Sundowner Cruises | Iconic Whitsunday Adventures — Attraction in Airlie Beach

We recently embarked on the Airlie Beach Sip & Sail experience that, in many ways, delivered what it promised — an enjoyable evening on the water, set against a stunning backdrop, with champagne in hand & a relaxed, funny & friendly crew hosting the event.

However, all of that goodwill & enjoyment came to a halt at the end of the trip due to a deeply concerning incident. As we were disembarking, a woman, an older guest, fell overboard into the water. It was a moment of shock & the atmosphere immediately changed from calm to chaos. What followed left many of us not only shaken, but also questioning the safety protocols in place aboard the boat.

From my perspective, the response from the crew to this situation was worryingly slow & disorganised. There was visible confusion, delayed action & a general lack of clarity around what was supposed to happen. I am not a maritime expert, but as a guest on a commercial boat, I do expect the staff to be trained to handle an overboard emergency quickly & professionally. In this case, that expectation was not met. There seemed to be no clear plan of action, no immediate life-saving equipment deployed & no designated staff member taking charge. It was hard to know who was leading the response & even harder to understand why it took so long to get her out of the water. Even more jarring was the emotional reaction from the staff. A crew member could be heard repeatedly shouting, “How the f* did this happen?” which, while likely a reaction borne out of panic, did not instil confidence in their control over this situation.

It is important to note the conditions at the time. As passengers were disembarking, there was inadequate lighting. We were being guided off the boat by a phone torch. A wholly insufficient method for safely moving guests, particularly elderly ones, from a moving/bobbing vessel onto a dock. In the dim light & with unclear footing, a fall was not only foreseeable, it is, sadly, almost inevitable.

Given this context, it is difficult to chalk up the incident to a freak accident or unpredictable moment. Though, in my opinion, this was a foreseeable safety hazard that was not appropriately addressed with necessary caution or equipment. If this business intends to continue offering public experiences, it must do more to safeguard its guests, particularly those who may be more vulnerable or less steady on their feet.

The woman who fell overboard was obviously rescued, though the whole ordeal was traumatic to witness. It’s impossible for me to speak on her physical or emotional state following the incident, but from what I observed, the experience was deeply distressing not only for her, but for all those still on board who watched it unfold. This should never have happened & it deeply overshadowed an otherwise enjoyable evening.

To be clear, this is not a review written with malice. Rather, it is written with the hope that serious improvements can be made. Accidents happen, yes, but when they do, we need to trust that those in charge are equipped to respond with calm, training & urgency. In this instance, I did not feel that level of preparedness or professionalism was present.

Moving forward, I believe the operators of this experience must take significant steps to prevent such a situation from occurring again. While I can appreciate many aspects of this sailing experience, the beautiful setting, the friendly service & funny crew members, the final moments were jarring & deeply concerning. As much as I’d like to recommend this experience to others, I cannot do so in good conscience until I know that the operators have taken concrete steps to improve safety & staff readiness.

Safety should never be an afterthought. I hope the operators treat this as a turning point, not only for the safety of future guests but also for the wellbeing of their crew, who deserve better preparation & support in difficult moments. What happened that evening could have ended far worse than it did & I urge the business to act decisively to ensure it never...

The gentleman who run this cruise are absolutely amazing and make you feel incredibly welcome from the moment you step on the boat to leaving, I would personally do this part of the package again. The dinner afterwards was a huge disappointment, if you are single, don’t do the dinner inclusive package, you will be treated as you don’t matter and dismissed. The girl on entry was disappointed I was alone and challenged my booking, saying my name was not in their system, then when I challenged this, she then put me in the middle of the restaurant instead of on the deck to appreciate the ocean while I ate, I wasn’t going to put up with this and asked to be out on the deck to see the views as I ate, when I did this, she was annoyed and put me at a table that could have sat four people instead of a table for two. When it came to ordering my food, I had to call someone over, as every staff member that walked past me, looked at me and then walked off as I did not exist. The inpatients of staff with my presence was more than noticeable. I would never ever eat at Sorrento restaurant again or even recommend it to anyone. But honest stick with the beautiful guys who run the Sunday...

I really wanted to do a sunset sail but those were either booked out or cancelled due to lack of numbers ( now school holidays are over) so we opted for the sundowner cruise instead. It was on a pontoon boat - which didn't look very classy...but the cruise turned out to be really lovely. We were greeted with a glass of bubbly, and the skipper ran through the safety drill with classic Aussie humour.There were only 14 of us this trip- I understood there to have been 40 the evening prior.Tough times for people up here! Each group were celebrating something special - and we had a wonderful evening connecting with each other.The nibbles were as pictured (on the website ) The commentary continued in classic Aussie fashion and we were treated to a spectacular sunset and an unusual cloud formation we nicknamed ' Aurora borialis' Whitsunday style.We saw lots of turtles and a possible dolphin sighting.All together it was a wonderful evening - thank you to Christina and the skipper (whose name I...