Manta Queen 1

Everything was arranged perfectly, the staff made all efforts to satisfy dives. They are helpful, fully active, and straightforward. The Cabin was good and clean, food was very good in quantity and quality. I would suggest.

My daughter and I went on a 4 night liveaboard on the Manta Queen 1 and had a great time! The on boat crew and the dive crew were excellent, very helpful, good briefings (Xavier and Chris). Fairly new and good dive equipment. The boat has recently been renovated and all worked well on board. The bunk beds are a bit too hard for me but that is quite common in Thailand (hotels as well).
Diving condition’s at the Similan islands were a bit below expectation due to lower than expected visibility and frequent cold water front moving through. Conditions improved as we moved further north. Unfortunately we missed the Whale Shark (was spotted by two other groups during our trip) and no Manta Rays but a lot of other interesting marine live.
The only negative point I can mention:
We arrived 5 hrs too early and were allowed to use small swimming pool and aircon instruction room while waiting. The reason we were early is that we had to take an early flight as we were told not to arrive much later than 15:00 hrs at Phuket Airport and to be at the dive shop for briefing no later than 17:00 hrs for a departure at 18:00 hrs. At the end, due to very late passenger (2 divers) arrival we waited until after 20:00 hrs so in hindsight we could have avoided the long wait and take a later flight. No explanation was given as to why these two passengers were so late and why we had to wait.

I didn’t expect it could be such a lovely memorable experience after reading those bad reviews. But now I can tell more objectively after my first hand experience.
The whole process from enquiry, booking, check in, the trip to the end was very smooth. When I was searching for Manta Queen liveaboard, I was confused as I found many companies operated the booking. Khao Lak Scuba Adventures declares they are the owner of Manta Queen, so I got a lot of questions and comparisons for them. I read all the bad reviews and was quite cautious. Their enquiry consultant Stefan answered my questions patiently and replied promptly. He replied my emails right away even it was 10pm. The whole booking process was very organized and efficient. During the trip, everything was also well organized with a clear schedule. The cruise director Joe had a great leadership, very organized, responsible and his briefings were always funny and detailed. All the dive guides and cruise staff were friendly and helpful. They were strict with 1 to 4 guide to divers ratio and considered of the divers’ level, breathing when grouping. My guide Jonny is an experienced instructor who is reliable and thoughtful. There was once I was almost blew away by the strong currents, he responded quickly and effectively. We all had fun and felt safe diving with him.
There were 28 divers from different countries in the ship. The staff understand cultural diversity and respect the differences. I think those people who left bad reviews for complaining other divers are mean and narrow minded. We are all in the same boat, we go down diving together and come up together. You never know you could be the next one who needs help. Be kind and respectful, this is the spirit of diving!

My daughter and I went on a 4 night liveaboard on the Manta Queen 1 and had a great time! The on boat crew and the dive crew were excellent, very helpful, good briefings (Xavier and Chris). Fairly new and good dive equipment. The boat has recently been renovated and all worked well on board. The bunk beds are a bit too hard for me but that is quite common in Thailand (hotels as well).
Diving condition’s at the Similan islands were a bit below expectation due to lower than expected visibility and frequent cold water front moving through. Conditions improved as we moved further north. Unfortunately we missed the Whale Shark (was spotted by two other groups during our trip) and no Manta Rays but a lot of other interesting marine live.
The only negative point I can mention:
I joined the Manta Queen 1 crew a few weeks ago and had such an amazing experience!
I’m an advanced open water and lost a bit of confidence diving a year ago so set a target of taking 10 dives out of 15 this time. Xavier, Max our hosts and their crew helped me gain confidence again through the briefings, trainings AND through them just being super relaxed and fun – they really made it super easy – I ended up doing 15 dives alongside a nitrox course (which I recommend!!!) and never felt pressurized at any point in the trip.
The crew and staff was professional, knowledgeable, fun and very friendly. Safety always came first. The boat was always super clean. The staff had small attentions which meant a lot to each of us.

The highlight of my trip was to dive with Tik, our DiveMaster. Although his overall interaction above surface was minimal, the way he communicated with us and the ocean under water was mesmerising. Just like an orchestra’s conductor. His love for the ocean was just naturally shared around him and he would find and show us all those underwater creatures.
My issues equalising just faded as we went down very slowly, Tik making sure I would be ok, never pressurising me or others.

The whole boat and dive experience was just perfect and I can completely understand why some people would return to this specific boat again and again and again…!

One of the best liveaboards ever. Great crew, beautiful dives.
We did a 4 night 5 day liveaboard on the Manta Queen 1. Helpful Thai staff, nice local food made fresh by our on board cook. Good and professional diving stuff.