We went out to the reef twice during our stay. Once on "Passions of Paradise" and once on "Ocean Spirit". Both were really wonderful and you get great value for what you pay! On Ocean Spirit there's even a glass bottom boat, so if you don't even want to get in the water, you don't have to (although you really should!). The crew of both ships are very friendly and helpful! A great way to see the beautiful underwater world of the reef!

February 2004 - Booked on the Fantasea 1-day Reef Trip from Airlie Beach, (bus to Shute Harbour included in price). Very comfortable boat, captain kept us informed of where we were going and what would happen. Professional photographers were a bit of a pest unless you like that sort of thing. Great buffet lunch served on board when we landed at the pontoon at Hardy's Reef. Very friendly and helpful crew. Very well organised snorkelling, 15 min trips on semi-submersible along Hardy's reef, underwater viewing area on ship. Diving also available. The day cost about ?90.00 each. Thought this was expensive given that the reef itself was disappointing - not very colourful - mainly grey/beige with a few bursts of lilac/blue. Maybe because this part of the reef is in shallow water and becomes exposed at low tide. Maybe a new area should be investigated. Fish were amazing though!

We were astonished at how many cruises there are to the Great Barrier Reef.The first cruise we did was to Low Island which is east of Port Douglas. It was something out of the movies, the island is small and the walk and talk we did with their marine biologist was just the best. They must give their tream happy pills but they were the happiest bunch. The buffet lunch was more than we expected and we also paid extra to do a snorkelling tour again with a biologist, really really worthwhile as having someone to explain what you are seeing on the Great Barrier Reef definitely made it so much more interesting.Unfortunately, we didnt compare and went a second time on a reef cruise but this time from Cairns. The boat was shabby, the staff so so and no one had told us food was not included so we had not taken enough money.We definitely recommend Quicksilver Low Islands cruise, it was the best thing we did in Australia. Look out for reef tours from Cairns with Sail in the name, unfortunately but we were so cross we didnt keep the ticket. Having just helped our parents to plan their trip to Australia this month, we came across an excellent way to compare Great barrier reef cruises at great-barrier-reef.au.com/ which showed up all the differences and yes it has the Low Islands on it too. Go Nemo!