Great Barrier Reef Adventure from Cairns

leiiv on 19/04/2015 - 08:51
Last edited 19/04/2015 - 08:52

I think everyone should visit Great Barrier Reef at least once in their life time. However, the sail/cruise trips to the reef are not cheap and can be more expensive than the flights to Cairns itself.
Are there Cairns locals here willing to share some tips to get reef (or other) trips at discounted price?
I tried to book direct from one of the operators but would not make any difference in terms of pricing.
Has anyone had experience with tours that are in the Entertainment Book or RACQ member discount list?
I also found a couple of travel agents (supposedly can give some discounts) from searching online:

cairnsdiscounttours.com.au
aquaprodive.com

are they legit?

The way businesses work in general always confuse me. How come a third party entities can give a better price than the provider itself? Most of the time, you cannot negotiate the price by contacting the hotel directly, but can get better price through agents by applying coupon codes. Similar thing in other industries. You can buy a WW gift card for 7.5% discount from Groupon but you can't even get a cent discount if you buy from WW directly!

Travel

Comments

  • Hotpotcorn on 19/04/2015 - 10:26
    +2

    all i can say is that my trip to great barrier reef last year was sorta ok, i went with great adventures. However the amount of asians made it impossible to get the food i wanted for lunch…. they were literally pushing in and grabbing all the seafood and also snorkelling is really hard if you havnt snorkelled before because water just goes in your mouth. i went scuba diving and that was my fav part :D(but also the most expensive part lol)

    • eutama on 19/04/2015 - 10:50

      Totally agree with your comments mate.. especially those 'Chinese' mainlanders. NO wonder some countries (like Thailand) starting to cap/ limit the amount of tourist from China. They dont have manners! But what can you do.. without them, these tour operators would go belly up. Too expensive for us locals.

      • leiiv on 19/04/2015 - 17:17

        Do you think the overseas may get the better deals than us locals (because of their numbers)?

    • leiiv on 19/04/2015 - 17:20

      Zfan111222, do you still remember what company you went with?

  • anna10 on 19/04/2015 - 12:07

    A small boat has more flexibility on where it can go. Anyone in the group prone to seasickness? The general advice is to book it upon arrival as there are so many companies and you will find all the offers on the ground, and it is definitely cheaper that way, and you can see what you are buying.

    You can get the pick up from Port Douglas and kill 2 birds with one stone: see PD and spend less time on the boat getting sick.

    • eutama on 19/04/2015 - 12:56
      +1

      funny you mention seasickness… I thought i was immune from seasickness. It changed when I was on the boat.. What is the definition of small boat? I was on a boat that carry over 100 people, and the seasickness was bad..

    • leiiv on 19/04/2015 - 17:30

      I would say that I am probably prone to seasickness! However taking some medicines seems to help. Do you I can survive sleeping overnight on the boat? Which one is worse, an extra 4 hours return trips or sleeping on a stand still boat?
      You said that we can find all the offers upon arrival (stand-by rates, I assume). Do you know where should I go to find all the offers? The pier/terminals? Tourists information centres? Can we do that one day before the trip?

      It seems that there are less operators departing from PD than Cairns. Maybe harder to find deals there?

  • anna10 on 19/04/2015 - 13:22

    Some people always get sick. The most amusing / sad one was out of the Gold Coast whale watching. Small boat that time had about 30 people on it. A really beautifully dressed Japanese family got on. Within 15 mins most of them were sick. Within 30 mins the male was virtually comatose supine on the floor beautiful clothes or not. Buuut,the second we got back to dry land, he got up, dusted himself off and walked off like a normal person who hadn't been seriously ill for the past 3 hours. Unbelievable. He naturally did not see any whales.

    The trick (for me), is to always watch the horizon, just don't take your eyes off the horizon. Try to get away from other people being sick so it's not contagious. You may feel yucky, but hopefully not much more.

  • Chik5555 on 20/04/2015 - 08:57

    I went with Quicksilver from PD. Scuba and snorkelling. Was great, very smooth trip, lunch included. Great staff.

    One of their boats (maybe Silversonic?) has a fancy expensive stabiliser that's meant to help with seasickness.

    I got a pretty decent discount because I work in the travel industry, had to show ID. A friend says she got a discount because she couldn't afford it (which was true). Seems they can be talked down easily.

  • woz on 21/04/2015 - 03:29
    +1

    Getting cheap deals is easy. Just go to the backpacker hostels which will either have billboards out the front with cheap deals or a dedicated activities office somewhere in the foyer. They usually cater to a younger crowd with less disposable income, but they won't turn anyone away. Reef trips via this method usually involve smaller boats with perhaps 20 people on board. I remember fondly one of the boats dragging a cargo net behind on the return trip so everyone could have a safe but exhilarating 'ride'. Great fun.

    From memory, the white water rafting/kayaking just out of Cairns using the scheduled water release from the hydro plant was great value for money as well.

  • inherentchoice on 21/04/2015 - 18:44

    Red Balloon currently has $20 off which includes Cairns reef trips.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/191058

    • leiiv on 21/04/2015 - 20:18

      Yeah, but very limited choices compared to what available there.

  • Arnor on 08/05/2015 - 09:00

    Ive worked on dive boats in Cairns for the last 5years, Im NOT at the moment but i can recommend the one i was working on as probably the best value in Cairns. Reef Experience www.reeftrips.com Everything is included, including a scuba dive, glass bottom boat… Pay for a 2nd dive if you want one.
    I cant help with discounts for boats in Cairns, stay away from the big boats like Great adventures and Sunlover, they're really expensive.
    PM me for more info.

  • mhs5819 on 09/11/2016 - 10:14

    You’re quite right, Great Barrier Reef tours are expensive - a lot of the Outer Reef trips are $200+ p/p. However, you can have a day on the Outer Reef for much less than that. Compass Cruises is just $109 p/person and goes to the Outer Reef (Hastings Reef, Virgin Reef, and Long Bommie Reef):

    http://www.cairnsaustraliatravelguide.com/compass-cruises-1-…

    The difference between Compass and the big Outer Reef tours is that Compass doesn’t have an Activity Platform. On the other hand, you won’t feel swamped by hundreds of other passengers as they carry a maximum of 80 people. In my opinion it’s a much better experience to be in a smaller group, more personal attention from the crew and better snorkeling because less impact on the fish etc.

    I’ve done all sorts of reef trips out of Cairns and Port Douglas, big boats, small boats, Inner Reef, Outer Reef, but the one that left the greatest impression was a small tour that leaves from Cape Tribulation. It’s a semi-rigid inflatable, takes a maximum of 25 people and it goes to a reef that is only 25 minutes from the beach (Mackay Reef). The tour operator is the only one who has a license to operate at this reef, so you don’t see any other boats, any other snorkelers. When we did this tour they only had one departure a day, early morning, which meant that you had to overnight at Cape Trib. But they now have a midday departure as well, so you can overnight in Cairns and easily get there in time for the midday departure. The water was really clear, the coral was good, lots of fish and we saw quite a few turtles feeding on the bottom. This tour is much less than $200 p/p, so that’s another option for a budget reef trip.

    http://www.cairnsaustraliatravelguide.com/ocean-safari-half-…

    Another way to go snorkeling on the GBR without spending a fortune is to take a day trip to either Fitzroy Island or Green Island and hire snorkel equipment when you get there. A day trip to Fitzroy with snorkel equipment included is about $100.

    Hope this helps ☺

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join