Liveaboard Dive Trips: 9 Aspects to Consider Before Booking Yours

It’s time for action. Welcome to your next liveaboard dive trip

New steps bring new adventures, travel far away, discover unknown places, feel nature, live new stories…

You are a few lines away from worldwide dive cruise planning, epic sunsets, and nights chatting on the deck.

Incredible landscapes, exciting adventures, and many decisions are waiting for you before living the biggest adventure of your life.

This one starts by reading this article: Take a look at the content table. We are going to plan a liveaboard trip.

1. What To Expect From A Liveaboard Dive Trip?

Eat, sleep, dive, repeat. This is what you can expect from a liveaboard trip.

Dive cruise first day. The vessel has traveled overnight, the air smells of coffee when we wake up at 7 am. Eggs, muffins, and fruit for breakfast.

We put on our gear, check it out, and listen to the briefing. A giant stride and we are into the water, enjoying a first impressive dive: pelagic creatures are our dive buddies. We return to the boat. The crew helps us to board again. A tray with cold sandwiches awaits us.

The second dive takes place just before lunch. It is salad, grouper ceviche or rice with duck. While we eat, the boat sails slowly. After a short break to unload our pics, we prepare to descend to the reef.

A hot shower before dinner. The food has the taste of a 5-star restaurant.

There are some divers getting ready for the night dive. Meanwhile, others take a look at the beverages menu.

Back in our room, we’ve fallen asleep just on the spur of the moment just resting our heads on the pillow.

Seven o’clock in the morning comes early. The air smells of coffee again. The boat is at a new and exciting dive site.

2. Choose Where: Liveaboard Dive Trip Locations and Itineraries

Depending on your diving bucket list, you will be more interested in some routes or others.

As you know, some scuba areas are ideal for wreck diving experiences like the Red Sea. In others, you will be able to dive with white sharks, as Guadalupe Island offers.

Do you want to live an impressive encounter with breathtaking manta rays? Then, Socorro is your best option. Meanwhile, hammerheads and whale sharks are waiting for you in the Maldives.

3. When: Dive Cruises Time (Data and Duration)

Liveaboard dive trips last from 3 days to one week. Even though this aspect can vary depending on the company or the trip duration booked by you.

To calculate how long a dive cruise will be, remember you will also have to consider the time traveling from your home to the harbor and back. Include off-gassing time before you fly home.

Similarly, you must take into account the season of the year in which you plan your trip. The viability of one destination or another could depend on this.

It is possible that those marine animals you wish to see are in that location just for a few months. Another possibility is that the liveaboard dive trips you are interested in take place in months of the year in which you cannot take vacations.

4. Calculate Your Liveaboard Dive Trip Budget

From 150Usd to 600Usd per day and per person are the average liveaboard dive trips prices. They can vary greatly depending on the destination, the season, the cabin you choose, the scuba diving package, or the services you wish to hire.

Do not forget to ask what the price includes and what it entitles you to.

Are excursions included?

Are day and night dives included or is there an additional charge?

You will also need to include in your budget: flights, commutes, hotels, meals, and everything you need off the boat, etc.

5. Liveaboard Dive Boats

• Safety Standards

For all those who practice this sport, safety in diving is a must. From Dressel Divers, we encourage you to ask about the standards and rules followed by the diving company that manages the boat.

Hold tight, it’s a long list:

• the dimensions of the vessel and the optimization of space;
• the existence of additional equipment and additional spare parts;
• equipment attachment points and tanks;
• the boat’s power generators;
• water tanks; the number, duration, capacity, backup pressure,
• filling station,
• about the dives, ask if they are guided or not,
• the existence of a platform for the entry and exit of the water…
• life vests
• fire extinguishers
• life rafts, surface marker buoys, first-aid kit, emergency oxygen and satellite telephone.

Probably there are more safety standards on a liveaboard dive boat, but these are the more important ones.

• Rental Material and Nitrox

In addition to all the above, you should consider if you can rent diving equipment.

Nitrox is another essential point because unless you are a Dive Instructor or an active Divemaster, you are probably not used to doing 4 dives a day. Using Nitrox will help your well-being for the duration of the dive cruise.

• Amenities And Level of Luxury

Cabin sizes, air conditioning and/or heating, whirlpool tubs and spas, Wi-Fi access, yoga studios, massage parlors, kayaks, or a full-service bar, etc. are some extra features that will make your liveaboard dive trip even better.

6. Have I The Proper Certification Level for Enjoying a Dive Cruise?

On the one hand, the minimum diving certification level required by liveaboard companies is the Open Water Course. However, remember that some diving may involve technical challenges, great depths, or considerable currents.

Depending on these variables, some companies require you to be Advanced Open Water Diver certified and have a minimum level of logged dives.

On the other hand, your skills as a diver will be vital to enjoying underwater. Remember that if you need to deal with any problematic situation, this will give you confidence, tranquility, and security to face it.

7. Can I Go on A Liveaboard Diving Trip Alone?

Even if you don’t have a buddy you can book your passage on a dive cruise. If this is your option, the company may offer to share a room with another diver traveling alone or a single room just for you.

Be aware that most companies charge a supplement for divers traveling alone.

8. What Do I Pack for A Liveaboard Cruise?

We can’t list every single thing you will need because the list would be too long, but we can give you our advice based on experience.

Avoid overpacking. The ship will not be the only transportation you should take. Spaces are limited, and excess luggage is expensive.

Keep daily clothing to a minimum, but put two wetsuits in your suitcase: one dry and the other in use. Although on most liveaboard dive trips, you can rent them just like the rest of the equipment.

Regarding the equipment, there are some essentials.

– Dive computer and extra battery

– BCD, fins, mask, snorkel, and booties.

– Surface marker buoy

– Flashlight and batteries.

Think about street clothes that can be washed and dried fast. Towels are included in the price. Do not pack them.

You will not be able to wear shoes for the entire dive cruise. So, pack flip-flops and a pair of comfortable shoes for the trip to and from home.

If you are a woman, don’t forget hygiene products.

Slowly consider the electrical equipment: laptop, camera, batteries, bulbs, lenses, an external hard drive, cables, smartphone, power adapter, headphones… all this can constitute a big part of your luggage.

Pack biodegradable sunscreen and motion sickness pills if you are prone to it. Don’t forget your medications.

9. Best Liveaboard Dive Trips

Book your liveaboard dive trips with Dressel Divers.

Liveaboard dive trips to the Bahamas, Indonesia liveaboard dive trips, Galapagos liveaboard dive trips, Caribbean liveaboard dive trips, whatever you want, and more.

Our company makes a strict selection of diving cruises, offering our customers only those that meet our high safety, quality, and professionalism demands.

If after reading this article, you still have questions or doubts, do not hesitate to contact us for further information. We will help you organize the liveaboard diving trip of a lifetime.