We flew to Lizard Island from Cairns. We were not given any information about the plane when booking. If you don't like small planes, this may be a problem. But, it's only an hour flight and it's worth it if you can stomach it...no bathrooms on the plane... (or take some medicine to get you through the flight). We were flown to the island on a plane that seated 12 passengers and flown back on a plane that seated 6 passengers (though, on the return flight, one passenger had to sit next to the pilot and one passenger had to sit in the back row by themselves (meaning, at least one couple was separated from their partner because of the small plane). We were promptly greeted and taken to The Lodge for a welcome drink. Then we were taken to our room...Anchor Bay Suite #31. Whoa! The atmosphere/ambience of the room was amazing and the view is a slice of heaven on earth. It was hard to leave the room...but we made ourselves change and go out so we could go enjoy all the island had to offer. Relaxing on the beach, snorkeling off the beach, hiking, taking a 'dingy' (not a dingy by my definition...it was a nice-sized little motor boat with a shade structure) to other parts of the island and private beaches for more snorkeling and a picnic lunch. Note: when you order a picnic lunch, they pack double of what you requested if your lunch is for two...so we had way more food than we needed or could eat. So much fun! We also did a 1/2-day snorkeling trip (which is an hour snorkeling)...it was all we needed. A full day trip would have been too long for us...aka, boring (we ready to stop snorkeling after 40 minutes). But that's just us.

The food in the restaurant was very good, but not excellent (which is what we expected for the expensive, all-inclusive price). The portions of food were good for us because we don't like to over fill. However, if you feel the portions to be small, you could ask for another order (the same or something else). There was one night where I decided to try something new and didn't care for it at all. They had no problem bringing me a different order. The staff is very friendly and willing to offer helpful advice about what to do on the island. However, the serving staff wasn't as attentive as we expected. Not sure if that is because they are mostly young and not as experienced serving in a 5-star restaurant. There were many times where we waited way too long for someone to refill our water glass or before we had to go find someone and ask for more water, or whatever. They weren't very good about checking on you to see if you needed anything. But, whatever they did, they did it with a smile.

Overall, we loved our time there and are glad we went. However, we expected excellence for the price...and that is not what we would rate it overall.