Barrier Reef Cruise - alternative shore tour options

We are going on our first ever cruise in November, Brisbane, Airlie Beach, Cairns, Port Douglas, Brisbane. Very excited!

Has anyone done any shore tours that they have arranged themselves, as opposed to those offered by P&O?

Probably going to do the Kuranda Skyrail / Railway from Cairns so looking at options for Airlie Beach and Port Douglas.

We are going on our first ever cruise in November, Brisbane, Airlie Beach, Cairns, Port Douglas, Brisbane. Very excited!

 

Has anyone done any shore tours that they have arranged themselves, as opposed to those offered by P&O?

 

Probably going to do the Kuranda Skyrail / Railway from Cairns so looking at options for Airlie Beach and Port Douglas.

Yes we organised a private tour to the Kuranda Skyrail, company met us at dock and took us to the Kuranda Skyrail, we went up via sky rail and came back by train, had a lovely day.

Just make sure that your ship in docking in Cairns before making any arrangements. Our cruise even though it stated Cairns on the itinerary it was actually at Yorkeys Knob which is a tender port that is not always accessible.

Those booked on P & O shore tours are always the first allowed to get off so you can't guarantee what time you will get ashore.

As it was all the P & O tours we late getting back and they had to arrange catamarans to get every one ashore as the the weather had worsened it was a very rough trip back to the boat.

I am not trying to be negative just making you aware what might happen I hate to see someone having their cruise ruined when they don't get into ports.

Thanks subaru94

peter.kath, it is Yorkey's Knob and not Cairns.

It hadn't occurred to me that we might not actually hit land, so thank you for that warning. Definitely something we need to keep in mind.

Hi. We are doing the exact same cruise in a few months. Would you be able to answer a few questions about the cruise?

* Did you end up doing your own tours? If so, what were they and did you have any problems with making it there and back on time?

* How long did it take you to actually get to shore in Yorkeys Knob and Port Douglas once they started letting passengers off?

* I know they let passengers who are doing tours through the cruise company off first. Is there any sort of order as to who goes next?

* How do you get from Yorkeys Knob into Cairns?

I want to book some tours on my own to avoid cruise prices, but I'm concerned about timing given that we will be tendering.

Thank you!!

With P & O the tendering process is very hit and miss. We are going to PNG on Thursday so I will let you know how it is after that.

We were off the ship by about 9 am. We and another couple caught a taxi to Cairns for $50 each way about 30mins and arranged for the driver to pick us up to return to the ship at 2 pm.

We had a nice walk around, prawns fresh off the trawler, a massage then a drink at one of the nice pubs it really was a good day out.

When we returned, the line was horrendous so we ended up going into the Yorkeys Knob Boat Club for a beer.

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