Red Sea Dive Package: What's Included & What Costs Extra

Two Red Sea dive offers can show the same headline price and end up tens of euros apart once the week is over. The difference is almost never hidden in the dives themselves. It sits in the lines underneath: who supplies the regulator, whether lunch is on the boat, whether the protected-area fee is already paid, and what happens when the card machine comes out. This guide walks through what a typical Egyptian day-boat dive package covers, what usually costs extra, how the various park and permission fees actually work, how liveaboards differ, and the questions worth asking before paying anything. All prices are typical market ranges across Egyptian Red Sea centres (Hurghada, the resort bays, Safaga and Sharm el-Sheikh). They move with the season and the operator, so treat them as a budgeting guide and confirm the exact figure with whoever is taking the booking.

What a standard dive day usually includes

Most Red Sea diving is done from day boats: a pickup in the morning, a boat ride out to the reefs, two dives with a surface interval between them, and a return in the afternoon. Across reputable Egyptian centres, the price of that day almost always covers the following.

• A guide. Certified divers dive with a local divemaster or instructor who briefs the site, leads the dive and manages the group. Group size varies by operator; a small group per guide is one of the best markers of quality and is worth asking about.
• The boat and its crew. The captain, deckhands and fuel for a normal reef day are part of the price. Longer trips to distant sites usually carry a supplement (see below).
• Tanks and weights. A standard aluminium 12-litre cylinder filled with air, plus the weights and a weight belt, are included as a rule. Larger tanks and enriched air are not.
• Soft drinks or water, often tea and coffee. Drinking water and hot drinks between dives are standard on most boats; many centres include soft drinks too.
• Hotel transfer, usually within the town. Most established centres collect divers from hotels in their own resort town at no charge. Hotels further away, for example a resort bay south of Hurghada, may carry a transfer fee.
• Taxes. Local taxes are normally built into the quoted price.

That list is the common baseline, not a guarantee. A low headline price can be low precisely because one of these items has been moved to the extras column, so it is worth reading the inclusion list rather than the number. The Red Sea diving prices guide gives the typical price of the day itself: roughly €40–80 for a two-dive boat day, with the per-dive cost falling on multi-day packages.

What usually costs extra

These are the items most likely to appear as separate lines. None of them is a trick; they are optional or vary from diver to diver, which is why operators price them separately. The trouble only starts when they are not mentioned until the end of the trip.

Equipment rental

Divers who travel without their own kit rent a BCD, regulator, wetsuit, mask, fins and sometimes a computer. In the Red Sea a full set typically costs about €15–35 per day; in the Hurghada area figures of around €20–22 a day are common, while Sharm el-Sheikh centres that quote in pounds often charge around £30 a day. Some operators also price equipment per dive (roughly £15–20 or €15–25), which suits a single day but adds up over a week. Individual items can be rented separately, so a diver with their own mask and computer pays less. If you are deciding what to bring, the guide to what scuba gear you actually need breaks down which items are worth owning.

Lunch

On a standard two-dive day, lunch on the boat is frequently an optional add-on of around €7–10 per day (around £8 at Sharm centres that quote in pounds). Full-day special trips, such as a long day to a famous wreck, usually include lunch because the boat is out for so long. Snorkelling and island day trips vary, so check each one.

Nitrox and larger tanks

Nitrox (enriched air) extends no-decompression time on repetitive dives and is popular on deeper wrecks. It typically costs about €4–8 per tank, with Hurghada-area prices around €4 for a 12-litre tank and Sharm prices around £5. A nitrox certification is needed to use it. A 15-litre air tank, useful for divers with higher air consumption, usually adds a few euros or pounds per tank. Multi-tank blocks of ten are sometimes sold at a discount.

Torches, computers and small items

A night dive normally requires a torch; if one is not included it is typically rented for about €6–11 (around £10 in Sharm). Dive computers rent for roughly €8–11 a day. Some operators require every diver to wear a computer, so it is worth knowing in advance whether one is supplied with the rental set. The dive computers guide explains whether buying one is worth it.

Special-trip and distance supplements

Famous or remote sites cost more because the boat travels further and burns more fuel. Shorter named-wreck or reef trips commonly carry a supplement of about €20–60, while flagship full-day trips such as the SS Thistlegorm often run higher, roughly €75–125 or £80–125. A third dive, a private guide or a private boat are priced separately too. Some special trips include lunch and park fees in their supplement, others do not.

Park, protectorate and "permission" fees explained

This is the line that confuses visitors most, because two different kinds of charge often get lumped together and because operators handle them in different ways.

• National-park and protectorate fees are entry fees for protected areas. In South Sinai they apply to sites such as Ras Mohammed National Park, the Strait of Tiran and Dahab, and they are set by government decree through the Ministry of Environment's protected-area system. The underlying daily diving fee has typically been reported at around USD 5 per person, but fees have been revised by decree in recent years and the amount passed on to divers varies. At Sharm el-Sheikh centres the "national park ticket" for boat dives is commonly quoted at around £10 per diver per day. Check the current figure locally.
• Permission, harbour and coast-guard fees are charges linked to taking a boat out of a marina and through the coast-guard permit system, rather than to entering a protected reef. Where they are itemised, they tend to be a few euros per diver per day; around €5–7 a day is a common figure in the Hurghada area. In Makadi Bay, for example, a daily permission fee of around €6 is a known line on some bills.

The key point is that many operators bundle these fees into the dive price while others add them on top, and both approaches are legitimate. A Hurghada package that says "park and permission fees included" may look slightly more expensive than one that lists them as extras, yet cost the same or less once the week is added up. Fees are often collected in cash, and the marine-park fee funds patrols, moorings and reef protection, so it is one of the more worthwhile items on the bill.

Courses: materials, certification and gear

Training is priced a little differently from fun diving. For a course such as the PADI Open Water Diver, the price normally covers the instructor, all the scuba equipment for the duration of the course, tanks, weights, pool or confined-water sessions and the training dives. What often sits outside the price is the agency side of the course:

• Materials and eLearning. PADI and other agencies charge for the course materials or eLearning, and many centres pass that cost on separately. For an Open Water course it can add a three-figure sum, so it is worth asking whether the quote is "with materials" or "without".
• Certification. The digital certification card is sometimes bundled with the materials and sometimes listed on its own.
• Lunch and transfers follow the same rules as a normal dive day.
• Continuing courses such as Advanced Open Water or specialties may include equipment or may not; some centres discount rental for divers on a course. Ask, because it varies more than for entry-level courses.

Divers who have already bought eLearning online before travelling should tell the centre, as the course price then usually drops to the in-water training only. For first-timers who are still deciding, a Discover Scuba Diving or try dive normally includes everything except lunch and occasionally a park fee. The guide to what learning to dive feels like covers the experience itself.

Card surcharges, tips and insurance

Card-payment surcharges

Many Egyptian dive centres add a bank surcharge for card payments, commonly around 2% and sometimes more. It is a pass-on of the card processor's fee rather than a hidden profit, but it is worth knowing before choosing how to pay. Cash in euros, pounds or US dollars is widely accepted; some centres quote in one currency and convert at their own rate, so ask which rate applies.

Tipping guides and crew

Tipping is customary in Egypt's dive industry and makes up a meaningful part of crew income, but it is not compulsory and there is no official rate. On day boats, a common guideline is around €5–10 per diver per day, shared between the guide and the boat crew, often left in a tip box or handed over at the end of the trip. On liveaboards, operators frequently suggest a crew tip per guest per week, with suggestions commonly in the region of €50–100; some quote it as a percentage of the fare instead. A tip should reflect the service received, and asking the operator what is usual is perfectly normal.

Dive insurance

Insurance is rarely part of a dive package, and standard travel insurance often excludes scuba diving or limits it to shallow depths or to dives with an instructor. Recompression treatment and evacuation for decompression illness can run into thousands, and in some cases tens of thousands, of euros. Specialist cover from an organisation such as DAN, or a travel policy that explicitly covers diving to the planned depth, is strongly recommended. Read the depth limits in the policy wording itself, not the marketing page. Some operators require proof of dive insurance for certain trips, particularly liveaboards. Health questions before the trip are covered in the Can I dive? health and fitness check.

Liveaboard vs day boat: what changes

A liveaboard bundles accommodation, food and diving into one fare, so the inclusion picture shifts.

• Usually included on a liveaboard: the cabin, full board (meals, snacks, water and usually soft drinks, tea and coffee), up to three or four dives a day with guides, tanks and weights.
• Usually extra on a liveaboard: port, park and fuel fees, commonly around €150–300 per person per week and often paid on board in cash; nitrox, sometimes sold as a weekly package; equipment rental, priced per week; alcoholic drinks; airport transfers, especially on southern routes; and the crew tip.
• Usually extra on a day boat but included on a liveaboard: meals, and the long boat transfers to distant sites, since the boat simply moves overnight.

Because the park and port fees on a liveaboard are a large single sum, they matter far more than on a day trip. A cheaper fare with fees excluded can easily cost more than a dearer one with fees included. Day-boat diving, by contrast, keeps every cost small and visible day by day, which is one reason many divers combine a few days from shore with a short liveaboard rather than doing only one.

Checklist: included, often extra, ask

Use this as a quick reference when comparing quotes. "Ask" means practice genuinely differs between operators.

Questions to ask before you book

A good operator answers these quickly and in writing. Vague answers to simple questions are themselves useful information. The guide to choosing a Red Sea dive centre covers safety and quality checks in more depth.

1. Is this price per person, per day and per dive? Confirm how many dives the day includes and whether a third dive is possible.
2. Which fees are already included? Ask about national-park, protectorate, permission and harbour fees by name.
3. Is equipment included, and is it priced per day or per dive? Ask what the rental set contains, especially whether a computer is part of it.
4. Is lunch included on this specific trip? Standard days and special trips are often different.
5. Is my hotel inside the free transfer zone?
6. What do nitrox and 15-litre tanks cost? And is a nitrox card needed on the boat?
7. Which sites carry a supplement? Particularly famous wrecks and distant reefs.
8. For courses: are materials and certification included, and is equipment included for the whole course?
9. How can I pay, and is there a card surcharge?
10. Do I need a check dive or a refresher? Divers who have not dived for a while may be asked to do a check dive or a refresher, which can change the plan for the first day.

For the wider picture of how prices compare across booking channels, the guide to how to book Red Sea diving explains how platform commissions and direct bookings differ. Certified divers comparing destinations can also look at the certified diver options and first-timers at the new diver courses.

Related: For the price of the dives themselves, see the Red Sea diving prices guide; for vetting an operator, the guide to choosing a dive centre; and for kit decisions, what scuba gear you need.

Frequently asked questions