Horizon 3 Liveaboard, Maldives

We booked HORIZON 3 because of the nice discount and the guide-to-divers ratio. Horizon 3 is said to have 4 guides on board, however there were only 3 guides there. The boat was not fully booked, but the groups were not divided in even numbers, so we ended up with 8 divers in our "experienced" and nitrox group, the other groups were divided in 4 and 5 divers per guide. Horizon 3 management knew in advance both the experience of the divers and which divers would use nitrox. It was clear that there were no even groups possible, and a 4th guide would have been necessary. The safety while diving - no problem in our group and with our guide, who has been the only one who could get the current check correct. The two other groups - well - we saw people breathing from the octopus of the guide after 30 minutes. usually when low on air situation occurs, its time to abort the dive. The tidiness of the boat - there was a moldy smell in the cabin (treated every night with air freshener), and mold everywhere in the bathroom corners. Dust was piling up under the bed. Overall its not cleaned thoroughly. Crew and guides were friendly throughout the whole trip. A big plus is the cruise director Cha-Cha, without him everything would have been a lot more unorganised and chaotic. He made some good choices, e.g. changing to anticlockwise trip due to weather conditions, and make the crossing to ari atoll instead to south male/ vaavu. He had to be everywhere - as the other guides needed supervision, as well as keeping an eye on the complete iterniary on board of the ship. The food was good and had a good variety. Hidden costs - on the booking confirmation it says that GST is included. It is only in the trip price, not on onboard purchases, there GST (tax) and service charge to be added. (e.g. 112$ for nitrox is after all a 143$ after addition of GST+service charge). What has to be pointed out very clearly - there is a OBLIGATORY service charge of 150$ per person added to the bill at the end of the trip although the service charge is already been added on every purchase (beverages, nitrox etc.) so this is a very ambitious gratuity for only mediocre service. On the booking confirmation it also says that "approximately" 17 dives are included. This applies only downwards. If you do 16 or less, there is no refund, but if you do 18, like we did, Horizon 3 charges you additional 45$ for that dive. Overall we had some good diving in the week, we were lucky with our guide Cha-Cha, but I would not book Horizon 3 again, as there are boats around with a much better value for money, even with this 50% discount.

로우덱 캐빈을 사옹했는데 생각보다 펀했습니다 습한건 어쩔수 없어 에어컨을 항상 키고 있어야 하지만 친절한 스테프와 역량있는 마스터의 다이빙 가이드로 즐거운 한주를 보냈습니다

Fun diving trip in Northern Maldives, the crew is nice and helpful and the service is good, except for room service The towels and shower soap were not changed until after I ordered.