Oktavia liveaboard reviews

photo by Sabine Frank

Here are three reviews of MV Oktavia liveaboard.

The first 2 trip advisor reviews are from last week.

The third review is from January this year. Thanks to Sabine and Brian for the photos.

I contacted Paul a couple of months in advance for a (3days-2 nights) liveaboard trip on the Oktavia in January 2016 . He was very prompt with information and replies. The reservations and billing were handled in a very professional manner. On board of the Oktavia a great crew was available for the guests. Food was execelent prepared. I did 7 dives around the Similan islands and my partner went snorkeling at the same time with another small group. We lost a snorkel during transfer to the RIB and it was replaced by the agency without any comments.

It was a great experience and would recommend this trip to everybody.

Recently did a 3 day live aboard on Oktavia. We had detailed briefings prior to each dive and options for a sunset or night dive. Dive sites were good with exception of Richielieu rock with poor visibility first dive, even worse on 2nd dive. Nearly all other dive boats left after first dive, not sure why our crew didn’t recognize likelihood of poor diving conditions and instead chose to remain on the ‘rock’. 3 dives with giant mantas…what an awesome experience. Also experience ‘green monster’ one morning but were forewarned of possibility so was prepared for it. Lots of school fish on many dives, always something cool to look at.

Food was plentiful and tasty.

Crew was helpful throughout trip, we rented equipment which was of good quality and more than met our needs.

Boat was good, A/C temps in cabins at front of boat were significantly better cooled than at rear of boat.

Will definitely return to Thailand Liveaboards on next trip, maybe stay a few more days too!

photo by Sabine Frank

To cut it short, we had a fabulous time aboard Oktavia. All of the staff from the deckhands to the chef to the instructors were very friendly, helpful and professional. The whole trip was planned through very well and you can tell the staff and captain know their stuff as they picked dive spots and scheduled beach excursions according to conditions and traffic from other boats, so very often we didn’t see divers from other boats underwater and had the beautiful Similan beaches to ourselves.

The food from the new chef was excellent, she made sure there was always plenty of variety with one meat, one seafood and one vegetarian dish on offer for lunch and dinner.

Everything was kept very clean, the cabin was spacious enough, there was always a chance for some music or film to be put on and the guides- despite their long and tiring days – were always happy to socialise with guests.

The diving was nice, highlights included competitive behaviour of two male cuttlefish over a female and finally the passing of eggs between the couple. On our last day I almost got slapped on the head by a 6m Manta Ray. No photo of that, but I attached a few others for you.

Thank you for your assistance during the entire process. We found everything to go very professionally and smoothly and would happily book with you and Oktavia again.