Red Sea Aggressor II: "The Red Sea Does Not Disappoint", Sep, 2019,by Elizabeth Russell, PA, US (![]() |
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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Accommodations | ![]() |
Food | ![]() |
Service and Attitude | ![]() |
Environmental Sensitivity | ![]() |
Dive Operation | ![]() |
Shore Diving | N/A |
Snorkeling | N/A | ||
Overall Rating |
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Value for $$ | ![]() |
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Beginners | ![]() |
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Advanced | ![]() |
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Comments |
The diving was outstanding! We love the Red Sea experience. We went on the Red Sea Aggressor in 2014 and loved it so much we decided to try the northern route this trip. The dive-deck crew, the stewards, and the cooks were great and did a wonderful job. They even adjusted my new “travel” BC so that it would fit me correctly. There was always a crew member on the dive deck to help with fins and when we surfaced to help us get out of the water. Crew member Hussain especially made the trip special. He had such a good attitude and even danced with us old ladies after dives - and didn’t make fun of our dancing. The dive deck is the biggest of any liveaboard I’ve been on. The boat wasn’t full but even if it had been, there was plenty of room with no crowding. The showers always had hot water and there is shampoo and body wash available. The corals are healthy. There are thousands of antias and other small fish on every dive. I logged more than 20 new species, including snake eels and the elusive leopard blenny. We did three to four dives a day. The night dive is before dinner so that the passengers can enjoy a drink with dinner without giving up the night dive. The meals, even for vegetarians, were very good. There were plenty of fresh fruits available all the time in the salon. Because my buddy and I have both Seven Seas Explorer and VIP status with Aggressor, we were upgraded to the salon. It was a very large room with a big shower and sink area. We even had a small sofa. There was plenty of room for our clothes and the bed was quite comfortable. I usually book my own flights but our itinerary was a little difficult so we used Aggressor travel to book our flights from/from Cairo to Hurghada and as usual, they were great. We even had them book our ongoing flights to/from Nairobi where we did a week of safari. However, we seem to have gotten the "B Team" with the cruise director and divemasters. They were more interested in staring at their phones while smoking on the bow than they were providing service to the guests. I've never been on an Aggressor where the passengers had to beg the cruise director to open the boutique on Thursday. I know it's a hardship to put out a few t-shirts but it's part of the job. On Friday, we asked Amr, one of the divemasters. to get us a taxi for Saturday morning to take us to the hotel where we had a day room reserved. He told us "Use your phone and call an Uber." When we tried, we did not have the ability to call Uber in Hurghada, so we asked him several more times on Friday. Saturday morning we asked again and again were told to call Uber. Again we couldn't. Finally, after asking several more times, Amr called a taxi for us. Every other Aggressor has the transfer schedule for every passenger posted on Friday evening and we were very disturbed by this lack of service by the cruise staff. I want to stress that the rest of the staff, especially the dive-deck staff, were excellent. Shaker, the cruise director, seemed to be the source of the problem as he had nothing organized and let divemasters Amr and Ahmed slack off as well. Even with the annoyance with the divemasters and cruise director, it was a wonderful trip. I will definitely go back to Egypt to dive the Red Sea again. |
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Websites | Red Sea Aggressor II | ||
Reporter and Travel |
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Dive Experience | 501-1000 dives | ||
Where else diving | Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Indonesia, Fiji, Thailand, Egypt, Galapagos, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Chuuk, Cozumel, Baja, Belize, Honduras, Panama, Hawaii, Maldives | ||
Closest Airport | Hurghada | Getting There | From Cairo Egypt air flies to Hurghada. There are other connections to Hurghada from places in Europe |
Dive Conditions |
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Weather | sunny | Seas | calm |
Water Temp | 82-86°F / 28-30°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 3 |
Water Visibility | 80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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Dive own profile | yes | ||
Enforced diving restrictions | No diving below 110' (33 meters). Prefer to be back in one hour or 500 PSI but not strictly enforced. | ||
Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | yes |
What I Saw |
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Sharks | None | Mantas | None |
Dolphins | None | Whale Sharks | None |
Turtles | > 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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Corals | ![]() |
Tropical Fish | ![]() |
Small Critters | ![]() |
Large Fish | ![]() |
Large Pelagics | N/A | ||
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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Subject Matter | ![]() |
Boat Facilities | ![]() |
Overall rating for UWP's | ![]() |
Shore Facilities | N/A |
UW Photo Comments | Two camera tables with charging stations. Storage below on both sides and cubbys above one side. |
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