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Planning service pricing
Three flat-fee tiers covering every Red Sea trip type — from a single dive day to a full liveaboard week. No commission taken from any centre. You book direct; we make sure it's the right one.
One flat fee, no hidden costs, no commission
Our fee covers independent centre matching and dive planning only. It does not cover dive costs, equipment rental, marine-park fees or transfers — those are paid directly to the centre you book with. The fee is what makes it possible for us to recommend without any financial interest in which centre you choose. Every other dive recommendation source you'll find — aggregator sites, hotel dive desks, guide blogs — receives placement fees or commissions from operators. We do not. That is the only meaningful difference between a reliable recommendation and an unreliable one.
Single Day Match
- Up to 1 dive day or half day
- Matched centre shortlist (2–3 options)
- Site recommendation for your level
- Current pricing benchmark
- What's included vs. extra at each centre
- Marine-park fee guidance
- One round of follow-up questions
- Response within 48 hours
Full Dive Week
- Full 7-day dive itinerary
- Matched centre shortlist (3–4 options)
- Daily site sequence — best order for conditions
- Certification course planning if needed
- Mixed ability planning for 2-person groups
- Snorkel + dive day splits for companions
- Current pricing for all planned days
- Liveaboard day-trip add-on option
- Unlimited follow-up within 14 days
- Response within 48 hours
Group & Liveaboard
- Groups up to 8 participants
- Liveaboard vessel selection and comparison
- North route or south route planning
- Mixed certification level group logistics
- Vessel safety assessment summary
- Itinerary options across fleet
- Booking timing and availability guidance
- Shore and day-trip planning for pre/post nights
- Full dive week scope included
- Unlimited follow-up within 30 days
- Response within 48 hours
Comparing the three planning levels
All three tiers draw from the same underlying database of vetted centre assessments, dive-site profiles and current pricing benchmarks. The difference is scope: how many days, how many divers and how much logistical detail you need.
| What's included | Single Day Match $19 |
Full Dive Week $49 |
Group & Liveaboard $89 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matched centre shortlist | 2–3 options | 3–4 options | 3–5 options incl. liveaboard vessels |
| Site recommendation per level | Yes | Yes + daily sequence | Yes + itinerary for each route |
| Pricing benchmark | Yes | Yes — all days | Yes — including liveaboard all-in costs |
| Marine-park fee guidance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Certification planning | — | Yes | Yes |
| Mixed ability / snorkel planning | — | Yes (2 people) | Yes (up to 8 people) |
| Liveaboard vessel assessment | — | Day-trip add-on only | Full liveaboard comparison |
| Group logistics (3+ divers) | — | — | Yes |
| Follow-up correspondence | 1 round | 14 days unlimited | 30 days unlimited |
| Response time | Within 48 hrs | Within 48 hrs | Within 48 hrs |
Which tier fits your trip
Most enquiries fall clearly into one of three categories. If you're unsure, the Full Dive Week tier covers the majority of trip types adequately and the follow-up window is long enough to resolve most planning questions.
Single Day Match — right for you if:
You're visiting Hurghada for a few days and want to fit in one or two dives. You have a specific experience in mind — Giftun Island, a house reef in El Gouna, or an intro dive for a partner who hasn't dived before. You're travelling solo or as a couple with matched certification levels. You've already planned the rest of your trip and just need the dive component sorted. This tier resolves the single most common planning question: which centre to use for a one-day dive in a specific area, at a specific level, at a specific budget. Read about all twelve dive experience types to identify which one fits before you enquire — it will make the matching faster and more precise.
Full Dive Week — right for you if:
Diving is the primary purpose of your trip and you're planning five to seven days on the water. You want to progress through different sites — house reef one day, Giftun day trip the next, Abu Nuhas toward the end of the week as your buoyancy and confidence settle in. You might be completing an Advanced course during the week. You're travelling as a couple where one is an experienced diver and the other is a beginner or snorkeller, and you need an itinerary that works for both without compromising the experienced diver's sites. This tier is the most used and the most useful for the typical dive-focused Red Sea trip. It's also the tier to use if you're considering adding a short liveaboard (three to four nights) at the end of a week of day diving — we include liveaboard day-trip add-on planning as part of the scope. Browse the liveaboard guide and the dive-site atlas before enquiring so you arrive with an idea of which sites interest you most.
Group and Liveaboard — right for you if:
You're organising a trip for three to eight people — a group of friends, a dive club trip, a couple with children (some snorkelling, some diving), or any situation where more than two divers with different levels need to share planning. This tier is also the right choice if a liveaboard voyage is the centrepiece of your trip, regardless of group size. Liveaboard planning requires vessel comparison across the fleet (thirty-one vessels in our current database), itinerary comparison (north route versus south route versus Sinai circuit), availability checking and a specific safety assessment of the vessel against our marine criteria. The Group and Liveaboard tier covers all of that as standard. See the marine safety guide for the criteria we apply to liveaboard vessel assessment.
The planning process from enquiry to shortlist
Payment is processed through the contact form on our contact page, which accepts bank transfer and card. Once your enquiry and payment are confirmed, we review your level, dates, base location and any specific requests or questions you included. We then check our current centre database for operators who: (a) match your certification level and site interests, (b) are currently meeting our six-category vetting criteria, and (c) are operating on the dates you've given. We also pull the current pricing benchmarks from our quarterly survey to make sure the figures we give you are accurate for this season, not last year's rates.
The shortlist we send is a structured document with a brief profile of each recommended centre (what they do well, what to check when you call them), the specific sites we'd suggest on your dates, and a breakdown of what a realistic total cost looks like for the number of dive days you're planning. We include a direct contact name at each centre — not just the booking email — because reaching a real person quickly matters when you're booking from overseas with specific date constraints.
We answer follow-up questions within the window included in your tier. If the centre you choose is sold out or unavailable for your dates, we revise the recommendation at no additional charge. Our interest is that you end up diving with the right centre; the planning fee is not a transaction that ends the moment the shortlist is sent. See how the collective works for more on the independence principles behind this service.
What we don't do
We don't book dives on your behalf, hold deposits or negotiate rates with centres. You book direct, which means you hold the contractual relationship and have direct recourse if something changes. We also don't recommend centres we haven't assessed independently, regardless of their reputation. If you name a specific centre and ask us to assess it — we'll tell you what's in our file, or tell you honestly if we don't have current data on them.
Frequently asked about the planning service
Every planning tier includes a written shortlist of vetted dive centres matched to your experience level, budget and base location. It also includes specific site recommendations for each centre, current pricing benchmarks and a breakdown of what's included versus separately charged at each operation. The Full Dive Week and Group and Liveaboard tiers add itinerary sequencing, daily dive planning and follow-up correspondence if your shortlisted centre is unavailable. None of the tiers include booking on your behalf — you book direct with the centre, which means you hold the booking relationship and can discuss logistics directly with the people who will actually be on the boat with you.
Free diving guides almost universally earn referral fees or commissions from the operators they recommend. That commercial dependency is why the recommendations are unreliable — the centre being pushed is not always the best match for your level, it's the one paying the highest commission. Our fee removes that dependency entirely. It is the only revenue we take from the planning process; we receive nothing from any centre we recommend. The fee is not large — it is a small fraction of what a mismatched, poorly vetted centre booking can cost you in wasted days or, worse, a safety incident on a site you weren't ready for. For the logic behind this structure, read more on our about page.
No. The planning fee covers only our independent matching and advisory work. Marine-park fees (set by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, currently EGP 150–200 per person per day for Giftun and other protected areas), equipment rental, tank fills, boat trips, course fees and transfer costs are all paid directly to the dive centre or operator you book with. We provide current pricing benchmarks as part of the planning output so you know exactly what a fair total cost looks like before you commit. Read the full breakdown of what to expect on our services page.
Yes, and we expect it to happen. Our shortlists typically include two or three options at each tier, precisely because trip logistics, budget and personal preference create variables we can't fully resolve from an enquiry form. If you receive the shortlist and have questions about the options, or want to discuss one centre's specific schedule, boat size or language capability in more detail, reply to the email — we answer follow-up questions at no additional charge within the window included in your tier. If the available centres don't fit your dates or requirements after the initial shortlist, we'll provide a revised recommendation. The shortlist is the beginning of the conversation, not the end of it.
We respond to all planning enquiries within 48 hours during our operating week (Saturday through Thursday, 08:00–18:00 Egypt time). In practice, most shortlists are sent within 24 hours. For liveaboard enquiries requiring vessel availability checks across multiple boats, allow the full 48 hours. We do not send automated responses or template replies — each shortlist is written for the specific enquiry, checked against current centre availability and reviewed against our database before sending. If you submit on a Thursday evening, expect a response by Saturday morning. If you need a faster turnaround for time-sensitive bookings, note that in your enquiry and we'll prioritise it.
The Group and Liveaboard tier covers groups up to eight participants at a flat fee, which is already priced for group complexity. Groups larger than eight — dive clubs, corporate expedition trips, university dive society trips — should contact us directly before booking to discuss a custom scope. Large groups require more logistics coordination across certification levels, equipment availability and boat capacity, and we price those individually. For repeat clients who've used the planning service before, contact us directly and we'll work out a continuing arrangement. All ongoing enquiries go through the same contact form.
The database behind every recommendation
Our planning service is only as useful as the data behind it. Here is what we maintain, and how current it is.
The centre database covers sixty-four dive operations across Hurghada, El Gouna, Safaga and Makadi Bay. Each entry contains our most recent six-category safety assessment (certification and registration status, equipment and boat condition, diver-to-guide ratios observed on actual departures, guide site knowledge assessed during anonymous briefing attendance, post-dive and incident protocol awareness, and value integrity — that is, whether the quoted price matches what is actually delivered). Assessments are conducted annually at minimum, and revised any time a credible report of a standard change reaches us. Our about page has the full methodology.
The dive-site database covers forty-seven sites across the Hurghada coast, the Gubal Strait, the Safaga pinnacle group and the offshore reef systems accessible by liveaboard from Hurghada. Each site has a profile including depth range, certification level requirement, current direction notes by season, typical visibility, marine-life highlights by season, and current reef-condition status updated by our marine biologist Marina Costa. The dive-site atlas is the public version of this database; the planning service draws from the full internal version including guide-level notes on each site not included in the public profiles.
The liveaboard fleet database covers thirty-one vessels currently operating Red Sea itineraries from Hurghada. Each vessel entry includes age, passenger capacity, cabin type, dive deck configuration, nitrox availability, compressor capacity, onboard power reliability (a critical factor on longer voyages), cook and food quality notes, and our assessment of the guide team's familiarity with the specific route the vessel runs. Vessel assessments are harder to keep current than shore-based centre assessments because fleet operations change frequently; we note the date of last independent verification on every vessel entry and flag those where we're working from diver reports rather than first-hand assessment.
Pricing benchmarks are surveyed quarterly by contacting centres directly, comparing their current quote against our database, and noting any discrepancies. We track both the headline price and the all-in cost after marine fees, equipment rental and transfer charges are included. The gap between headline and all-in varies significantly across operators. Some centres in Hurghada quote $55 for a two-tank trip and deliver a total charge of $85 once fees and kit are added; others are genuinely inclusive at their quoted price. The benchmark data we include in every shortlist reflects all-in estimated cost, not headline price. See the full list of dive experiences and their pricing for the market-rate context around these figures.
Start your planning enquiry
Send your certification level, dates, base location and any specific interests. We'll come back within 48 hours with a shortlist matched to exactly what you've described — no sales pitch, no commission, no obligation to use any specific centre.
Send a planning enquiry