Dive Review of Kararu Voyages/Cheng Ho in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat

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Kararu Voyages/Cheng Ho, Nov, 2007, by Thomas Dingwall, Oregon, USA ( 1 report). Report 4417.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The recent report on the Cheng Ho in Undercurrent was accurate, but overly kind. We have have been on many of the major liveaboards, including Peter Hughes, Aggressor, and Mike Ball. Kararu charges similar fares to these operations, but falls short of them in terms of service and facilities. The Undercurrent report points out many of these deficiencies, but I would like to point out a couple more. The biggest issue we had was with the cabin we were assigned. We booked a "Deluxe Twin" cabin, but were placed in the smallest cabin on the boat - smaller even than those housing one person. The cabin was about 100 square feet, including a small toilet/shower and bunk beds. There was virtually no storage space, and barely enough room for the two of us to stand up at the same time. To make things worse, off-duty crew were constantly sitting, standing, smoking and eating outside our door, leaving us with no privacy and keeping us up at night. After the trip we checked the ship layout on the web site. The room we were in is marked "single" on the diagram. In fact, all four cabins on the main deck are marked "single", yet two of them were assigned to couples on our trip. We discovered this was because they booked two more people on the trip than the posted maximum capacity of the boat. When we complained to Stein at Kararu Voyages about this issue, he refused to acknowledge that anything was wrong with our accomodations. He said that since the cabins on the main deck have bunk beds in them, they can be used as doubles. So if you book a trip on the Cheng Ho, be aware that this could happen to you. The Undercurrent report mentioned the leaks on the Cheng Ho, but didn't mention one aspect of it. The main indoor public area on the boat is the lounge/dining room. There is a large counter in this room that serves as a charging area for batteries, etc. As such, it is covered with 220 volt power strips, along with various other electrical equipment. Unfortunately, everytime it rained, water would fall on the charging table. The staff would cover the area with plastic sheets, but water would run off and pool on the floor. I shudder when I think about people reaching under those plastic sheets with water on the floor. The bottom line: Avoid Kararu/Cheng Ho like the plague.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Australia, PNG, Indonesia, Micronesia, Galapagos
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	currents
Water Temp	76-80°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-30 Ft/ 6-9 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Kararu Voyages/Cheng Ho in Indonesia/Raja Ampat

Kararu Voyages/Cheng Ho, Nov, 2007,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Kararu Voyages/Cheng Ho in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat