Master Liveaboards, tal y como lo conocemos, celebra su primer año de existencia el 17 de febrero. Pero ¿cómo ha llegado hasta aquí una empresa que empezó con un pequeño barco indonesio?
Bueno, ha sido, digámoslo así, un año interesante. Un año que, en cierto modo, no nos dará mucha pena dejar atrás. Pero, al mismo tiempo, un año del que estamos muy orgullosos.
El nacimiento de la Siren Fleet
The story began back in 2003 with the very first boat, Sampai Jumpa. This tiny vessel offered cruises in Thailand, Myanmar, and, shortly after, the Andaman Islands.
With the success of Sampai Jumpa came the idea to build an entirely new boat to deal with the demand. A sister vessel, Sampai Jumpa Lagi, was built through 2006 and began operating in 2007. This immediately recognisable, traditionally built Indonesian Phinisi was the first foray into the company building a boat from scratch. Then other destinations began to be looked at with a view to putting new Sirens in the water. As such, in 2009, a new name was needed. A name that could lead a fleet. The Siren.
A lo largo de los años siguientes empezaron a aparecer destinos… Filipinas en 2009, Indonesia en 2010, Palaos en 2012, Truk, Fiyi y más. Cada phinisi lucía con orgullo el nombre Siren, ya sinónimo de calidad y servicio. Las embarcaciones iban y venían, y empezaron a surgir sueños de destinos más grandes. Pero esos sueños necesitaban otro tipo de barco. Y así entró en escena Master Liveaboards…
Master Liveaboards
The Sirens are amazing boats. But our customers kept asking for ‘big’ destinations. Galapagos. Bikini Atoll. Papua New Guinea, and more. These are destinations that didn’t really suit the Siren design. A deal was struck and in 2015 a new name was born for a new destination. Galapagos Master. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that, with the name, we were looking for a partner to our Siren. But how would that Master look? Designs were pitched in the short time we had from agreement to launch and the original look was created… from several available options.
Of course, one Master was never going to be enough. And as night follows day, more Masters followed Galapagos. Truk, French Polynesia, Bahamas, Solomons and Papua New Guinea. All this was great for business, but it meant that we were carrying three brands… Siren Fleet, Master Liveaboards, and The Junk. Did we mention that we started operating The Junk in 2014 under her own unique brand? And then added our original Siren again under her new name? Confusing, right? It was going to get more complex before it could become simple again.
As a company we began working closely with Blue O Two in 2015, as Galapagos was coming to life. This relationship became closer, which meant that by 2018, as a group, we were trying to promote 16 vessels under four different brands. For anyone who saw us at a dive show in that period, our staff looked like formula one drivers with heavy sponsorship. We were aware it was confusing to the customer, but what to do?
El nuevo Master Liveaboards
A partir de 2017 se exploraron distintas vías, y algunas de ellas incluso se investigaron y prepararon por completo. Una simplificación parecía estar a punto de convertirse en realidad, pero ¿cuál? Y entonces, bueno…. la COVID.
Nobody could have guessed in February 2020 just how much impact this little virus was going to cause. Particularly in the travel industry. We are still reeling from its effects and we are not out of the woods yet. But all this down time gave time for reflection, for new ideas to percolate, and for old ideas to come back to life. The idea of Master Liveaboards as a single brand was first pitched in 2017, we even went so far as to create a brand look. As the world slowed down, the idea was taken from the shelf and dusted down. And then the work began.
A lo largo de unos 6 meses, nació el nuevo Master Liveaboards. Una nueva imagen, una web completamente nueva, una plataforma de reservas online. Todo esto se presentó al mundo el 17 de febrero de 2021. Y no podríamos estar más orgullosos de nuestra marca. Todo en un mismo lugar. Y ahora solo esperando salir por completo de su crisálida de la COVID para florecer plenamente.
It’s been an 18 year journey to this point, for a group of people that are determined to build the world’s favourite liveaboard company. And they are determined that they are still in the early chapters of their story. There is more in the pipeline. New changes for a new world are ahead.
Master Liveaboards, and everyone on the team here, are looking forward to welcoming you on board soon.
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