Notes: The standard three share cabin is only for groups of 3 guests booking together.
Cruise price per person includes: Cabin accommodation with air-conditioning, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinking water (1 bottle per day), hot drinks, return transfers to the boat from Male Airport on Sundays, dives (including 1 night dive), experienced English-speaking divemaster(s) (6-7 divers per guide), tanks, weights and weightbelts, trips to the local islands, Maldivian bed tax and GST.
Cruise price per person excludes (mandatory, unless customer provides own): Scuba equipment (approx USD 55 per day. Stock is very limited). Green Tax (approx. USD 6 per person per night), GST on all items and services purchased on board. Unless otherwise stated, all the listed items need to be paid on arrival.
Optional extras: Soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, additional 2nd night dive (cost dependent on number of participants), dive insurance (can be purchased on board), torches, dive computer. Unless otherwise stated, all the listed items need to be paid on arrival.
How to get there: MY Sharifa liveaboard tours depart from Male. The first and last nights of every cruise are spent in the harbour unless all guests arrive early and the boat can depart on Sunday. For more information see our How to get to the Maldives section. The last dive of the trip will be at around 09:00 on the second last day of the trip. Please wait at least 18 hours before flying after diving.
Non-diver rate: None.
Single supplement (if you do not want to share accommodation): This is optional - single travellers may choose to share a cabin or pay a supplement of 30% of the published price. Three guests may share a cabin if they are travelling in a group.
Dive clubs and group discounts: Special rates for 10 or more guests. Approximately equivalent to pay for 10 guests and 1 extra person can join the cruise in a Standard cabin free of charge (total 11 guests).
Whole boat charter rate (per night): High Season - USD 2 808, Mid Season - USD 2 600, Mid Season - USD 2 392
This liveaboard is not currently available.
The MY Sharifa is a European operated superior class liveaboard, touring around the best dive sites in the Maldives Islands. The most common routes focus on Ari Atoll and also North Male and South Male.
This is a liveaboard built for diving, with 4 nicely furnished decks meaning there is always plenty of space for up to 18 divers in a range of en-suite cabin configurations, but all with at least 1 double bed. Facilities on board include large air-conditioned saloon with plenty of lounging and reading space.
Diving is conducted from the dhoni tender and is made easy with 3 dhoni staff. Your equipment and the compressors are kept here, making the diving system stress-free and keeping noise to a minimum. This means that you can make the most of the ample relaxation space on board Sharifa, in peace and quiet, as you cruise through the crystal waters of the archipelago.
Sharifa's Maldives Islands liveaboard trips normally depart every Sunday for safaris of 7 nights duration. Sharifa requires divers to be qualified to advanced open water diver or equivalent, have a minimum of 30 dives, and to bring their own wetsuits and dive equipment.
There are 6 Standard cabins on the lower deck, each with a double bed and single bed and portholes. There are also 2 Standard double bed cabins on the upper deck with double beds and windows. All cabins are the same price (unless there is a group of 3 sharing a lower deck cabin) and have their own en-suite private bathroom.
All the cabins have:
- Air-conditioning
- Windows/portholes
- Bathroom with toilet and hot water shower
- Hand basin, soap, towels and beach towels
- Reading lights
- Cabinet, shelves and mirror
- Fire warning system and life jackets
- 3 pin 220V electric mains outlet
- Bedding and luggage space
No. of bathrooms / showers - 10 / 9 - hot water
[Information is best estimate in ideal circumstances and subject to changes beyond our control. The itinerary is a guide only and may be adapted to best suit the weather, tides, currents, availability and other prevailing events. Price is for the cruise, not for an exact number of dives].
Sharifa has a spacious indoor air-conditioned saloon offering its guests maximum comfort while having meals. It is also possible to have breakfast, lunch and dinner outside on the upper deck, cooled by sea breezes. You can expect a broad range of international cuisine on these vacations and all food is prepared on a daily basis.
- International, Maldivian, Italian and Mexican main dishes.
- Air-conditioned dining area buffet service on main deck or dining in the shaded area on the upper deck.
- Pre-breakfast, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks are provided.
- Coffee, tea, drinking water (1 bottle per day) and biscuits are provided free of charge.
- Soft drinks, beer, spirits, wine and fruit are available for purchase on board.
- The dining service begins with lunch or dinner on the first evening of the tour.
- Special dietary requirements can be catered for - please send us advance notice.
Note: Customer reviews below this line relate to experiences of MY Sharifa under previous management until the end of the 2012/2013 season.
"Boat is ok, cabins clean and are sized ok. Staff is very friendly and helpful and we were also surprised as food was excellent. Overall experience is very good. Dive guides are also very nice." - Dane Erbeznik, Slovenia, 27 May 2013...
"Wonderful staff and facilities. Gorgeous boat and very good food (even catering to vegetarians). Rental gear was a little shabby, regulator was a bit suspect, there was not a big range in order to get an optimal fit. " - Lindsay Dawes, South Africa, 21 May 2013 ...
"Excellent service provided. Great food and a very friendly/ professional crew. The dive guides were excellent also." - Stephen Butler, Ireland, 14 February 2013 ...
"The Sharifa team makes all the effort to make our holiday worthwhile. And they do it with kindness. Nothing looks pretentious and the itinerary is very rich so you do not find the time to think back home." - Cagatay Hamamcioglu, Turkey, 7 January 2013 ...
"Staff was great: at our arrival in the Maldives one of the staff greeted us (even Italian speaking) and made us already felt very welcomed (they have arranged flight and speedboat to reach the boat as we had our flight cancelled due to a technical problem). On the boat (staff of the dhoni included) everybody cheered us and treated with great respect and big smiles! The cruise director (Giacomo) and his vice (Olga) were really professional and provided the best dives ever so far (hammerhead sharks, many different other sharks types, manta rays, lots of turtles and of course all the colourful reef fishes!!!!).
As Italians we have always very high expectations about food, but I have to say the food was very very good and past always 'al dente' (we congratulated the cook).
Overall we had a fantastic and emotional holiday week. I will surely recommand to friends the liveaboard operator and particularly this boat. It was worth every cent and we are keen on repeating a similar holiday as soon as possible." - Graziella Costarella, Italy, 11 January 2013 ...
"We were very satisfied with the boat, diving equipment, staff, food on board. We had 3 dives per day for 6 days (as we didn't fly on the last day). So we were pleased. The crew did its best to make our time enjoyable." - Itay Lusky, Israel, 2 October 2012 ...
"The MV Sharifa is starting to look a little dated in design but everything worked fairly seamlessly (and it was helpful that there were only 5 other guests). The staff were friendly and safety-conscious. The equipment was generally quite good, but a malfunctioning torch (on a night dive surrounded by sharks) was something that I would like to avoid in the future." - Matt Walker, UK, 2 December 2011 ...
