Quicksilver Cruises Review

I am a fisherman i don't use this service but it's worth the reef trip

Wonderful time on The Great Barrier Reef. A must see in Australia.

We all had a great time. Water was a little choppy however that can't be helped. Great experience. Staff were very friendly

Well organized but additional excursions should not be paid when you arrive at the platform

Glad it was fairly calm on our trip out to and during our visit to the Reef. The staff were very friendly and helpful. Really clear views of the reef and sea life when snorkelling. My wife, a non swimmer really enjoyed the semi submersible trip around the reef. The food was excellent and plentiful as was refreshment onboard. We both thought it well worth while, whole day trip.

Very poor customer service. We enquired the day we were heading out as it was pooring with rain, we were assured in person that there was no rain out on the pontoon, however it bucketed down all day. On the underwater boat, we were left locked in as the operators had forgotten we were on the boat, it wasnt until we tried to get out of the emergency hole that they realised and let us off. My poor 3yr old nephew had to pee into a vomit bag, we were in there for so long. Another customer was starting to get claustrophobic and hysterical. No apology made by any of the staff, just brushed off with a joke.
NOT HAPPY! Would not recommend this company.

Awesome day... Did the 3 reef cruise on the Poseidon and it was so much fun. Would suggest to everyone... friends & random stranger's in the street

Very average tour , i would not say worth the money per person. I found that the tour operators were not patient in answering questions and the life guard snapped at me once or twice for swimming too close to the oxygen pipes, without first providing proper guidance. All in all i would not do it again.

Booked the Outer Barrier Reef Cruise.
Completed the booking on my iPhone whilst there without issue.

We were collected from the hotel and taken to the port, waited a couple of minutes to collect our tickets and then headed on the boat.

Free tea/coffee and biscuits were available while everyone boarded.
The 90 minute journey was pleasant and during which time there were a few videos to explain what would happen and what we would see.
Special locked bags were available for valuables.
Once we arrived at the pontoon we changed into the suit, put on mask, snorkell and flipper and we were off into the sea.

The sights were amazing swimming close to the reef with mult-coloured fish around you and the occasional turtle.

We returned to the pontoon with only a short time before lunch closed, not expecting to see much, pleasantly surprised to see if was fully loaded with prawns, ham, beef, bread rolls, fruit etc.. Bought ice creams for desert.

Back on board the boat it was tea, biscuits and cheese before we set off back to land. Once there we boarded the numbered coaches back to the hotels.

Five stars for organisation, safety, food and a pleasant day out.

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This was a very underwhelming experience for us. After debating inner or outer reef, cost and ethical approach of companies, we settled on Quicksilver. The staff were very pleasant and professional, and the boat was clean and modern with good facilities. The main problem for us was that without paying extra to dive or have a guided biologist tour, the experience is very limited and you find yourselves in what feels like a small ocean enclosure with too many other tourists.

We spent very little time snorkelling thanks to the stressful environment of 30 or so people floating around on pool noodles, obliviously bumping into each other, over what is a very bland (dying) section of reef. All the most interesting life is gathered around the snorkel 'entry platform'. This is mainly because these fish are waiting to be fed as part of a little spectacle for the guests. I don't particularly agree with disrupting their natural behaviour and it's much more satisfying to roam around finding wildlife rather than have them gormlessly floating there waiting for this moment.

Overall, I'm sure many people will enjoy this but if you like your wildlife encounters less crowded and more personal, I would recommend searching for something else.

Brilliant logistics, very friendly staff and great value. Buffet food was good and the boats very modern and comfortable.

Amazing! Sadly numbers are down due to covid but since it wasn't packed crazy with international tourists we got to enjoy it so much more. Snorkelling was fun and the subermisable is great if you don't want to get wet. They provide Lycra suits and snorkelling gear. They cater for the larger people too so don't worry if you are on the heavier side like me. No pressure to get in the water but you definitely should. They have lines for you to hold as well as life jackets and floateys for the water. They're taking photos of you through out the day so don't feel upset if you miss out on the water cameras on offer. Lunch is provided and its yummi. They grab the food for you. All the staff are amazing and they provide transfers within Port Douglas. DO THIS TOUR!!

The boat was over crowded to the point that there was no where for me and my infant daughter to sit. Every activity was overcrowded, the semi submersible, the designated snorkelling area and the eating area. Rethink if you are planning on going with young children.

I couldn't ask for anything better. Multiple activities for swimmers & non swimmers, friendly staff, absolute standout photographer Shannon who made the experience even better. Every need was attended to.

The reef experience is great, however the cruise transportation is a bit disorganised. We got double booked and arranged to be seated out, on uncomfortable chairs and far of the trip announcements and the Reef presentation by marine biologist- No compensation for this mistake were offered.

Fabulous day out! We went on a full day tour to the Whitsunday Island with Quicksilver. They were very well organised and quickly cruised out to our destination. We took the full package with them which involved being part of a small group, ably led by Shereen. She was fantastic and took us to many parts of the island, explained all we wanted to know and took the most amazing photos. (Equally as good as a professional!) Lunch was included and we took a guided walk from Chance Bay. In all, one of our favourite experiences in our 7 weeks of touring Australia. Cannot recommend highly enough, very friendly staff.

Great cruise on 3 different spots of the great barrier. Warmly recommended.

Best day
Staff couldn't have been more helpful, we were late running to the marina but they got us on and the rest of the day went so fast, the snorkelling was the best. Definitely needed the shower on the pontoon afterwards too.

Great day on the reef, after a very good lunch. Loved the snorkelling , the area is a little small for the amount of snorkelers and not a huge lot to see, but still had a great day. Highly recommend the under water tour.

They get a lot down in a short amount of time. Very efficient and helpful staff, but I couldn't help but feel like cattle that was still being milked for extras after paying quite a price up front. Food was not great.

Quicksilver cruises went above and beyond to make everyones visit comfortable, educational, safe and relaxing. The check-in staff were welcoming and very engaging to deal with (don't forget your RACQ discount).

The food was delicious and plentiful. The boat well maintained and clean. Staff onboard helpful and knowledgable. All gear provided, even stinger suits in all sizes.

Highly recommend Quicksilver Cruises.

The trip was great, staff were fantastic. Hayley the marine biologist is amazing and so full of knowledge

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our Outer Barrier Reef Cruise on 25th October which was very well organised. I accidentally left my rain jacket on the boat and Quicksilver very kindly have forwarded it to my home address in the UK. Outstanding service all round. Thank you Quicksilver.

A once in a lifetime experience which was so well organised. Considering that there were over 400 people on our boat, the staff did a first class job making it such a personal experience & the snorkelling was excellent.

Awesome experience
Quicksilver are true professionals in tourism
Good equipment
Well organised with great staff
Minor criticism being required to be at wharf 1 1/2 hours before departure

Fantastic day with quicksilver cruise. The cruise is very famous and belongs to a big company. It's a fast and luxurious vessel and takes you to the Agincourt Reef, at the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. I took their fancy coach to the Port Douglas Marina from Cairns. The ocean view along the way was stunning. The driver Shammi is awesome. He explained the itineraries and gave us some tips to help us enjoy the trip better. He would go extra miles and introduced some views along the way to Marina. We saw sugar cane fields, eagle's nest and even a crocodile on the bank of mangrove. It was a bonus for this trip. All the crews are friendly and helpful. The cruise was going very steady and reduce probability of seasickness. The reef are great and I saw many marine life. The introductory dive is safe and professional. The buffet lunch is great. The sub-submarine tour is amazing and we saw a turtle. Definitely the best choice.

I have recently visited Cairns for my first scuba diving and choose QuickSilver Cruises. It was a big nice cruise with free tea/coffee and great lunch on board. They have professional divers which help you with brief procedure, training sessions and practice before you actually start diving into water. Complete dive was around 45 mins and took around 15-20 meters depth with great view and experience with plenty of fish around like Nimo and coral & reefs. The only thing which I don't find worth, was the Camera which I hired for $72. Photos were not clear and will not recommend anyone. Other than that everything was amazing and totally worth it. Great Cruise with friendly staff.

Great boat. We had a chance to see humpback whales on our way to coral reef platform. The food too they served was great.

Fantastic day for you and the Family. Very knowledgeable and caring crew. My son was sick on the way out the staff helped clean up and make us comfortable for the remaining trip. Swimming on the reef was a definite bucket list item and I recommend going with these guys. The buffet lunch and tours offered on the reef where second to none.

Great customer service. We had a great day out on the reef. Everything we needed for snorkelling was supplied, including floatation devices for those who weren't that confident out at sea. The marine biologist talk was really informative.

Very friendly and patient staff. Good food on board. Organised tour with personal freedom.

We did two discovery dives and enjoyed the experience much. Thanks to Simon for his introductory talk and guidance. The staff takes good care of new divers too.
Although the sea was a little too choppy when we were in the water, the dives themselves were great. Good visibility and an abundance of marine life to observe wrasse, Christmas tree worms, cod fish, blacktip shark, etc.

This is one of the cruises that takes you to the center of the Barrier reef. You can then do Scuba diving, Snorkeling or even take a helicopter ride to have an aerial view of the barrier reef and see its massive size. I did Snorkeling and it was the best experience in the water. They provide you with the right kits to see the creatures of the Ocean. They stop in a place where they feed fishes and hence the fishes are usually plenty. I saw some 200 varieties of fishes. What a wonderful feeling

Best family experience, expensive but well worth it.

Undoubtedly the best, having done many reef trips this one has it all, amazing location with excellent coral, a beautiful and fast vessel to get you there even if the weather isn't great the boat is big enough to give you a smooth ride and top notch staff, equipment and service. Don't forget the Lycra suit hire on board is an extra $7 for laudatory you a clean one, but I skipped it and got sunburnt for my trouble lol.... Can't be beaten. I'll be back

Professional and well organised. Time spend on the Reef can be made a bit longer.

What a day to remember!!! Fantastic value for money and very professional...the service from start to finish could not be faulted, my Wife and I felt truly special. The day was extremely informative, educational, as well as fun and relaxing, with as much or as little fun and excitement as you could want. To know that we won't always get to see this beautiful Wonder Of The World is a shame and makes you question our footprint on this planet. I would easily go again and highly recommend this trip for children too. Thank you Quicksilver for memories that will last forever xx

I was very disappointed with the trip. I was expecting to see beautiful coloured coral but was told on the way out to the platform that most of the reef was grey due to warming of the water, I feel that I paid a lot of money under false advertising. There is coral bleaching I have seen it with my own eyes. You say that what you see in the brochue is what you get is a lie, and then you have admitted to using filters when taking photos. I have read another review and that person says the same as me, no colour but grey coral.

Great tour, very organised, good food and friendly staff.

Good day bit expensive, good if you need to accommodate a family as things to do for all ages, if your looking for pristine reef all colours and fish go with a smaller company as it's mostly not very bright. But none the less of an experienced. Dont buy a camera for beginners dive as you can't take it but they don't tell you that.

**BUYER BEWARE** The crew aboard the Quicksilver/Poseidon vessel were very disorganized with poor reef choices. We took a dive trip with Poseidon this past week and had a terrible experience. My partner and I, two newly certified divers, had a poor site briefing by our dive master which took us into deep current that caused our whole group to become dispersed and without instruction. This took 30 of our 45 minute dive to reorganize and continue the dive. I ve also never seen such poor customer service along with such a clingy group of workers that happen to ignore the patrons once their job is done for the day. This is followed up by them waving goodbye expecting handsome tips. (Why are you feeding sharks for a show ) - I would NEVER book with this company going forward.

The Wavedancer cruise and snorkelling to Low Isle was awesome.

Amazing experience! Professional and friendly service, great food provided, and as advertised, all snorkel gear provided. Enough crew to always have someone available to help. Highly recommend them if you want a reef experience to remember.

staff were so professional and very organised in all activities . nice food. may need to extend their snorkel areas . will go back again with same cruise

Absolutely amazing! Staff are so friendly and catering. Marine biologist on board was full of facts about the ocean which we were about to encounter. Cannot recommend enough! To add I am quite scared of sharks. The staff and the marine biologist reiterated that there would be no sharks on the Reef. Of course there were none! The food was not the best, but we are not there for the food. This will honestly be one of the best experiences I ve ever had in my life!

Great operation. Great team. Well-oiled machine that didn t miss a beat throughout. Not so great reef. Sadly most of the reef here is bleached from a cyclone a few years ago and no doubt pollution, and is too far away from where the pontoon is; only scuba divers would see anything.
If you want to snorkel near the reef and are confident in the water, this cruise isn t for you. If you re a bit nervous or can t swim well, you could not be in better hands. I was taking my 70 year old parents so perfect for what we needed. Best bit was they had prescription snorkel masks for my dad!!! Fish feeding was brilliant. Food was amazing including fresh prawns; so good. Staff were the absolute stand-out.

quick cruise ship with great view of coral and other marine life

What an amazing day. We had such a good time, all the staff were amazing.
The only negative for me was the pontoon area upstairs had a strong smell of fish or toilet smell.

Great experience on The Great Barrier reef . The whole crew were very hospitable great smorgasbord stile food . Etc .

The Agincourt Reef platform is not as good as the diving places in Sabah and Ishigakijima. I even did not get into the water. (I had never been that hesitate to get into the water in the past. I love water and corals very much. I spent 12 hours on the plane to get there. ) You swim with a crowd. There were more people than the fish. Not worth to go folks! I'd better replace the time spending in the Cairns City. Yes, I mean it! I can hardly see a handful fish in the semisub boat. I took a full view pictures underwater and I could see only not more than five fish. But if you are a baby jelly fish lover you will be happy. After the sub and back to the platform, what do you expect to see for snorkelling upon 8-9 metres depth water? Foods were not fresh. Chicken legs are cheap thing but not as fresh as I bought from Coles. By the way, I could see a weird thing that two female Asian staffs did not welcome Asian guests. (An old one at the coach area and a very young one on the boat.) Yet the native staffs were good. My conclusion: Don't waste your money and a whole day. Hartley's Crocodile is the best place and impressed me very much. Staffs and breakfast with the Kaola were very good there.

This is a fantastic cruise/scuba dive experience. The team are friendly and professional, the buffet lunch and morning snacks are excellent and the facilities clean. I did three, 30 minute dives and enjoyed all of them thanks to instructors Gordon and Steve.

Pricey but the experience is great. Good food on their platform in the ocean. Great to view the great barrier reef. Hope it is preserved for cutie gens.

Outstanding staff. Marine biologist advanced snorkel tour was incredibly well done. Recommend bringing your own towel to dry off. Good food for lunch.

Overall good mass production cruise and activities. Only complain is the lunch on the pontoon. Grilled chicken was cold, like just came out from fridge. They could have used the ovens to heat up before serving. Overall good experience, food is ok as I just ate to not feel hungry...

We couldn't have been more pleased with our choice of Quicksilver cruises to see the coral reefs. We choice he package that included three dive spots which was perfect to see the various attributes of the reefs. The staff was both knowledgeable and quite professional with informative talks and guided tours through the reefs. I can't say enough about their hospitality!!! I heard other passengers commenting on the staller lunch that was served on board as being the best they had eaten in Queensland. It was indeed a good offering to please both the vegan or meat lovers palette. They offer quite a variety of package deals for tours too. You're sure to find one that appeals to your desires.

What an amazing experience this is. Quite expensive, Especially if you choose the extras, such as dive or Heli ride but totally worth it

Great experience, big boat, only 120 people so that made it enjoyable. First time snorkelling on the Barrier Reef and it didn't disappoint. Big shout out to the staff who were super friendly and helpful. Would definitely recommend.

Big group (400 people?), big boat with nice facility. Food ok. Nice view on the way to the Reef.
One snorkeling location only, which is a set up base like a circled area in the middle of a reef area.
3 hrs traveling there and back, 3 hours activity time.
Saw a few fish in submarine tour, which were attracted by their feeding maybe. Corals are not colorful, limited fish seen during the whole tour, barely saw any fish while snorkeling with so many people together.
Kids are happy overall simply because of the cruise trip, lovely weather and snorkeling itself. But it s definitely not as what I saw on the advertisement and not as I expected to be surrounded by schools of fish.
This is a commercialized tour that you cannot pick up something wrong but just not as expected.

Whilst reasonable value for money, be aware that you are sharing this trip with a lot of other people. Getting a seat with a table on the boat over is of variable chance as here are couples who take the space of six and don't want to share. Similarly the buffet lunch area is crowed by bags and towels, but few people eating, again getting a table can be hard.

However the food is ok, the staff try, and the upsell isn't too hard.

Great diving instructors, awesome food, lots of reef to explore (esp at 3rd spot) for both diving & snorkelling

Did not enjoy the experience on this cruise.
Felt like they jammed as many people into a boat as possible. They should really limit the number of people go out on these trips.

Photo crew are extremely incompetent and haven't got a clue what they were doing and could do with a few lessons in photography.

Barrier Reef Station was OK, if you swam a little further, you got to see some coral in shallow waters, but a lot of it was dead. So very little color and not a whole lot of fish life.

best cruise option for non - swimmers and swimmers, had a great experience. Highly recommend it.

From a port town in Larne Northern Ireland, you guys are awesome if I could give you SIX Stars Like Liverpool Football Club I would.

Amazing value for what you get! An awesome day out with superb staff that are very helpful. (Especially Scott who was very patient in helping out inexperienced people to snorkel).
Semi-submersible boat was dope af too! Well maintained reef, got to see a wide variety of fish, including clown fish, parrot fish, sea bass and more, as well as two baby green sea turtles and a baby white tip!

Absolutely amazing experience with Quicksilver. We went on the Agincourt outer barrier reef and also the low isles day tours and both were great. The crew were so knowledgeable and genuinely enjoyed their jobs that the day flew by. Each tour had its high points, my favorite being the surprise love music by one of the crew on the cruise back from low isles. Definitely recommend.

AMAZING experience!!!! Remarkable time learning how to dive for my first time from the instructor Gordon!!!! He rocked and made it so much fun, taking me to see everything on the Great Barrier Reef!! He made me feel very safe and I loved it!!! Got to see jelly fish and turtles, great buffet lunch, fun and friendly staff! Highly highly recommend! Thank you!!!!

Excellent day out snorkelling on Agincourt Reef. Quicksilver run a smooth, efficient and safety conscious operation and the staff are cheerful, informative and friendly. The day at Agincourt was the highlight of our one month QLD roadtrip! The snorkelling, fish feeding, buffet lunch, amazing catamaran, the whole deal was just spot on.
Highly recommended!

Excellent day out on the Great barrier reef, very friendly staff, had a brilliant day thank you.

Absolutely fantastic. The staff are great, knowledgeable and helpfull. The facilities are clean and well organized. Suits all ages and abilities. There is something for everyone.

Good cruises to the outer reef, well suited to snorkeling and first visits. Experienced divers may prefer other options

Staffs were very nice and helpful on the whole trip.

A great day but would have preferred to have left earlier in the day which would have allowed for more time on the reef

Very efficient and we'll run. Nice boat trip out. Good equipment, but full and busy. A smaller boat may lend to a better experience. We did the guided snorkel tour with a marine biologist. This was great and the best part of the trip.

First time with quicksilver and had a pretty good day. Compared to other smaller operators it is a bit pricy and the pontoon area of the reef has seen better days.

One of the greatest experiences on the planet and no better team to take you to the Great Barrier Reef then these guys staff are helpful friendly and always on hand to inform you of there knowledge of the reef. They look after you from start to finish, we have been a few times with Quicksilver cruises and we wouldn t go with anyone else great company and team.

Staff were fantastic, food was delicious and the snorkeling was amazing. This was our children's first visit to the reef and they thoroughly enjoyed it as did we.

We went on the Agincourt outer barrier reef and also the low isles day tours and both were awesome. The staff were friendly, the food was scrumptious and the seats comfortable. We saw the coral reef at low tide and it was colourfull and surrounded by many fish and well worth the price.

Went on the Low Isles Wavedancer. The overall experience was fantastic and i was very impressed how they catered for me and my partners vegan diet needs. As well as this, customer service was excellent and all staff were very kind and helpful. The island was also beautiful!

Beautiful excursion to visit the coral reef! Including lunch and ride on the glass bottom boat! Recommended!

We chose Poseidon as a tour to be able to snorkel for longer time. The lunch was not good but we didn t choose them for their lunch service anyways, so it was great experience in short :) would choose them again

Quicksilver was overall a good day out. The staff are lovely and knowledgable. The activity platform itself is okay, however the actual snorkelling area is very small and doesn t give you a chance to really explore. For experienced swimmers it s not great.

Great experience. Everything you needed and staff were friendly and accomadate to all your needs.

Went with Quicksilver out to Agincourt reef on our honeymoon way back in 1989 when Quicksilver V was the pride of the fleet. What an amazing machine. The power of those beautiful engines throwing out great plumes of water as we smoothly sliced our way through the beautiful blue tropical waters was a trip I'll never forget, and I got some of the most amazing photos, especially some of the famous FNQ sunset. The crew were so friendly and knowledgeable about the reef and the buffet lunch was excellent. The trip was a highlight of our honeymoon. I remember it cost something in the vicinity of $110 each. Back then it seemed incredibly expensive but it was truly worth every cent. I would love to take the missus back up to Cairns for another trip out to the reef and re-live our younger days. Who knows, maybe we'll get back there before we die.

My husband and I recently did the day cruise with our 5-year old daughter on the Quicksilver out to the stationary pontoon on Agincourt reef. When looking at the different companies and reef expeditions on offer, we knew our options would be limited by needing to find something that would be appropriate for our young daughter. Whilst our preference would have been to go on a smaller boat, with fewer people, and also one that visited different parts of the reef during the day (rather than being confined to one site), in the end we chose the Quicksilver as it offered a couple more child-friendly activities such as the glass-bottomed boats, fish feeding, etc. It was also 'promoted' to us as a very family-friendly option. So I knew going into it that the snorkelling experience would not be quite what I wanted, and I was prepared to make this compromise; but to be frank, I did not expect it to be so dismal and underwhelming. The area that is cordoned off for snorkelling is not very large (I realise there are constraints from a safety point of view) and one has to actually swim right to the outer perimeter/buoys to start seeing some coral reef that is half nice. Closer to the boat there really is nothing to see. The water is deeper, and even with good visibility (we had 15m on the day we went out so visibility was good), there is just some brown/grey coral/rocks at the bottom, nothing to get excited about. I was one of a handful of people who swam out a bit further; most people just snorkelled closer to the boat and would not have seen much at all. This may have been reflective to some extent of peoples' confidence in the water, but I was very disappointed that the staff did not even let people know that if they felt up to it there was more to see if one went out just a bit further. On another note, the glass bottomed boats offered quite a nice experience, especially for the kids; but again, don't expect to see the colour of coral and teeming fish life that is presented in the promotional photos and glossy brochures. The buffet lunch is also extremely ordinary; yes there are prawns, but the rest is really very average and nothing to write home about. Overall, the cost is extremely high for a very ordinary experience. Certainly from a pure snorkelling perspective, this is definitely not value for money! I think they are exploiting people's eagerness to get close to the reef and taking top dollar, but what is on offer does not match the price point at all. If the intention is to protect the reef (which I am absolutely fine with) then don't offer such a trip, or price it accordingly. The cost for 2 adults and one small child is over $600 and there are much, much better things to spend this type of money on. Do your homework, but make sure you understand exactly what you can expect.

Very good experience. Strongly recommend for family having senior and toddler. Otherwise better choice is their Persidon cruise.

The best day out on the reef!
Boat was packed but out on the platform there was plenty of space. Plenty to keep non-swimmers occupied too.
The snorkelling was magnificent, with so many different environments to find and admire. Equipment and instruction all top notch, and the staff were clearly enjoying themselves as much as the visitors. Worth every dollar.

Quicksilver helped us experience the reef in the best possible way.