Cairns, Australia - Charter Boat for Great Barrier Reef

I've chartered Reef Daytripper several times over the years and always enjoyed our snorkeling experience with them. Unfortunately, they have changed owners and hence changed policy requiring 20% deposit (understandable) and 100% payment about 2 months before the sailing date with a 14-day cancellation notice required for a full refund.

I've always chartered the entire boat whenever we've been on a cruise that docks in Cairns, but since we're at the mercy of the ship docking....I'm not willing to lose my entire payment, nor are my cruise friends willing to pay in advance with the money being non-refundable if the ship doesn't dock.

After much correspondence with the booking agent about their new payment policy, I cancelled my next 2 booking with Reef Daytripper and I can no longer recommend them to anyone arriving in Cairns on a cruise ship.

The booking agent said the boat owner feels he shouldn't be responsible if the ship doesn't dock...but he has a 20% deposit and won't have fuel, staffing and food costs but wants the patrons to be responsible for the entire amount....just doesn't sound fair to me.

The owner will have definitely purchased food, hired staff and fueled the boat prior to the expected arrival time of your cruise ship. If the ship fails to dock on the day, the 20% deposit is not going to cover those costs.

What policy do you think is fair?

There is this thing the economists call "opportunity cost". By chartering his boat to you the vendor has given up the opportunity to fill his boat with a different set of paying passengers. Given that Cairns is a busy tourist area it is extremely likely that he could easily do so. If you were to cancel at the last minute (for any reason) and he refunded any percentage he would be losing a day's income or rather the opportunity to earn a days income.

By the way, note that the fixed costs of a charter boat are very high - payment on the boat, moorage, maintenance, etc. That expensive asset must be kept producing income or they go bankrupt. That compares to the virtually zero fixed costs of say, an individual tour guide. If you are a no show for that guide he or she can very likely pick up another tourist at the pier or at the tourist center or just keep your deposit and have a quiet lunch :).