Timing - Cairns Marina to Yorkey's Knob for tender back to ship!

[westcoasttech]

I'm on the NCL Jewel which is overnighting in Cairns with a tender service to/from Yorkey's Knob.  You would think there was plenty of time to do a full day snorkel, however we don't arrive until 10 am on the first day (too late for the full day tours) and leave at 6 pm on the second.  I have found an operator that offers a full day snorkel that "kind of" fits for Day 2.  They are scheduled to arrive back at Cairns Marina at 4:15 - 4:20 pm (but don't guarantee it!), it appears to be a 30 minute trip (by taxi?) back to Yorkey's Knob from the marina.  With a 6:00pm sailaway, tenders should be running to at least 5:30pm, so in theory there is about 30 minutes "wiggle room" in the timing.  

 

So ... am I crazy to consider this tour?  (I'm normally one of those that allows plenty of time to get back to the ship before sailaway, especially when tenders are concerned.)

 

Would you take the "risk"?  (After Cairns the ship has 2 sea days before it ports in Darwin, so that would be a lot of time to spend with just a swimsuit and a towel, if I did miss the ship!)

 

Advice and experiences please?

[MMDown Under]

Probably not.  Depends when all aboard time is.  Could be 5.00 pm for 6.00 pm sailaway.  

[GUT2407]

You will probably be fine but you will cut it close, one slip along the way and you will miss it.

 

even dificulty getting a cab could blow your plan

[magpie9]

The Marina is VERY busy when all the day cruises come back in and you may find it hard to find a taxi. Unless you have one booked. When I did a full day reef tour the operator came all the way north to pick me up in a mini bus. I was staying at Palm Cove- was not on a cruise. I did the reef tour with REEF MAGIC. see if they have a bus that will drop you back. Also you need to consider traffic time as it is after work then. And it is a busy highway after getting out of the city. Cairns is a big place.

[keysey222]

We did an overnight in Cairns with Celebrity and had a similar time frame as you.  I'm not 100% sure of the name anymore, but I believe we did an off-ship reef excursion with a company named Reef Experience. It was a full day - they're all long trips! I can't tell you exactly what time we arrived at the cruise tender dock, but we had a 6pm sail away and made it back to the boat with time to spare. It's likely your ship will have shuttles waiting near the Cairns marina (an extremely short walk from where the reef tours dock) that you can easily hop on and get back to the boat with them. Celebrity did. Check with them on that! Hopping on the last cruise ship shuttle from town will alleviate any stress of getting stuck in traffic.

You'll want to find out the tender times from Norweigan as there is likely a set schedule and they probably won't make accommodations if you need to leave early in the morning. 

We did a nighttime rainforest tour on day 1, so we wound up staying overnight at one of the hotels at the marina. Otherwise, I'm not sure we'd have made it to the reef tour in the morning! The ship docking times (and tender times) made it tough to do what we desired. However, if you're willing to swallow the bitter pill of paying for a hotel room, it will open more options for you. Cairns is freaking awesome! Have fun!