Great Barrier Reef View from a Princess Cruise

My wife and are booked on a Princess cruise March - April 2018 (Brisbane to Brisbane) and want to know if you can see the Great Barrier Reef off of the cruise ship (I saw it off of a P&O line some 40 years ago and it was a sight to see)?

I know it is not necessarily the same as snorkeling the reef but my wife can't swim and Princess is cancelling there Cairns GBR excursion for this cruise and I was hoping my wife could at least see the GBR from our cruise ship.

Some say you still can see the GBR from a cruise ship and some say no - Please help us here if you can?

If anyone has sailed on a cruise lately, can you please let us know or we will end up cancelling our cruise?

Thanks so much and you can email us directly to dlelles@hotmail.com

Berney

The shipping channel up the East Coast of Australia to Cairns is actually inside the Great Barrier Reef. We have seen reefs from the ship but it depends on whether you are transiting the reef sections during the day or not. If it's the cruise I'm thinking of, your cruise has port stops at Airlie Beach, Cairns and Port Douglas (three days in a row) which means most of the cruising through that region will be at night. I'm not sure what route the ship takes back from Willis Island.

If you get up at daybreak on the Cairns day you might see some reefs.

Is Princess doing an excursion from Airlie Beach? That may be an option.

Another option is to check what is available from Port Douglas. The Low Isles are around half an hour from the Port Douglas Marina and you might be able to do a suitable tour there, or even a short private trip. There are half day trips available, just Google Low Isles. You should be able to see coral from the boat, you can usually go ashore at the Low Isles and you could do some snorkelling while your wife enjoys the beach. Take reef shoes though.

Thanks so much for your quick response.

We are actually going from Brisbane (2 days before cruise) to Sydney to Hobart to Burnie to Melbourne to Adelaide to Albany to Margaret River to Fremantle to Broome to Kimberly Coast to Darwin to Cairns to Alotau (New Guinea) to Brisbane.

As you may know Princess is not good at being able to answer questions like mine for some reason. When you look at the small picture of the cruise path it appears that they cruise between Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, just not sure how close to the GBR.

From what you indicated if they take that path during the day (and we are at sea for 2 days fro Alatau to Brisbane) we should see the GBR?

The complete circumnavigation? Lucky you! We've done Fremantle to Sydney across the Top End and it was wonderful.

When coming from Darwin to Cairns they usually do the transit through the Torres Strait during daylight (at least they did the two times we've been through there), and that is fascinating. Make sure you're up on deck near a speaker as the Torres Strait pilot often gives a commentary. You should see plenty of reefs off the port side of the ship during this sector.

Coming back from Alotau you will be outside the GBR unfortunately so no reef views then.

If you look at this http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:152.5/centery:-18.4/zoom:5 you can easily see the routes taken by shipping.

Thanks again for all of the information and the link.

So I guess you are saying that we unfortunately will not see the Great Barrier Reef from our ship on this cruise?

It sounds like the Torres Strait is not necessarily part of the GBR?

When did you go on your cruises and were they on Princess?

From your Cruise Critic name it appears you may be from Australia. Any suggestions for tour companies to the GBR from Cairns? Or can we get there from Brisbane the two days before our cruise?

We have booked all of our excursions through Princess, but any "must sees" in any of the ports?

What about Ayers Rock - would it be worth a side trip?

Thanks so very, very much for your time!!!!!!!

OK... Maybe I am missing something here... But"seeing" the GBR from the surface (deck 2 or deck 10) is not going to be much of anything. A dark parch of water, and some waves breaking on some of the shallower reefs. (And that observation is from someone who spent 5 days on the reef 2 years ago... Even from 1/4 mile you cant see much of anything.)

But if you ARE going to be in Cairns for the day there are LOTS of day trips going out, and most (if not all) have "glass bottom boat" options for those who dont swim. Many are aimed directly at the cruise passenger. So even if Princess is canceling their trip, you still have options.

here are some glass bottom boat tours, which also include snorkeling - so if you swim you could do it while your wife looks at the reef from the boat:

https://www.everythingcairns.com/category/glass-bottom-boat-tours/

Thanks again for all of the information and the link.

 

So I guess you are saying that we unfortunately will not see the Great Barrier Reef from our ship on this cruise?

 

It sounds like the Torres Strait is not necessarily part of the GBR?

The Torres Strait is "just around the corner" from the northernmost end of the GBR. Once through the strait you should start seeing reefs. It will all depend on what time you go through the strait, hopefully it will still be daylight and you get to see some reefs.

 

When did you go on your cruises and were they on Princess?

 

As my signature indicates:

Dawn Princess, August 2015, Fremantle to Sydney across the Top End.

Golden Princess, March 2016, Sydney to Hong Kong.

From your Cruise Critic name it appears you may be from Australia. Any suggestions for tour companies to the GBR from Cairns? Or can we get there from Brisbane the two days before our cruise?

 

Brisbane to Cairns takes about 2.5 hours by plane, Cairns to Sydney is 3 hours. You would need to spend two nights in Cairns or Port Douglas to do a reef trip. I don't know any Cairns tour operators but a simple Google search should find them. We've only done snorkelling trips out of Port Douglas, with Wavelength for the outer reef, and Sailaway to the Low Isles. Port Douglas is an hour by shuttle bus from Cairns airport.

 

We have booked all of our excursions through Princess, but any "must sees" in any of the ports?

 

That would depend on what your interests are but here's a couple:

Cable Beach at Broome, unfortunately your departure time doesn't allow sunset viewing.:(

Some of the historic areas around Fremantle.

If they aren't offering a reef trip from Cairns then do the Kuranda train and skyrail. Stunning scenery, especially on the train section, and you'll get to see some of the rainforest too - get off the gondola at the intermediate stops for a short walk around.

If your wife likes pretty costume jewellery, there is usually a cute jewellery stand in the cruise terminal at Darwin. Nice quality and very reasonably priced.

What about Ayers Rock - would it be worth a side trip?

 

You'd need an extra couple of days to do Uluru (Ayres Rock). It's a 3.5 hour flight from Sydney. I haven't been there (yet) but a friend spent a long weekend there recently and said it was wonderful.

 

Thanks so very, very much for your time!!!!!!!

Hope this helps.

OK... Maybe I am missing something here... But"seeing" the GBR from the surface (deck 2 or deck 10) is not going to be much of anything. A dark parch of water, and some waves breaking on some of the shallower reefs. (And that observation is from someone who spent 5 days on the reef 2 years ago... Even from 1/4 mile you cant see much of anything.)

 

But if you ARE going to be in Cairns for the day there are LOTS of day trips going out, and most (if not all) have "glass bottom boat" options for those who dont swim. Many are aimed directly at the cruise passenger. So even if Princess is canceling their trip, you still have options.

It could be tricky for the OP to book a private tour from Cairns - the ship doesn't dock until 10am, much later than usual, which may be why Princess cancelled their tour.

This may work though: http://www.cairnstoday.com.au/cairns/half-day-reef-tours.247/big-cat-green-island-reef-cruises.1014/

OK... Maybe I am missing something here... But"seeing" the GBR from the surface (deck 2 or deck 10) is not going to be much of anything. A dark parch of water, and some waves breaking on some of the shallower reefs. (And that observation is from someone who spent 5 days on the reef 2 years ago... Even from 1/4 mile you cant see much of anything.)

We went from Port Douglas through the Torres Strait and again from Cairns through the Strait. I thought both times were awesome. You feel like you are out in the ocean with the coastline far away in a haze and then you pass by reefs as close as if you were in a river. You see the change of water color indicating the depth of the water. The first time, the reef pilot gave a running commentary as we were passing through the area. The second time, the reef pilot gave a talk with photos beforehand. Both were completely different and both were interesting.

Of course, you will not be able to look into the water and you will not see underwater coral or fish.

I don't know whether a cruise Brisbane-Brisbane will pass through that area. Our ships went on to Darwin and Indonesia. There are other breaks in the Barrier Reef through which freighters headed for China exit.

I don't know whether a cruise Brisbane-Brisbane will pass through that area. Our ships went on to Darwin and Indonesia. There are other breaks in the Barrier Reef through which freighters headed for China exit.

That cruise definitely will as it's going from Darwin to Cairns. However once leaving Carins it will exit the reef to go up to Alotau, and from there to Brisbane will be in open waters.

Actually, since the ship doesn't arrive in Cairns until 10am, there should be some great reef views early that morning.

BTW if you look at that part of Australia on Google Maps you can clearly see where the reefs are, even just in map mode.

Thanks so much for your quick response.

 

We are actually going from Brisbane (2 days before cruise) to Sydney to Hobart to Burnie to Melbourne to Adelaide to Albany to Margaret River to Fremantle to Broome to Kimberly Coast to Darwin to Cairns to Alotau (New Guinea) to Brisbane.

 

As you may know Princess is not good at being able to answer questions like mine for some reason. When you look at the small picture of the cruise path it appears that they cruise between Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, just not sure how close to the GBR.

 

From what you indicated if they take that path during the day (and we are at sea for 2 days fro Alatau to Brisbane) we should see the GBR?

So glad I found your post! We are doing the Princess GBR cruise in Feb 2018 and are planning our before/after land excursions. May I ask how you are traveling to Sydney and the other stops you mentioned above? Rental car? Train? We have never been to Australia & I am totally lost! Thanks for any help!

The stops above are all on the cruise. We did the circumnavigation of Australia and had those stops. It was an awesome cruise thanks to the local Australians who helped in the ports. We pre-booked very few ship excursions.

We also did a land portion on our own. In Sydney we used ferries and busses. From Sydney to the Blue Mountains: day trip with a local company that advertised in our hotel (brochure). The trip was very good with a funny and informative owner/driver/guide.

We also flew to Uluru (Ayers Rock) from Sydney and rented a four wheel SUV, drove a loop to King's Canyon and Alice Springs, back to Uluru. My husband likes to drive and didn't mind the sand and gravel roads in the outback between King's Canyon and the West MacDonnells park near Alice Springs.

forever$B123, a CC member that is doing a cruise in November where the ship docks in Cairns at a similar time to your cruise, has just posted on a thread in the Australia & NZ forum to say that Princess is offering a snorkelling excursion from Cairns for their cruise. You may find a similar excursion pops up for your cruise closer to the departure date. It is a bit early for excursions to be finalized for a March/April 2018 cruise.

The way to see the Great Barrier Reef is from the water, be it SCUBA or Snorkeling. There are actually some huge platforms anchored on the reef (over so miles from shore) that are used as a base for some great snorkel/Tours from Cairns. From a cruise ship you will see nothing of the real reef as large ships are not cruising in those protected reef areas.

We have dived on two areas of the GBR and its full of interesting sea life. We spotted some White Tip and Black Tip Sharks.....and saw a hammerhead shark (at some distance) while just snorkeling. But cruisers that expect to enjoy the beauty of the GBR from the deck of a cruise ship are sadly mis informed.

Hank

Thanks to everyone!!!!!

We just booked the Cairns snorkel excursion.