Port Douglas???

[Red Hat Cruise Cat]

Port Douglas???

I would like to book the Reef Tour through Quicksilver since it is about $60 less than booking through the Dawn Princess.

The Quicksilver departs from Marina Mirage. How far is that from where the Dawn Princess will dock?

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Port Douglas???

I would like to book the Reef Tour through Quicksilver since it is about $60 less than booking through the Dawn Princess.

The Quicksilver departs from Marina Mirage. How far is that from where the Dawn Princess will dock?

 

 

 

Dawn Princess does not dock in Port Douglas.

It is a tender port, however the tenders arrive at the same marina in PD as Quicksilver leaves from........

 

The first tenders ashore are usually for the ships tours out to the reef, so the trick is to make sure you get an early one, or you will miss the boat. Sometimes PD is missed as it too rough to tender ashore.

[Aus Traveller]

Port Douglas???

I would like to book the Reef Tour through Quicksilver since it is about $60 less than booking through the Dawn Princess.

The Quicksilver departs from Marina Mirage. How far is that from where the Dawn Princess will dock?

Can you book without paying ahead? If so, it could be worth doing this privately. If you have to pay Quicksilver ahead of time I think it would be safer to book through the ship.

 

If you do it privately make sure you are in the queue for tender tickets half an hour before the advertised time to hand out tickets so you can get tickets for the first tender. When the tours are ready to go they have priority and this can cause quite a delay for passengers going independently. Check in the Princess Patter for the time that the tours have to meet in the theatre prior to departure. Departure for the tour is usually 15 minutes or more after the advertised time. Tenders are not 'reserved' for tour participants, but they can take up a major part of a tender.

[Red Hat Cruise Cat]

Can you book without paying ahead? If so, it could be worth doing this privately. If you have to pay Quicksilver ahead of time I think it would be safer to book through the ship.

 

If you do it privately make sure you are in the queue for tender tickets half an hour before the advertised time to hand out tickets so you can get tickets for the first tender. When the tours are ready to go they have priority and this can cause quite a delay for passengers going independently. Check in the Princess Patter for the time that the tours have to meet in the theatre prior to departure. Departure for the tour is usually 15 minutes or more after the advertised time. Tenders are not 'reserved' for tour participants, but they can take up a major part of a tender.

 

THANKS!!!

 

We are scheduled to be in Port Douglas on March 22nd, are there rough seas at that time of year that could prevent us from tendering? If so, may have to reconsider and do the Reef tour from Arlie Beach, because I would hate to miss the Reef. The Arlie Beach excursion to the Reef is more expensive, and the private company Cruise Whitsundays won't take a cruise ship reservation, they said book through the ship.

 

In Port Douglas, Quicksilver said that we could pay in cash on the day of the tour so shouldn't be a problem.

 

We will be Elite by then which gives us priority on the tender, so we should be able to get on the 2nd tender

[lizzy77]

Personally I would not be booking the Quicksilver tour. There are just too many pitfalls such as weather, and tendering. We do not do ship's tours very often but there are some times when you just have to bite the bullet.

 

Yes it is expensive to do the ships tour to the Reef but that is the only way to see it with the time restrictions you will have and then you could just relax and not have to worry;)

[Kiwi Kruzer]

For the ships tour to the reef at Airlie Beach , the catamaran comes alongside and picks up direct from the ship.

 

 

[Red Hat Cruise Cat]

What company does Dawn Princess use for its Reef tour?

In the Caribbean and Mexico I’ve taken several of the more expensive Princess excursions, only to be on the private company’s same tour with all of the other non-Princess tourists who booked privately and saved a lot of money.

[rkmw]

THANKS!!!

 

We are scheduled to be in Port Douglas on March 22nd, are there rough seas at that time of year that could prevent us from tendering? If so, may have to reconsider and do the Reef tour from Arlie Beach, because I would hate to miss the Reef. The Arlie Beach excursion to the Reef is more expensive, and the private company Cruise Whitsundays won't take a cruise ship reservation, they said book through the ship.

 

In Port Douglas, Quicksilver said that we could pay in cash on the day of the tour so shouldn't be a problem.

 

We will be Elite by then which gives us priority on the tender, so we should be able to get on the 2nd tender

 

being elite you may still have to wait as the ships tours get priority....sometimes we have to wait awhile to get ashore also

 

if you really want to do the tour i'd book thru the ship just in case something goes pear shaped

[Aus Traveller]

THANKS!!!

 

We are scheduled to be in Port Douglas on March 22nd, are there rough seas at that time of year that could prevent us from tendering? If so, may have to reconsider and do the Reef tour from Arlie Beach, because I would hate to miss the Reef. The Arlie Beach excursion to the Reef is more expensive, and the private company Cruise Whitsundays won't take a cruise ship reservation, they said book through the ship.

 

In Port Douglas, Quicksilver said that we could pay in cash on the day of the tour so shouldn't be a problem.

 

We will be Elite by then which gives us priority on the tender, so we should be able to get on the 2nd tender

I did the Quicksilver tour from Port Douglas years ago when we weren't on a cruise. It was good. You have the advantage that they said you could book when you get there.

 

Another option in Port Douglas is to take the Reef Sprinter trip to Low Isles. It is not the outer reef, but the snorkelling is good and the fish feeding is great. You can get the details of this trip off the internet. Advantages are that you do not have to pay until you get there; it is a half day trip; they lend you (the first few people to put their hands up!) an underwater camera and burn your photos on a CD free of charge. The group is small - only a dozen or so people. I booked the 11am trip so I didn't have to worry about missing the earlier departure.

 

Port Douglas in March - It is still the wet season so the weather might be too good. Further south (Airlie Beach) would have a better chance of having fine weather, but no-one can guarantee the weather. :)

 

I think the one from Airlie Beach is a Fantasea tour. Am I correct? We did that one last year and it is really superb. We weren't on a cruise, but I think Kiwi Kruzer is correct when he says that they pick up directly from the ship. There isn't time to do otherwise.

 

There are not a lot of other fantastic things to do in Airlie Beach so I suggest booking the Fantasea tour through the ship. Unless there is something else you want to do in Port Douglas (such as the Kuranda railway) I suggest doing the Reef Sprinter trip I mentioned above. It is superb for the price.