Tangalooma Island Resort — Hotel in Brisbane City

Warning for those booking day trips. The refund and rescheduling policy is a gimmick! Read the negative reviews before you book and be prepared to lose your money.I made the mistake of not doing so. I would have probably saved myself losing over $300. Hopefully, you can be saved the grief and money. For context, I booked a ATV quad biking day trip from Brisbane for my partners birthday with transportation organised to and from Brisbane via the ferry. As it is a day trip from 10am-4pm, you are given the day to ‘enjoy’ the island experience.

At the time of booking, the weather forecast was indicated to be sunny. However, the day before the trip it began to rain consistently all through the afternoon and evening and all through the following day. Now, I’m not talking about a ‘sprinkle or light shower’ but full on pelting RAIN. It is beyond me how the resort company is okay with putting people on quad bikes in weather that can cause severe accidents and shortchanging them on what should otherwise be a full experience as advertised on their website (sand duning, riding on the beach and around the Island etc).

I respect the purpose of such policies, but not when they come at the expense of shortchanging a travellers experience and forcing them to endure horrendous weather. Imagine being stuck on an Island for over 3, 4 or even 5 hours with no way to get home unless by some miracle you manage to catch an earlier ferry at your own additional expense (and assuming there is room). If you’re planning a special day for someone like I was, this is simply a recipe for disaster and the furthest thing you can imagine from a quality, adventure experience (or a good birthday!). Torrential rain and half-cooked tour experience is something I did not know I was signing up for- a fact the “48 hour” policy simply will not recognise or accommodate you for. As a business, this is a recipe for negative reviews and unhappy customers.

Anyway, we immediately (at 8am when opening hours were allowed), called the reception about these concerns (and also about the conditions on the ferry- a 75 minute journey). We were hit with the there is a “48 hour” window policy to make ANY changes. They admitted that the ferry ride would probably be “choppy” (a gross understatement given the forecast that morning indicated severe rain and a chance of a thunderstorm!) and that it was likely some activities would be cancelled on the island. So essentially, we would be stuck on Tangalooma with very little options for wet weather activities! Aside from quad biking, this is meant to be part of the package experience. Unsurprisingly, this does mean the customer is shortchanged. This cannot be fixed by the provision of wet weather ponchos or the company’s expectation that people should be ok with not accessing all the inclusions that should come with their day trip island experience.

The lady on the phone also said that it was possible the trip might be cancelled right before or on route to the island and we would be notified accordingly. So basically, it is perfectly acceptable to have to return mid-trip or on route, and we simply have no choice but to go along with it. It would make more sense if they took the above into consideration and simply provided people with a choice to rebook or reschedule. We do not have control of the weather, nor should we have to endure a subpar experience with limited opportunities to actually do island activities. I quite surprised that this is not factored into the customer service. Also, NONE of this information was anywhere on their website!!

Honestly, there is a good reason for a lot of the negative reviews which clearly indicate people have been royally messed around by this inflexible and inconsiderate policy. Whilst I understand the policy, I disagree that it should not allow people to rebook due to poor weather on the day.

After weighing up the pros and cons, and considering the miserable experience and day ahead of us, we did not end up going. I lost over $300 (not refundable due to their policy). I...

We were just visiting Tangalooma Resort as a day visitor on Friday, 24th Jan. I booked it for the hi-light of our holiday and it was the most expense spent on an experience.The snorkelling of the wrecks would have been a magnificent experience, but despite questioning people regarding their swimming/snorkelling abilities we were put in a group where 6 people just clung to our guides life ring and wouldn’t even put their face in or use their flippers, it meant he was unable to interact with the other 4 of us who were extremely confident swimmers and experienced snorkelers. He was exhausted and could only drift along the edge of the wrecks. We were barely snorkelling for half hour which is so disappointing, it is so beautiful and there was so much to see. There were just so many groups snorkelling, it really spoils the experience, our boat would have been around 60 people with the majority having little to no experience with snorkelling. I lost count how many times I was smacked by other peoples flippers. It is not snorkel that can spread out across a large area. My son though, thoroughly enjoyed using a sea scooter, but again the instructor, Brayden, was so preoccupied hanging on to other members of the group he could not help my son get the most out of the experience. Please, please do not have so many people on the tour, it is such a beautiful place. You also have kayaking tours going out at the same time, it just turns into chaos (I was also hit by paddles by people with no idea of what they were doing) with group leaders shouting instructions and you having no idea where you are meant to be or who they are talking to, there was no relaxing, floating over the beautiful ocean wreck reef and soaking in the amazing life underwater. I would love to have paid for a tender out to the reef and then been able to independently snorkel.Having a day room was a great facility - showers, lockers, lounges, all was so appreciated, particularly as it was such a hot day. There really did need more food offerings, the line was so long at beach cafe we couldn’t eat before snorkelling tour and after tour it was 2.30 and everything was then closed for lunch. The food experience was a cafeteria and not a restaurant to relax and enjoy. The Fire and Stone eatery told us at 5.30 they were too busy (not even half the tables were being used) and come back in half an hour, but we had no lunch so just opted to stand in line like at high school or a shopping mall at the beach cafe. I was dreaming of feeding a dolphin, but was so shocked as to the sheer number of people booked in. I was under the impression that it was a limited experience. I did see that your dolphin carers have complete respect for the dolphins and the dolphins choose what they would like to do. Time was given to see what dolphins wanted to participate which is the ethos I have about any nature experience. I was sad at such large numbers (150 people) in 7 lines that represented the number of dolphins choosing to engage. Each group was allowed one fish, everyone paid the same price, it was hard to choose the fortunate person who got to feed the fish, it really wasn’t fair on the others as it was a 3 minute interaction with the dolphin and they just had to stand there and watch. To be honest I enjoyed watching the dolphins from the jetty better as I had more time to watch their beautiful behaviours. Again …….. please, please, please do not have so many people booked in so it is a gentle, calm, wild experience with more time to take in the magic. With the jet skiing, parasailing, Segway etc etc it is turning a beautiful natural island into Disneyland. There really needs to be limits on the amount of people allowed per day on the island. It is well over double in my opinion over capacity. Unfortunately as beautiful as the island is, it is not for me. A positive mention to our Captain on the Tangalooma ferry on our return trip. A storm came in and he had to manage up to 70km/hr winds. He demonstrated such skill and knowledge in providing the most comfortable...

First holiday in 13 years and this is how it went. I booked 2 nights accommodation and 3 activities, one per day for 4 people. I discovered the day after booking that for the quad biking I chose 3 adults and 1 child as there was no tandem option, but I assumed they would know it’s tandem because of the child , they didn’t and I was charged for 4 adults, so I emailed and asked for it to be fixed and can they email me back the times of my activities each day so I can plan other things. A lady called me and said she didn’t email because it’s easier for her, she asked me to right down the times I needed and I said I was in the emergency room with my dad who had heart failure and I don’t have a pen and paper and she said that’s ok I’m sure you can remember, I did, then I asked about the extra charge and asked for a credit on my account for when I arrive or a refund, she told me I would have to call back tomorrow.We arrived on island a few hours before check in to maximise our time here and went straight to the tanga tours to hand our activities tickets in, the snorkelling of the wrecks, the lady told me the system shouldn’t of allowed me to book as my son was to young, I asked for a credit to my account or a refund and she told me they are not part of the resort and the best she could do is offering me a gift certificate I can use over 12 months. Sadly nothing else here I could do with a 5 year old that interested us. Thankfully this is when I met Steve at the resort water sports, explained what happened and he didn’t bat an eyelid by accepting the voucher himself allowing me to rent a boat with some snorkels to cover what I spent.then went quad biking and we had a ball, the man guiding us was brilliant, truth be told the coffee shop staff and reception girls all were just amazing and went above and beyond. Feeding the dolphins looked hectic with hundreds lining up but although it was a little slow to get started it was orderly and I understand that when feeding wild dolphins they need to protect the animals but it was very cool. We then went to eat at fire and stone and didn’t realise that two days a week the Chinese side is closed and 2 days a week the Vietnamese was closed but it’s 730 pm only 4-5 tables I could see and all the outside tables were full of leftover foods and plates etc so I’m guessing way understaffed, we waited in line and was told it’s at least an hour to get the food, we went to the beach cafe and not many people at all but we waited 30 minutes for pizza and chicken tenders but it’s school holidays so it is what it is, all the staff I spoke to here were very much McDonald’s mentality, get ‘em in and get ‘em out, I asked what ingredients is on the pizza and the guy without a word flipped the menu on the table over and pointed to the pizza, I was happy as I hate capsicum and mushroom and absolutely onions and none were listed. It came with great big onions, to tired to complain we took our food and left. Day 2 we went to the helicopter briefing we arrived at 9am for a 930 start, 930 passed and I asked a staff member about it and she said just wait someone will come. At 1030 we went to reception to ask if they changed the times and the trainee manager advised me that those activities are not run by the resort and they often cancel without telling anyone, my 5 year old was very upset. We went for lunch at the cafe again as there is no other choice and we had nachos for $11, great value very filling best valued item here in my eyes, girlfriend ordered a chicken burger with extra aoli but I can’t give any feedback as we got a beef burger. We went on the marine discovery tour and again best activity, we saw a large turtle and dugong and stingray and a pod of dolphins and fed the schools of fish at the wrecks, was a great time Di the activity attendant was really good. Day 3 we checked out, had to pay $15 for room charge and went on a boat trip snorkelling, when returning I discovered the...