10 Exceptional
Rebecca H
United States

Incredible Diving Trip

My boyfriend and I had an incredible dive trip. This was our first liveaboard trip and we are only open water certified. We took the deep adventure course during this trip, which I would highly recommend to those who are not advanced open water certified. Our dive guide Colin was awesome. He made us feel safe and comfortable and brought us to see the most interesting things at each dive site. After each dive he did a quick debrief with us about which fish we had seen and helped us identify the fish we didn't know. The dives themselves were incredible, with vibrantly colored coral and tons of fish. We enjoyed clownfish, butterfly fish, morrish idols, triggerfish, an octopus, barracuda, puffer fish, nudibranch, moray eels, a sea turtle, a fleeting manta ray and so much more. Although we did not see a whale shark, we were not at all disappointed with the dives on this trip. I would recommend it to anyone.

Recommended for: Tons of colorful fish, friendly and knowledgeable dive guides, comfortable boat with plenty of yummy food

9.2 Superb
Jesse G
United States

Great Trip to the Similans

We got a whale shark! And Richelieu Rock is a must see dive site -- so glad this trip does three dives there.

Recommended for: Excellent variety of the dive sites. Packed diving agenda. Surprisingly good food on board.

9.2 Superb
Thomas M
United States

First time on a liveaboard and can't wait to be back.

Sunrise dive at Richelieu Rock.

Recommended for: Thai Crew, The Islands, Dive guides

9.6 Exceptional
Samuel E
United States

World class diving and food

Trip far exceeded expectations. Been 1 night and miss it already. Diving was world class. Almost every dive offered something special but Richelieu Rock was probably my favorite with the most abundance of fish, healthy coral, and life. Too many specific things to name but a few of my personal favorites - peacock mantis shrimp and 1 spearing mantis shrimp, several octopus and cuddlefish, multiple pipefish and 1 seahorse, several huge Napoleon wrasse, large school of barracuda (maybe 500+), lots of different nudibranchs, getting swarmed by emperor snappers changing color while they fed, devil scorpionfish, tight swim throughs at Elephant Head Rock, and snorkeling with turtles hanging around the boat. Will post highlight footage on YouTube when I’m finished editing here: https://youtube.com/channel/UCDT6vq2aytmF-qzqnP9PE4A Outside of diving, every meal was exceptional and far better than the food I had on my other liveaboard experience. Crew was also great and I’m planning to book my next trip in Thailand with Manta Queen in the South. Hopefully I’ll be able to dive with some of the same faces :) - Sam

Recommended for: Dives, food, people

9.2 Superb
Pieter D
Belgium

Great crew leading to great experience

Richelieu rock Boonsung wreck

Recommended for: Friendly crew, good dive instructors, great dive sites

8.8 Fabulous
simon D
United Kingdom

Superb way to dive the Similans

The boat captain, dive masters and Thai crew were all fantastic. Everyone did their best to accommodate us. The diving is hard to beat. We were amazingly lucky to have a whale shark circling us for over 20 minutes, close enough to touch. Some of the dive sites are breathtaking. We even saw a rare harlequin shrimp. Tik, our Thai dive guide knows the ocean better than i know my hometown. We were truly privileged.

Recommended for: Great crew, Fantastic Diving and a Whale Shark

9.2 Superb
Daniel N
Sweden

Well arranged liveaboard with beautiful dive sites

All the dives at Richelieu Rock, beautiful night dive

Recommended for: Beautiful dive sites, extraordinary service from the crew, the people onboard

9.2 Superb
Rudy P
Italy

Amazing experience!

Spectacular Similan islands and their amazing reefs.

Recommended for: Dive sites, dive guides and food served!

8.4 Very good
Daniel W
Canada

Beautiful topside and below the surface!

Huge manta rays and the whale shark! Crew were awesome and friendly. Really well run operation and everything went according to plan and schedule. Food was very well done and the boat crew were a hard working bunch. Very safe and ideal for beginner divers as well as advanced divers.

Recommended for: Surin islands, Richelieu Rock and the whale shark!

9.2 Superb
Jonathan F
United Kingdom

Excellent Trip

The cabins were very small and basic but my needs are few and the price low so I’d have to say they were adequate. With three shared bathrooms for a full boat there was often a wait but again I wasn’t paying for an en-suite so can’t really complain. The food was excellent and varied. The group I dived with was small and the guide, Tic, very good at directing our attention to creatures of interest without seeming to be too prescriptive. The diving was incredible with many whale sharks at different sites and even a chance to swim with an inquisitive one which visited the boat between dives. Another highlight was seeing mating Zebra sharks. Richelieu Rock in particular was stunning with so much marine life it was hard to know where to look.

Recommended for: Whale Sharks, more Whale Sharks & a Manta Ray

8.8 Fabulous
Malin B
Sweden

Easy and nice diving

We were only 14 divers on a boat for 22 divers which was great! Less people in the water and since there’s is only three toilets on board it was perfect we were this few customers. Good dive guides, good food and staff.

Recommended for: Whale shark, good staff, easy diving

8.0 Very good
KIM J
South Korea

Do it now.

staff is highly kindness. and dive points are awesome. but gas smell is pretty bad in cabin. that makes me little headache.

Recommended for: Price, Service, Food

10 Exceptional
Pio V
Netherlands

Great introduction to liveaboards

Saw beautiful sea-life and thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience.

Recommended for: Good and lots of food, awesome crew and amazing dive sites

8.0 Very good
Yosef M
Israel

Good trip

Good dives

Recommended for: Food, diving , the crew

8.0 Very good
Adam H
United Kingdom

Budget boat but great value for money trip

Good dives @ Richelieu rock with so much fish life. The water visibility was great (30m) so this made for great diving.

Recommended for: Great visibility, richelieu rock, great food

10 Exceptional
Connor S
United Kingdom

Absolutely amazing trip

All the staff from the Thai boat boys to the dive staff were friendly, helpful and clearly loved their jobs. The marine life was abundant and breathtaking, especially at the boonsung wreck. The food was plentiful and delicious and I never went hungry

Recommended for: Brilliant marine life, amazing staff and excellent food

10 Exceptional
Mathilde F
France

Amazing trip in the similans

the dive sites are phenomenal

Recommended for: Great diving and really good food

8.4 Very good
Alexander M
Germany

4d/4n on manta queen 1 in Jan 2019

Our local Thai dive guide tik showed us loads of small stuff (pipefishes, nudis, frogfishes etc.) You would have normally missed due to the amount of glass fishes ;)

Recommended for: Spacious boat, good diving, plenty of marine life

3.6 Review score
Kate B
Australia

Unpleasant trip

There were no highlights. The dive shop had very fake/shallow personalities, they wouldn’t answer any questions clearly, and when ask ‘harder’ questions the answers quickly became defensive. On the trip, the guides treated everyone like school children and were extremely patronizing. Before each dive they would wake everyone up to do a briefing, but would then spend 20 minutes at least bickering between each other about which site to do, and why each opinion was more valid than the other. All of that should have been done before calling all the guests up for each briefing. The whole thing felt so massively unorganized compared to the trip we went on just the week before. There was supposed to be a maximum of four people per dive guide. But on multiple occasions they just randomly put more people in our group without asking us or talking to us about it at all. We didn’t know until we were jumping into the water. Our guide barely talked to us or the group at all, would just swim off underwater even if we were looking at something. The whole thing was so disappointing and I wouldn’t recommend this company to anyone.

Recommended for: -

10 Exceptional
Tzvi S
Israel

A truly memorable experience.

The diving was amazing, especially since I went before high season and so we had most of the sites completely to ourselves. I traveled alone and therefore was thrilled to have ended up with such a great set of people onboard. If we weren’t diving, we were laughing! And last but not least: the crew. I can not put into words how professional and friendly they were.

Recommended for: Friendly atmosphere, INSANELY great crew, and diving (duh)

9.2 Superb
Kerstin L
Sweden

Wonderful liveaboard experience

Richelieu rock with its abundance of marine life. The octopus that let us admire him in full daylight and without hiding in a hole.

Recommended for: The variaty of dive sites, the friendly and layed back feeling from all onboard and the lunches and dinners

9.2 Superb
Mariano O
Belgium

Super friendly dive instructors and boat staff :)

Boat staff was always handy when gearing up and specially assiting on the ladders when coming out of the water. Boat bots in general were very attentive :)

Recommended for: Food: variety flavour. Organization and clear instructions.

9.2 Superb
Zuzanna N
Australia

Great fun!

We had great few days on MQ1, the crew and the dive guides are excellent, similan islands are beautiful and so biodivers in comparison to other places in Thailand. Overall a great trip! Will be back

Recommended for: Crew & food

8.0 Very good
S. Hamid S
Denmark

In total ,kind ,serviceminded and ready to do more.

taking my nitrox licens, making new friends ,and best of all be on board with such an experincend and welcoming crews

Recommended for: Fast, easy, clean

8.8 Fabulous
Juha V
Finland

Happy and joy

Whaleshark, multiple dives @ Richeliu Rock and beach visit.

Recommended for: Atmosphere, customer satisfaction and boat crew

8.0 Very good
Kjell K
Sweden

Very good

The whale shark swimming around the boat. The white tip reef sharks. The large amount of blue spotted sting rays

Recommended for: The dives in Similan and Koh Bon. Good instructors. Good boat crew

8.4 Very good
Lars H
Canada

Fantastic!

We had a really good time, so much to beauty to see. The boat is well equipped and all of the crew members were very warm and friendly. They all looked after us really well! The dives were amazing and the dive guides/helpers were trained extremely well. Rooms were small (it is a boat, after all) but very clean, we wanted for nothing. Food was very, very good and plentiful! Thanks to all the staff who made such a memorable trip for us!

Recommended for: Diving, Diving, Diving

10 Exceptional
Stefano T
Australia

Simply amazing

Everything was just perfect, organised, planned and managed before and during the trip in a fantastic way. Almost every dive was in a different location and each of them was with great visibility, spectacular corals and variety of fish. We had lots of fun between the dives, sharing diving and life experiences with the other guests, or simply relaxing on the sundeck. Staff and guides were always super helpful, professional, friendly and full of positive energy. This was my first live aboard but after this super positive experience many more will follow very soon!

Recommended for: 1.The planning and variety of the dive sites and locations. 2. The positive energy and professionalism of the guides, crew and staff. 3. The unbelievable quality and quantity of food onboard.

9.2 Superb
Erwan L
France

Great trip, I recommend it!

The 3 dives on Richelieu Rock were definitely worth the trip to Thailand.

Recommended for: Quality of the dives. Great crew on board. And extraordinary food

6.4 Review score
Hollie A
United Kingdom

A lovely trip ruined by a dangerous and rude dive guide.

The dive sites were lovely even though the visibility was often quite poor. Unfortunately my group was robbed of the perfect trip by our dive guide who nearly caused a very serious incident for all of us on one dive and was rude and uncomfortable to be around on the boat.

Recommended for: The dive sites themselves, the Thai boat crew, the dive leader.

8.0 Very good
Alban C
United Kingdom

Brilliant trip

Fantastic experience. Great boat with incredibly hard working staff made the trip even more special.

Recommended for: Staff, food & atmosphere

Manta Queen 1, Thailand

Choose your departure date

2023

2024

2025

Boat features

Food & Drinks

Diving

Gear Rental

Drawings & Vessel Layouts

Accommodation

Double en-suite Cabin

Twin Bunk en-suite Cabin

Twin Bunk non en-suite - Lower Deck

Boat Specifications

Boat Navigation and Safety

Manta Queen 1 Reviews