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Review of: One Tank Manta Night Dive
Our experience with this company and its management was extremely unpleasant, so I would like to warn other guests about the risks of making a reservation with them. My wife and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and we booked and paid this trip several months in advance. Both of us love scuba diving and are advanced divers, so as you can imagine, this experience was supposed to be one of the highlights of our trip. They day before, weather forecasts were good and we received an email from Aquatic Life Divers confirming the trip. Next day we arrived 20 min before the scheduled time to make sure we were on time, and no one from the crew was around the boat preparing the stuff, which was a little bit strange for us. Like 5 minutes later, a girl came, opened with a key the company's cabinet on the dock, grabbed a bottle of water from it and left without saying anything to us. If she had the key, I understand she was part of the company's staff and therefore she was aware since that moment that two guests were waiting in front of their boat (!). When the scheduled time for the trip came and neither crew members nor other guests had shown up, we called the company to tell them that we were waiting on the dock. They told us that the trip was cancelled due to low number of bookings. They had given us prior notification, and when we complained about this, they started inventing excuses like: -Our phone number was unavailable (which was not true because we were calling them from that number, and other tours had previously given us calls to confirm bookings for other trips without any inconvenience) -They had sent us an SMS and our phone was not able to receive it (later they said it was an email, looks like it is confusing for them) -They had sent us an email but we didn't receive it (we received their trip confirmation email the day before without issue, and we also checked the spam folder. The email never appeared, not even when we requested them to resend it) At the end, apart from returning our money, they didn't had a professional attitude and assumed their liability; but instead of they just invented that it was impossible to reach us out and put the blame on us. They did not even tried to find a solution for us (e.g. arranging the trip with another company or helping us to find a trip on the snorkeling tours which departed later). Instead of providing effective solutions, they just said aloha, peace and hope you come to visit our island again (same like the poor and immature answers I see to their bad reviews here on Tripadvisor). I usually only write reviews about good experiences, but in this case I could not shut up. And it is not because they cancelled my trip, what I can understand if they had not reached the minimum amount of reservations. The reason is because of their disrespectful attitude to their guests. If you as a company had a mistake and sent a trip confirmation email the day before instead of a cancellation email, you cannot blame your customers. It is completely disrespectful and disappointing to invent false statements and recommend to come back soon (they don't understand that most of the foreigners who visit the island come from thousands of miles away and unfortunately it is a once-in-a-lifetime trip); instead of helping to find a real solution. I am sure that probably it would have been a great experience, but unfortunately we missed it because we were flying the next day to another island so it was our last chance to do it. And I think we missed it because their no prior notice of the cancellation. If they had let us know this issue in advance (even just a few hours before!), we would have been able to book with another company and live the dive experience. After many attempts during the next 2 hours, we managed to find by ourselves a very kind company who made room for us in a snorkel trip for seeing the mantas. At least we managed to see the mantas from the surface, but any diver who is reading this, knows that snorkeling is not comparable at all to see this animals underwater. As per other reviews they have, this was not the first time they did this, so my recommendation is to avoid booking with them. They can provide a very good service a make great divings, but it is not worth to take the risk of missing this experience due to their attitude. There are many good diving companies in the area, so if you have the chance to life this experience only once in a lifetime, choose wisely with whom and have the peace of mind that you will do it. Thank you for reading, I hope this review is helpful to plan your trip. Aloha and enjoy the mantas!…
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Date of experience: February 2020
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Responded Aug 12, 2020
Aloha Javier..., Thank you for taking the time, albeit 6 months after your booking, to leave a review. We apologize that you feel so negatively about your experience. Please know that I did everything possible to get in contact with you to let you know that your charter was cancelled, and offered many potential solutions to you when we finally did make contact. This is why it is so critically important that guests give us good contact information when making their bookings. It is clearly stated in all our correspondence (confirmation emails, on the website, in the listings we have with third-party vendors) that we have passenger minimums to confirm the trips. We go the extra mile to get in contact with each guest by every means available to us, even calling international numbers at our own expense. I remember trying that for this booking, but without accurate information it was not possible. We also reached out via e-mail, and if you have some constructive ideas about how we could do a better job of keeping you informed, we would be glad to hear it. We fully understand that these are once-in-a-lifetime experiences for many of our guests, which is why we pour our hearts and souls into these charters. It is also why we go to the lengths that we do to personalize our guests' experience. As a small company committed to doing good for our world, we strive to engage each and every person that we welcome onto our boats with the warmest Aloha. We take bad reviews seriously, warranted or not, as an opportunity to continue to make our world-class service even better. As I said to you back in February, I encourage you to email me at dane@aquaticlifedivers.com to discuss any constructive suggestions you have for improving our operation. Mahalo, Dane
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My 16 year old son and I just completed our open water PADI certification through Aquatic Life Divers. Throughout this process we were thoroughly impressed by the professionalism of the company including high quality instruction, equipment and facilities (boat, pool). Evan took us through the pool portion of the certification process and our first two dives. He is a skilled teacher with experience and patience. My son and I have both been repeating things he taught us about the animals we saw and the state of the ocean. The conservation mindset of the company is impressive. They are actively involved in research and wildlife sustainability projects and are very respectful of the creatures whose homes we visited. The dives were beautiful and each one was interesting and held it’s own amazing surprises. Cody took us on our third and fourth dives. It was reassuring to be with such a skilled diver and his enthusiasm and energy were catching. I was nervous about completing some of the skills needed for my cert but with his coaching, I did them with no glitches or stress. The information that Cody gave us about diving, the fish (and sharks) we saw and the Hawaiian culture was invaluable. We give Aquatic Life Divers and all the staff our highest recommendation. A special hello to the moms of Evan and Cody! We will be back for sure to do other dives including Advanced Open Water, the night manta ray dive and black water dive.…
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Date of experience: April 2020
Helpful
We had a really positive experience with Aquatic Life Divers. We booked our dive during a difficult time. They worked hard to make arrangements and honor our original booking date and time. Ryan and Evans (Aquatic Life) were fun and friendly and Kevin and Kendall (Kona Honu) were knowledgeable and led two successful dives. There were 13 of us on the boat (4 staff, 8 divers, 1 snorkeler). We went out in three groups (6, 4, and 2). The dive briefings were very clear (thanks, Kona Honu!) and the gear and boat were clean and well-maintained (thanks, Aquatic Life!). Diver experience seemed to range from beginner to advanced, with ages ranging from around 10 y.o. to around 50 y.o. Everyone appeared to be very comfortable both in and out of the water. I would happily book with these guys again. Hi to Evans' mom!…
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Date of experience: March 2020
Helpful
Review of: Two Tank Afternoon Dive
Greatest night diving experience with Manta Rays. Staff extremely knowledgeable. Brand new boat. I would recommend 100%. Everything went smoothly.
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Date of experience: March 2020
Helpful
Responded Mar 10, 2020
Aloha, We are happy that you had such a wonderful experience. Enjoy the rest of your time on the island. Aloha
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Review of: Evening Manta Snorkel
Great Crew and accommodations. Lots of fun and well worth it! Our snorkel guide 'Mo" was very informative, friendly and professional. Captain was excellent and made us feel very comfortable.
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Date of experience: February 2020
Helpful
Responded Mar 10, 2020
Aloha, Thanks for taking the time to review our charters. We hope that you come out and join us again if you find yourself in Kona. Aloha
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