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A dive trip doesn’t have to mean giving up your creature comforts. In this guide, we’ll share the most luxurious (yet still great value) liveaboard trips around the world.
These custom-built vessels features highly experienced boat and dive crew, tailor-made services that will take into account all your needs and attention to details, a large dive deck with ample space for gear storage, full-service dive itinerary with low diver to dive guide ratio, sumptuous meals and onboard amenities like a fully-stocked bar, sun decks, kayaks and a lot more. In other words, it’s just like having a floating 5-star resort out at sea.
The Best Luxury Liveaboard Trips around the World: At a Glance
| Liveaboard | # of Rooms | Nitrox | Wifi | Length | PADI Travel | Liveaboard | DiveBooker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argo | 9 | Yes | No | 39m | Check | Check | Check |
| Socorro Vortex | 7 | Yes | Yes | 45m | NA | Check | Check |
| French Polynesia Master | 14 | Yes | Yes | 43m | NA | Check | Check |
| Avalon I | 8 | No | No | 33m | NA | Check | NA |
| Gaia Love | 11 | Yes | Yes | 40m | Check | Check | Check |
| Truk Master | 8 | Yes | Yes | 37m | Check | Check | Check |
| Plancius | 53 | No | Yes | 89m | NA | Check | Check |
| Atlantis Azores | 8 | Yes | No | 33m | NA | Check | Check |
| Humboldt Explorer | 8 | Yes | No | 34m | Check | Check | Check |
| Scubaspa Yang | 19 | Yes | Yes | 50m | NA | Check | Check |
The Best Luxury Liveaboard Trips around the World: Reviewed
1. ARGO
Year of Commission: 1985 (renovated 2008)
Capacity: 18 guests
Area of Operation: Costa Rica
Dive Destination: Cocos Island
The Argo is a 39 meter (128 feet) long luxury liveaboard vessel that specializes in sailing the waters of Cocos Island in Costa Rica. It has 9 cabins that can accommodate up to 18 guests where your room choices include the Double Twin Bed Cabin, Double Queen Bed Cabin, and the Owner’s Cabin. It has onboard amenities such as the main air-conditioned saloon that is fitted with a television, a bar, a sun deck and a dining area that serves International cuisine.
The itinerary of the Argo involves a 10-day journey towards the shark-rich waters of Cocos Island and visit world-class dive sites like Bajo Alcyone and Manuelita where it is known for its healthy hammerhead shark population. On top of the amazing shark diving adventures, the Argo is one of the very few vessels and the only liveaboard that has an onboard deepsee submersible. You can go deep diving up to 300 meters (1,000 feet) to the abyssal depths of Cocos Island and interact with deep-sea marine animals like the rosy-lipped batfish, jellynose fish and prickly sharks.
Check prices and trip dates: PADI Travel | Liveaboard | DiveBooker
2. SOCORRO VORTEX
Year of Commission: 1981 (renovated 2019)
Capacity: 14 guests
Area of Operation: Mexico
Dive Destination: Socorro and Guadalupe Island
The Socorro Vortex is a 45 meter (148 feet) long luxury liveaboard vessel that offers dive safari tours to Socorro and Guadalupe Islands of Mexico. This former Canadian Coast Guard vessel has now 7 cabins that can accommodate up to 14 guests where your room choices include the Luxury Staterooms, Junior Suite and the Master Suite. Its onboard amenities include the main lounge, bar, open-air lounge on the upper deck that is fitted with a jacuzzi and an alfresco dining area that serves gourmet cuisine.
The itinerary of the Socorro Vortex involves an 8 to 12-day journey towards the top diving spots of Socorro and Guadalupe Islands where it is known for large pelagic species like manta rays, hammerhead sharks and silky sharks. While many have considered diving with the said large pelagics an amazing experience, the real highlight of your trip with the Socorro Vortex is cage diving with one of the largest apex predators in the marine environment – the great white sharks. If you are into nitrox diving, then we highly recommend this luxury liveaboard vessel since all their dive operations are nitrox based.
Check prices and trip dates: Liveaboard | DiveBooker
3. FRENCH POLYNESIA MASTER
Year of Commission: 2016
Capacity: 25 guests
Area of Operation: French Polynesia
Dive Destination: Rangiroa Reef, North Fakarava Island, and the Tuamotu Archipelago
The French Polynesia Master is a 43 meter (141 feet) long luxury liveaboard vessel that operates out of French Polynesia. It has 14 cabins that can accommodate up to 25 guests where your room choices include the Classic Twin Share Cabin, Premium Twin Share Cabin, and the Premium Single Cabin. It has onboard amenities that include the spacious air-conditioned saloon fitted with a plasma screen, a shaded outdoor lounge, a sun deck, a bar and a dining area that prepares International and French cuisine served in banquet style.
The itinerary of the French Polynesia Master involves an 8 to 11-day journey towards the top diving spots of French Polynesia like Rangiroa Reef, North Fakarava Island, and the Tuamotu Archipelago. Aside from the pampered treatment that you get while on board, the dive guides of this luxury vessel will take you to either an amazing drift diving experience or a memorable shark interaction where you can see and interact with hammerhead sharks, silky sharks, whitetip reef sharks, and tiger sharks.
Check prices and trip dates: Liveaboard | DiveBooker
4. AVALON I
Year of Commission: 1995 (renovated 2015)
Capacity: 18 guests
Area of Operation: Cuba
Dive Destination: Jardines de la Reina Marine Park
The Avalon I is a 33 meter (108 feet) long luxury liveaboard that specializes in sailing the waters of Cuba. It has 8 cabins that can accommodate up to 18 guests where your room choices include the Bunk Bed Cabins, Twin Cabins, Triple Cabins, and the King Bed Cabins. Its onboard amenities include the main saloon that is equipped with a PC station, a bar, a sun deck fitted with a jacuzzi and a dining area that serves Continental, Italian and traditional Cuban dishes.
The itinerary of the Avalon involves an 8-day journey towards the premier diving spot of Cuba – the Jardines de la Reina Marine Park. Inside the marine park are healthy stands of mangrove forest, seagrass beds and coral reefs. All of the dive sites around Jardines de la Reina are known for great shark interaction where you can see a healthy population of blacktip and whitetip reef sharks. You can even go snorkeling in the seagrass beds and do marine reptile interaction where you can see American crocodiles that are often motionless at the surface.
Check prices and trip dates: Liveaboard
5. GAIA LOVE
Year of Commission: 2017)
Capacity: 22 guests
Area of Operation: Indonesia
Dive Destination: Komodo Island
The Gaia Love is a 40 meter (131 feet) long modern luxury dive yacht that specializes in sailing the waters of Komodo Island in Indonesia. It has 11 cabins that can accommodate up to 22 guests where your room choices include the Lower Deck Cabins and the Upper Deck Cabins. It has onboard amenities that include an indoor saloon, an outdoor lounge, a partially-covered sun deck, an Al Fresco bar and a dining area that serves freshly cooked foods.
The itinerary of the Gaia Love involves a 10-day journey towards Komodo Island and visit its top diving sites that are all known for drift diving and interaction with large marine animals like sharks and manta rays.
Check prices and trip dates: PADI Travel | Liveaboard | DiveBooker
6. TRUK MASTER
Year of Commission: 1974 (renovated 2016)
Capacity: 16 guests
Area of Operation: Micronesia
Dive Destination: Truk Lagoon and Bikini Atoll
The Truk Master is a 37 meter (121 feet) long luxury liveaboard vessel that specializes in sailing the Micronesian waters. It has 8 cabins that can accommodate up to 16 guests where your room choices include the Classic Twin Share Cabins, the Premium Twin Share Cabins, and the Superior Double Cabins. Its onboard amenities include the main saloon that is fitted with a plasma screen, a bar, a shaded sun deck and a large indoor dining area that serves International and Asian cuisine.
The itinerary of the Truk Master involves a 7 or 10-day journey towards Truk Lagoon and Bikini Atoll where both are considered as the best dive spots in Micronesia. Here you can go wreck diving and explore over 60 shipwrecks from the Second World War. Among the wrecks, you can visit is the USS Saratoga. This 270 meters (886 feet) long aircraft carrier is now resting in an upright position and now being colonized with marine life especially on the flight deck area.
Check prices and trip dates: PADI Travel | Liveaboard | DiveBooker
7.PLANCIUS
Year of Commission: 1976 (renovated 2009)
Capacity: 116 guests
Dive Destination: Arctic North Circle and Antarctica
We now all know the pampering-characteristics of a Luxury liveaboard, but what if we bring luxury to the extreme by enjoying the same opulence while cruising along the arctic and antarctic regions. Yes, that’s the experience bring offered by the Plancius. This 89 meter (292 feet) steel ship has 53 cabins that can accommodate up to 116 guests where your room choices includes the Quadruple Porthole Cabins, Triple Porthole Cabins, Twin Porthole Cabins, Twin Deluxe Cabins and the Superior Deluxe Cabin. It has onboard amenities like the spacious observation lounge that is fitted with a bar, a large open deck with full walk-around capabilities and a restaurant that serves hot meals.
The itinerary of the Plancius involves a 10 to 19-day journey towards the Arctic region or Antarctica. Your dive profile will involve ice diving in frigid waters and may require you to traverse under or near an ice sheet with a general shallow profile of only 10 to 20 meters (30 to 60 feet) deep. With this, wearing a dry suit is a must and you must bring your own suit as there is no equipment rental onboard. Despite diving in harsh cold conditions, you will be rewarded with a unique set of wildlife where you can see and interact with fur seals, leopard seals and penguins. You might even see polar bears on the ice while you are standing on the viewing deck of the vessel.
Check prices and trip dates: Liveaboard | DiveBooker
8. ATLANTIS AZORES
Year of Commission: 1989 (renovated 2015)
Capacity: 16 guests
Area of Operation: Philippines
Dive Destination: Cebu, Bohol, and Palawan
The Atlantis Azores is a 33 meter (108 feet) long liveaboard diving vessel that sails the archipelagic waters of the Philippines. It has 8 cabins that can accommodate up to 16 guests where your room choices include the Deluxe Staterooms and the Owner Stateroom. Its onboard amenities include the main saloon fitted with flatscreen TV, a library that has a long list of Fish Taxonomy books, a wet bar, a shaded sundeck and a dining area that serves Western and Asian cuisine prepared by their onboard chef.
The itinerary of the Atlantis Azores involves an 8-day journey towards the top diving spots of the Philippines like Cebu, Bohol, Coron, Puerto Galera and Tubataha reef which is considered as the prime diving spot of the country.
Check prices and trip dates: Liveaboard | DiveBooker
9. HUMBOLDT EXPLORER
Year of Commission: 2009 (renovated 2014)
Capacity: 16 guests
Area of Operation: Ecuador
Dive Destination: Galapagos Island
The Humboldt Explorer is a 34 meter (111 feet) long luxury liveaboard that specializes in both diving and naturalist tours in Galapagos Island in Ecuador. It has 8 cabins that can accommodate up to 16 guests where your room choices include the Twin-bed Staterooms and Double Staterooms. It has onboard amenities like the air-conditioned saloon that has a full audio and video entertainment system, a bar, a sun deck fitted with a jacuzzi and a dining area that serves freshly-cooked foods.
The itinerary of the Humboldt Explorer involves an 8-day journey towards the top diving spots of Galapagos like Darwin and Wolf Island. Your dive profile with the Humboldt Explorer usually involves deep diving and interacting with sharks like hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, and Galapagos sharks. On top of scuba diving, the Humboldt Explorer also offers its signature Naturalist Tour where you can set foot in one of the islands and interact with marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and frigate birds.
Check prices and trip dates: PADI Travel | Liveaboard | DiveBooker
10. SCUBASPA YANG
Year of Commission: 2014 (renovated 2015)
Capacity: 40 guests
Area of Operation: Maldives
Dive Destination: Male Atoll, Ari Atoll, Felidhoo Atoll, and Vaavu Atoll
Awarded as the Leading Liveaboard vessel from 2016 to 2018, the Scubaspa Yang is one of the few luxury liveaboard vessels that operate the waters of the Maldives. This 50 meters (164 feet) long vessel is considered a floating luxury spa that has 19 cabins that can accommodate up to 40 guests where your room choices include the Sea Star Cabins, Cowrie Suite, Dolphin Suite, and the Manta Suite. This vessel has lots of amenities like the 300 square meter (3,229 square feet) spa where you can indulge in an open-air massage, a large dining area that features international cuisine and a barbecue party on a private island with an outdoor HD cinema.
The itinerary of the Scubaspa Yang involves a 5 or 8-day trip towards the top diving sites of Maldives like Male Atoll, Ari Atoll, Felidhoo Atoll and Vaavu Atoll which are all known for pristine reefs and a diversity of marine life like grey reef sharks, emperor angelfish, and eagle rays.
Check prices and trip dates: Liveaboard | DiveBooker
Check out more liveaboard trips around the world
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