Nautilus Two, Maldives

Dives were good but I would not rebook this boat!

The safari was good overall but the end left me not wanting to rebook with this boat. I have no complaints about the crew or the boat itself. The dives were all good and I never found any of the dives bad (I have on other boats) I had a few amazing experiences like snorkeling with a whale shark on the way back from a dive. I did find myself wanting to try one of the different dive guides but that didn't seem to be an option. I did insist at one point that I get a new dive buddy and after that, I really felt like I didn't have a buddy at all. They also didn't have a lot of spare equipment after about 3 dives I noticed that my fins were too small and were giving me sores. I asked they gave me an old pair of boots (one was completely torn in the back) & a new set of fins, which wouldn't have been an issue but I was getting charged like 10 euros a day for them. They also didn't have enough dive lights for all the divers going on the night dive, thankfully my camera had a light (I also found a light on a dive and gave it to them so they have another one). They also skipped over me when passing out reef hooks when we did a channel dive (I had to ask to make sure I got one). I was also not pleased that they indicated that the safari should have 18 dives, and yet we only did 16 (15 if you had an early flight on departure day) actual dives, they counted snorkeling at Hanifaru Bay as a dive and made us pay extra for the experience. We also had 3 dives in the same spot for the check-out dive and then on the last diving day. I felt there were several days that they could've included a night dive (we only had 1) or we could've made a 3rd dive when we only had 2 dives. I also feel like they could've cultivated more group activities when we weren't diving, like a game night, karaoke, or movie night. It would've been nice to even just have something at the start of the trip where we all introduced ourselves. Since food is a big factor in enjoying the trip I would put the Nautilus' food as okay but underwhelming. I've been on 3 other liveaboards (1 in Komodo, 2 in GBR) and I'd rank this as my least favorite. Nothing was bad, but nothing was amazing either and I found myself wishing I could've just made my own meals. What completely turned me off was the end of the trip. A major reason I booked the Nautilus was because it indicated that gratuities were included in the initial price, however, the crew still asked for tips at the end. Other people I talked to weren't happy about this either and one told me she didn't tip. I felt guilted into tipping because I was unsure if the gratuity that was supposed to be included would actually be given to the crew. I also was unhappy that my rental equipment price did not include the 26% Maldivian tax, nitrox was charged @ an extra euro per dive. This meant that the expected $400 for gear & nitrox was over $500. I would also add that the listings for Nautilus mention taking classes on board but they don't have an instructor at the moment. It had been over 10 years since my last liveaboard, so it was a good refresher and learning experience for when I go to book my next one.

Recommended for

The diving. The other guests. The crew.

Incredible diving with excellent dive guides.

The diving experience was superb. Dive crew and dive support team were efficient, communicated well, led the groups well, flexible to changes in group configuration based on customer preferences (use of nitrox, dive depth, etc.), and kept everyone safe despite some strong winds and high seas.

Recommended for

Excellent dive guides. Incredible diving. Flexible crew and dive team, adapting our itinerary so we could still do all the best sites despite changing weather conditions.