Please help - question about Australian ports...?

[OrangeKitty]

I don't know if this has been posted anywhere yet, but I am having a hard time finding out whether or not some of the Australian ports (Cairns, Port Douglas, Airlie Beach) have tour companies waiting at the pier or in town when you get off of the cruise ship to book excursions with you...??

 

Should we book our excursions beforehand, or will it be ok if we wait until we are there? If given a choice, I would prefer to wait.

 

Any info would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[kuldalai]

Not really and those that offer can be pretty small "mickey mouse" affairs. Play safe book the Ships Shore Excursions ex Australian ports.

 

You can pre-book your Shore Excursions on line from around 120 days out, and they are not charged till you board, and your tix will be in your Stateroom when you board. Saves a lot of queuing up and stuffing around.

 

Book on line in advance and you can still alter, delete add to your Shore Excursions bookings on line usually up to 7 days prior to departure.

[cjm66]

You may find the tours you would like to do are booked out - E.g. An outer reef trip from Port Douglas. August is a busy month for PD and we have always needed to book our reef trip ahead by email. When you are deciding what to do remember that most (if not all) of your ports will be tender ports. Again using PD as an example - the outer reef trip from P&O costs $229 - cf direct from Quicksilver $205 plus enviro levy and transfers. Since booking the ships tour would mean priority tender ticketing and no fuss about delays or transfers for me the choice would be made.