Fantastically beautiful - I will never forget the tour, it was so great! The pick-up was on time, our tour guide "Tequila" was very professional, friendly and humorous. The islands and the water were simply breathtakingly beautiful. Of course there were a lot of tourists, but that's normal, and it didn't bother me because I was snorkeling further out in the sea anyway, where I was alone =). The only thing that triggered me a little were the many seasick people on our boat who were constantly throwing up, but that's not the team's fault. If someone has emetophobia, I would strongly advise against it. Apart from that, everything was really GREAT!!!

Very happy with the experience - A very well organised and planned trip! Our tour guide Nancy was so lovely and made the whole experience even better! When we arrived there was breakfast and drinks available for everyone which was a lovely surprise. The group organisation was excellent, as we all got given coloured beach bags which made it easy to find your group. The islands were very busy but this is to be expected for a tourist hot spot, but still very enjoyable and beautiful to see. Our lunch was tasty too, which we chose at the start of the day. And lots of snorkelling time at great locations with lots to see! Would definitely recommend and will be using Fantastic Simalian travel again!

Great day but small boat. - Great day. Very well organised and very friendly and attentive staff. Boat very small for the number of people. Absolutely no room to move around or store your things . Everything on your lap. Also, window line above your head so cannot see anything.

Snorkeling adventure - A large business that is well organised. A large number or people attended on several boats. Our boat had about 60 people. We well looked after and fed through out the day. Snorkeling and swimming was a lot of fun. Plenty to see. Make sure to take your motion sickness pills.

Not recommended!! - The islands are beautiful & but the Staff is helpful and accommodating. However, I would not recommend this trip. passengers are crammed into the speed boats like a sardine can. It is hot and sweaty, and quite a few people were getting nauseous on the one hour and 15 minute boat ride out. The islands are beautiful, at least what you can see of them, given the hordes of tourists from numerous boats who all descend upon, the beach at the same time. It is difficult to snorkel as there are so many other boats and people around you. There is a hike up to an overlook on the first stop, but again, so many people you can barely get a clear shot without , someone photo-bombing you. Lunch is provided, but it is an assembly line of premade trays that did not look or taste good at all. So they get an A for effort, but I would definitely not recommend this tour. There are plenty of other beautiful beaches around , that are just as nice and not nearly as crowded.

Good trip but don’t waste your money on the 2nd floor. - The day for the most part was fun. I do wish it was noted when purchasing tickets that if you purchase the 2nd floor of the catamaran and pay extra for the second you don’t actually get to sit up there when going to the islands which are over an hr away. You are stuffed in the 1st floor with everyone with no air flow so make sure you grab a handful of Dramamine if you get even a little sea sick. They have them there like it’s candy. Just in jars everywhere. Which is helpful. You can only go up to the 2nd floor when you’re not moving but when you are not moving you are snorkeling or swimming or chilling on the beach so you don’t actually use the 2nd floor and anyone can go up there. They don’t check your tickets. So pointless to spend the extra money for something you will never use. Everything else was good. Ocean was beautiful the rock formations were beautiful and the beach was beautiful. It did seem a little rushed and there’s always a tone of ppl so hard to get good photos without some person walking through it but we still managed to get some. I would definitely bring water shoes. The last beach getting on the boat was rough. The tide went down so the boat couldn’t get close to the beach. Sow we had to walk about 20-30 ft into the ocean with rough waves coming in and sharp rocks. Got knocked over and cut my foot open. They took your sandals at the beginning of the trip so you don’t have them with you.

Beautiful, well organized but packed in like sardines! - This pains me to write this review because I LOVE the Similan Islands and they are gorgeous! Overall the tour company is organized, friendly and the food was good if you like traditional Thai food and seafood. My biggest issue was with the boat. It was like a tour bus on water. We were packed in like sardines and trying to put sunscreen on and snorkeling gear was VERY uncomfortable. Also, the seats are down below the windows which is horrible for anyone with sea sickness because you can’t see outside. My experience with the boat forced me to cancel my trip later in the week with this tour company and rebook another operator. There were families with small children on this tour that left their kids sleeping in the boat seats while they snorkeled. It felt like Disneyland in July.

Don’t waste your money. Use Google images instead - We booked this trip hoping for a beautiful snorkelling experience. Starting with the positives, the operation was very well executed. We were dropped off at the harbour and clearly directed to exactly where we needed to go. The staff were excellent, entertaining and very friendly. Breakfast was provided but we didn’t eat as we had already eaten at our hotel so I can’t comment on the quality of the breakfast. We were offered sea sickness tablets before we got on the boat which was a fabulous touch. Now come the negatives. Then we were packed like sardines into a speedboat where you couldn’t move or see out to sea at all as the walls on the boat were too high. Really not great for 90 minutes out to sea for someone who suffers from motion sickness. It was hideous. Our guide informed us that there were a lot of jellyfish at the moment and we would try to find snorkelling areas that would be safe. We arrived at the first island (not for snorkelling) and there were already thousands of people there. We went for a swim and quickly came out thanks to the jellyfish already stinging us. Great start to the day. We then got back into our sardine can and went to the first snorkelling stop where people jumped in and straight back out because you guessed it… more jellyfish. It felt like the guides needed to get us in for snorkelling as it was sold as a snorkelling trip. That’s when the party music started. Now the Similan Islands are beautiful. There is no denying it. But you go there for the beauty not for Black Eyed Peas being blasted out like you’re in Magaluf in the height of European summer. It was terrible. The crowds made the island feel like Disneyland without the magic. The food for lunch was inedible and there wasn’t any option to buy anything to substitute it. The whole day was full of screeching guides which completely ruined any sense of peace you’d want from such a beautiful location. The snorkelling was OK. Nothing special at all. I really wouldn’t waste your money and just look at Google images instead.

Not what we expected - Two of the islands we didn’t stop at the island. The boat was parked in very wavy water to jump off and snorkel. That was not made clear beforehand, we thought we would get to lay on the beach as well. At the snorkeling location my friend got gasoline oil in her hair. The food was inedible. We barely had any time at the first island. Was not what we expected overall.

Lacklustre trip for the price, but exceptional staff - We booked this tour last minute during our trip in December. Whilst the Similan Islands were beautiful, I would not recommend the tour. This was a huge company with 100's of people going on the trip on the same day. There were lots of people in each snorkelling spots, the boats were cramped and felt rushed with limited time snorkelling, despite this being advertised as a 'Snorkelling Tour'. There was lots of shouting into megaphones to organise what was a pretty chaotic trip and if you're not a strong swimmer, don't book this tour as they cannot look after you in the same way that a small group trip could. For reference, we visited Phi Phi Islands earlier in our holiday, which we expected to be much busier and more touristy, but it was the complete opposite. We had a small group with an excellent tour guide. I would highly recommend booking with a small company that knows the secret spots on a nicer boat, as it was not the experience I was expecting for the price. The boat was more like being seated on an airplane than a catamaran, which is not what I expected having done many trips in the past. Maybe this was my fault and I should have done more research, but I was expecting panoramic views of the ocean and the ability to move about. For the price, I expected a better experience. The food was pretty terrible (and I'm not one to typically complain) and the whole trip didn't feel very special. There is one caveat to this however... The staff were EXCEPTIONAL! It was an incredibly rough day at sea and the majority of the passengers were ill on the return (beware - they offer you sickness tablets on arrival). The boat crew could not have been better at looking after everyone and I cannot praise them highly enough. Fantastic people!