Think about it, how much does a dive in a good marine reserve in your country cost? Yes, in one of those reserves with abundant life, maybe with an interesting wreck and history, some biodiversity, with a good dive center. Yes, just one good dive. In Spain, where we are, a dive in one of these reserves is between €40 and €50. It's neither expensive nor cheap. They are obviously fair rates.
And if I tell you that in the Red Sea, with its historic wrecks, coral reefs, dolphins, sharks, turtles, stonefish, walls full of life, and clownfish you can dive for €30 per dive. Food, dinner, and breakfast included. Yes, accommodation too. All for less than €100 a day.
In our experience, the major differences on liveaboards are the experience of the guide and divemasters team, the food (quantity and quality, important because physical wear is high), nitrox available, and those shared spaces, comfortable rather than spacious. The rest of the aspects: routes (they are 99% the same for everyone), extra services like massages, excursions, etc. are adjacent. Obviously, the more you pay, the better services you'll get, the better the guides will be, especially in terms of communication, the larger the cabins and shared spaces, the greater the variety of food, the more comfortable and spacious the dive platform, the better the quality of the boat, and the more comfortable the crossings. But if you're looking for cheap diving vacations in the Red Sea, you have excellent options with top dives for that, less than €100 a day.
In the Red Sea, we have offers on liveaboard boats throughout the year and you can find good deals. Here you can find the best last-minute deals, in case you're interested. But there are also liveaboards for less than €100 a day. Always, without offers.
Here you have the best dive boats in the Red Sea in terms of quality-price ratio, with a brief description, prices, and their usual routes.
Tillis
One of the great surprises of Tillis is its variety of itineraries and routes through the Red Sea. We can go from the north and classic route to Deep South safaris, with trips to Fury Shoal, Daedalus, Brothers, Elphinstone, and St. John's.
On Tillis, we have 7 nights/8 days trips, starting from just €760 with 19 dives, Nitrox available, equipment also available for rent (we already recommend in this article that it's not the most suitable). We're talking about the basics on a liveaboard.
Tillis has a capacity for 26 divers with 13 double cabins with air conditioning and private bathroom. You even have 3 suites on the upper deck. The common areas, which as we said are quite relevant, include a spacious lounge with the typical TV and sound system, dining area for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a small bar area.
Finally, it has two terraces, ideal for those nights after the night dive, one of them with a bar and covered area. As we said, an option for a cheap cruise in the Red Sea, but of quality and with a wide variety of available routes. You can see details of the boat in this video:
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Amelie
There have been many people in recent years asking us about short diving trips to the Red Sea, for those mini safaris of just 4 days... but with up to 9 dives. On one hand, for the most avid divers, it can be short, but those who want to combine it with a land vacation in Egypt, it's an excellent option.
On Amelie, you can do these mini diving safaris in the Red Sea for only €385, with 9 dives, seeing the best of Hurghada with high-level dives like Bluff Point, the Ulysses wreck, and visits to the Abu Nuhas reef.
The Amelie is a small cruise, only 23 meters long with 6 cabins. Yes, small, bunk beds. No, without a bathroom. Of all the cruises you'll see here, it's probably the least comfortable, but for less than €400, remember. Regarding the dining area, quite decent, both in quality and quantity, and the dining area, exactly, not particularly large.
Of course, it's not a cruise to spend many days on. It's ideal as a charter for a dive center or club and for those who have little time and want to combine diving with tourism or relaxation. But remember, €42 per dive and Nitrox included!
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MY Discovery I
Can you imagine diving in the wildest south of the Red Sea for less than €100 a day? This proposal is possible with MY Discovery I, (formerly known as Amelia, not the Amelie above) a dive cruise that offers discounts of up to 25% on last-minute trips and brings you the Red Sea sharks at a more than affordable price. We got it for only €830 with Nitrox included.
It's not the most comfortable cruise we've been on, it's true, but it did allow us to have an excellent trip, with up to 4 dives a day, with a super professional team led by the charismatic divemaster Mo, very decent buffet food, typical of Red Sea liveaboards.
We did the Northern route to Brothers, including an extraordinary wreck route, but they go to St. Johns leaving from Port Ghalib. Onboard, up to 20 divers fit, we were lucky to be around 15 and we enjoyed enough space, the cabins are spacious, without exaggeration, with air conditioning and bathroom. The common areas are spacious, especially if it's not full :-).
A super decent option if you're looking to save some money on your trip to the southern routes of the Red Sea.
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MY Sea Dragon
This cruise is another excellent option for short diving safaris in Hurghada, ideal for those going on a family vacation and wanting to escape (for a while) to dive. It has itineraries where you'll see the best of Hurghada, with up to 9 dives, for only €385 all-inclusive: nitrox, full board with vegan options, more than enough space for between dives...
Where will you dive with MY Sea Dragon? With just 3 nights you'll be able to have dives in some of the most famous areas of the Red Sea, especially for wreck lovers like the Abu Nuhas reef, where you can dive on the Giannis D, Carnatic, Chrisoula K, or Kimon M, dive with dolphins in Shaab El Erg or on reefs teeming with life like Carless Reef. As said, an economical, brief but very complete option with 9 dives including 1 night dive.
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MS Gelen
Finally, an option for those who want to go to the southernmost part of the Red Sea at the best possible price. This is a cruise we haven't experienced yet, but it mainly offers excellent routes of the pelagic Red Sea.
The boat doesn't offer anything extraordinary compared to budget cruises in the Red Sea: enough but not extraordinary space, buffet food enough, cabins just enough but with bathroom and air conditioning... however, for €100 a day and 3-4 daily dives you can head towards Zabargad or Fury Shoal in search of the pelagic Red Sea such as hammerhead sharks, dolphins, oceanic whitetip sharks, and some stars of the healthiest reefs in the area like Napoleon fish, eagle rays, and whitetip sharks. A luxury for less than what 3 daily dives in your local diving area cost.
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