticipative staff.”

It sounded like a good deal.

Lets start with the small things: Description of boat and cabins:

The condition of the boat and the cabins is old, shabby, dirty and not well cared of. The pictures taken by us, clearly show the discrepancy to the advertised pictures of the floating hotel category luxury. Here are some examples:

- In lots of lamps on the whole boat as well as in the cabins, the electric bulk was missing

- The portholes in the lower cabins did not closed properly with the result that water came into the cabin and the wooden wall was already soaked. This is a clear indication that the portholes are leaky for a longer time.

- Some cabins had reading lamps, some not, some did not work, some did not have electric bulks

- The curtains had burning wholes

- Some ACs did not work

- In opposite of the booked service no hot water in the shower.

- Bathroom fittings were roosted. Holder of the toothbrush mug (glass!) broke in the night without involving.

Saftey was a big issue: We did not feel safe at all!

- No smoke detectors on the entire boat, but burning marks in the curtain (see picture)

- Fire extinguishers were not in service

- No life raft. They claimed the dingy was a life raft. But this was lost in the 2nd night and was not replaced during the trip.

- No security briefing when we came on board, no information at all regarding life vest, alarms, security, rules of conduct in case of emergency and so on

- Some rooms without safety card (evacuation routes etc.)

- A lot of open wires in the kitchen, in general, the electric wiring is a mess and caused safety worries. In one cabin, the controller of the AC was broken. => Open access to 230V to guests! (see picture) Touching a reading lamp which was switched off caused an electric shock to one of the guests! See pictures.

The most important part of a diving safari is the diving. Diving procedures were really bad and sometimes even dangerous.

o No tank had a service tag!

o Guide did not check the diving certificates

o No check dive . No safety briefing

o 1st dive the air in the tank smelled really bad (smelled like they filled exhaust gasses)

o Very unsave diving procedures, e.g. the transfer from safari boat to dingy was very dangerous especially with waves.

o One dive was cancelled from our side as we felt unsafe to go diving with the dive master due to his personal condition.

The team tried hard to provide good service but most of them are not trained at all. The captain was the only Maledivian on board. All the rest are foreigners from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. This caused communication problems between the team and in the end affected our tour and schedule.

It sound to bad to be a real revie. But it got worse:

Due to maybe bad maintenance, the main engine had a problem from the beginning. The 1st two nights we stayed close to Male. In the 3rd night, the engine completely broke while we tried to cruise to Ari Atoll. We were floating dead in the sea. Luckily it was far away from any reef. Again, there was no life raft, no safety briefing, no proper information, nothing!. Next day a lokal boat towed us to Guraidhoo. This took the whole day.

We were forced to stay there for the rest of the trip. The crew as well as the management lied to us about the status of the engine. They claimed the engine will be repaired the next day. They did not treat us with respect. Management was not on board and was not even willing to talk to us via phone. They did not accept our request to change to another boat or resort.

The original schedule was to return to Male Friday during the day and stay the last night on the boat in Male This would ensure that we would be on the airport on time to catch our flight back home Saturday morning. When we finally received the information that the boat will not be able to cruise anywhere during this trip, we had concerns about how we will get to the airport on time. We tried to speak about this and asked for a solution/plan. As they have lied to us again and again, we could not trust them anymore so we had to talk to the speed boat operator by our self to make sure we get to the airport in time.

We asked to meet the management at the airport after the trip .The owner promised that he will meet us there. But he did not come to the agreed meeting and his cell phone was switched off.

We tried several times to contact the owner/management again from Germany but all our mails were ignored. As there is no answer/ reply/ feedback at all from the owner/management, we consider them as cheaters or even criminals.

I never had to write a review like this. But the behavior og the managment is not acceptable at al. As long as there is no new owner and new management I strongly recomend to check the status of the boat.