The Value of Using a Dive Travel Agent

As was clear in our last issue, it's not difficult for a diver to book simple trips with one or two flights and travel directly to a dive hotel or liveaboard in, say, Fiji, Bonaire, or Roatan. However, if you add a second destination - say two Fiji resorts - or have to deal with flight complexities such as getting to Raja Ampat, it may take you many hours to find the best prices, book airport hotels, and learn about travel requirements. An experienced travel agent knowledgeable about your destination can save you time and mistakes.

When we refer to a travel agent, we're talking about a business that is a member of the American Society of Travel Advisors, operates under its code of ethics, and is registered as a business under state and local laws. We are not talking about people who have snazzy websites and run or book tours, but offer no professional credentials other than PADI instructor certification. There are impeccable operators, such as Amos Nachoum who for decades has run exceptional trips for skilled divers and photographers. But unless someone has a long and solid track record . . . well, buyer beware.

There is a respectable tweener, a dive store or dive club that runs tours, which are often put together for them by travel agents. They periodically offer specific destinations, enroll several divers, many of whom know each other, and it becomes a week or two of diving with friends. They seem to work just fine. (However, if just you and your dive buddy happen to arrive at a resort or liveaboard filled with such a group, they take over the place and you may be the odd couple out all week long.)

What Agents May Do that You Miss

An expert travel agent may take care of little tasks or inform you about requirements you may have never considered. We have written about traveling divers who were refused entry at a foreign immigration point because their passports had an insufficient number of blank pages or expired too close to their scheduled departure. Or, they were held up for hours because they failed to apply for a temporary entry visa online in advance. Or they paid the $75 for Bonaire's Visitor Entry Tax to a phony website, only to find out later, as thousands of visitors have since 2022, that they have to pay again when they arrive at the Bonaire airport. A savvy travel agent will alert you to such potential problems.

And a good travel agent has your back when you're on the road. Jenny Collister, who runs Reef and Rainforest, perhaps the crème-de-la-crème of dive travel agencies, tells of a client who was off to dive in both PNG and the Solomon Islands in 2023.

"Neither country is known for a reliable flight schedule, and some flights changed dates before my client even left. Then he tested positive for COVID in the Solomon Islands, and the next leg to Papua New Guinea had to be rearranged and extended."

"When he was finally about to depart for PNG, Air Niugini notified him of a ticketing problem relating to their computer, which, Jenny said, "created a big problem in the Solomons." He got on the phone to an Air Niugini (he could hear the agent chat about his day), and when the agent got back on the phone to say he had reissued the ticket and the client could board the flight, it was too late. Jenny said, "The agent forgot about the one-hour time difference between Honiara and Port Moresby." With no other flights to PNG for a few days, her client had to buy a ticket to Brisbane and then hop to PNG. "I spent a few nights rearranging his trip. One was spent begging Air Niugini to reissue his ticket while the client emailed from the Brisbane Airport, "Tick tock, flight is boarding." I was home with a half-made stew on the stove and a dinner guest arriving. I thought we were finally in the clear, but then his first flight on the journey home from Tufi to Port Moresby was canceled due to weather, requiring three more tickets to be reissued."

Try handling that on your cell phone in a small airport with no air conditioning, 20 minutes before your flight departs, and you feel like you're one keystroke away from a panic attack.

Agents Earn Their Money

Some divers prefer not to use agents because they believe they won't find the best deal, but good agents often can. You can spend a lot of time emailing or speaking directly with people at your destination to try to negotiate a lower price. Still, it's unlikely you'll get a significantly better deal than a travel agent, if any at all. Even if you were to save a couple of hundred bucks, you might be surprised at extra charges that show up - "airport pickup? I thought that was included" - and you're on your own should a problem arise. Occasionally, you can negotiate when talking with a dive resort, especially if you're booking more than one room, but you might depend on good luck.

Some agents do offer package deals to popular dive resorts, often at better prices than you can dig up.

Of course, agents receive a commission from liveaboards, hotels, and dive operators. But they no longer receive commissions from airlines, so they generally charge a small booking fee. There's a good chance they can find a better fare than you can (or a lower frequent flier mile requirement). And even if they don't, they'll deal with problems like our PNG traveler had.

Susie Campbell (La Jolla, CA) uses a travel agent for that very reason. "If you have any problem with a reservation, an agent is available 24/7 to rectify the problem. Our agent was able to rebook all our flights after discovering that they had been canceled for an unknown reason. We were on an island with spotty WiFi, so one of us would [ have to try to work it out] and miss diving if we hadn't had our agent handle it for us. An agency can have relationships with certain resorts and get a room when you cannot. They will only utilize reputable airlines. They can also explain your rights if something goes wrong with your reservation. Finally, they can get you a sweet deal on a rate or added incentives that booking on your own cannot."

Gari Sisk (Seattle, WA) says, "About fifteen years ago, I decided to book all my dive travel with Jenny Collister at Reef & Rainforest, and I have never looked back. She has helped me out of some tight spots when the boat had issues. Jenny knows my preferences and has steered me toward some awesome places that weren't on my radar."

And that's the advantage of a good, specialized travel agent. As Scott Kelley found out, "I've tried to use dive travel sites like PADI or Caradonna, but they want to shove you in a package to a large resort."

You really want agents who offer personalized service, who listen to what you want, give you options, and then cover your back.

Regina Roberts (Almeda, CA) concurred when she wrote, "For the most part, I've been really happy with Bluewater Travel. Their advice on liveaboards, resorts, hotels, and logistics has been awesome. They create a web-based itinerary to have on your phone, which is extremely helpful."

Experienced travel agents take any problems or unexpected changes that arise in their stride. Ryan Neely (Akeley, MN) told Undercurrent, "For trips to Bonaire, Dominica, and Iceland, we have used Scuba Center in Minneapolis, which has a travel agent service. It was amazing not to have to worry about anything. If there was a problem with flights or accommodations, a call to our agent was all it took to have our itinerary adjusted." He cautioned however about side tours offered: "the majority of options for what to see or do while on a trip were often restricted to the most highly trafficked and biggest tourist attractions. It made the travel very . . . superficial." That's where your own research should take over.

A Good Agent Knows Your Destination

Agents who have to know where you're headed or book many trips may have special knowledge and experience you may lack. Mark Steitz (Washington, DC) was enthusiastic about the service he received from Jennifer Aschermann at Travel Masters in Austin for a trip on the Damai I in Komodo." We all know the problem of what to believe from photos on Aggregator sites [for example], especially when you are not experienced. She was a tremendous help with the practical issues, from negotiating with the operator, recommending places to stay in Bali before and after flying, and a hundred other small but critical things [like] how to fill out which forms for Indonesian customs and flight baggage restrictions."

Agents All Over the World

Back in the day, I used an Australian travel agency, not only because they were efficient, but I also found that many dive operators throughout that part of the world, including Fiji, had two sets of prices: one for Americans and much lower price for everyone else. That's no longer the case, but many divers regularly use foreign travel agents.

Michael Wood (Edmonds, WA) wrote, "I use an agent for in-country flights, hotels, and ground transfers. Agents have much better access to local resources, nuances of liveaboards, and inter-island flights in Indonesia. Scubatravel.se is my agency, based in Sweden, and Per Lagerberg is my agent. He is excellent, lives in the Philippines, and knows Asia."

Using a European booking agent gives Michael the protection of European regulations. Any agent selling a trip with more than one component (flight, accommodation, diving, etc.) must be bonded against failure under European (and UK) law, ensuring that their client's money is protected should the booking agent or other supplier go bankrupt.

Only five U.S states require travel agents to register, thereby exercising some regulation: California, Florida, Hawaii, Washington, and Oregon. Four others, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Texas, have consumer laws that offer some protection. So while there are a few states with some protection, if you book a foreign entity on your own, you're out of luck. If financial issues arise, a dive agent might be able to help you figure it out (that's why they're getting paid), or they themselves might be held accountable.

And, Don't Forget Your Safety

Health and safety are at the forefront of every traveler's mind, especially with the recent string of liveaboard disasters. India Wynne-Roberts of Reefscape Travel in London told Undercurrent: "With an increase in liveaboard safety incidents and the hugely varied safety standards in dive centres across the world, we find our clients take real comfort in booking through an experienced agent who has (in most cases) dived with the centre personally."

Finally, it's bad form for travellers to ask an agent to organize and quote a trip, then go online and book it themselves. It's the same problem dive stores have when a diver asks for a full rundown of the differences between computers, then goes home and buys the recommended computer online. If something goes wrong with their dive trip or their dive computer, they won't have the good graces of a travel agent or a dive store owner to solve the problem.

-- Ben Davison