Luxury Catamaran Tour to Racha and Coral Islands with Sunset Cruise from Phuket

What review can I write for a paid and unused service? Organized the trip days before departure. They ask me two weeks later (I was already on my way) if I can change the day from 31 January to 1 February a few days before the excursion, they were fully booked (I wonder why they make me book anyway...) I accept, even if I'm notified late and I had to plan with the rest of the holiday. Two days earlier on January 30 I received an email saying that everything was confirmed for February 1, that they would pick me up at the hotel.... It comes on February 1st... I waited an hour for someone who never arrived. I contacted all the numbers I had through the confirmation email. Nobody spoke English. I asked for help from a guy at reception who kindly conversed with the girl on the phone in Thai.... The tour had been canceled I don't know how you don't know when and nobody warned me about the fact, neither an email nor a message. Horrendous organization, unavailable staff... never again I very much hope they get a full refund and learn to speak English if they want to deal with international audiences.

This was amazing value for money! It was a lovely relaxed day spent out at sea and visiting some beautiful islands along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Bad organization catamaran small and dilapidated, overcrowded and dirty very long wait even for the return discouragement

I booked this trip due to 197 reviews on Tripadvisor, most of which were positive, and many of which I fear were faked. The Racha and Coral Island area off the east coast of Phuket are in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. But this trip was anything but luxury. And when you go thru the labyrinth of contractors and subcontractors it’s easy to see why. The companies or entities involved were: OH-HOO Travel, Honeymoon Catamaran Tours to name two that sit under or somewhere relative to Luxury Catamaran. First problem- the pick up. We were told we had to be ready for pickup by 0640. The pick up was more or less on time. The drive not long, but I was charged an extra pick up fee. It was in the fine print so I swallowed it. We then waited for well over 2 hrs at Honeymoon for other people to arrive. We then had another transfer to the pier. A wait there for 30min. We were finally on the boat by shortly before 10am. Second problem- the boat. It’s NOT the one in the photo. It was an old boat that had seen much better days. The toilet was inoperable. The seating limited, the life jackets deficient AND it’s advertised as max 30 pax. There were 45 on our boat plus crew of 6. The boat was overloaded and over crowded. Most seemed to be a Chinese tour group. Third problem- the provided snorkeling equipment was nearly all faulty. I know people don’t look after stuff, but most of the fixes were minor and this was a minor problem. Fourth problem- this old boat only had one speed- SLOW. Maybe it was for passenger comfort. It did get us there and back and had we left by the advertised time we would have been back at the dock earlier. It was about 7-8pm before we got back to the dock and then had to wait for the ridiculous system to get off the main pier. I have 2 stars because the tour people on the boat did try. But they were generally less than the normal Thai pleasant. And who can blame them with the hand they had been dealt? This was a bulk-package-el cheapo experience. There was NOTHING luxury about it.

On Apr 26, 2024 I was doing Racha and Coral Island by a "luxury" catamaran where I'd also see the sunset later in the day (I put luxury in quotations because it wasn’t compared to the other catamarans I saw that day. Some of them were two levels, had tons of pillows, and even some had water slides, our was just a catamaran).  Our first stop was Racha Island. Here we did snorkeling in a very limited area before getting onto the island itself, which we needed a longtail boat for. The scenery was nothing special, so no photos there, but the day only got worse after that. When I returned to the pier at the time they said to get back on the boat, it was gone. Yes, they did leave me behind. Luckily, I had bought a Thai SIM card so I was able to contact the tour company and tell them what happened, it took over half an hour before the boat returned for me. Now, instead of them apologizing, the tour guide literally told me to swim to the boat, which was like 100m away. I had my phone with me, so I said no. They then got a longtail boat to take me to the boat, but before I even stepped off it, he was telling me I had to pay 40THB to the driver, which is like $2. That’s nothing, but the principle was. They left me, then expected me to pay, so I told them no, you pay. The tour guide then started yelling at me to pay and even said he wouldn't let me on the boat if I didn't, so I told him no again. This time he literally grabbed my arm. When I told him to let me go he did, but only to go to the water cooler and literally, throw a bottle at me and then punch me. Naturally, I defended myself. For the record, I’m fine, but after I made sure he had stopped, I went to the front of the boat to steer clear of him.  The rest of the group was stunned at what had happened, and while the tour guide came to the front and apologized to the group for the inconvenience, he said nothing to me. I basically ignored him for the rest of the day.  In general, the whole tour was pretty boring, so I wouldn't recommend it. Plus, by the end of the day, not once did the guide ever come to apologize. The boat photographer, on the other hand, was very friendly and apologized on his behalf, but that doesn't do it for me. This was the worst tour I had ever been on in all the countries I have visited, and because of that, I'll be sure to do a review and let everyone know.  I will note though, that the James Bond and the Racha tour are run by the same company. The tour company itself is good, but I guess there's just a bad apple in the bunch. Hopefully he doesn't work in customer service again. I work in customer service and I don't care if you're having a bad day or not, you punch a customer and you're fired on the spot. Simple as that. The day after I saw the bruising the guide had left on my face around my eye and I'll be happy to provide the damage he did to the tour company. Update: I told the company about the incident and they just left me open on WhatsApp, I want a full refund for this tour.