PADI Travel

Fantastische Erfahrung: I booked a dive package for me and my husband to Cozumel through PADI Travel. I felt like I could trust PADI to recommend a good place to stay and, more important, a safe and reputable dive shop. They hit it out of the park. We stayed at the Presidente Intercontinental which is a beautiful resort. We dived with Scuba Du Diving which was a wonderful experience - ten out of ten. Gresh, my travel advisor, was available to answer any and all questions. It was a great trip! Thanks, PADI travel!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I wanted to send a big, belated thank you to Gresh Gaddang for her help in booking my first liveaboard trip ever — a one-week experience in the Maldives. Gresh is a true professional who patiently answered all of our questions and helped us with all aspects of the booking. We had a great trip and plan to use PADI to book our next trip. Thank you Gresh!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Reservation staff was really helpful and friendly (Iasamar assisted us), they proved to be available and flexible to meet our specific requests; we had a great stay and the booking experience as well as after-sale service really made a difference. Will book again!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Very smooth and seamless booking system through PADI Travel, and Gresh has been of great assistance and very responsive!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I used PADI Travel to arrange a very last minute booking for a holiday, and was very impressed at how professional and quick the team were. As far as I could tell, they seem to work 24/7 and would respond to queries at a ridiculously short space of time. The advantage of using the PADI Travel website is that it gives you an all in one package, and they will arrange everything for you. Obviously they will take a cut of the fee that goes to the PADI Centre, but given there are so many operators out there with websites that vary in quality... the PADI Travel booking system simplifies everything for you massively, as they will liaise with the relevant people on your behalf. I was able to get a flawless 12 day holiday booked with them with only a few days notice, and it meant I had basically nothing to worry about except finding the pickup driver when I landed! Big thank you to Alexandra who made things happen at the speed of light!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I’ve had an excellent experience with PADI Travel from start to finish. The booking process was straightforward, the prices are very fair, and everything has been handled with a high level of professionalism. What stood out most for me was the outstanding support: whenever I had a question, I received clear and friendly answers right away. A special thank you goes to Alex, who managed all the email communication with me. She was always quick to respond, extremely helpful, and made the whole process feel smooth and stress-free. Thanks to her support, I feel very well taken care of and confident about my upcoming trip. I would happily book with PADI Travel again and can warmly recommend them to others.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Hands down the best service and support I have received from a company. They respond and take action quickly and in every case have been able to help secure the booking and changes I needed. I will be booking all my dive trips with PADI Travel

Fantastische Erfahrung: Highly Recommend PADI Travel I had a wonderful experience booking my Malapascua dive trip through PADI Travel. From the start, their team provided excellent support, not only making the booking process smooth, but also helping me coordinate directly with the dive resort and arrange transportation. A special kudos to Gresh Gaddang, who went above and beyond to answer my questions quickly, keep everything organized, and ensure I felt confident about all the details. Thanks to his help, planning the trip was stress-free and enjoyable. I highly recommend PADI Travel to anyone looking for professional, reliable, and friendly assistance when organizing their dive adventures.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Gresh was super helpful and assisted me with booking my first trip to Indonesia. Very timely with responses and was able to answer all my questions. Thank you!

Negative Erfahrung: PADI Travel has a very aggressive cancellation policy. Be aware and careful...

Fantastische Erfahrung: Íasamar Pirela was an excellent scuba travel agent! She made the booking process simple. She was responsive and knowledgeable. She went out of her way to make sure we had all of our documents in order, payments made, and insurance covered. Our trip to Van der Valk Plaza Beach and Dive Resort was fantastic! Thank you, PADI Travel and thank you, Íasamar!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I had a great diving trip to Maldives through PADI Travel. It was very first time to visit Maldives for me, so I had no idea how I could find and book the accommodation and safety-conscious diving shop. PADI Travel website was very helpful to find them quickly. Yuliya, The PADI Travel expert, was really supportive and responsive to my questions, such as transportation to the accommodation and confirmation for check-in and schedule with the dive shop. Thank you, Yuliya! I recommend PADI Travel especially when you have difficulties to get enough information of the destination.

Fantastische Erfahrung: I had an absolutely fantastic experience with Padi travel, and in particular their agent Hilda! She was most helpful in finding the perfect place and experience for me just after an email exchange. She understood my wishes and needs and nailed it to the one perfect place I could go. She dealt with the diving resort and planned my courses as well as the whole stay, sorting out all admin duties making sure I could just go and enjoy the experience without any other worries. She made sure everything was settled and ready, bearing with my extremely otherwise busy life at the moment and my delayed response time. My diving experience was simply fantastic and here I thank Hilda and Padi travel for this. Great job!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I booked our diving holiday via PADI. The entire consultation was extremely professional and helpful. All the reservations worked perfectly, even the transfer from the airport to the resort went smoothly, even though we had a long delay due to problems at baggage claim. Our advisor, Alex, understood all our needs with great expertise and was able to organise everything to our complete satisfaction. Many thanks Alex!

Fantastische Erfahrung: We needed a last minute booking for our first diving experience in Koh Tao. Via the chat I was in contact with Yuliya who guided us through the entire booking process which was super helpful :) Thanks to Yuliya’s great service we are happy to start our open water diving license in 7 days. I can definitely recommend booking via PADI travel :)

Fantastische Erfahrung: Excellente expérience de voyage et plongée. Très bon suivi de notre dossier par Alex. Je recommande Padi Travel.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Yuliya was a great operator and provided a kind and professional assistance helping me to solve my problem (related to payment)

Fantastische Erfahrung: This is the second time I have used PADI travel to book a dive trip. They are always helpful and super responsive to any questions and it just makes it a lot easier, especially as a solo traveller with a busy job! Big thanks to Gresh who helped me out on this occasion with booking my liveaboard trip to the Maldives.

Positive Erfahrung: so far the booking experience with Padi has been good - Alex was really helpful - I appreciated her calling on the phone with me to get my trip finalised. Their website is pretty terrible though - they email me to add my diving details and its literally impossible due to bugs on the website. Also it should be noted that now I'm dealing with a different CS rep who isn't Alex and isn't as helpful. Will report back after the trip is complete to say. how it went!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Excelent travel agents and advisors! Everything's taken care of so you don't have to worry about anything other than your journey. The follow up is completely personalized and problem solving is immediate and effective as you will rarely find in other agencies. Thank you Alex for making my diving trip possible! You're the best! We send you our love from Argentina and be in touch for our next adventure!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I've been working with the team at PADI travel for the last month booking, what I'm finding to be, a last minute dive trip to the Philippians. The whole team is SUPER responsive and helpful. They know diving, know traveling and are really kind in their assessment of our needs and experience. While I was searching for the right dive resort they called me with responses about availability ASAP. When I get on the messaging chat, they respond immediately, check the chat history and use that to respond to my questions. Thank you so much Alexandra, Hilda and Julie for all your advice and assistance! I am really enjoying working with you all!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Rachelle was very helpful and kind. We could plan our trip as we wished. Thanks again!

Negative Erfahrung: I recently returned from a diving trip to the Maldives booked through PADI Travel, and I feel compelled to share my experience concerning the accommodations. We chose this trip expecting a relaxing and well-facilitated adventure, largely influenced by the promising online descriptions and photographs of the cabin accommodations. Unfortunately, upon arrival, it was immediately clear that the cabin provided bore little resemblance to those advertised. The cabin was not only smaller than expected but also lacked several amenities that were promised. This discrepancy was not just minor; it significantly impacted our comfort and overall experience. Furthermore, attempts to address these issues with the staff were met with lackluster responses, which only added to our frustration. For a trip that was not inexpensive, the difference between what was advertised and what was delivered is unacceptable. While the diving itself was enjoyable, the issue with our accommodations tarnished what could have been a perfect experience. I would urge potential customers to be wary of booking with PADI TRAVEL unless they can guarantee that the accommodations meet the advertised standards.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Gresh was great at getting us updated and all of our forms completed for our trip aboard the Avalon liveaboard to Cuba. The process is a bit tricky but he was patient in making sure we got everything completed so our trip could smoothly proceed. Thanks Gresh!

Fantastische Erfahrung: J'ai eu affaire avec Íasamar et je en suis très content. Professionnel et rapide c'est la personne qu'il vous faut. Je recommande.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Ha sido la primera vez que realizamos nuestra reserva a través de PADI, todo fue sin problemas y durante el proceso Íasamar Pirela se aseguró de que así fuera, prestando su ayuda y resolviendo cualquier duda. Ya estamos deseando realizar nuestro siguiente viaje!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Alex was absolutely AMAZING, I booked my trip last minute and she was incredibly efficient in explaining all the steps I needed to take to maximize the possibility of making my booking a reality and the turn-around time was very quick. Highly recommend her and PADI Travel.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Super service :) Íasamar was a great help to us and made our research much easier. Her answers were quick with various suggestions !!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I was super happy! Penelope helped me through the whole booking process and was super kind! Will get back to PADI Travel for my next trip :)

Positive Erfahrung: Me han atendido inmediatamente y la asistente Srta/Sra Julie Ferrara fue muy cordial y atenta. Pude resolver al instante.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Wonderful one-stop-shop arrangement for handling both accommodations and diving. Particularly good for first-time visits to certain locations; accommodations have always met descriptions and dive shops/guides have been very good or better. Pricings have also been really competitive too. Had great assistance from Iasamar on my most recent booking, wonderful to have the help!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Hello fellow divers, I want to share my experience at the Padi dive center and Tripergola hotel. The staff were fantastic and made our stay most enjoyable. The dive staff were wonderful and added to a already great trip . It was exciting seeing relics that were 2000 years old.

Fantastische Erfahrung: The PADI dive travel team - especially Penny - went the extra mile to find me and my son a great dive trip. This was especially difficult since I chose to wait till the last minute, but they came through for us. Be assured that the PADI team will do everything they can to coordinate and iron down the details of your trip. I'm looking forward to scheduling more travel through PADI Travel, they really made it easy for us.

Fantastische Erfahrung: It was our first time organizing and planning a diving holiday with PADI Travel, and we loved it! The team is very kind and ready to help in any way - a major thank to Yuliya who supported us with having a beautiful holiday. Definitely recommended for those who like diving and staying in fantastic accommodation at the same time. We will rely on PADI travel again!!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I had an issue and in my time of stress our Scuba Travel Expert (Hilda Armacanqui) sorted me out immediately and found a solution which was great. However, Hilda went the extra mile when she mentioned that she'd just come back from the location we're about to go to. She sent me a long list of tips, recommendations and advice for my stay there. Honestly the best service, thanks Hilda - even more excited now!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Plusieurs croisières et hôtels plongée fait avec eux, super sélection et très bonne communication. Ils gèrent tout parfaitement. Je recommande particulièrement.

Positive Erfahrung: Gute und einfache übersicht. Jedoch leider bei manchen Angebote seehr teuer.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Our PADI travel agent, Íasamar, was so helpful and supportive as we were planning our dive trip. She gave detailed answers to our many questions and always treated us with kindness and compassion. Thank you so much so helping arrange such a wonderful trip!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Excellent customer Service! Íasamar was very helpful. Very excited to start my trip! Thank you!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Bon endroit pour trouver une croisière de plongée ou un cours

Fantastische Erfahrung: We recently went through PADI Travel to organise our trip to Manuka Island and to do the Open Water Dive Course. Alexandra for PADI travel was fantastic and helped us in every step. Also when we did the dive course our instructor there, Roger in Down Below Adventures was brilliant. I would recommend using them and are looking at using them again to do the Advanced Open Water course.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Good

Fantastische Erfahrung: Schnelle Bearbeitung meiner Fragen und ich hab immer welche.

Fantastische Erfahrung: 2nd time using PADI Travel for dive trip. Great follow up, assist with varied options, stay on top of the transaction, provide solutions. As said, my 2nd time back with them and very pleased with the overall approach to helping out.

Positive Erfahrung: They are OK!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Tiene muchas ofertas en viajes de buceos tanto en vida a bordo como en hotel y eso en el mundo entero. responden a tu necesidad con rapidez

Fantastische Erfahrung: I haven't done a live-aboard before so I felt it would be easier to actually speak to someone for help. Alex was incredibly helpful and friendly and great with follow up phone calls when needed. Very reassuring!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Excellent service. Very responsive to any questions, calls immediately back and advocate for you all the way until journey completed. Had an issue with cancellation due to flight and they were very helpful. Marisa , was exceptional and one of the best customer service I have received. Would go with them again even though a little more money but all worth it!!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Íasamar was the reason I was able to go on this trip. She was very attentive and helped me decide where I wanted to go and what dives I wanted to do there. She set me up with a photography course and was kind enough to create a whole new booking when my travel dates changed! I would highly recommend Paid Travel

Negative Erfahrung: Null Sterne ging leider nicht ! 2 Trips gebucht, 1 x sofort überbucht, dann Mail bekommen, mit alternativ Vorschlägen, oh schön, sofort gebucht…..auch überbucht !!!!! Ich frage mich was das für Job ist, wenn man immer die Leute verärgern muss !? Also kurz um, katastrophaler Laden !!!!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Great service. Made our family trip easy to arrange (8 people from 3 states).

Negative Erfahrung: Musste leider auch schlechteste Erfahrungen machen. Unser Trip wurde nicht durchgeführt. Kommunikation wie es weiter geht sehr umständlich und sehr langsam die ganze Bearbeitung des Falls. Und natürlich ist niemand wirklich zuständig.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Alex from the PADI travel agency did not only walk one but several miles beyond the normal service one can expect from a travel agent. We threw a curve ball at her by asking for her assistance for a last minute trip to the Indian Ocean over Christmas. She managed it perfectly. This is not the easiest time to travel since most of the resorts are already fully booked. By sheer persistence she somehow managed to get us the accommodation we wanted (we are a couple with a 16 year old teenager and we always require two rooms or two beach villas adjacent to each other). It was hard work on her behalf and she came up with a reservation in Kenia that looks beautifully within the time frame given. This was outstanding service and we are very grateful! Britta & Christof

Negative Erfahrung: Poor organisation

Negative Erfahrung: I've had the most stressful and discouraging time dealing with PADI Travel and Nautilus Liveaboards. Over a year after booking a shark diving adventure and having it cancelled just last month, I cannot get a refund. Absolutely do not encourage anyone to book with either of these companies.

Negative Erfahrung: Tour was organised okay however the operator adjusted the price and PADI did not inform us! When we asked for compensation, PADI claimed it is not their responsibility as they act solely as a service provider. So, ALWAYS book your trip directly with the tour operator and not via PADI!

Negative Erfahrung: We booked an open water course for our son in Italy. A voucher was sent but no information on the theory course that could be done (online or via PDF’s) before the start of the actual lessons. After multiple phone calls to the dive centre in Italy, PADI Travel and PADI itself we still haven’t obtained the theory course. Hopefully the practical course will be better organised……

Fantastische Erfahrung: If you want to dive anywhere in the world, they got you!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Very easy company to do business with

Fantastische Erfahrung: Very helpful folks!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Introducing perfect diveshop

Fantastische Erfahrung: I've found though padi travel a great place in malta to dive a 5 star padi resort shop will give a review when I get back in late june..Happy diving.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Danke für die tolle Reise nach Ägypten!! Dort tauchen ist einfach traumhaft…

Negative Erfahrung: In two decades of global travel and 6 other liveaboard trips, PADI Travel is the worst agent i have ever dealt with. I booked and paid PADI for a 11 day liveaboard in October …it’s now February, 4 days before the trip and PADI does not have the competency to send me contact information and proper details on when and where to meet staff from the boat on the other side of the world.. PADI agents are not reachable by phone and emails go to a general mail box with no accountability. DO NOT BOOK WITH PADI Travel …book directly with the people who operate the boat. I will never ever use PADI again!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Communication was easy and quick.

Negative Erfahrung: Though we’re very excited about our upcoming trip to Fiji, customer service is slow and the company doesn’t seem to value either it’s customers or the discussions had with its representatives. We discussed trip details moments before paying in full live with a PADI travel agent - notably that the all inclusive package included transfer from the arrival airport to the hotel, albeit on another island (hence why I called and asked). Despite numerous emails to try to address this - particularly their representative confirming about the transfer, the response has essentially been - we’re busy, find the fine print in your itinerary. I’m sad to say I won’t be using them to book diving vacations in the future, it’s not worth the hassle & plenty of travel agents / operators stand behind their process and agents.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Great for ease of booking the perfect dive trip. With helpful advice and good insurance.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Gente profesional

Negative Erfahrung: Very poor quality of customer service. Due to COVID 19 my trip was cancelled. They won't refund the money and if you want to rebook for the next year same trip same dates they have put up the price and the customer has to pay the difference. Padi has not taken ANY responsibilities which tells you that if there is any problem with the operator PADI will not cover you, therefore it is useless to book through them as they don't offer any security. Will not book with them again. Very upset and disappointed

Negative Erfahrung: Ich erhalte einen Newsletter, von dem man sich nicht abmelden kann. Beim Support angefragt: angeblich wurde meine Email Adresse gelöscht. Den Newsletter erhalte ich aber nach wie vor. Nochmals angefragt: Diesmal keine Antwort mehr. Beim Datenschutzbeauftragten angefragt: nach mehreren Monaten keine Antwort bekommen. Zum Glück kann man Emails des Anbieters automatisch in den Spam Ordner schicken. Der unseriöse und unprofessionelle Eindruck bleibt bestehen.

Negative Erfahrung: Horrible experience booking a liveaboard scuba trip through PADI travel. For one, they did not confirm my pickup location for the transfer to the boat after I had requested it in the booking. As a result I was not picked up by the transfer and had to pay a cab to take me across the island to the boat myself. They would not refund me for this additional, and significant expense. Further, PADI’s customer service is absolutely horrible, if you send them an email they will take a week plus to get back to you, or never at all. I had an excellent experience on my liveaboard but would recommend to all that you book directly with the boat rather than through PADI as a middleman.

Negative Erfahrung: My first interaction with PADI Travel was disappointing. I discovered an anonymous charge of $40 for a "visa" in my trip invoice. As this was the first time I was made aware of a visa charge, and I had already organised an Egyptian visa, I immediately emailed PADI Travel. It took 3 emails for the PADI Travel representative to comprehend my query. However, once they finally understood the charge I was referring to, their response took the form of a condescending email regarding the role and purpose of a visa. I was forced to call the customer service number to resolve this cost and have it refunded. My second issue was with the tour operator themselves - Sharks Bay Umbi Diving Village. The PADI Travel invoice for my scuba dive live aboard referenced full gear hire for 25 euros. It references this as one payment. Granted, this is cheap, however, that is the amount specified. This is presented in the same way as the full gear hire for the 7 day live aboard on the Spirit of Freedom on the Australian Great Barrier Reef. The gear hire for Spirit of Freedom is presented as 1 x payment of $270. Upon completion of my live aboard, the dive shop at Sharks Bay attempted to charge me 35 euros per day for "full gear hire", plus 9 euros/day for a dive computer and 9 euros/day for a torch. I immediately showed the invoice from Padi Travel. The full gear hire was subsequently reduced to 25 euros/day, however, I was still charged per day, and for the torch and computer separately. At this juncture, I would to identify that I used most of the gear for between 1 - 2 days and was still charged a full 3 days. However, I could have stomached this cost if the gear was in good working order. Unfortunately, the gear was faulty and I was not provided any replacement, nor compensation. The primary regulator was leaking water while I was breathing. I identified this issue during the check dive and did not receive a replacement. Subsequently, I was forced to use the back up for the 2.5 days, which was unsafe to say the least. Secondly, the BCD was constantly leaking air. Again, this was identified during my safety dive and ignored. Yes, I could have refused to dive without a replacement, but I was told I would receive no refund. Stupidly, perhaps, I continued. I found the whole experience regarding gear hire to be highly disappointing. At the very least, I found the gear hire charges on PADI Travel to be misleading, if not grossly misrepresented. Regarding the dive shop itself, they appear to be purposefully taking advantage of divers who would prefer not to travel with their dive gear. Further, their gear is woefully faulty. Here prompts my second complaint regarding PADI Travel. I have emailed PADI Travel on three occasions regarding the above issue with the dive shop gear hire. They have not bothered to contact me at all. Further, they have blocked me from providing a review of the dive shop and live aboard on their website - although initially prompted to via their automated email. I find this grossly negligent of PADI Travel and recommend not booking through PADI Travel, nor with Sharks Bay Umbi Diving Village in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Great customer service. They and the dive operator handled the cancellation of our trip really well.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Our holiday in Bali at OK divers was fantastic and easy to arrange through Padi Travel

Fantastische Erfahrung: Friendly, informative and helpful

Fantastische Erfahrung: Excellent service and fast reply on booking a liveaboard + follow up. Really impressed.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Excellent service! Very helpful, patient, knowledgeable with great tips and super friendly team on live chat. Quick responses and follow up on email. I felt in good hands all along the booking process.

Fantastische Erfahrung: It was great to plan a trip with PADI travel; they answer every email quickly, also their online chat was also very helpful. I would recommend them without a doubt and would have no hesitation in booking with them again in the future.

Positive Erfahrung: We have booked a Liveaboard trip to Raja Ampat. The booking process was easy to do. The information provided was good but some could have been updated. One thing is they could have been more helpful for things to do before & after the Liveaboard including booking flights in such a remote area. However we could have done more research ourselves. I called PADI travel several times and they were helpful enough, but it took more than one call. Overall the experience with booking was good. Now looking forward to the holiday.

Fantastische Erfahrung: It was easy to navigate and choose, complete with information at the onset, and once I’ve confirmed someone (an actual person!, not an automated message or chat bot) emailed and their response is prompt and very helpful

Fantastische Erfahrung: It was great to plan a trip with PADI travel; they answer every email quickly, always keen to help. I would recommend them without a doubt!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Excellent, all the trip and dives could be taken by PADI Travel without problems. They were all the time helping me by chat and if i needed to choose something additional they take the time for me to look for it and add to the trip. Really good service and the cheapest.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Una organización perfecta. Muy buen ambiente, guías muy buenos humana y profesionalmente hablando. Las instalaciones muy bien. Repetiré con Padi, en mi opinión la mejor en su campo.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Great diving tour provider. fast and friendly service. extraordinary offering...

Fantastische Erfahrung: niezwykle sprawna organizacja :-)

Fantastische Erfahrung: Greta service in organizing our travel to Maldives

Fantastische Erfahrung: High efficient service, quick response, and the most important, very very personalized and carefully interaction case by case . Even if you can proceed direct with the boat or resort, I strongly recommend go trough Padi I had a recently situation that they solved over my expectations. I hope arrange my next Liveaboard with Padi soon.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Everything was splendid, except the price difference betwin the price of the deluxe cabin an its size compared to the regular cabin.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Same price as direct by liveaboard etc. but with DEN. The service from PADI Travel is very good and I an very excited about the Ocean Quest (Cairns - Great Barrier Reef)

Fantastische Erfahrung: PADI Travel: semplicemente dei grandi - grazie di tutto!

Fantastische Erfahrung: Great website to make your diving reservations with. Super quick responses and very helpful with everything you need. Highly recommended!

Fantastische Erfahrung: I've booked twice through Padi travel. It is an efficient service and the operators responded quickly to my initial questions and were effective in finalizing the booking and providing the necessary booking details. They provided suggestions on special offers, one of which I booked despite it not being my original plan. I plan to book further dive trips through this website.

Fantastische Erfahrung: Flott side hvor man enkelt kan finne dykkeplasser ut fra hva en ønsker å oppleve, samt hvor i verden en kunne tenke seg å dra. Flott oppfølging fra stab om en har spørsmål.

Negative Erfahrung: We are very unhappy with PADI Travel and the way the booking process worked or rather did not work. We will never use PADI Travel again. Here are the reasons why: It started out with small errors in the beginning, like PADI Travel mistakenly not sending us a guest registration sheet, which they reminded us to fill in but had not sent us. And the link to the Liability Release they sent us took me to a dive resort in the West Indies ... but the dive resort I had booked with PADI Travel was in the Maldives. That was sorted out. Then PADI Travel sent us remainder emails about us not having filled out the necessary details for the complimentary dive insurance. I had to inform them that they themselves had explicitly written on the booking form: ”Please only add this complimentary short-term dive accident insurance if you don’t already have similar coverage”. That was also sorted out. But then the real problems arose. Far in advance, we wanted to shorten our stay with one day, so far in advance that we could do this without paying a fee. When we had done that, we received an invoice that was several hundred US dollars more expensive than our original invoice! The reasons for this were that: 1) The price per night had increased after our original booking and PADI Travel had missed that; 2) PADI Travel had added the costs of boat transfers that we had never asked for, let alone having booked. PADI Travel told me that they had changed their rules and boat transfers were now mandatory surcharges. Of course, I refused to pay for the boat transfers. I wrote to PADI Travel that I did not at all like the lack of flexibility they offered their future customers concerning means of transfer. The speed boat just takes off once a day. There are several flights per day, offering much more flexibility. We ended up taking the speed boat getting there from Male and the flight back to Male, which we booked directly with the hotel. I also wrote to PADI Travel that, for me to handle this mess of theirs, had taken several hours of my free time. It is their paid job but it is my free time. I underlined that had I not been careful, checking the new invoice they sent me, had I trusted them instead, I would have ended up paying hundreds of dollars extra in error. But the incompetence of PADI Travel did not end there. Their next mistake was that they did not deduct the final payment to the hotel from my account in time! PADI Travel was supposed to deduct the final payment on January 23rd. Just by chance, I discovered on February 8th, that they had not done that. I immediately sent them an email telling them to deduct the money ASAP. I also asked for an explanation of why this happened. Their answer was: "We had an update in our accounting software and some payment was just set to inactive." Needless to say, I was furious. Had I not discovered this in time, perhaps our booking had been canceled completely. PADI should stick to learn people how to dive and not try to dabble in the travel business. They are not professional in the travel business. My recommendation is never to use them. There are many other options if you want to book dive resorts and liveaboards.

Fantastische Erfahrung: The best place over the there.

Negative Erfahrung: Useless... Their website is not up to date, so you constantly have to wait for confirmations, or in my case constant rejections of your bookings, which leads us to miss out on other places... Better to book by yourself.

Negative Erfahrung: Canceled my trip with little notice (two hours before international flight). Not act of God or weather related, forseeable mechanical problems. They confirmed my booking knowing the boat was sitting overdue for repairs in drydock. Wasted my time and airfare, no acceptable options available.