Liveaboard diving trips are one of the best ways to explore some of the world’s most stunning dive destinations. During a liveaboard diving trip, divers have the opportunity to explore multiple dive sites in a particular region, and do multiple dives per day thereby maximising their time underwater.
These liveaboard trips involve staying on specially designed boat for days or even weeks. This allows divers to access remote or inaccessible dive sites that are not easily reached by dive day boats from shore.
There are liveaboard diving trips to suit all diver experience and certification levels. These include beginner divers to advanced divers. Some liveaboard diving trips are also geared up to accommodate technical divers too, with rebreather support and technical diver support onboard.
Liveaboard trips are popular in locations known for their exceptional diving. These include dive locations such as the Red Sea, the Maldives, the Great Barrier Reef, the Galapagos Islands, Komodo National Park, and Raja Ampat, among others. The choice is yours, and depends on what you like seeing on a dive.
You’ll find the best liveaboard diving trips to some of the best locations in the world. So if you want to see dolphins and sharks in the Red Sea, manta rays and whale sharks in The Maldives, sharks, turtles and an abundance of marine life like nowhere else on the planet in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat and Komodo, schooling hammerheads in the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica, diving the outer reefs of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef or diving the deeps wrecks of Truk (Chuuk) Lagoon, we have you covered.
Liveaboard dive boats are typically equipped with comfortable cabins, dining areas, dive decks, and often include additional amenities like sun decks, lounges, and sometimes even Jacuzzis and spars, where you can treat yourself to a massage (check the “Boat Features” section for what’s included when you click through to your chosen liveaboard).
The itineraries are planned to provide a variety of dive experiences, depending on the experience level of divers. These include regular diving to spot marine life, wreck diving, drift diving, wall diving and night dives (which are not always possible from resorts).
Most liveaboard diving trips are also non-diver friendly (look out for this under “Boat Features” section when you click through to your chosen liveaboard, which is normally described as “Non-Diver (Snorkeler) Friendly“). This means that the majority of liveaboard diving trips can be enjoyed by non-diving partners too, where non-divers can enjoy snorkeling, relaxation, and exploration of the surrounding areas.
If your non-diving partner likes to do other activities, look out for those liveaboards that have these facilities onboard, also under the “Boat Features” section.
For those of you who may suffer from seasickness on a liveaboard, you may want to choose the longer length liveaboards, and pick the season for the location of your choice when the sea conditions will be less choppy.
It’s important to research and choose a reputable liveaboard operator, which is why we recommend Liveaboard.com to book your liveaboard. The liveaboards you book through Liveaboard.com prioritise safety, the liveaboard diving trips have experienced dive guides and they maintain their equipment.
Featured Liveaboards
MV Scubaspa Yang; Liveaboard diving in Maldives; 9.6 out of 10 and is rated 'Exceptional'; from £234, $285, €267/day. Customer Review:
“Superb boat, fantastic diving and lovely crew. One of us dives and one doesn’t but on Scubaspa we each had an equally great holiday. Think of a floating five star boutique hotel with an award winning spa and the best staff you could hope for. Add to it top quality diving that just kept giving with attentive and knowledgeable guides. Throw in some super travelling companions great food and lots of fun and you have a trip aboard the Scubaspa Yang. I must also thank Liveaboard.com for making sure everything worked smoothly and all requests were looked after. Recommended for: Crew and guides, Diving and Boat.
MV Galapagos Sky; Liveaboard diving in Galapagos; 9.5 out of 10 and is rated 'Exceptional'; from £708, $864, €807/day. Customer Review:
”Amazing experience. Our experience with Galapagos sky was amazing (even though we have very high standards!). The crew was perfect, always at the right place at the right time to help – pulling your wetsuit to get it off, giving you a hot chocolate as soon as you’re back on board, pushing you in the hot shower when you’re freezing cold, giving you a hot towel… All the organisation and the catering were perfectly orchestrated all along the way. Land excursions were nice additions to the diving itinerary. The cabin in the lower deck were functional and spacious enough without being too luxurious. In a week we saw a pregnant whale shark, loads of schooling hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, white tips, marble rays, marine iguanas, incredible schools of big eye jacks…. everything we were looking for was there! One thing we noticed is that almost half the divers had already been diving with the same boat and were coming back for more… it says it all. Thanks teams!!!” Recommended for: Best marine life in the world; Incredible crew always here for us; Great boat super functional and convenient;
MV Galapagos Master; Liveaboard diving in Galapagos; 8.6 out of 10 and is rated 'Fabulous'; from £459, $560, €523/day. Customer Review:
”Galapagos is the best diving experience ever. Diving at Darwin and Wolf islands with hundreds of hammerhead sharks on each dive. Diving at ”Manta City” with lots of mantas.” Recommended for: The diving sites were the best experience ever. The dive guides are very skilled and know the sites well. All crew members makes the trip unforgettable.
MY Aqua; Liveaboard diving in Galapagos; 9 out of 10 and is rated 'Superb'; from £457, $558, €521/day. Customer Review:
”Amazing trip! Didn’t want to leave. I had an amazing time aboard the Aqua. From the moment I met with the crew, everything was a breeze. I didn’t need to worry about anything during the duration of the trip. The days and schedule were organized so well. The staff took care of everything so all we really needed to worry about was waking up on time :).” Recommended for: Boat, crew, ease of everything.
MV Seaisee; Liveaboard diving in Indonesia; 10 out of 10 and is rated 'Exceptional'; from £281, $343, €320/day. Customer Review:
“komodo national park. I had an unforgettable experience diving around Komodo national park. The boat was modern, clean, and specially designed for diving. The food was excellent. The crew was friendly and the dive master was very knowledgable. I felt like royalty during my stay and wish I could have stayed longer.” Recommended for: diving facilities, great cabin, knowledgeable crew.
MV Calipso; Liveaboard diving in Galapagos; 9.4 out of 10 and is rated 'Superb'; from £658, $803, €750/day. Customer Review:
”Awesome trip in the best liveaboard I’ve been. One day at Darwin, while being surrounded of hammerheads and galapagos sharks as usual, a group of silky sharks decided to surround us feeling curious, we were so excited to have such an experience, when a massive Whale Shark appeared from the deep blowing our minds. Believe what they tell you about the Galapagos, and if you go with this really big and comfortable boat full of details with a crew that enjoys their job, you will be in the perfect hands. (I’ve been in 3 other liveaboards around the world, so I can compare, this one was the best). Recommended for: Sharks, staff and food.
TO SEE ALL WORLDWIDE LIVEABOARDS SCROLL TO THE TABLE BELOW
Liveaboard Diving Trips
ON liveaboard diving trips (dive safari or dive charter) you live over the dive sites, where some are remote and out of reach of dive resorts. A liveaboard is normally purpose-built scuba diving boats offering more dives with meals included on trips to Indonesia, The Maldives and 24 other countries.
Table of Worldwide Liveaboards
This list of worldwide liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating will be at the top of the list. To filter this table for the features that are important for your liveaboard trip, select from the list of filters below.
Note: The above “Price Per Day” was correct at the time of producing this article, as was the exchange rate used to convert the GBP cost to US Dollars and Euros. For an up-to-date cost for your chosen liveaboard, please visit the “Book” link above.
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How Do Liveaboards Work? Liveaboards are essentially diving and accommodation vessels, which allow divers to explore and dive in remote or hard-to-reach locations for an extended period of time. The liveaboard operates like a…
