Question about Excursions (Great Barrier Reef cruise)

[Muffinz]

We are on Solstice in March / April leaving Sydney going to the Great Barrier Reef and back over 12 nights, it's our first ever cruise and we are getting super excited.

 

on our cruise there are 3 ports where we will be docked out to sea and tendered into shore on smaller boats. (Airlie Beach, Cairns and Port Douglas)

 

My question is if we choose not to do a tour at a port and walk around and explore the port / town by ourselves, can we just walk back to the Tender point and get a boat back to the ship at any time? or will they wait until there are enough people to fill the tender boat before it goes back to the ship? or are they on a time schedule? - e.g they leave on the hour

 

what if we are docked for a whole day and we choose to do a 1/2 day tour - do we have to wait at the tender point, or can we go back to the ship if there is a boat waiting?

 

The weather will be very warm in April and the last thing Wife & I want to do is sit or stand in the hot humid sun for hours waiting for a tender boat to take us back to the ship

 

does anyone know how the tender boat system works for getting back on the ship?

 

thanks in advance

[Bizziecruzer]

You will be able to return to the ship at any time. Tenders run on a shuttle system. However you do have to wait till it is either full or fairly full.

[mahdnc]

When we went last month, Celebrity used multiple tenders and the tenders were very large (the tenders service was contracted at those ports). Consequently they didn't wait until the tenders were full before leaving. Also most of our "waiting" was done inside the air conditioned comfort of the tender. At the tender dock, Celebrity erected shade canopies and provided water and iced towels.

 

This is us catching a late afternoon tender at Cairns:

 

 

 

[Northern Aurora]

The tenders are not operated like a mass transit system with certain times that they return to the ship. In the mornings, as soon as the tenders dock and unload they will return to the ship to pick up the next load of passengers who want to go ashore. Later the tenders will return to the ship generally partially loaded (i.e., once a certain number of passengers are returning to the ship the tender departs not fully loaded).

 

As mentioned by mahdnc Celebrity will have small paper cups of water (generally fruit infused) and iced towels at the tender dock. In cold weather cruises they have small cups of bouillon and hot cocoa for returning passengers. There will be some covered seating, but if you by chance hit a late afternoon returning shore excursion there may be a wait. In 2016 when we did a variation of this GBR itinerary on the Solstice at Yorkey's Knob we returned to the tender line just as a number of ship excursions were returning, and despite the fact that a large private tender was being used, we did have to wait in line for a number of minutes. Fortunately there was shade.

[Muffinz]

thanks for the replies.... that is all good information to know

we're just trying to decide what excursion(s) to do in Cairns

[Cruise Junky]

Very nice tender in Cairns...Wow

[GJCruiser]

We are on the same cruise.

In Cairns - we are going on the Catamaran ships excursion to the reef on the first day. On the second we are on CAIRNS TABLELAND TOURS; Skyrail Rainforest Cableway&Kuranda Scenic Railway. That is not through the ship.

 

A great Live thread https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2580747 had a lot of very useful information.

[Northern Aurora]

Very nice tender in Cairns...Wow

 

 

When we did a variation of this itinerary in 2016 the privately contracted tenders (the Solstice did also use some of their ship tenders) were incredible -- some were multi-level with air-conditioning on all levels for the interior seating, bathrooms, and even a snack bar. The one were we were on in Airlie Beach for the return to the Solstice had the air-conditioning set so cold that I almost went to the snack bar for a flat white. While they took some time to load, given their size, they roared into shore. And with all of that, there was still a surprising amount of complaining about the tender process.

[Muffinz]

yes I was reading and replying to that thread... wife is worried that is we book and pay for a private excursion in Cairns and the weather turns bad or something and we are unable to tender into Cairns then we will lose that money....

[Cruise Junky]

We are on the same cruise.

In Cairns - we are going on the Catamaran ships excursion to the reef on the first day. On the second we are on CAIRNS TABLELAND TOURS; Skyrail Rainforest Cableway&Kuranda Scenic Railway. That is not through the ship.

 

A great Live thread https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2580747 had a lot of very useful information.

 

Love the Skyrail. We took it on a land trip in 2016 and then in 2017 we just drove to Kuranda. It's beautiful. If you're looking for something to eat in Kuranda, there's a Crepe place in the outdoor market..fabulous!!

[TFLG]

yes I was reading and replying to that thread... wife is worried that is we book and pay for a private excursion in Cairns and the weather turns bad or something and we are unable to tender into Cairns then we will lose that money....

 

Check with the tour company. Many of them accommodate cruise passengers and won't charge you if you can't get to shore. Now accommodating you because it's raining is anther matter. Nearly all the private tour companies I've used allow you to cancel within a day or two of the tour. You can check the weather a few days out and make the call. Best to check with them and find out what their policies are before booking. I've done probably 20 to 30 private tours and never had any issues. We have a couple booked for Sydney prior to that cruise (Blue mts and Hunter Valley) and we are looking at some others for the port stops.

[GJCruiser]

yes I was reading and replying to that thread... wife is worried that is we book and pay for a private excursion in Cairns and the weather turns bad or something and we are unable to tender into Cairns then we will lose that money....

 

I understand. The Tableland Tours group stated we pay on day of excursion. If weather does not allow us to go ashore, we do not pay.

We have the ships' excursion the first day as we leave from the ship. Not enough time to get ashore for anything that day.

Have not reserved anything at Port Douglas. Looking at ReefSprinter. They said to call them a few days prior so they have an idea on weather.

[Muffinz]

We are looking at possibly doing the Cairns panorama tour CN12 and maybe the visit to palm cove tour CN51 organised through celebrity - or just doing the Skyrail, Kuranda & Cairns CN22 tour

[Newby58]

Kuranda train up, shopping in Kuranda, and Skyrail down was AMAZING

 

 

 

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