A Guide to ScubaRatings' Ratings

Our diver-focused ratings give divers a quick assessment of hotels' and dive shops' overall value and performance. Very powerful. You'll find ScubaRatings not only useful for your trip planning, but also simple, easy and fun as the site also allows underwater experiences to be shared, diver-to-diver.

Reviews are connected to the "detail" pages of gear, shops and hotels. If something has been reviewed by one of our members or visitors this information is automatically included. You'll see it if it's available. Don't underestimate the value of YOUR experiences. Someone could be looking for a review to support his/her purchase decision for a piece of gear that you own or use. Others may be trying to find information about a dive trip that you've done a hundred times. It only takes a minute and we've made it simple to contribute. Just have a look here.

What's being rated?
ScubaRatings currently provides ratings for the following:

• » 200+ Dive Spots and more are added by divers like you daily
• » 10,000+ Dive Shops around the world
• » 50,000+ Accommodations near dive locations
• » Update: February 23, 2006 - Dive Sites Area completed!
• » Update: June 17, 2006 Products area completed!
• » Update: July 12, 2006 Member gallery completed!

What's next at ScubaRatings.com?
Work is underway toward the completion of a product rating system (Update... the Scuba Gear are is now live!). What's coming then? How about a Dive Packages system that will let you choose from hundreds of available combinations of location/hotel/dive operator? The link to this system isn't featured on our navigation tabs, but you can be one of the first to see it (and give us feedback if you wish) by clicking here.

What the ratings mean:

Excellent--divers gave the highest accolades. For Hotels and Dive Shops, it's diver friendly, convenient and has great customer service. For Dive Spots, the water's great, there's viz for days and something worth seeing at the bottom.

Above Average--divers say it's outstanding, the best of it's class. Room size met expectations, the bathroom was clean, the boats were on time, equipment worked like it was supposed to. For Dive Spots, it means don't forget your camera!

Below Average--divers felt that it didn't quite meet expectations in some way. The rooms weren't quite clean, the customer service was somewhat lacking, they had a problem with some equipment, or the Dive Shop forgot to send bigger air tanks with the boat as requested.

For Dive Spots, this rating indicates a mediocre experience. If you don't have a better place to dive, go ahead and dive here, but if you do have a better place, you might want to go there first.

Poor--divers found flaws in a fundamental way. There are significant flaws that created a negative experience. For Hotels and Shops, divers are discouraging you from doing business here. For divespots, they are letting you know it's not worth your time.

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