Nekton Cruises Gone
1hogrider
this fall and the dive shop will make certain my trip cost are refunded.
Bad news, I booked a flight just last week to get me to Puerto Rico
for the trip, on non-refundable tickets.
Dive shop said they will try and come up with an alternative trip for
those of us who have booked our flights.
Andy
--
Two most common elements in the universe- Hydrogen & Stupidity
Ecnerwal
1hogrider <nite...@cox.net> wrote:
> I was notified today Nekton Cruises are history. I had booked a trip
> this fall and the dive shop will make certain my trip cost are refunded.
> Bad news, I booked a flight just last week to get me to Puerto Rico
> for the trip, on non-refundable tickets.
>
> Dive shop said they will try and come up with an alternative trip for
> those of us who have booked our flights.
> Andy
Sorry you got bitten. The writing's been on that wall for a while, IMHO.
Well before the pressure of recent bad economics, the maintenance just
was not getting done, which is never a good sign for any business that
uses boats. Recent bad economics would only hasten things.
During our last trip on the Rorqual (not too recent) the Pilot was
having severe head problems (I don't even want to think about it - glad
I wasn't on that boat that week), and both boats had icemaker problems -
while the rorqual (newer than the pilot, which likely was worse) was in
desperate need of basic interior work like new carpets (and both boats
were, from the first time I was on the pilot when it was newer and in
better shape, in need of a ventilation system that didn't drip on the
passengers.)
IMHO, they were a bit too focussed on cranking as many passengers
through as possible, and neglected to schedule in adequate time for
non-band-aid maintenance. Perhaps the boats will wind up in the hands of
someone that understands how to trade that off better, if they don't
wind up at the scrapyard.
Should be able to get some good diving in on/near PR, or use it as a
stop on your way to other islands. Saba is almost like liveaboard diving
(except for non-reliable opportunities to night dive with a variety of
sometimes weak excuses) if you don't need great excitement (other than
the runway and the road) on land, or you can see if the CEXII (nice
boat, reliable opportunities to night dive, get to dive St. Kitts and
St. Eustatius as well, and miss the runway at Saba) has openings that
week.
http://www.explorerventures.com/pdf/FLEETSCHEDULE.pdf
--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
1hogrider
> In article<CrgIn.9821$7d5....@newsfe17.iad>,
> 1hogrider<nite...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> I was notified today Nekton Cruises are history. I had booked a trip
>> this fall and the dive shop will make certain my trip cost are refunded.
>> Bad news, I booked a flight just last week to get me to Puerto Rico
>> for the trip, on non-refundable tickets.
>>
>> Dive shop said they will try and come up with an alternative trip for
>> those of us who have booked our flights.
>> Andy
>
> Sorry you got bitten. The writing's been on that wall for a while, IMHO.
> Well before the pressure of recent bad economics, the maintenance just
> was not getting done, which is never a good sign for any business that
> uses boats. Recent bad economics would only hasten things.
The LDS is working on an alternative trip. Since it is only about 24
hours since they got blindsided with this I am not expecting any
immediate answers.
>
> During our last trip on the Rorqual (not too recent) the Pilot was
> having severe head problems (I don't even want to think about it - glad
> I wasn't on that boat that week), and both boats had icemaker problems -
> while the rorqual (newer than the pilot, which likely was worse) was in
> desperate need of basic interior work like new carpets (and both boats
> were, from the first time I was on the pilot when it was newer and in
> better shape, in need of a ventilation system that didn't drip on the
> passengers.)
I was on the Pilot in 2005. I remember the carpets on the lower deck
were rather soiled but that didn't really bother me. Also, the A/C vent
"rained" on my bunk, but I just folded a towel where it drooled and
enjoyed the diving and the food.
>
> IMHO, they were a bit too focussed on cranking as many passengers
> through as possible, and neglected to schedule in adequate time for
> non-band-aid maintenance. Perhaps the boats will wind up in the hands of
> someone that understands how to trade that off better, if they don't
> wind up at the scrapyard.
>
I hope not. I REALLY enjoyed the Nekton Pilot trip which was the primary
reason I signed up for the trip on the Rorqual. I remember hearing the
Rorqual lost an engine while I was on the Pilot which limited their
movement considerably.
> Should be able to get some good diving in on/near PR, or use it as a
> stop on your way to other islands. Saba is almost like liveaboard diving
> (except for non-reliable opportunities to night dive with a variety of
> sometimes weak excuses) if you don't need great excitement (other than
> the runway and the road) on land, or you can see if the CEXII (nice
> boat, reliable opportunities to night dive, get to dive St. Kitts and
> St. Eustatius as well, and miss the runway at Saba) has openings that
> week.
The LDS owner is an honorable fellow and I know he will do everything he
can to make it right. While he may not be able to book a liveaboard, I
feel certain he will do everything he can to make certain we get at
least some sort of trip.
Dan Bracuk
wrote:
:I was notified today Nekton Cruises are history. I had booked a trip
:this fall and the dive shop will make certain my trip cost are refunded.
: Bad news, I booked a flight just last week to get me to Puerto Rico
:for the trip, on non-refundable tickets.
:
:Dive shop said they will try and come up with an alternative trip for
:those of us who have booked our flights.
:
Sorry for your bad luck.
I believe this is going to happen more often. I think diving is a
shrinking industry and other shops and liveaboards are going to go
under.
This is based on my own observations of:
How many other dive boats I see when I go diving.
How many passengers are on the boats.
The age of the other divers I see.
When I compare recent observations to those made 15 years ago, diving
certainly seems much less popular and most divers I see are baby
boomers.
Greg Mossman
> On Mon, 17 May 2010 15:05:04 -0400, 1hogrider <nitesp...@cox.net>
> wrote:
>
> :I was notified today Nekton Cruises are history. I had booked a trip
> :this fall and the dive shop will make certain my trip cost are refunded.
> : Bad news, I booked a flight just last week to get me to Puerto Rico
> :for the trip, on non-refundable tickets.
> :
> :Dive shop said they will try and come up with an alternative trip for
> :those of us who have booked our flights.
> :
>
> Sorry for your bad luck.
>
> I believe this is going to happen more often. I think diving is a
> shrinking industry and other shops and liveaboards are going to go
> under.
Interesting you say that. Aggressor and Dancer keep adding boats even
during these recessionary times.
Apparently Nekton was just run poorly. The boats were very expensive
to fix and parts near impossible to get in their local ports, so they
were duct-taped together until they could get to Ft. Lauderdale for
annual overhauls. When I did my Pilot trip in Belize a few years
back, they were down to one watermaker and one generator as well as a
non-functioning hot tub, and my candid talks with the engineer
revealed that he had to work on the remaining watermaker daily to keep
it going. The recent Nekton trips were very dangerous and likely in
serious violation of Coast Guard regulations. Luckily no one was hurt.
1hogrider
Interesting. The hot tub was not functioning on our trip either but
that was not a factor for me. Don't know about the watermaker or
generator. We had one generator quit one night but the engineer quickly
got it or the backup back online.
Seems I read on their website they underwent regular Coast Guard
inspections...i.e. they were not sailing on a particular date due to
USCG inspection type of thing.
I really enjoyed my trip with them in 2005 which was the reason I booked
on the Rorqual.
-hh
>
> Sorry for your bad luck.
>
> I believe this is going to happen more often. I think diving is a
> shrinking industry and other shops and liveaboards are going
> to go under.
Clearly, recreational diving is a discretionary expense, so with the
recent economy, shrinkage is indisputable; I think that the weakest
have probably gone (or are just now going) under.
> This is based on my own observations of:
> How many other dive boats I see when I go diving.
> How many passengers are on the boats.
> The age of the other divers I see.
>
> When I compare recent observations to those made 15 years ago, diving
> certainly seems much less popular and most divers I see are baby
> boomers.
This is a good point, and it gets even more emphasis when one
considers the context of market. When the Pacific became popularized,
it was also generically more expensive than traditional - - ie,
Caribbean - - destinations, so the demographic trending would expected
to be that the new/exotic/expensive destinations would be tilted
towards the "oldsters" and the traditional/predicable/less costly
destinations would be the "youngsters".
However, when one steps onboard a Caribbean boat and notices that the
Median age onboard is ~50 years, then one does have to consider the
longevity of the customer base, and where its replenishment is coming
from. My casual trend-watching from Cayman Brac over the decades is
similar in that the average age keeps to be continuing to go up, and
today, there aren't many in the under-40 group, and virtually zero in
the under-30 group, which is a significant departure to what it was
many moons ago.
Turning to DEMA, it appears that the demographic's Median age change
increased from IMO roughly age 40 in 1996 to a reported age of 46 in
2006, despite the usual challenges and caveats of comparing different
datasets.
Files used are here:
<http://www.dema.org/associations/1017/files/MarketResearch-
SportsParticipation1996.pdf>
<http://www.dema.org/associations/1017/files/
ProfileOfTheMostActiveDivers-2006Study.ppt>
-hh
Greg Mossman
> Turning to DEMA, it appears that the demographic's Median age change
> increased from IMO roughly age 40 in 1996 to a reported age of 46 in
> 2006, despite the usual challenges and caveats of comparing different
> datasets.
But diving is still a relatively new sport. Plenty of oldsters that
started out when diving was young are still diving today and that
skews the average.
Dan Bracuk
<mos...@qnet.com> wrote:
:But diving is still a relatively new sport. Plenty of oldsters that
:started out when diving was young are still diving today and that
:skews the average.
The problem isn't that the oldsters are still diving. The problem is
that the whippersnappers are not.
Grumman-581
95beaf...@f14g2000vbn.googlegroups.com:
> My casual trend-watching from Cayman Brac over the decades is
> similar in that the average age keeps to be continuing to go up, and
> today, there aren't many in the under-40 group, and virtually zero in
> the under-30 group, which is a significant departure to what it was
> many moons ago.
Well, if someone would develop a way for those youngsters to be able to
text message each other while diving, they might get interested in it...
Then again, I don't expect much from Gen-Slacker...
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