Port Douglas & Airlie Beach

Tender drop off at both these places on a cruise in early December. Can't seem to find any reef tours that fit the time frame we are there. Half days leave too early or get back too late same problem with full day tours. One American CC on our cruise site complained that tour operators seem to dislike cruise passengers because of time limitations. So I am at a loss as to what we can do while there. Both seniors, so nothing too physical, but love the water/beach and perhaps rain forest. Do we hire a car? Do any CCs who have been the either place have any suggestions?:confused:

Tender drop off at both these places on a cruise in early December. Can't seem to find any reef tours that fit the time frame we are there. Half days leave too early or get back too late same problem with full day tours. One American CC on our cruise site complained that tour operators seem to dislike cruise passengers because of time limitations. So I am at a loss as to what we can do while there. Both seniors, so nothing too physical, but love the water/beach and perhaps rain forest. Do we hire a car? Do any CCs who have been the either place have any suggestions?:confused:

we have been to both those places lots of times so we just wander around town and do our own thing

in Port Douglas they do have private tours on the wharf but you have to watch your time getting back to the ship....princess do run a shuttle into Cairns and cost was about $50 return so you are guaranteed to getting back onboard

Thanks I was coming to the conclusion that's what we will be doing. Hope Princess still run a shuttle to Cairns as we could do that. Glennys

Thanks I was coming to the conclusion that's what we will be doing. Hope Princess still run a shuttle to Cairns as we could do that. Glennys

they do run a private shuttle from Port Douglas but the times wouldnt fit in as you would have to be first off the ship....when the excursions come out you should book it and if something else comes up you can always cancel out

This might be useful

http://www.ladydouglas.com.au/lunch-cruise.html

This looks rather interesting. There will be 4 of us so will definitely check it out.Thanks for that.

You're welcome. :)

I'm going up to Port Douglas in a couple of months. I'll see if I can find out anything else while I'm there.

There is a gorgeous beach there, very long and flat so really nice to walk on. There are no buildings overlooking, just palm trees. However it's not advisable to swim at the beach in November due to marine stingers.

Port Douglas also has lots of great cafes and restaurants, some interesting shops (not just tourist tack), and is very easy to walk around.

There is a wildlife park on the edge of the town. http://www.wildlifehabitat.com.au/. There are planty of shuttle buses that loop around the town so this place is easy to get to without hiring a car.

Forget about the reef tour at Airlie Beach ... If you can get out to Whitehaven Beach, then do it. If you can only get out to the beach via a an onboard tour, then do it.

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Just got off the Sea Princess Queensland cruise which tendered at both Airlie Beach and Port Douglas. Depending upon when your ship arrives and departs, will depend on what independent tours are available to you.

The tenders take approx 30-40mins each way, although if the ships operate the 3rd party catamarans, then the tender time is halved.

Airlie Beach will probably be difficult to get out to the reef through an independent tour. We opted for an island hopping tour (incl Whitehaven Beach), but through Princess, as there were no independent tours available for the times needed.

Port Douglas will have more options available. The tenders take you straight into the Marina and there are plenty of shore tours available. Given we had the whole day in Port Douglas (unlike Airlie Beach), we were able to book with Quicksilver at 9:30 for an outer reef tour, leaving at 10am and getting back to the Marina at 4:30pm.

There are shore tours readily available in both ports, but unless you are able to arrive by tender early, these will not be available to you.

Thanks for all the helpful information. I appreciate it when CCs take the time to help out. Nothing better than personal experience. Glennys:D

If you want to snorkel, another option in Port Douglas is a trip on Reef Sprinter to the Low Isles. They take 12-14 people on a very fast boat and stop off the Low Isles but don't land. The snorkelling is good. On cruiseship days they run an extra trip or two. Each trip takes just over 2 hours so it leaves time to walk around town. Travel time is only 15 minutes each way, so it does allow sufficient time (1.5 hrs) to snorkel and feed the fish. I have been on this trip a couple of times. The last price was $110 including wetsuit and snorkel equipment. They have an office in the shopping centre at the marina where the tender drops people off.

Tender drop off at both these places on a cruise in early December. Can't seem to find any reef tours that fit the time frame we are there. Half days leave too early or get back too late same problem with full day tours. One American CC on our cruise site complained that tour operators seem to dislike cruise passengers because of time limitations. So I am at a loss as to what we can do while there. Both seniors, so nothing too physical, but love the water/beach and perhaps rain forest. Do we hire a car? Do any CCs who have been the either place have any suggestions?:confused:

I have just recently booked a 10 day Royal Caribbean Queensland Cruise out of Sydney for February 8th, 2016 and just realized we had the same problem. We like to book our excursions independently and had chosen what we wanted to do at each port, and which company we wanted to go with, then I realized that 3 ports out of 4, are tender ports. That eliminated every full day tour (not long enough in port) & even the 1/2 day tours leave in the morning before we could get tendered in, & the afternoon tours get back around the time we are leaving. I am in the process now of checking out the ships tours, to see what is available. It looks like that is our only choice, either that, or cancel the trip. I don't want to travel over 22 hours to do our dream vacation and not be able to see what we want to see. I don't know if it is possible for the ships to travel faster between ports to allow for longer port times (especially the tender ports), but it would be great if they could.

"ben61" I agree with you. Perhaps they could stay longer in tenders ports to make up for time lost. I believe docking fees in Australia are some of the highest in the world, but I ask, and I'm sure someone will tell me, do they pay less docking fees if they have to tender. If so what would be the reason they couldn't arrive earlier and leave later. Maybe they could just have one port of call at the GBR and stay overnight eg Port Douglas or Cairns and give Airlie a miss. With tongue in cheek I am thinking... with the time constraints it pushes more people into buying the ships excursions!;)

"ben61" I agree with you. Perhaps they could stay longer in tenders ports to make up for time lost. I believe docking fees in Australia are some of the highest in the world, but I ask, and I'm sure someone will tell me, do they pay less docking fees if they have to tender. If so what would be the reason they couldn't arrive earlier and leave later. Maybe they could just have one port of call at the GBR and stay overnight eg Port Douglas or Cairns and give Airlie a miss. With tongue in cheek I am thinking... with the time constraints it pushes more people into buying the ships excursions!;)

I think it is safe to say that they would pay less docking fees at tender ports, but they only tender when docking isn't available. There are also costs in using the tenders and it is less convenient, so the cruise line only does that if they can't avoid it.

Arrive earlier and/or leave later is an idea, but the time in ports is worked out, allowing travelling time between ports. Maybe they could plan to travel a tiny bit faster, but that would fall down if the ship encountered bad weather necessitating a slower speed.