Noelle2016

Is the Surfside Family Suite a higher or lower level than the Sky Junior Suite? Just wondering bc I have a Sky Junior Suite guarantee for Sky Suite but I do not want to end up in a Surfside Family Suite if they run out of Sky junior suites.

i am planning a trip for my husband's 50th birthday and we want to spend 3 weeks in the Cairns area, Hamilton Island and cruising in the Great Barrier Reef. I have several questions:

1) Is there any significant difference in the weather, water temperature, wind, whale watching, rain and underwater visibility between early June and early September? Our potential dates are either:

1a) May 27 - June 16 or

1b) August 26 - September 15.

2) We are considering doing two different cruises to see two parts of the Great Barrier Reef and spending 5 days in between the cruises to do some land tours around Cairns such as Daintree Rainforest and the railway to Kurunda. Any feedback on these two cruises:

2a) Coral Expeditions II - 7 night cruise of Northern GBR with max of 44 guests

2b) Sydney Sundancer - 7 night sailing cruise around Whitsunday Islands with max of 6-8 guests

3) On the Coral Expeditions II, is there any difference between the 4 deluxe staterooms? I think I read somewhere that two of the deluxe staterooms may have more windows but I can't tell from the website.

4) So far, I have chosen the two cruises above because they each offer completely different 7 night cruises so I think we will get to see many of the islands in the Great Barrier Reef in one trip. Coral Expeditions sails as far south as Dunk Island and Hinchenbrook and goes as far north as Lizard Island. In contrast, the Sydney Sundancer covers the Whitsunday Islands which are not covered by Coral Expeditions such as Hamilton Island, Hayman Island and Whitehaven Beach. Are there any other small cruise lines or sailing cruises that you'd recommend investigating?

Thanks,

MoonTrek:)

Is there any difference between the 4 deluxe staterooms? I read somewhere that some of them have more windows than the others.

We are planning a sailing trip around the Whitsundays in 2018. I am wondering if anyone can comment on the pros and cons of the weather in early June vs early September? Would either time be about the same in terms of water temp, water visibility, and wind speed?

We are thinking of doing a cruise on either Captain Cook's Reef Endeavor or Blue Lagoon's Fiji Princess next year. I read that Captain Cook just completed a major refurbishment of the Reef Endeavor and Blue Lagoon completed one 2 years ago. Has anyone been on the CC Reef Endeavor or the BL Fiji Princess since the refurbishments? Does anyone have any experience with both Captain Cook's Reef Endeavor and Blue Lagoon's Fiji Princess? From my own research, it seems the itineraries are very similar. CC is bigger with more public spaces but both are still small ships. Until recently, people commented that CC's ship was showing its age but maybe that has changed now since it has been refurbished. I didn't read too much about the condition of BL's ship but someone commented on bug problems with BL in the past (not sure if that problem has been resolved but I assume it probably has). What is really swaying me toward CC is that the cabins are slightly bigger and open up to the deck so it seems it might almost be like having a balcony. I'd love to get more feedback from recent guests on these ships. Thanks!!

I have done Captain Cook. After doing my research I felt this was likely the better boat from a quality point of view. Although my cruise was interrupted by a cyclone I was very happy with the days I did get to enjoy. We mainly sailed short distances at meals or overnight and most of the day was spent snorkelling.

 

What sort of water activities did you envisage doing "right off the boat"?

Thanks for your feedback. I think the Captain Cook Fiji cruise sounds like a better fit too. In the photos of the Blue Lagoon cruise, they show it stopping close to the beach and they show two ladders on the back so it looks like people can take the ladder off the ship and walk to the beach, snorkel or kayak without a tender. How did the Captain Cook cruise handle getting people to the shore? Also, was everything except drinks and diving included or were there some shore excursions that you had to pay for? We are planning to go next May. I believe cyclone season is over by then. What month did you go in? Thanks!!

We are planning a cruise within Fiji next year. The two local cruise lines to visit the Yasawas are Captain Cook and Blue Lagoon. From what I can see, Captain Cook's RV Reef Explorer has slightly bigger cabins and they open up to the deck so it is like having a pseudo-balcony. Blue Lagoon is appealing because they only sail up to 4 hours a day and you can do activities right off the boat. Has anyone been on either or both of these cruises? Can you provide some input on pros and cons of each?