Yorkey's Knob to Cairns

[weatherman46]

We will be tendering into Yorkey's Knob next March on a Sunday from 1200-2000.

 

Does anyone know if Celebrity will run a shuttle bus from Yorkey's Knob to Cairns?

If not will there be taxis, and what is the fare?

 

It appears there isn't much to see or do in Yorkey's Knob, unless someone knows something I don't???

[Balloon Man]

We will be with you and have the same questions and worries.

[lizbeth]

Hi -

 

It appears that the very large ships (Solstice is quite large) may have to anchor & tender us to shore.

 

Although this is a fairly long & slow process, Celebrity always offers a shuttle into the port city. Note: there may be a charge.

 

Looks like the independent tour companies will be happy to pick you up & take you on a tour of sights. We plan to look into excursions from Cairns (or Y. Knob) within the next few days.

 

Hope this helps.

Liz

[nodandade]

hello weatherman46

never been into yorky's knob by ship, but have been to port douglas on way from Bangkok to Sydney on the diamond princess,they tendered us all the way into the port.it is a fair way (I guess about15-20 miles) from cairns to yorky's knob so I would imagine there will be taxi's etc you could take and I would imagine the ship will have something organised.may I suggest you place your enquiry in the ports of call section (Australia & new Zealand)and I am sure you will get better replies than mine.

have a great cruise

[SPacificbound]

We will be tendering into Yorkey's Knob next March on a Sunday from 1200-2000.

 

Does anyone know if Celebrity will run a shuttle bus from Yorkey's Knob to Cairns?

If not will there be taxis, and what is the fare?

 

It appears there isn't much to see or do in Yorkey's Knob, unless someone knows something I don't???

 

Have you tried asking here?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77

[uktog]

In February 2013 I know there was an issue that there was no transfer provided at a cost only shore excursions

There was also a big issue with tendering, they then had to give priority to the Dive vessels so they could get their trips in daylight

They do get rough seas there, it is a 30-40 minute tender ride and when we came back we had to wait alongside for an hour before they could safely tie the tender (it was the reefs boat) up

 

All in all, I would say in Yorkeys Knob, even if it goes against your usual desires, I would look at a shore excursion as those who did not had a lot of issues on our trip, the cruiseline did not deliberately go against those who had made private arrangements, it was just that they prioritised getting them off the ship and away to their trips

[dolcengabbana]

Hi I live here in Cairns and Solstice can't get into port so has to tender into Yorkeys Knob - there isn't a lot to do there at all there is a boat club good to have a drink see the resident kookaburras that live there but not much else. Yorkeys to Cairns is about 10-15min drive not a huge amount of taxi's here in Cairns so I would pre plan something. Sky rail is only 5-7min drive away that take you up through the rainforest to Kuranda and you can come back down via the train.

If there is anything I can answer about Cairns region please do not hesitate to ask!

 

We can't wait for it to anchor off Yorkeys to show our son we have an Alaska cruised book for later 2015 on her.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[baldercash]

Hi I live here in Cairns and Solstice can't get into port Sky rail is only 5-7min drive away that take you up through the rainforest to Kuranda and you can come back down via the train.

 

We did the Millennium last fall and we had no issues with the tenders into port.

There will be bus shuttles supplied and there will be a fee it is a much better price then taking a cab into town. We had the bus let us off at the train station so we could do the Sky rail.

The bus should let you off downtown near to the swimming area which is very nice.

The town is interesting to wander with a few pubs and such plus a large Mall by the Train stop. It will be very hot so plan for it.

 

We were surprised that cruisers could book a Trans Pacific cruise and not realize there would be tenders involved and that there would be lines and delays due to the condition of the seas and the volume of passengers or that they would need to pay for port transfers.

Edited December 1, 2014 by baldercash

[4774Papa]

We tendered into Yorkey's Knob from Solstice in Feb 2013. We had two problems there.

 

First, we were late arriving, due to a medevac (we had to go back toward Darwin to allow chopper to pick up crew member). Therefore, we were late arriving in the port. I think we arrived around 10am. Then, the tendering process was delayed, not sure why, but we were lucky to get off the ship before Noon.

 

We were with an Australian friend that had booked the Skyrail for the day. Fortunately, they were there to pick us up. Skyrail was great, but we had to leave a bit earlier than we liked, since Skyrail did close. If you had a tour to dive on the reef, forget it, not enough time.

 

Second, there was a shuttle, which I don't remember if there was a fee, but there was a long line for the shuttle and many people got in line, some waiting for a while, then when they got to the front of the line, they discovered that they had to get in another line to get their shuttle tickets.

X really messed up on this, since that practice was not announced. Many people that didn't get off the ship until 2pm and lost time waiting in line, just gave up and went back to the ship.

 

It was not X's finest hour.

 

There is nothing at Yorkey's Knob except a restaurant.

[uktog]

If you want to dive and go to the reef, take the ships excursion, we were so glad we did, their boat docks beside Solstice so you avoid the need to tender. We had much less time at the reef than we would otherwise have had due to all the issues but we got there which was more than those who went independently did because they were waiting some time for ships tenders, so it is not a case of forget it if you want to dive, more manage how you do it, even if that method is not your normal preference