Kira Kira Liveaboard Review

7 liveaboard reviews for “Kira Kira”

1. Stunning trip! We booked because it was the most budget friendly option and we were trying to be positive about the boat it self… We’re fools!!! It’s been a better trip than we hoped for!

   The accommodations are comfortable and there is space for some clothes and personal stuff organizing, closets, etc. The chief is amazing, I was often peeking in the galley to have cooking tips and he was so friendly. The food was simply great. Of course that implies that ones like fish a lot haha!

   The British owners are fun, professionals and always have a story to tell from their travels. We were a great group and every body was flexible about diving so there was no fuss and the whole week went by like a breeze. We often chose not to visit a crowded site and come back later and it was no problem so I feel like we’ve seen a lot and had great dives every time! So many manta rays, nemos, sharks, turtles, schools of many fishes, etc.

   I, and we, were doubting at first and booked for the price… now I would go back with no hesitation! Thanks Kira Kira!

   Reply ↓

2. I have just returned from a Raja Ampat diving holiday aboard Kira Kira.
   What a fantastic holiday.
   Besides the obvious (fantastic diving and incredible scenery above and below the waves) what we will remember is the staff.
   Paul, Alex and crew treated us like friends without sacrificing professionalism and safety.
   The small guest list allows for a very personalised experience, and Paul and Alex bent over backwards to ensure an unforgettable trip.
   A special mention also for the cook!
   I can recommend them without hesitation for an unforgettable diving holiday

   Reply ↓

   • Hi Dirk!
     So glad to hear you’ve had an amazing time! Thanks for sharing your review on Divezone! Sometimes budget boats are just as great as 5 stars ones for a fraction of the price!

     Safe travels!

     Reply ↓

3. I Visited Raja Ampat aboard the liveaboard Kira Kira towards the end of December 2017 and came back with mixed feelings. Previous reviews of the boat had been nice, but the ENTIRE set of guests on the cruise had a slightly different experience – wonder what has changed things

   Firstly – the dive sites… in one word AMAZING.!! The bio-diversity and the density of marine life and colourful corals is magical. Coupled with strong currents, the pelagic action was abundant. We only did South Ampat and Central – south had more marine density but the central had better weather. It is also possible to stay and dive from home-stays if you dont fancy paying a high price for a liveaboard.
   We saw sharks of various kinds, giant trevallys, barracuda, wobbegong sharks, mantas, rays, nudis of various shapes and colours, morays, groupers, schooling fish in huge balls, and the list goes on.

   Local crew – very cheerful and helpful and always at hand to kit up, un-kit and any other help – day or night.

   Diving – the dive booking website promised 30 dives – we got 26 (2 were cancelled due to poor weather, which I understand, but when the boat has a philosophy of “only 3 dives a day to keep the crew happy” and finishing diving by 3.30 pm on a liveaboard to such a remote location that most people took 30+ hours to reach, I cannot see them doing 30 dives in 9 diving days in the first place!! Also their own website talks about a hike in the forest to see birds of paradise, which never happened… and we reluctantly got ONE night dive! (website promises “night diveS”)

   Also the pictures on their website – food shots with lobsters and the boat with sails are like elephants tusks – just for show – not for real

   Now let us talk about the boat
   Kira Kira – non air-conditioned, with salt water showers in the day. the only freshwater shower was in the evening after all the dives. There are two shower/toilets that are shared by 15 people including staff and the toilets are marine bilge pumps that often got clogged

   Beer is available on board in an ice chest and a honesty bar form kept near it to tick off what you had consumed

   Part of the crew sleeps in the dining area or the sun-deck and hence it was not possible to hang around in the communal spaces at night without feeling that you were disturbing them

   One of the guests got sick and had to leave the boat on day 5 – and instead of (at least) offering the master cabin to one of the other guests as a service, the cruise director promptly took the cabin for himself for the rest of the trip. However they were very helpful in getting the couple a speedboat transfer to land for medical assistance

   This boat is not suitable for the elderly as all cabins and most common areas are accessible only via almost vertical ladders and hatches

   The dive deck near the bow where people change into their wetsuits is a SERIOUS health hazard with 3 guests (out of 6) slipping and falling on the painted and sloping floor and the cruise director himself almost slipped and fell (was told that that would get corrected at the end of the season)

   Charging points – there is one extension cord with 5 charging points in the common eating area – nothing in the rooms and people were constantly juggling chargers to charge up. Luckily not many on the boat had cameras with strobes or video lights or it would have been a battle to charge up. It does not help that the crew occupies at least 2 of the slots at any time to charge their mobiles!!

   Same with the rinse tank for cameras – ONE small bucket with about 10 litres of water – if two people had camera rigs or one person with two strobes, it would not be able to cater to even one guest, let alone 8

   Food – being a strict vegetarian I had warned them about my dietary needs repeatedly. The reviews suggest that the lady who cooks (who was no longer on the boat) caters to every individuals needs. However, I ended up eating rice practically for breakfast lunch and dinner for majority of the meals as potatoes (of any kind – hash brown, mashed or fried) were deviations from their set menu and not catered for!! (I did not eat the pancakes, scrambled eggs or omelettes due to my dietary requirements). The crew customized their own meals, but the guests had to eat what was the common meal cooked for all.
   Be prepared to eat basic Indonesian food at majority of the meals
   (In all fairness, we did have a beach BBQ, Spaghetti and French fries once each )

   They ran out of coffee creamer on day 4 of a 11 day cruise…. they had some fresh milk and some condensed sweetened milk to make up . Ran out of tofu and tempeh (my staple in the absence of options) on day 7 and out of potatoes and tomatoes on day 9

   Since they dont have an electric freezer, all cooling of F&B is done with ice packs and they ran out of those on the 9th night and a guest who had stored VERY expensive injections for a back ailment was left high and dry without refrigerated medication for the last 2 days – hoping that his injections were still fine!

   Finally the guiding – at best patchy and sometimes confusing. One of the two dive guides (both European) made it a point to look out for stuff and point it to the guests whereas the other guide was often 20-30 metres ahead with his girlfriend and oblivious of the 3 guests he was ‘leading’ and did not deem it necessary to look back and check on their progress on many of the dives (even when the dive plan was changed at the moment of jumping in! We were swimming against current for 18 mins and LOST one diver for over 8 mins due to exhaustion and panic before the guide noticed and went up to look for him!!! This was at a site where the briefing was – “we would hit a split current and swim against it for a min or two and then flow with the current”).

   On another occasion in-spite of the guide who had jumped into the water to spot the site and check currents, the other dive guide decided to jump 30 metres away and missed the underwater reef completely and the first guide told his group “they will be back on the surface in 5 mins”. Sure enough, we had to surface in 8 mins in the blue where an Open Water Diver was down to 38 metres and panicking before the guide noticed (BTW no certification cards were checked on arrival at the boat or no disclaimers/medical history forms were given to be signed – people had electronically signed medical forms upto 6 months before coming and things could have changed in the interim with people suffering from a recent bout of illness – something that would have slipped by in the current scenario)

   Also, instructions were confusing as we were commanded to stay behind the dive guides who would fin away to look for things in strong currents and low visibility and the instructions were ‘get down fast and use the reef hook – and dont move’ and 30 mins later, with no visual contact but just banging on the tank from the guide, we were expected to understand that we had to unhook and drift towards the guide!! No way in hell was i going to unhook till I SAW the guide asking me to do so – not just banging on his tank which often was done to point out to mantas or critters

   Comment from dive guide “if you cannot see me, you are not following me” – what about the corollary in strong currents and average visibility “If I cannot see you hooked on the reef, I should come looking for you and be in your face to give you instructions to unhook rather than banging on the while tank out of sight?”

   ALL guests raised this issue with the dive guide whose demeanor was “I have over 4000 dives and I am right and YOU are wrong!” and “I don’t want to argue with you about this” as well as “I am perfectly capable of guiding 7 guests” (whereas the website clearly says 4:1 ratio) With over 1400 dives as a non professional and having done my dive-master training and being led by over 100 guides on dives, this was one of the first time I faced this behavior and attitude

   It did not help that there was a dive instructor (the girlfriend) who was also a guest who was deputed on dives to fill in for one of the guides who had a back problem and had to stop diving – we would follow her assuming that she is following the guide and then the guide would be upset that we were not following him – our assumption (and as per their statement ‘She is a guest, not a dive guide – in which case we assume that she is following the guide like all other guests. And by her own admission “If I did not see the guide for a minute, I would look for him and follow him” whereas in reality, she was just a solo diver on most dives – in-spite of being deputed as a buddy for a day for one of the divers who could not descend fast due to equalizing issues) On one dive the guide just surfaced to prove a point after a few mins of jumping in as he did not see anyone following him – instead of trying to find the divers!

   In sum, all the 6 guests on the boat felt that that they had a ‘I dont care’ attitude

   All in all, the boat has to get its act together if they have to make an impact on guests….

   Hope they do so

   I will not delve into the story of the missing ‘kelapas’ (coconuts) – the others on the boat will understand the hint!!

   My journey continues to Lembeh and Bunaken where the guides have been a lot more visible and responsive and great spotters…. it is all ending on a good note

   7 key takeaways for me on this trip

   • Keep instructions clear – and keep divers in VISUAL sight on difficult dives
   • Plan the dive and dive the plan – or inform the guests if the plan has changed
   • Remember – you know the sites and the currents, most of the guests are first timers to that site – keep it safe and clear enough for the most inexperienced diver in your group
   • It is bad customer service to say ‘I am not going to argue with you’
   • Make the boat safer and deck less slippery
   • Have adequate supplies of all food and ice on board
   • Personalize for dietary requirements as per your claims

   Reply ↓

   • Hi Eli & Dipen,
     I’m very sorry to hear about all the considerable flaws of the Kira Kira and the cruise they offer. I want to thank you for taking the time to review your trip as it is, indeed, very important for other divers to be able to find and consider such reviews from customers. I can’t help but be happy to read that at least, the diving was as great as it should be! I truly wish you a stunning liveaboard cruise on the next one, and the same great diving!

     Safe bubbles, always!

     Reply ↓

4. I feel it is important to share with future divers so that they can better judge if this boat fits their needs since I didn’t find any negative reviews until experiencing it first-hand. 27 dives were provided over the Raja Ampat 10 night trip.

   The pictures on their website; food shots with lobsters and the boat with sails are fake. Food primarily consisted of heavily msg sauced fish with rice and various deep fried foods. There is a lack of fruit onboard, which for the health conscious would be a strong negative. The boat does not have any AC. Very important to consider when you are on the equator and forced to sleep in below deck bunks with no air flow. Their “fan” in the room is barely the size of a computer heat sink fan, completely useless. I was forced to “try to sleep” above deck on a yoga matt/bean bags exposed to the elements. This did not work (rain dumped on me at 2am) which only led to getting only 3-4 hours of sleep nightly.

   There are only two bathrooms shared among the crew and guests, and it did consistently get clogged. A problem when there are 16 people on this small ship. Beer is kept in a cooler, however since there is a lack of refrigeration on the boat it is never cold, also don’t expect to have any ice cubes through the trip. There is no fan in the dining room, again no airflow there unless the boat is moving. Yes there is no rinse tank for your gear, only a small bucket. Yes, the front of the boat is a hazard, I’ve seen multiple people slip there, I was able to catch myself and avoid that injury.

   I was very disappointed in getting re-assigned cabins. I had negotiated with the owner prior to sailing to have the room with the double bed on top of the boat. This is the only area that has proper air flow, where without that room you are forced to sleep exposed just outside it. The trip leader opted to give away that room to another couple who only snorkeled. I was not even given the option to pay more to reserve it is just poor business sense. I had also pre-negotiated a unique dive site to do in northern Raja Amapat, which was ignored to cater to the two snorkelers aboard because the crew was afraid of their swimming skills. It seems during the trip some of the good dive sites in the south weren’t done to account for the snorkelers. I did not understand this choice, it’s a dive boat focusing on diving, giving precedence to snorkelers who were there to just fill capacity is another reason why I must warn other divers that there are issues when choosing this operator.

   For our sailing they brought aboard a visiting dive master to assist. It was nice that there were only 6 divers split into two groups. While a competent diver and not associated with the boat my only complaint is that she couldn’t really find anything to show me. Most dive masters know the area, where to look and really try to be able to show the divers unique things. This one couldn’t, and I felt she cared more about getting her own pictures underwater than providing a dive master service. The primary dive master had such an elitist attitude stating he doesn’t like night dives because people destroy the environment. Expect only one night dive in an area where the night diving is pretty epic. That being said the local crew did work hard to keep the boat seaworthy, and the customers appeased.

   You can’t mess up the diving in Misool and Raja Ampat, the sites are just that good! This boat however messed up my trip enough for me. Out of the ten liveaboards I’ve been on in the past three years this ranks on the bottom.

   Reply ↓

   • Hi Eli & Dipen,
     I’m very sorry to hear about all the considerable flaws of the Kira Kira and the cruise they offer. I want to thank you for taking the time to review your trip as it is, indeed, very important for other divers to be able to find and consider such reviews from customers. I can’t help but be happy to read that at least, the diving was as great as it should be! I truly wish you a stunning liveaboard cruise on the next one, and the same great diving!

     Safe bubbles, always!

     Reply ↓

(89 votes, 3.34/5)

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