6.8 Review score
Kheng Chye L
United States

Its ok.

Overall is ok, nothing jump out for the overall trip. One complain I have is the information provided is never clear. Feel like the agent does not really connect with the board. For instance, I have to emphasized couple times to the board about the meal preference even though I have request the information to be sent to the board. Also, the return trip arrangement. Basically, any information provided in the email to the board via the agent is not passed down to the manager on board. I have to arrange and work with the on board manager directly. And one more frustration, the aboard crew is try to "steal" money from the client by forcing us to buy tools which were not told as required. For example, the SMB. For the entire trip, we did not even need to use the SMB. Nothing mentioned in the email that this is REQUIRED. So, I did not bring mind, when on board, I was forced to either rent or buy one. Though, the only time we use this is on the check dive, just to test and show we know how to use it. And even more ironic, even if this is required, me and my friend are in a buddy team, which mean we only need one SMB, but the person on board told us we need to each get one. But later on when in water, everyone was told when one person in the group releases the SMB, the rest of the group does not need to use the SMB at all. And even more ironic, the entire trip setup is in an environment without current with the board anchor to the reef, not seeing any need for the SMB at all.

Recommended for: swim with dolphin, seeing shark.

10 Exceptional
David B
United States

Great diving and amazing crew

Firstly, this is the first liveaboard I have been on with a dedicated pastry chef. I can't say enough about the food! The whole crew was cheerful and endlessly helpful. They made the week awesome. And finally, the diving was great. Saw turtles, sharks, and endless coral and assorted marine life.

Recommended for: The diving, the food, the crew

10 Exceptional
Le L
United States

Great Dives with Great People

The highlight was two full days of diving in St. John's and Fury Shoals. Shaab Maksour and Elphinstone were amazing. The crew were all really helpful and caring. They clearly have the boat down to a science. They are very attentive and notice the smallest need, like when you forget to get a spoon to go with your soup.

Recommended for: The dives, the people, and the food.

8.8 Fabulous
Peter G
United States

Emperor Fleet Gets High Praise. This boat to small.

Teeth cleaning by cleaner wrasse Quite excellent food Excellent dive briefings by a cruise director with a sense of humor. Prefer a larger boat with dedicated dry space for cameras, more exterior lounge space and dedicated smoking location..

Recommended for: Dive guides, food, willingness to adjust itinerary to suit guests

8.8 Fabulous
David W
United Kingdom

The best way to dive the Red Sea

An amazing experience. The crew went above and beyond the call of duty to make us all comfortable and provided every service with a smile. The diving itself was great and both guides were well trained and well informed. I was comfortable for the duration of my stay and would definitely do it all again. Thank you for an amazing holiday.

Recommended for: Crew, Food and Comfort

10 Exceptional
Tomas S
Sweden

Divers heaven!!

Excellent!!!

Recommended for: The friendly crew, the divesites and the guide Momo :)

8.8 Fabulous
Annette E
Norway

Great

I wish we were more prepared for cold weather, the experience would have been perfect if we didn't freeze all day, we definitely should have packed warmer clothes. So maybe it would be wise to inform about this on the website:-) Anyway...because of the fantastic crew and the two dive guides and of course fabulous dive sites we have had a great week:-)

Recommended for: Diving, crew, food

10 Exceptional
Jens Dirk L
Iceland

Fantastic trip, highly recommendable

+++++

Recommended for: The quality of the food, the professionality of the guides, the service minded attitude of the staff

10 Exceptional
Eleonora K
Sweden

Bautiful colourful dive experiences in safety thinking, well organised and so friendle service minded kontext.

The simply beautiful "everyday diving" in Red Sea, snorkelling and diving with dolphins, all the superb food during the whole trip, kindness care and fun with staff and guests on the boat.

Recommended for: Awesome diving, high quality on equipment and safety thinking, warmhearted and very service minded staff. l

10 Exceptional
Seo M
Switzerland

Unforgetable

My private guide was very helpful and can have best dive experience!!

Recommended for: Excellent food,helpful crew and best diveguide

4.8 Review score
Tom M
United Kingdom

Amazing corals

We were lucky as only 7 people on board. Amazing corals but almost zero pelagic sightings, possibly due to time of year. Beware that only one guide who doesn't even dive with the group half of the time!!

Recommended for: Small group, amazing coral, beautiful cave dives

10 Exceptional
Sławomir W
Poland

Very friendly staff.

Longimanus

Recommended for: Friendly staff, great dive guides, nice people

8.8 Fabulous
Sara D
Italy

Great And exciting

We saw sharks!!! We did a couple of very adventure diving ;-) Altought there was a lot of current the diving guides and the crew service were able to offer a great service and provide optimal dive site for 95% of the time!

Recommended for: Dives sites sharks friendless of the staff

9.2 Superb
Lars H
Germany

Good liveaboard with

Unfortunately the liveaboard was in the south of the red sea in late summer so only small(er) fishes were around regularly but typically a lot of them. And mainly hard corrals which look nice but it gets a bit bland after a while. However, dove with curious sharks which was cool and snorkeld with dolphins which was amazing. The beds were reasonably comfortable, the bathrooms reasonably sized and the AC working without problems. Change of linen was after 4 days and you get enough towels (and probably could have asked for more). Boat was only booked to 75% so I got a shared cabin of my own which is always nice. All in all a good liveaboard but the sealife is a bit dull (which is more my fault as I didn't inform myself properly). However, would definitely recommend, relaxed guides and relaxed crew.

Recommended for: Twin cabin on my own, good rental gear, nice people on the boat

6.4 Review score
Mohammed A
Saudi Arabia

Cool

Sharks

Recommended for: Crew, dive sites and divers

8.0 Very good
Mark C
Australia

Yes it was very enjoyable, the crew were all very professional and friendly.

Overall the trip really was well run and your agency also very helpful with any questions that I had prior to the trip.

Recommended for: The coral structures that we saw on our trip were monolithic almost prehistoric looking. I haven't seen anything like it in 15 years of diving. Quite unique and beautiful.

9.2 Superb
Valter S
Brazil

Great holiday, anwsome week!

Beautiful reefs Huge marine life's New friends

Recommended for: Frendly Crew, safety dives e wonderful food

10 Exceptional
Götz Ulrich L
Germany

Just fun-tastic

We made three dives to the Thistlegorm, including one night dive. Momo and Ashraf timed our dives so that we were virtually the only divers at the wreck. This is just one example of how well they cared for our group. Thanks a lot!

Recommended for: Our very nice dive guides Momo and Ashraf, excellent meals, wrecks-wrecks-wrecks&wrecks

8.4 Very good
Marc F
France

Very enjoyed to have dove in these main and savage diving sites

Dive eat sleep Dive Repeat !

Recommended for: Deep dives / Hammerhead Sharks / Océanic and Treasure Sharks /

8.4 Very good
France H
Canada

Amazing experience and a complete change in scenery.

Amazing coral, beautiful wrecks, seeing species I was not used to see since I had only been diving in the Caribbeans. The only thing is that I was cold all week, going in april is not the best time of the year. The recommendation was a 7mm wetsuit. Had I known there were such strong winds that made it impossible to lay in the sun to warm up between dives,I would have brought my drysuit. Other than that, the trip was great.

Recommended for: It was not expensive, I got to dive 4 times per day, the diving was excellent

8.0 Very good
ZHENG W
China

A very happy trip

Comfortable accommodation; Good food; Diving to see the favorite sea creatures

Recommended for: Comfortable cabin, delicious food, good service

9.6 Exceptional
Ozgur T
Canada

Magnificent

Relax and easy diving

Recommended for: Dive guide warm water many fish

10 Exceptional
Martin E
Sweden

I have nothing but praise to give

The dives I enjoyed the most were at the fury shoals, a very versatile reef system were you can do many different kinds of dives. Saint John's was also good of course, as well as the possibility of going deep at Elphinstone. The very good food served on Asmaa was another highlight, and it was a very pleasant surprise for me.

Recommended for: Very helpful and friendly crew and guides, great food and clean accomodations

9.2 Superb
Edward Z
Canada

Great experience in the Red Sea, but need to come back in the summer!

One group saw a dugong and on one of the dives we were joined by bottlenose dolphins! We also had the opportunity to snorkel with spinner dolphins, which was an amazing experience.

Recommended for: Staff, food, diving

8.4 Very good
Marc F
Spain

Cool week!

Sharing the experience with nice people

Recommended for: People, food and underwater landscapes

10 Exceptional
Tina H
Denmark

Perfect experience with the friendliest crew

Reefs and wrecks, very good diving and a happy mood on board all the time. Instant help to put on gear and help in case of sickness or any other problems. The crew and the dive guides made the experience perfect. The best dive vacation. I would definitely go with Asmaa again. Thank you.

Recommended for: The diving, service from the entire crew and the food

10 Exceptional
Carol Y
United Kingdom

Wonderful return to the red Sea

Dancing with dolphins, amazing wrecks, and we were so lucky with the weather, lack of current, and calm seas.

Recommended for: Dive guides knowledge, choice of dive sites, friendliness and helpfulness of the crew

9.2 Superb
Anette S
Norway

Sharks, sharks , sharks

To se that many sharks, hammerheads, Oceanic whitetip sharks, thresher sharks, silky shark:)

Recommended for: Sharks, divingspots, reefs

10 Exceptional
Beatriz G
Mexico

Amazing and wonderful experience .. the best crew ever

Excellent dive masters, Safka and Samir are excellent and super crew to support us all the time smiling I want to dive again with Emperor ASMAA. I strongly recommend it

Recommended for: Perfect brief and explanation, crew support and service and food

8.0 Very good
Jutta G
Austria

interessante Tauchgänge auf einem sehr guten Boot

Kofferfisch, Schildkröte, Fuchshai und Hammerhai

Recommended for: Tauchgänge, Essen, Rücksichtnahme bei den Zodiacausfahrten

10 Exceptional
Eva A
Jordan

fantastic atmosphere there, lots of fun

All was great; but I wish to everyone to have somebody like we have, diver name Leroy, he makes good atmosphere and lots of laugh. I'm planning to do another trip with Asmaa next year again.

Recommended for: lots of diving, great people - divers and stuff, good food

6.8 Review score
Daniel J
Switzerland

Great diving, average boat condition

Dives, eating and the friendliness of the staff

Recommended for: The dives, the food, friendliness of on board staff

8.8 Fabulous
Joar M
Sweden

Had a very nice week on Emperor Aasma with many great dives!

The highlights were the oceanic whitetip at Elphinstone and the many beautiful caves at St. Johns and Fury shoal!

Recommended for: Best food I've had on a liveaboard! Had my first shark encounter at Elphinstone where we met an Oceanic whitetip. We got the chance to decide on our own how we wanted to do the dives and didn't always have to followed the guides.

10 Exceptional
Jose Felix G
Spain

Emperor es una apuesta segura por su profesionalidad y por la simpatía de la tripulación.

Las inmersiones en los diferentes pecios.

Recommended for: Buen ambiente,profesionalidad y buenos puntos de buceo

8.4 Very good
Miao W
China

Great onboard experience ok diving

Attentive staff serving every need we have especially EVERYTHING IN THE DINING ROOM! every meal was fab. boat crew also made diving and coming back from diving so effortless. Diving was just ok, but the experience was good overall.

Recommended for: Food, staff, dive set up

10 Exceptional
Bernd B
Germany

Great dive experience on an excellent dive boat.

- Snorkeling with Spinner dolfins - big Manta Ray - St John`s caves

Recommended for: - The people from the dive team and crew. The dive sites. The outstanding performance of our diveguides Anke and Tracy.

9.2 Superb
Niels V
Netherlands

Great trip, excellent food

Seeing a dugong / Seeing hammerhead sharks / The health of the coral reefs in the Red Sea

Recommended for: Seeing a dugong / Seeing hammerhead sharks / The health of the coral reefs in the Red Sea

8.0 Very good
Bartosz D
Poland

Great trip.

Wrecks.

Recommended for: Wrecks, dive guides & food.

8.8 Fabulous
Pascal W
Switzerland

cool team and super food!

- elphinstone - st.johns reefs - dolphin house

Recommended for: dive => eat => sleep => repeat

4.4 Review score
Cesar B
Brazil

I would not recommend Emperor again, since they sell packages they can't commit to it.

Sadly they sell this trip called "sharks" but even the guides said that the best time is more towards end of September to October. So in a week that we were supposed to see many sharks, we saw 3 in total. Very disappointing. One guide, Ahmed, was a really bad guid. Very unprofessional, didn't talk to me or my dive partner at all, and even left us swimming in a strong current and swam away, not even looking behind to see if we made it through. If he had any personal issues with us, he should at least have been professional and not risked our lives, as he did. The company changed the whole itinerary (including departure point) and didn't communicate anything to us. When we got there, we had other groups who booked trips with different goals, all together. I understand the Covid situation may have led to that, but as a customer I expect to be informed and asked if I agree with the changes in the service I paid for. I don't further recommend Emperor. There are other companies running this business in Egypt who are much more reliable and customer oriented.

Recommended for: Food was pretty good; Crew was 100% friendly and nice; The group we were in was nice

10 Exceptional
Charline I
Switzerland

Perfection!

Top dives top crew and dive instructors top food perfect schedule perfect boat size

Recommended for: The crew, the dives, the food

9.6 Exceptional
Kevin K
Switzerland

Alone in the Red Sea.

Amazing reefs, ras Mohammed and Thistlegorm. Also the group was really cool and a lot of fun. The crew was very nice and helpful as well.

Recommended for: Only 11 guests. Only boat in the Red Sea. Amazing reefs.

7.6 Good
Thomas W
Germany

Fun but chaotic

- The crew was very nice, the food good, and the dive sites were incredible. (Although we didn’t see many sharks or other large animals.) - I was originally booked on the “Red Sea Sharks (Marsa Ghalib)” itinerary, and was booked onto “ Simply the Best” without consultation. After complaining, I at least got refunded the price difference between the trips. - The trip was advertised as leaving from and returning to Port Ghalib, about 10 minutes’ drive from Marsa Alam Airport. Instead, it left and returned to Marsa Alam, which is not a port (no bars, restaurant, ATM, etc.) and a much longer drive (about 50 minutes). We (the guests) had to pressure the organizers to schedule the return transfer early enough to reach the airport at a comfortable time. - I arrived in the morning, and was told that I had to spend the day at a resort since the boat wasn’t read (for an additional charge). When we arrived at the boat, its was already quite late and other guest clearly had been on board for a long time. - The boat wasn’t well maintained. We lost the first day of diving due to issues with the compressors, and one of the zodiacs was leaking. - One of the guides was very unfriendly to me and other guests, which forced the other two guides to work around him. This caused disorganized dive briefings, unclear buddy teams, etc. and in effect meant that we were diving with two guides for 16 guests. Luckily, the group included several experienced divers, so this wasn’t an issue. - I was charged an additional 14% tax for the extras on board. This directly contradicts the price list I was given before the trip, which states that “a 10% sales tax charge has been applied to the above 'On-board' rates.”

Recommended for: We saw three hammerhard sharks

8.0 Very good
Hubert V
France

I enjoyed the diving cruise globaly

The coral and fish ( hammer sharks), the homogeneity and friendlyness of the divers, the proffessionality of the main dive master, the comfort of the boat and unfortunatly a authority issue with the second dive master. I just change to the main one and ignored him after. It was a bit too militar as experience but i can understand.

Recommended for: The dive site, the crew, the boat comfort

9.2 Superb
Petra V
Finland

Very good liveaboard trip to see multiple wrecks in Egypt

Very nice wreck dives Excellent and detailed briefings to make divers comfortable about penetrating wrecks Good safety procedures (weather checks etc.) Dive guides very knowledgeable about the dive sites, fauna and history Friendly crew

Recommended for: Dive briefings and safety, dive guides, boat facilities

9.6 Exceptional
Maximilian L
Germany

Perfect first liveaboard

We had an awesome experience on our first liveaboard with emperor. The guides and all the crew did a very good job. They were friendly and busy to make ups feel comfortable all the time, underwater and on the boat. The boat might be aged but you have everything you need. WiFi didn't work very well. The reefs we visited were nice and although they were crowded by a lot of boats our guides managed to Plan our dives so that were the only divers on each Spot.

Recommended for: The guides were excellent, food was outstanding, great reefs

8.4 Very good
Patrik H
Sweden

Emperor is fantastic!

St.Johns cave system and Paradise reef.

Recommended for: Crew, dive sites, guest mix.

6.8 Review score
Siegfried M
Austria

terrible diesel exhaust fumes in cabin, i had to sleep in lounge and on deck

daederlus reef, nice fish, hammerhead shark

Recommended for: food, diving, good termperatures

Emperor Asmaa, Egypt

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Emperor Asmaa Reviews