Not very often, but on occasion, we’ll get asked, “Why should we book our snorkeling tours through Snorkel Venture, and not just book the same resorts and liveaboards independently since it’s cheaper?”
It’s true, you could book the same itineraries by yourself and save money. However, if you’ve ever traveled with us you’ll soon realize that there is a substantial amount of service and other amenities that come along with the extra cost of our tours. For example, all the domestic flights are included, as are the hotels, marine park fees, and most of the meals. All the snorkeling boats are diver-free and reserved exclusively for our group of snorkelers. And, of course, your snorkeling adventures will always be led by one of our experienced snorkeling professionals who will be with you every step of the way to make sure everything is fun, safe, and runs as smoothly as possible! One additional thing that’s included in the price tag of our tours, but might not be very apparent, is that for the duration of your trip, our support team is ready to work around the clock in the event of a disruption to the original planned itinerary.
A perfect example of this additional service could be applied to a situation that happened very recently. Just as our last snorkeling tours of the year were happily chugging along in Indonesia, a volcano hundreds of miles away from where we were, decided to release a little tension in the form of a sizeable ash cloud. This release–initially thought to last the better part of a day–ended up lasting for nearly two weeks. Despite the volcano’s seemingly inconsequential distance from where our groups were, this plume of ash now suspended in the earth’s stratosphere did have a notable impact on airports in its region, forcing one very important one on our tours to close.
Unfortunately, the airports remained closed for an extended period of time and it became impossible for our groups to arrive at one of the destinations on their three and four-stop tours through Indonesia. Mother Nature threw us a curveball and no amount of tour preparation or veteran knowledge could have helped us hit it. However, instead of spending hours dealing with airline queues arranging alternate flights, booking new accommodations, and arranging all the transport in between, our guests were able to relax in a comfortable beachside Bali resort enjoying delicious meals, land excursions, and some snorkeling at a few of Bali’s best snorkeling sites. As our guests indulged stress-free, our support team dealt with the tangle of travel logistics for the days following.
I’d quickly like to point out that travel inconveniences such as the one I’ve just mentioned are few and far between. Since we started Snorkel Venture in 2019, this is the first time–aside from the Pandemic–that we have not been able to make it to one of our destinations. (Knock on wood) That being said, traveling in remote corners of the world will, on occasion, yield some minor inconveniences like canceled or delayed flights. When that does happen, our support team is on it, organizing alternate flights, hotels, and transportation to ensure we make it to our next destination on time. Of course, all this is happening as our guests happily engage with the reef and its inhabitants, blissfully unaware.
So yes, our tours cost more than what you could put together yourself. They include a lot of physical things like flights and food, but more importantly, all of our tours come with the assurance that our support team and the group leader will absorb any unforeseen travel stresses so you can relax and enjoy the adventure without missing any of the encounters you traveled all this way for.
