4 years ago
The Kimberely Cruise on Coral Adventurer was beaut...
The Kimberely Cruise on Coral Adventurer was beautiful, serene and extremely well managed. But....it was probably not the cruise for us because it was extremely sedate and geared for the very elderly! There were absolutely no alternative options for active people so it was basically just sitting in small boats the whole time! There was no TV, bars open, music or movies to watch and our only option was one very ordinary documentary each evening. They had lovely sitting areas and the capacity to open bars and play music but they were all closed except for pre dinner drinks at 6.30pm. There were also times when we could have gone on a hike onshore but were not given the option. Luckily there was a little gym with three machines that we used each day but it was very small. My mum enjoyed the cruise and read a lot of books but even she did not find it very active. The food was really good but again the options were limited. Breakfast and lunch were really nice buffets with several choices changing every day and were very good. Dinner was a really slow affair that took 2 hours every night with no choice of entree or dessert. There were two mains to choose from and it was served to the table. The cooking was excellent but not good if you didn't like the offering. My husband would have been happy but I very rarely liked the entree or dessert so my meals were very cheap!! The guest lecturers were very informative but very much aimed at older people so I don't think people would enjoy the cruise unless they were extremely interested in geology and indigenous studies. The highlights were Mitchell Falls (but you couldn't see them unless you paid an extra $570 for the helicopter trip), King George Falls, King Cascades and the Horizontal Falls. If these could have been squeezed into 5 days it would be great! Sadly there was a poor wet season so there were hardly any waterfalls flowing. I would recommend telling clients to make sure they book an early tour in May. This year there will be no falls by June!
It was a big ship by Kimberley standards (120 people) and it was full so queues were very slow getting on and off the tenders (Xplorers). Safety was a big priority and they were fabulous with the eldery and people with mobility problems.
Every member of the staff was fabulous and couldn t do enough for you.