Palau Liveaboards

This beautiful boat is new with all of the latest technology and comfort. The staff goes above and beyond to be helpful~ they rinsed and hung our gear for us on the last day! Gabriel gives informative briefings that not only talk about the sites but also teach about the animals and the history of the area. Plenty of places to relax comfortably. Great food! The only tiny downside is that there is a charge if you want anything to drink besides coffee, tea or water. The cost for a soda or alcohol is rather high BUT Nitrox was free. Most of us had a bar tab. Two dives with lots of mantas, tons of sharks and turtles, plentiful fish and coral

BOAT: Brand new boat, great upper deck for yoga/rest area, great gear deck, great common area for meals. Bar upstairs or BBQ not used once during the trip.
ROUTE: Not enough distance covered by main boat. Instead, up to 45 mins dingy trip up to dive sites - even running out of fuel in one occasion. Main boat didn't go anywhere near south of Palau. No significant weather event to justify not moving with main boat - only reason was to save $ on fuel. They took us to one island for breakfast - even though there was a BBQ area that could be used. Last day is cut short with only two dives and justified by the "ride back to Koror" - but the ride took less than 1 hour and we spend the last 12hrs in the cruise anchored at Koror harbor.
FOOD: Very average food, buffet style. Broken fridge was used as an excuse for subpar meals. 3x same Steak dish, 3x same Tuna dish, lots of chicken nuggets, lots of canned vegetables, little to no fresh fruits or vegetables. No special meal for New Year's Celebration, same buffet style with similar food as all other days. Jokes were made about lobsters not being served on NYE due to broken fridge - being so close to main harbor fresh food could have been brought during downtimes with third dinghy to solve supply chain challenges. Cappuccino machine was broken, also a let down on the luxury experience mention by many.
CABIN: Not enough hooks to hand towels or swimsuits. TV configurations in Chinese or Korean - unable to connect our own tablet/laptop since unable to read instructions to change config.
BATHROOM: Clogged showers, very slow to drain (had to shower standing on inches of water). No exhaustion mechanism for toilets. Only "superficially" cleaned every other day.
DIVES: Corals are rare and not very colorful. Lots of wall dives, with strong currents - sometimes manageable, but sometimes scary/dangerous. Not enough dives in the German Channel and Corner - to avoid the crowds - but felt rushed when finally there.
CREW: Cruise directors are 5 stars - great people, very concerned with safety and extremely attentive to conditions / surroundings. Chef was local, possibly a newer hire thus a bit of a let down with limited resources - considering the "luxury" experience that is sold by the boat on advertising.