“And the diving was very nice: beautiful corals, plenty of fishes, great visibility…”
Highlights
Specially designed for Tubbataha liveaboard diving, the Narayana yacht caters to up to 14 guests in 8 cozy cabins. Each cabin features private en-suite bathrooms, individually controlled AC, and storage space and offers queen-size double or twin bunk beds. The 6 double cabins on the middle deck also have a private balcony, perfect for relaxing in-between dives. Meals are served buffet-style in the indoor dining room and mix Western and local dishes. Social areas include the outdoor dining and lounge area and sun deck.
Philippine liveaboard dive cruises aboard the Narayana visit the Tubbataha National Park from March to June and El Nido, Coron & Apo Reef from October to December. Diving in Tubbataha Reef is only accessible via liveaboard and is fast becoming known as one of the best places to dive in the Philippines. With over 600 species of fish, 11 species of shark, and 13 species of dolphins and whales, it's easy to see why. These trips fill up fast, so booking in advance is advisable. The National Park of Apo Reef is home to the largest reef system in the Philippines and is full of marine life, large and small, offering excellent diving. Add to this the wrecks of Coron and the pristine waters of El Nido, and you will have a fantastic dive trip.
The experienced dive guides and crew are waiting to show you the underwater beauty of the Philippines. Book online today.
Choose your departure date
Included: VAT, Drinking Water, Tea & Coffee, Full-Board Meal Plan (All meals), Snacks, Diving Package, Cabin Towels, Complimentary Toiletries.
Required Extras: National Park Fees (100 EUR per trip).
Optional Extras: Gratuities (100 EUR), Alcoholic Beverages, Soft drinks, Rental Gear, Laundry / Pressing Services, WiFi internet (20 EUR).
Book now, pay later: You can easily place your booking online. We will then hold the spaces for you and you can confirm with a payment later.
* Extra fees are shown per person.
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Cabin Types
Narayana Reviews
- 8.1 Very good
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Vessel
6.4
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Crew
8.0
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Food
9.3
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Diving
8.9
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Value
7.8
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- 4.8 Review score
- Jonas D
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United States
Skip this boat
Please beware of this boat. The boat is severely outdated and under serviced. The bathrooms and rooms are disgusting and bare bones. The AC units are only operational at night. There are no communal spaces with AC during the day. The crew was very nice and the dive guides great. Unfortunately, there are no cabins on this boat dedicated to the crew. These means the crew needs to sleep outside in communal areas. We have done many liveaboards from backpacker to luxury and this has been the most uncomfortable boat we have experienced. The diving was pretty good but not the best… certainly not good enough to justify a trip on this boat.
- Recommended for
- Terrible Accommodations. AC at Night Only!. Cold Shower Only.
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- 8.4 Very good
- Steven D
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United States
Great liveaboard for the money!
The staff was amazing. Overly helpful. Did stuff I could easily handle, but went out of their way to go above and beyond to make it as great a trip as they could. The dive guides were amazing.
- Recommended for
- The staff, the diving, the location
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- 8.8 Fabulous
- Andrei B
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United States
Tubbataha is nice and Narayana is a safe and economical way to explore it
Narayana exceeded my expectations. Although the dive deck is pretty crowded, the crew tried their best to make diving convenient to everyone. The rooms have huge panoramic windows, the A/C at night works great, the food is mostly Philippine, which is perfect, as it gives an opportunity to explore new flavors. And the diving was very nice: beautiful corals, plenty of fishes, great visibility…
- Recommended for
- Crew attentiveness and flexibility, varied itinerary, rooms with huge windows
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- 5.6 Review score
- Mark E
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United Kingdom
Worse liveaboard ever !!
The cabins are not fit for purpose. I have done 25-30 liveaboard & this boat was the worse by a mile.The window wouldn't close properly in our cabin. When sailing the water would come in. Cabin 1 & 2 have an excessive engine noise & fumes coming through the floor. I thought that we might become another wreck! There is nowhere near enough outside space. The boat had only 12 guests but more than about 6 or 8 is cramped. Save a few quid & dive Malapascua instead. Much better experience for about half the price.
- Recommended for
- Our dive guide,Paul. The crew were really good. The chef is very good too.
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- 9.2 Superb
- yujin S
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South Korea
It was a wonderful trip But no whale shark.
As a novice diver, I am often attracted to large fish species and group dances rather than macro or muck dive. whale shark was the most anticipated treasure of the trip, but it did not meet. But I could see the Manta ray, Barakuda, and Jackfish.
- Recommended for
- Reasonable price, friendly crew and dive master, small group
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- 8.8 Fabulous
- Adam M
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United Kingdom
Amazing experience
Pristine coral reefs
- Recommended for
- Coral reefs, friendly crew, sharks
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- 10 Exceptional
- Geoff G
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United Kingdom
Good value, everything was to a very decent standard for price
Diving with hammerheads! Really liked dive gude Don!
- Recommended for
- Staff couldn't help enough, super friendly and social crew, food plentiful and quality
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- 8.0 Very good
- Catherine O
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Philippines
Would book again just for the lovely staff. Cabins left something to be desired.
The staff was really very friendly and helpful, though most were shy to speak in English so the foreign divers didn’t feel that as much as I did. I would book again though just to spend time with the staff again cause they really were very lovely. The cook clearly put a lot of love into his dishes, and I think the food would really shine with higher quality ingredients. I appreciated the small group (14 divers max). We had two dive groups and getting into the water was quick and efficient. The cabins were alright, but could be better designed and maintained. Some simple improvements can make a world of difference (thicker mattress, better pillows, doorknob instead of latches, cleaning stains from the windows and switches, etc). The bathroom has a “stale water” smell in my opinion – perhaps some coffee grounds would help neutralize that. But I really appreciated that the bathroom had a bidet! Staff would fix up our cabins every day which I also appreciated. Towels provided would shed like crazy — another easy but big improvement to make. I mostly avoided the cabins and stayed in the common area when I could, which was nice. If there were more space, some lounge chairs would be great. The biggest problems for me were: - The staff didn’t have their own beds or cabins. They had to sleep in the common area when the divers weren’t there. It isn’t comfortable, and it meant that the staff couldn’t rest at all during the day as the divers would be out and about then. I think small renovations to the captain’s area and a reserved cabin with an additional bunk bed for the crew would be great. It would mean 2 less divers could join, but the staff really made the trip for me. I imagine they’d make an even better impression on guests if they were properly rested. - The smoke coming from the engine. I could smell it when we were moving in the common area, and in the cabins as our AC was broken so we kept the windows open. Overall, I had a good time. I may go for a different liveaboard the next time around, but I don’t regret this trip. I loved the staff and the people I met on the group. I got to know them all quite well too since we were only a few people on board. My only recommendation if you join this boat, bring your own towel and a good amount of extra cash to tip the staff!
- Recommended for
- Staff, small group, toilets had bidets
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- 10 Exceptional
- Steffen D
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Germany
Great diving trip
We saw everything we hoped for
- Recommended for
- Great crew. Comparatively large cabin. Very good food.
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- 6.0 Review score
- Bernardus L
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Netherlands
Diving was great, boat needs improvement
There were a couple of things on the Narayana liveaboard that matched my expectations or went above them. First and foremost, the Tubbataha reefs, they are are awesome! So much fish to see, many sharks, turtles, and beautiful corals. On one of our dives we had a 10 minute encounter with a manta. On my trip no big schools of hammerheads, no whaleshark, but still amazing diving.The dive guides paid very good attention to safety in preparation, briefing, during, and after the dive, and they are also very helpful to ensure that everyone can enjoy the dive. And, the staff on the small boat and dive deck are awesome too! Very helpful, attend to any questions immediately, and working their ass off to make getting on and out of the water and boat as smoothly and safely as possible. Which posed some challenges as the dive deck is rather small and filled up with stuff, and people need to pass through divers gearing up to get to their cabin. Still, they did it, really heroes.But, there are things that I would like to have known before I booked the trip, and things to improve. We were picked up (in my case from the dive shop) and taken to a cafe in the harbor for check-in, where it was unclear how long we would stay there. Then we went to the boat where we got a talk from the "boss". After about half an hour the welcome drink suddenly seemed to be there (it was never offered). The boat safety "briefing" that the boss gave was very limited, only mentioning that there were life vests and where to gather in case of emergency. We had only one engine out of two on the way out, hence the journey to Tubbataha took much longer. There was also a problem with the compressor. Due to this, we missed 2 dives on the 2nd day.There were only two guides, we were diving in two groups of eight divers with one guide. Luckily all divers in my group had a lot of experience so we managed to do it safely. But smaller groups would certainly be safer and enable all divers to be close to the guide and see more stuff.There were some more problems with the boat. The door lock of our cabin hampered, took three attempts to get it repaired. Also, its not possible to secure the door when it's open. So if one of us was inside, we needed to close the door and lock, hence the other person couldn't get in when one of us was in the bathroom or trying to get some sleep.Our cabin was above the engine for the generator which runs 24/7. This space should not be a cabin for guests. It's noise and really uncomfortable, so when you book, make sure you're not in cabin 2.It took four days to finally repair the leaking airco in our cabin, our beds got wet every night for the biggest part of the trip. We reported it to the boat manager every day, but it wasn't taken seriously. When we made a big complaint on day five, the technical staff stepped in and solved it withing 15 minutes. Summing up, the reefs, dive crew, and boat crew are great. The boat needs a serious update and many repairs, it's uncomfortable up to unsafe, so its hard to relax and recover between the dives.
- Recommended for
- Tubbataha Reefs. Dive guides. Diving crew.
