Immersioni in Thailandia - Crociere Subacquee Phuket

Name: Alex Gibson
Date: 13 th Jan 2008
Message:I just wanted to send a quick email which you can forward on to Colona about my Similans liveaboard experience. I hadn't been on a liveaboard before getting on to Colona VI on 6 January and I must say the experience was outstanding. The boat was fantastic and the staff were truly brilliant. Everyone was so helpful which made the four days a great experience. I would like to make particular mention about Steve our Tour Leader, his outstanding knowledge of the dive sites and helpful and friendly manner made the trip outstanding. Having a dive instructor who knew the area so well turned a good dive trip in to a great dive trip.

I would definitely recommend Colona to anyone interested in having a professional and fun Similans diving holiday.

Thank you again for all your help, I am now hooked on liveaboards!!!

Alex Gibson

Name: Mr. A.M. Weimar
Date: 12 th Jan 2008
Message: My wife and I have had a live aboard on the Colona from the 6th until the 10th of january this year.

Though we both filled in the questionare, we think it is usefull to share our experiences with you also by e-mail.
We want to let you know that we very much enjoyed our trip. W've done several live aboard, but this one has the best so far.
The safety was good, the food was good, the service was good and everything was in place. A special word of appreciation should be spent on the diving instructor and guide Steven. He has been the character who made our trip worth it's money and can be seen as the driving force on the boat. He's shown professionalism in each and every way. If I may give you an advice and a suggestion: Do everything you can to keep this man on your payroll. He's more than worth the invesment and wil make your live aboards in  Thailand more succesfull. W'll certainly come back next year if Steven is the diving instructor on Colona.

Best regards

Name: Terry &Russ
Date: 01 th Jan 2008
Message:Dear James, Thank you so much for all your help with our liveaboard arrangements for the MV Giamani for the Dec23-29 2007 Similans trip.

We know we were doing it all at the last minute and so we were doubly grateful for your help with the hotel arrangements and transfers, too. It could not have been a more wonderful trip. A huge factor in why we had an incredible week was the skill and warmth of the cruise director, Lasse Kristensen.

We’ve been on several liveaboards and have done many other dive trips, but in all those trips we’ve never known anyone as talented as Lasse. From the moment he greeted us at the hotel to our final transfer back to the airport, he constantly impressed us by how thoughtfully he did everything. His briefings on the boat were excellent and each day’s schedule flowed beautifully. Lasse even took the time to organize several fascinating shore excursions, including an unforgettable visit to the Moken (sea gypsy) village up at Ko Surin. On Christmas day, Lasse took the time to have everything decorated, scheduled our first dive for Christmas Point, and had gifts for everyone.
On my birthday, which was three days later, he worked with the crew to have an enormous and decorated birthday pancake made for me! Lasse also had an excellent rapport with all the passengers and with the crew. It is not always easy to work with so many different personalities, and yet Lasse made it look effortless. I was also impressed by the way he interacted with the villagers on the Moken visit. Underwater, Lasse is a brilliant dive master. He always pointed out fantastic fish, shells, and other interesting sights and regularly checked in with the divers. As you know, currents shift around in the Similans quite a bit and Lasse was always ready to change the direction of a dive so that no one was getting tired out. The crew on the Giamani was also superb.

They even had our wetsuits set out by our tanks before each dive! We have never seen such a helpful and pleasant crew, even on some of the “big name” liveaboards. They always went the extra step to make the diving easy and fun. The only suggestion my husband had (that he forgot to put on his form) was to have real coffee available. The Sofitel Centara in Bangkok is a fabulous place and we’d stay there again in a second. I’d definitely recommend the Sofitel to anyone I know who’s passing through or staying in Bangkok.

Thank you again for all your help in coordinating our trip. Please let us know if you end up running trips to Indonesia- we’d be interested!

Best wishes for the New Year, Terry Maguire & Russ Menard

Location: - USA

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Name: Breck Nichols
Date: 06th July 2007
Message:James, Thank you for all your help. The trip was great and more than I expected. Andrea (spelling?) was fantastic, the crew very, very helpful and extremely competent. The food was so good I nearly ate myself to death. I will come again someday and will share all the pictures with my friends. Thank you again for making this possible. Sincerely, Breck Nichols

Location: - USA

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Name: Menno Verschuur
Date: 27th February 2006
Message:The Colona was a very nice, roomy and comfortable ship. I loved the large open upper deck to eat or just relax, much better than siting inside in some cramped cabin. The crew and dive guides were excellent, and I'm afraid the 4 hours in the water a day or so were not enough exercise to stop everybody ganing a few kilo's with the delicious meals that were served.

Of course it all started great with the birthday cake, really nice to think of it! I told my family and friends and they all found it amazing, and it all gave a very 'human' and friendly face to the Colona diving organization.

The hotel you arranged was very good, a beautiful location, nice and quiet on the hill, a lot of green around. The rooms with the big windows were awesome, and I spend a lot of time relaxing in the pool. I understand it is quite new and not so busy yet, but looking at the place it deserves to be a great succes. Thanks for arranging the room for me, I didn't look forward to stressing out after coming back from Colona to arrange a hotel room

Location: - N.L

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Name: Gede Bond
Date: 14th December 2005
Message: What a wonderful way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday - on
the Colona VI. If you\'re looking for a class act, safe, beautiful diving, Nitrox-equipped, fine-food, clean, friendly liveaboard dive experience, book yourself on this boat. I combined their 4 and 2-day trips and despite some logistical obstacles over which no-one had any control, I felt very well-taken care of and pampered. I realized early on that I had nothing to worry about. Divemaster was great, very well-attuned to his guests\' needs and desires, very sociable and amusing and fluent in 3 languages.

Location: - U.K

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Name: Luise
Date: 03th December 2005
Message: Just wanted to let you know what a great time I had on the Colona, even though there were engine problems.  As someone who spends her life in customer service herself, I have an appreciation for problem-solving on the fly.  In this instance the problems were taken care of in an efficient and expedient manner considering the situation.  And putting me in the honeymoon suite on the 2-day trip - even though there were 2 couples on board (that did *not* escape my notice) -  was very thoughtful and much appreciated. So Raoul - pat yourself on the back!

Location: - U.K

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Name: Sara & Bill - Michael & James
Date: 16th January 2005
Message:Orginally we thought of cancelling our trip on Colona VI after we heard about the Tsunami. But after being persuaed by Bill to "give it a go" I now realise that this could be possibly the worst thing that I could have done, not to go.The diving was spectacular, (thank you Mark). The visability was just great but the atmosphere that we received on the boat by all of the crew was outstanding, thank you. A quick message to all of you who are concerned with travelling to Thailand.
Do it! There are no worries of contamination, the beaches are clean and tidy, and of course the diving is just superb! The worse thing that all tourists can do is to stay away. We will return in March again to support the economy.
Location: - U.K

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Name: Giacomo, Graziano & Roberto
Date: 6th January 2005
Message:Carissimi Patrick e Chirstina, sono Giacomo e con i miei amici Graziano e Roberto sono stato ospite sul Colona VI nella crociera di Natale 2004. Innanzitutto vi comunico che siamo, purtoppo, tornati in Italia anche se dopo un viaggio che tra ritardi e spostamenti è stato lunghissimo. Vi scrivo per ringraziare voi e per porgere da parte nostra i ringraziamenti a Marc e Steve per l'ottimo comportamento che hanno tenuto nei nostri confronti in una situazione che definire difficile è forse un eufemismo. Vi prego inoltre di porgere i nostri saluti e il nostro ringraziamento sia al capitano della barca, sia a tutti i ragazzi dell'equipaggio che con problemi e pensieri enormi per le loro case e i loro cari, si sono impegnati con una dedizione ammirevole per far si che la nostra vacanza proseguisse nel migliore dei modi. Il mio rimpianto limitatamente alla vacanza è quello di non essere riuscito a fare immersioni a Hin daeng e Hin muang e a Richelieu Rock: sicuramente però tramuto questo mio rimpianto in una promessa, cioè quella di ritornare per fare ciò che non ho fatto e soprattutto per rimanere ancora a contatto con persone meravigliose e speciali, che non hanno eguali al mondo, quali sono quelle del popolo Thai........... per adesso vi saluto per e-mail, ma sicuramente, è una promessa, vi verrò a salutare con gioia di persona. Un abbraccio e un bacio a tutta la Thailandia. Giacomo
Location: - Italy

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Name: Robert Woodley and Natasha Burns
Date: 3rd January 2005
Message: My heart goes out to all of you that have been invloved in this tragic disaster. Let's hope that Phuket & co. will resume to normallity as soon as possible. We have had excellent diving excursions with you in the past and will continue to do so in the very near future! We have just booked additional holiday from work and will be returning to you on Colona VI at the end of the month. It will be great to see you all - Raoul, Mark and Christina, thank you :-)
Location: - U.K

Name: Valerio
Date: 29th December 2004
Message: Vorrei che la terra, assomigliasse alla vostra natura incontaminata, Vi auguro un 2005 che vi faccia riprendere quella normalità, che meritate e che merita la Pace dei Popoli, chiunque Essi siano.Buon Anno
Location: - Italy

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Name: Philip Amswych
Date: 29th December 2004
Message: Hi Christina, - It was good to hear that all was OK with Kon-Tiki & Colona VI; I also received the same positive news from Calypso. However as the scale of the disaster becomes more clear and the death toll rises as the days go by, one can only wonder at your good fortune - so many tens of thousands around the Indian Ocean were not so lucky and I'm sure that in such a small community (I mean the diving fraternity of Phuket), there will be those of who have lost dear friends in this tragedy.

My wife said to me that she supposes that I won't be going to Phuket formy diving this coming March / April. Well, if anything, it has made me more determined than ever to try and get back and show my support as theisland makes the long steps to getting back to normal and recovery; so if I do get the chance I'll be back.....take care one and all, - Philip
Location: U.K

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Name: Pierre Osterrieth
Date: 28th December 2004
Message: Glad to hear that everyone is OK. I still remember the wonderful experience I had in the Similan Islands in April 2003
Location: Baton Rouge - USA

Name: Paolo and Ivana
Date: 27th December 2004
Message: Dear Sirs, in January 2004 we spent our holidays on Colona VI and that has been a great time for us. We are very, very happy that you wrote on the site that " staff on board our vessels are safe and well". We hope the same for the staff on the land and their families. We are very sad for the serius damages caused to the population. We wish you all the best and good luck!
Location: Italy

Name: Selina Lithwistle
Date: 27th December 2004
Message: Dear Colona VI, I was very sad when I heard the news on the Tsunami, I do hope that you are all ok and I hope once again to be returning with my husband and daughters in the next couple of month. Similans is magnificant and I cannot wait to get back into the water. Take care. See you in Mars 2005.
Location: Toulouse, France

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