Dawn Boomerangs

We had booked a tour with the ship for the Great Barrier Reef Experience, we had done something like this while we were on our honeymoon so we had an idea for what we were in for and we were really excited. We had known that there was the same tour available with the same company but a lot cheaper, we had been told to book through Princess because the tour operator could not guarantee that we will get back on time, now this made no sense whatsoever to me as they left and returned at the same point… I now understand what the difference is, if you book the tour outside of Princess you have to organise getting a tender to the port as the ship does not dock in the port, the time that the ship begins to allow the would make you unable to meet the tour company at the right time so you would miss your tour.
Booked through Princess the tour operator comes direct to the ship and drops you back at the ship, a literal door to door service, so now I can see why the same trip is two different prices. I would pick the one booked through the ship as you have the safety and security knowing you will get safely, quickly, efficiently and on time. An addition to this is they day that we went on the tour it was incredibly rough conditions, sadly a lot of people were really ill and as a result did not have the most nicest of times. Many people were unhappy about the day, Bill and I were not, we just enjoyed the adventure, but ones adventure is anothers nightmare. A few days after the tour we were recieved a note saying they were refunding us a portion of the tour price due to how many complaints that there was.
Now it is certainly not Princess’s fault that the weather was bad and the conditons were not the greatest, they did provide a wonderful day and an amazing opportunity and the tour operator looked after everyone even to the extent of handing out ice chips to guest. So yet again IF you had booked a tour outside of Princess and this had happened you would not have recieved the refund. So in the case of Airlie beach and seeing the same tours for cheaper prices, you will find that it by far better to book with Princess as you have the safety of getting to and from the ship on time, you have the assurance that if the tour ran late the ship WILL wait for you and you have the added bonus that Princess prides in looking after it’s people and they enjoy their tours so much so that they will refund money.
I want to add that Bill and I in no way shape or form work for Princess, nor have they or do they pay us anything for this website, this is just our observations and thoughts as we saw and learned them