Princess Dhonkamana, Maldive

A beautiful, friendly, feel-good experience with amazing dives

Dhonkamana has visiting the islands down a rhythm. The core is based around about three dives a day, and three square Italian style meals a day. Each day we jump to a new location such as an atoll and get in between 2-4 dives from her support dhoni, Savari. Dives are amazing, including pinnacles, coral reefs, cleaning stations, and much more. Maldives still have an abundance of color fish, sharks, mantas, and much more. Feasting from the on board chefs happen on the back deck, and we never wanted for ample good quality pasta, fish, meats, fruits and more. In between that we fit in some visits to tiny islands, beaches,sandbars, a local town, and a nighttime barbecue. The dive guides are capable and friendly and we even got some additional PADI training and certifications. The top dives were probably the night dive with a dozen car-sized mantas doing underwater flips to eat, and a pinnacle with thousands of yellow snappers. All this for a very competitive price too. No guarantees, but this trip the guests had a very friendly vibe and team spirit too. All told a Dhonkamana trip is an easy recommend.

Suggerito a:

The incredible dive sites and dive experiences. Relaxed and friendly atmosphere on board. The beauty of the islands and navigating between them (often on the sun deck).

Perfect liveaboard trip.

The diving was fantastic with guides going above and beyond to choose beautiful and fun routes on the sites. The family style Italian meals were fun and the crew were very helpful for the fishermen on board as well.

Suggerito a:

Wonderful diving, great Italian food and fishing.

Good trip except for the end

Great food, Seeing sharks, and massive coral reefs. The other divers were also pleasant people. I do need to mention some downsides though. Our dive guide was not so great. He didn’t have the ability to make our dive group fee like a team and he spent a lot of time critiquing and critiquing dive techniques especially in the morning at breakfast in front of everyone else. don’t expect to enjoy your morning coffee with him. These dive trips aren’t cheap and your dive guide is the person you’ll spend the most time with in the water, so it’s worth really considering how a poor dive guide will influence your overall experience.

Suggerito a:

Food, fish, coral

Experience of a Lifetime

I’ve been fortunate to experience both the Princess Dhonkamana and Princess Haleema. Both weeks were such a breathtaking experience. The staff and boat crew are simply amazing and do everything possible to ensure all guests are happy and comfortable. The food is wonderful, and the chef takes such pride in making sure every guest has something to enjoy. The diving/snorkeling guides are also incredible and take the time to bring the guests to the most beautiful sites to see an array of fish, mantas, turtles, and sharks. I can’t recommend these boats highly enough, and I will keep going back!

Suggerito a:

Diving/snorkel guides, amazing food, swimming with Manta rays

Snorkeling in the Maldives is a wonderful experience!

Snorkeling was the best! Although no one informed or tried to create awareness about the health of the reefs we visited. There should be more information about this as all but one reef we visited was healthy. After 16 snorkeling locations no one informed us at all. After asking we received different information as to why the reefs were dead from crew and cruise leaders.

Suggerito a:

1. Visiting and swimming on sandy islands. 2. Snorkeling. 3. Views from the roof top of the boat. Sunsets were beautiful!

Great trip

Tiger shark dive. Whale sharks coming to the boat at night and the mantas

Suggerito a:

Big cabin, great staff and amazing diving