Princess Haleema

The Princess Haleema is 36 metres long and one of the luxury liveaboards in the Maldives. Its sleek look and spacious decks made it winner of a most 'Photogenic Liveaboard' award in 2006. These cruises are dedicated to divers that enjoy comfort and a love of nature and aquatic sports.

The liveaboard operator has more than 30 years experience of running cruises in the Maldives and was one of the first dive companies to operate here, discovering many of the dive sites, and they still maintain the same passion for the sea. Unusually, there are 3 dive guides on each cruise, ensuring a more personal dive service than on other boats. There is a marine biologist onboard Princess Haleema who provides extra insights in to the marine life that you will see. There is a heavy emphasis on island hopping, which makes it a little unique. Every day, there are snorkelling excursions and beach or sand bank visits to explore some of the most beautiful areas of the Maldives.

There are no less than 3 separate open air relaxation areas, one of which features 2 Jacuzzis, and there is an indoor lounge with music, TV and movie library. Meals are often taken outside when the weather permits, otherwise guests dine in the indoor dining area. The cuisine is a celebration of Italian with local spices and fresh fish. Onboard the 2 chefs present a different menu every day based on seafood, pasta, pizza, rice dishes (Risotto or Asian fried rice), vegetables, tropical fruit and homemade desserts.

The boat was built in 2006 and renovated in 2018 so it is still a beautifully finished liveaboard vessel, and the generous 11.5m beam means there is loads of space onboard. Its professional Italian staff and the warm hospitality of the crew, who have been working onboard for many years, ensure an extraordinary experience. There are 11 cabins on board, and the 3 cabins on the upper deck feature large sea view windows. All the cabins are ensuite and are tastefully and comfortably furnished.

Since the diving is all done from a 19 metre long separate boat, the spacious dive deck has been converted to an outdoor dining and relaxation area. The best features of the Princess Haleema are the roomy outdoor relaxation areas. Reading a book in the open air upper deck, or chilling out in the Jacuzzi with a refreshing drink as the sun sets over the scattered islands of the Maldives, you will be delighted you chose a liveaboard cruise on the Princess Haleema.

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Notes: TBC ~ To be confirmed. Central atolls cruises depart and return from Male. Deep South cruises use the port of Addu. Please see the detailed itinerary description for confirmation of ports.

Dive experience: Since Princess Haleema has 3 instructor/guides onboard certified divers of any experience level are welcome to join these safaris. However, for the Deep South trips you must be Advanced Open Water certified.

Cruise price per person includes: Cabin accommodation with air-conditioning, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, coffee, tea, drinking water, fishing, island excursions, local airport transfers, dives (as detailed in the trips above), 3 European PADI diving instructors and a snorkelling guide, 2 guided snorkelling tours per day, tanks (12 or 15 litre), weights and weight belts, introductory dive for non-divers, Green Tax, GST on cruise price.

Cruise price per person excludes (mandatory, unless customer provides own): Scuba equipment rental (per week - regs/BCD/wetsiut: US$ 181, dive computer: US$ 36, mask and fins: US$ 26 - all +GST and S/C). diving insurance, Green Tax surcharge (US$ 6 per night (paid in advance), service charge (i.e. tips US$ 93 per week), Fuvahmulah port fee (where applicable: US$ 25 per night). Unless otherwise stated, all listed items need to be paid on arrival (cash only - EUR or USD).

Optional extras: Alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, 28% nitrox fills for enriched air certified divers (US$ 72 per week), extra dives (US$ 36, max. 3 per week), torch (US$ 13 per dive), Island entry fees. All prices will be subject to +16% GST and +10% S/C. Unless otherwise stated, all the listed items need to be paid on arrival. Note: prices of items purchased onboard are subject to change.

How to get there: Princess Haleema departs from Male amd operate from Saturday to Saturday. For more details, including airlines, see our How to Get to the Maldives section. A boat representative will meet and greet you at the airport, wearing a Macana Shirt. You will then be transferred to the boat by dhoni. Boarding is at 11 am - 1 pm; late arrivals will require a private transfer (US$ 52).
If you arrive early and do not want to wait, you can drop your luggage at the airport and visit Male City or Hulhumale and get back to the airport around 11 am. If you stay in a hotel in the Maldives the night before the cruise, we recommend asking your hotel to drop you to the airport by 10:30 am near Burger King where one of the boat staff will meet you. Please let us know which hotel are you staying at so that we can also contact the hotel to ensure your transfer is on time.
The last dive of the trip is 7 am on the second last day of the trip. Please wait at least 18 hours before flying after diving. Disembarkation is at 7 am.
For cruises in the Deep South, a local port in Addu Atoll is used. Gan Airport (GAN) on Addu can be reached by domestic flight from Male (Maldivian Airlines) or by international flight from Colombo (Sri Lankan Airlines). We can provide domestic flights for US$ 186 each way, or you can book directly on line at www.maldivian.aero .

Non-diver rate: None, as there is plenty of activity for non-divers.

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 for their own cabin. The supplement varies depending on time of year but varies between 50-60%. Please ask us for details.

Dive clubs and group discounts: Rates for a third person sharing a cabin available for adults and children.
Pay for 8 guests and 1 additional person can join the cruise free of charge.

Whole boat charter rate (per night): Pay for 19 guests and 3 additional persons can join the cruise free of charge (total 22 guests).

Maldives Central Atolls (8 Days / 7 Nights - 17 Dives)

Trip highlights: whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, shark action, manta rays, schooling fish & big pelagics

Diving environment: advanced divers, beginner divers, cage diving, caverns, drift diving, healthy reefs, off the beaten track, very popular, wall diving, wreck diving

Dive sites and activities: Rasdhoo, North Ari, South Ari, North Felidhoo, South Male atolls

Day 1
A representative of the Princess Haleema will meet you at Male International Airport and take you to the dhoni that will take you on board this super 36m motor yacht. Lunch and dinner will be served during the day. You will be able to get to know the crew and the boat better during the introductory briefing that the tour leader will give once all the guests are on board. You are about to have a great week of diving, fun, and adventure!

Days 2-7
The ‘Classic’ route includes a beautiful mix of Maldives highlights - sharks, rays, Napoleon wrasse, mantas, corals, whale sharks, deserted islands, sand banks, fishermen islands, a Male visit … you will love it. South Male features large schools of fish, big pelagics, plenty of soft corals and caves, as well as one very good wreck. Miyaru Faru is aptly named since ‘miyaru’ means shark in Dhivehi and not surprisingly this is where you can encounter the ‘big boys’. An overhang protects you from the current and provides an excellent viewing spot for the impressive parade of pelagics and patrolling grey reef sharks, or even the occasional hammerhead. The channel at Felidhoo Atoll is also a great place to find reef sharks and has a spectacular wall showcasing caverns, swim-throughs and overhangs festooned with colourful soft corals and bushes of black corals. There is also a spectacular night dive with dozens of huge nurse sharks, sting rays and giant trevallies. Ari Atoll is famous for its mighty whale sharks which can be regularly seen in its marine protected areas. Hammerhead sharks, manta rays and other pelagic fish are also commonly encountered here. Highlights here include tuna, jacks, reef sharks, mantas and eagle rays.
A day on board the yacht runs like this - wake up at 6.30 am, tea, coffee, light breakfast, and the first dive at 7 am. Return to the boat at 8.30 am for a full breakfast. After breakfast there is some time to relax or snorkeling, and a beach or shore excursion, and then around 11 am the second dive takes place. Lunch or an island picnic is served at 1 pm, followed by a third dive at 3:30 pm. Tea time with home-made biscuits and cakes is at 5:30 pm. You can partake in sunset fishing around 6:30 pm, and happy hour starts at 7:30 pm. Dinner is served at 8:30 pm. There is one night dive per cruise.
Meals are served at the table in the upper deck open air if weather permits, otherwise in the air-con dining room. The 2 chefs will prepare unique Italian style dishes mixed with local spices and fresh fish. Fresh bread is baked daily, and homemade cakes and biscuits are available at tea time. Breakfast is European and continental with a choice of eggs or cheese, fresh fruits fresh bread and cakes, jam, butter, juice, tea, coffee. Lunch and dinner are often an Italian style pasta, a rice dish, fish, chicken or meat, fresh salad and cooked vegetables, bread, tropical fruit, and freshly prepared dessert such as cheesecake or fruit tart. Drinking water, tea and coffee are available all day long.

Day 8
Wake up to the smell of the last cooked breakfast of the tour in the morning. Say your farewells and take your last group pictures before heading to Male airport.

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Maldives Deep South Atolls (8 Days / 7 Nights - 17 Dives)

Trip highlights: whale sharks, shark action, manta rays, schooling fish & big pelagics

Diving environment: advanced divers, beginner divers, cage diving, caverns, drift diving, healthy reefs, off the beaten track, very popular, wall diving, wreck diving

Dive sites and activities: Addu, Fuvahmulah, Huvahdoo

Day 1
A representative of the Princess Haleema will meet you at Gan Airport (Addu) and take you to the dhoni that will take you on board this super 36m motor yacht. Lunch and dinner will be served during the day. You will be able to get to know the crew and the boat better during the introductory briefing that the tour leader will give once all the guests are on board. You are about to have a great week of diving, fun, and adventure!

Days 2-7
The cruise includes some extraordinary oceanic and atoll dives at Huvadhoo and Addu atolls, as well as at Fuvahmulah. Huvadhoo is made up of vibrant reefs, untouched lagoons, walls and deep channels. Stingrays, turtles and a variety of sharks including blacktip and whitetip reef sharks, nurse sharks, spinner dolphins, manta rays, and thresher sharks are frequent visitors here. Occasionally you will also find hammerheads too. But for many, the highlights of a visit to the Deep South are the apex predators at Fuvahmulah Island. Be prepared for awesome encounters with thresher sharks, oceanic whitetips and tiger sharks. Here you’ll dive with a variety of large predators as they hunt the abundant smaller fish. Whitetip reef and grey reef sharks, mola mola, sailfish, and schools of tuna are frequently seen.
A day on board the yacht runs like this - wake up at 6.30 am, tea, coffee, light breakfast, and the first dive at 7 am. Return to the boat at 8.30 am for a full breakfast. After breakfast there is some time to relax or snorkeling, and a beach or shore excursion, and then around 11 am the second dive takes place. Lunch or an island picnic is served at 1 pm, followed by a third dive at 3:30 pm. Tea time with home-made biscuits and cakes is at 5:30 pm. You can partake in sunset fishing around 6:30 pm, and happy hour starts at 7:30 pm. Dinner is served at 8:30 pm. There is one night dive per cruise.
Meals are served at the table in the upper deck open air if weather permits, otherwise in the air-con dining room. The 2 chefs will prepare unique Italian style dishes mixed with local spices and fresh fish. Fresh bread is baked daily, and homemade cakes and biscuits are available at tea time. Breakfast is European and continental with a choice of eggs or cheese, fresh fruits fresh bread and cakes, jam, butter, juice, tea, coffee. Lunch and dinner are often an Italian style pasta, a rice dish, fish, chicken or meat, fresh salad and cooked vegetables, bread, tropical fruit, and freshly prepared dessert such as cheesecake or fruit tart. Drinking water, tea and coffee are available all day long.

Day 8
Wake up to the smell of the last cooked breakfast of the tour in the morning. Say your farewells and take your last group pictures before heading back to Gan Airport and your flight back to Male.

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Maldives Southern Atolls (8 Days / 7 Nights - 17 Dives)

Trip highlights: whale sharks, shark action, manta rays, schooling fish & big pelagics

Diving environment: advanced divers, beginner divers, cage diving, caverns, drift diving, healthy reefs, off the beaten track, very popular, wall diving, wreck diving

Dive sites and activities: South Male, Felidhoo, Meemu, Thaa, Laamu, Huvadhoo atolls

Day 1
A representative of the Princess Haleema will meet you at Suvadiva Airport, Huvadhoo, and take you to the dhoni that will take you on board this super 36m motor yacht. Lunch and dinner will be served during the day. You will be able to get to know the crew and the boat better during the introductory briefing that the tour leader will give once all the guests are on board. You are about to have a great week of diving, fun, and adventure!

Days 2-7
Cruises include 3 dives on most diving days among an impressive variety of marine life. You are about to dive the Southern Atolls, some of the most untouched and uninhabited part of the Maldives, where you could meet up to 10 different species of sharks here. You will explore the best channel dives in Huvadhoo, with hammerhead sharks and big schools of reef sharks. Felidhoo Atoll will challenge you with its deep channels and strong currents that attract different types of sharks, schools of trevallies and tuna in search of small prey, and an amazing nurse shark dive. Meemu Atoll is where you will have the best chance to see whale sharks feeding on plankton, while Thaa Atoll is all about drift dives in the company of whitetip reef sharks and eagle rays. The abundance of marine life, almost untouched by humans, will leave you speechless.
A day on board the yacht runs like this - wake up at 6.30 am, tea, coffee, light breakfast, and the first dive at 7 am. Return to the boat at 8.30 am for a full breakfast. After breakfast there is some time to relax or snorkeling, and a beach or shore excursion, and then around 11 am the second dive takes place. Lunch or an island picnic is served at 1 pm, followed by a third dive at 3:30 pm. Tea time with home-made biscuits and cakes is at 5:30 pm. You can partake in sunset fishing around 6:30 pm, and happy hour starts at 7:30 pm. Dinner is served at 8:30 pm. There is one night dive per cruise.
Meals are served at the table in the upper deck open air if weather permits, otherwise in the air-con dining room. The 2 chefs will prepare unique Italian style dishes mixed with local spices and fresh fish. Fresh bread is baked daily, and homemade cakes and biscuits are available at tea time. Breakfast is European and continental with a choice of eggs or cheese, fresh fruits fresh bread and cakes, jam, butter, juice, tea, coffee. Lunch and dinner are often an Italian style pasta, a rice dish, fish, chicken or meat, fresh salad and cooked vegetables, bread, tropical fruit, and freshly prepared dessert such as cheesecake or fruit tart. Drinking water, tea and coffee are available all day long.

Day 8
Wake up to the smell of the last cooked breakfast of the tour in the morning. Say your farewells and take your last group pictures before heading to Male International Airport.
Note: this safari sometimes runs in reverse. Please check the exact port details above.

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[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].

There are 8 spacious double or twin bed cabins on the lower deck, and on the upper deck there are 2 king-size double bed suites and 1 cabin with 2 double beds. The upper deck accommodation has large seaview windows. All of the cabins are en-suite (have private bathrooms).

All the cabins have: No. of bathrooms / showers - 12 / 12 - hot water

The liveaboard crew comprises: Small camera room with work bench - Rinse tank for cameras and regulators - 2 jacuzzis - 56m² indoor saloon area with bar and shop - TV, video, movie library, music system - Games, books and magazines - 3 sun decks and shaded areas with sun loungers and matresses - Night fishing - Snorkelling

All the diving on the Princess Haleema is done from an accompanying 18 metre dhoni dive boat. The dhoni has a 420 HP engine, and is equipped with GPS, a depth sounder and oxygen.

PADI courses, from Scuba Diver to Divemaster, can be reserved in advance.

All meals can be enjoyed outside on deck in the cooling sea breezes. There is also a BBQ on an uninhabited island during each cruise, good weather depending.

The food consists of international favourites such as pasta, freshfish, roast chicken and salads, as well as Asian dishes such as curries and Maldivian specialties, all made with the freshest local ingredients including fresh fruit. During our inspection visit the food was fantastic and one of the best features of the cruise!

• Italian and Maldivian dishes.
• Table-served lunch and dinner in the open-air dining area.
• Continental breackfast: juice, tea, coffee, toast, cheese, jam and marmelade, fresh made bread and cakes (on demand: eggs).
• Lunch: variety of rice dishes, fresh fish, cooked fresh vegetables, salads, homemade bread, tropical fruit dessert.
• Tea time: tea and coffee, homemade cakes and biscuits.
• Dinner: variety of Italian pasta dishes, cooked fish or chicken, salads, homemade bread, homemade cake dessert.
• Tea and coffee are provided free of charge with the meals.
• All other drinks - mineral water, soft drinks, beer, wine, spirits - are chargeable on board.
• Vegetarian, vegan and other special diets can be catered for - please send prior notice of your requirements.

Customer reviews:

"The only reason why i don't give excellent rating is that during our trip we had a very bad inconvenience: a part of the diving dhoni engine broke and 1) they didn't have a spare part onboard, 2) obviously they hadn't [check] the engine before leaving for our long cruise, but I know this isn't Macana's fault; it's the boat owner and the captain's fault. Macana did its best to solve the situation, but nonetheless because of this inconvenience we lost one day. Even if it wasn't basically its fault, Macana gave us a voucher as compensation for a future trip to apologize." - Alessandra Terzaghi, Italy, 27 March 2024 ...