The worsttour I've ever been on! Itotally advise againstwasting your money andtime with Ao Nang PhotoTravel Tour. We were literally herdedintothe boatwhich should have been maximum 50 persons (which is already a lot). The tour guide pushedus and shouted for us totake our seats, butthe boatwasn't even equippedwith enough life jackets that she hadtoborrow some fromthe boat nexttoours! We all sat packedtight like a can of sardines. Icounted 58 people, but according tothe boat license thatI askedto see, the boatwas only legally allowedtocarry 54 people! When Iconfrontedthe lady aboutit, she refusedto acknowledge me.
The boatthatwe were on seemedtobe made for maximumcapacity andminimum enjoyment- Itwas rows of seats andyoucould not even see outof the boat at all. The "tour guide" if youcan call the rude ladywith us seemed like she was onlywith us to shout atus andmade sure we were seatedthe during all the rides. During the trip, the "tour guide" was rude and never offered anyinformation aboutthe islands or anything at all, exceptto give us commands to sitdown or standup totake pictures or excuses whywe couldn't swimor embark.
The tour was totallydifferent fromthe program statedon the brochure- half of the islands thatwere advertisedon the brochure of which we paidto visitwere just a 1 minute pause for us to standon our seats totake photos. AtMonkeyBaywhere we were supposedto go swimming and see monkeys, the guide toldus thatwe would notbe going because "the monkeys are dangerous sowe cannot swim here". andoutof the boatwe saw heaps of happy people on the beach and swimming in the sea. Then she changed her mind, "it's raining a lot sothe monkeys don'tcome out". At Pileh Lagoon where we were supposedto stop to swim, she says "we don't stop here because all the people who are swimming now are on private tour sotheir programs are different", when itwas soobvious thattheyweren't even private boats!
Soof the 7 islands advertised, 3 were actual stops where youwere given 40 minutes to quickly explore the islands amongstthe throngs of people and for a swim. Phi PhiDon was just a canteen style lunch andthe other 3 were just "Ok, this is XXX. Standon your seattotake photos."
Overall the islands were beautiful butitwas overcrowded. There wasn't even much place to swimbecause the shores were just full of boats coming in andoutor docked. The "tour" should also have been from 9 amto 4pm, butwe were only pickedup fromour hotel at 10am and arrivedback at 3.40 pm!