Nekton Cruises Shuts Down

In the past couple of years, we’ve received reader reports from divers going on Nekton’s Caribbean-based liveaboards that, while they’ve had a good time, the two barge-like boats were showing their age. It looks like “continually increasing cost of operations, decreased discretionary income of consumers and overall economic difficulty” also took a toll. Nekton’s website cited these as the reasons why it closed operations as of May 17.

There are currently no specifics about how or when Nekton is refunding divers who booked trips. The website originally said it would list a point of contact for claims in early June. Now that has been changed to the “middle/beginning” of June. “If you have travel insurance, please use a copy of this announcement for pursuing a claim with your insurer.”

Nekton did not work with wholesalers, so travel agents can’t help out with getting money back, but Tim Webb, president of travel agency Caradonna Dive Adventures, recommends those who booked trips with their credit cards should call the card company to dispute the charge (this goes for any dive trip you book).

The Aggressor and Explorer fleets have offered to honor Nekton’s unfulfilled reservations. Aggressor will take payments made to Nekton toward future trips on their Caribbean liveaboards; divers pay the price differences between the Nekton and the Aggressor reservations (www.aggressor.com). Explorer Ventures will give a 50 percent discount for Nekton divers who paid for trips in full (www.explorerventures.com).