Hi all,

I am planning a holiday overseas for later this year, and obviously diving is going to be a big part of it (at this stage Beqa Lagoon in Fiji is winning).

I have looked over Dive Fish Snow's website extensively, and it seems really good.

Has anyone used Dive Fish Snow as travel agents before, and would you recommend using them?

Thanks,
G

PS: also posted on sdnz for those few that haven't been banned/deactivated

i used them to get to Vanuatu, I would recommend them, friendly, professional, and actually really keen on diving!

I would second those sentiments about Dive fish and snow, go and see them at the albany office. They are really helpful, and the dives/resorts they suggest they have been to and experienced for themselves.

I've used them for Vanuatu and Fiji..

I recommend them to, but you will save booking directly with the charter though

Yeah pretty much as above. You can't fault them for service and knowledge of the destinations, and they have been to every single hotel/resort they sell so you know you won't be surprised. They will tell you when things are good and when they are mediocre, and they don't do the crap places.

As for price, well you pay for good service. For our Vanuatu trip they were within 10% of what we could book it for ourselves. If you use DiveFishSnow they will probably spend plenty of time talking through what you want and giving you different options. At the end of the day you know you will get a good holiday through them.

Sure, you can use their time and knowledge and then once it is all planned go and book it somewhere else online, but that's not really fair. Comes back to the whole LDS vs online store discussion. In this case their advice is sound and they would rather have a happy returning customer than a quick buck.

On the other hand, Erica and I are going to Fiji later this year and we knew exactly where we wanted to go so we just asked him for a price and it was almost 25% more, so we book it ourselves directly.

DiveFishSnow just matched (actually $60 less) our quotes from booking directly online, so there you go, a good deal in all aspects. We had already booked our flights because we wanted them confirmed, but he redid his price on a land-only package and needless to say we booked the rest through them.

FYI we are going to Volivoli beach, and it came out at just over $1400pp for 8 nights accom/transfers/10 dives/insurance plus $600pp for our flights.

As Russell mentioned above we have used DiveFishShow a couple of times - last year for Vanuatu and this year for Fiji.

I spent a lot of time on the net last week looking up options for diving Fiji and priced up the whole trip myself. I also got Steve (great guy) from DiveFishSnow to price up a couple of options for us.

When his quote came back at more than what I could do it for myself, I gave him a call and he sorted it all out. The only reason for the difference was a cheaper airfare which we booked which had just come up on special, and when he repriced the rest (excluding flights) the overall booking through them worked out cheaper for us. Needless to say we made the booking.

Overall you get a lot of service from these guys (and they do know what they are talking about) as well as SAVING money. Of course you should always price up the trip yourself, but in my experience we've had some great deals as well as piece of mind.

I definately wouldnt hesistate to book with them again - in fact we will be using them to book our Borneo trip next year.

So give them a call - at worst you end up booking it yourself if they somehow didnt come up with a better price. And you have the benefit of their experience. Steve is the man to talk to

PS if you a looking at Beqa lagoon - the lagoon resort has some deals on at the moment ($1999FJ for accomodation, transfers and diving). Dont confuse it with the BEQA lagoon resort (lagoon resort is on the mainland, Beqa lagoon resort is on an island in the lagoon and looks way nicer in my opinion - lots of free shore diving )

PPS Air Pacific has flight specials to Fiji at the moment (around $300pp cheaper than normal for the dates we wanted to go)

Yeah, I called Steve on Friday morning and he emailed me a quote that afternoon. It looks a little expensive compared to the prices I've found, but I will have to see the breakdown before I get them to lower their price. Its good to hear that they are honouring their price guarantee though.

And we have had a look at the Beqa Lagoon Resort, but its heaps more expensive than the Lagoon Resort, or the favourite so far, the Uprising Beach Resort. I would rather spend the difference on diving.

Thanks for the tip on Air Pacific fares - will have to look at that.

We are now also staying at the Uprising as we extended our trip, so will let you know what its like when we get back

If you want to stay at the Beqa Lagoon resort, Kevin at Performance Diver does bookings with them for quite a bit less than the prices on the resorts website.. if you were interested I'd give him a call too to find out exact prices