Waltzing Matilda Sailing — Local services in Airlie Beach

We recently went on a 2 day, 1 night trip on the Waltzing Matilda to Whitsundays and we have mixed feedback.

Firstly, the itinerary of the trip itself was fab, snorkel stops and a visit to the whitsundays.

The downside was the attitude of the Skipper Pete, he was incredibly condescending to all of the guests and at times rude and offensive. E.g., saying that woman are better at cleaning, adding phrases such as 'white man' into sentences where it wasnt necessary, being patronising to guests where English wasn't their first language but they had perfect English. Furthermore, we were supposed to get a snorkel on the 2nd day but Pete decided that we had spent too long on whitsundays even tho we were all waiting for him to pick us up on the dinghy. All in all, I personally think he couldn't be bothered to let us snorkel. We were also going to be back before 3pm (due to not snorkeling) so they decided to do a loop outside of the harbour so we arrived back at 3:15.

Now onto the food. I'm pescatarian which was a dietary option provided to put down by the company, however, I would not recommend this trip to anyone with dietary requirements. We were asked to pay an extra $10 for the inconvenience but even on the first lunch, which was pizza, they had forgotten to get veggie pizzas. Furthermore, every meal time, we had to remind the crew of our dietary requirements, with one girl who was lactose intolerant only being offered cows milk and for us veggies, being offered chicken crisps with chicken flavouring.

Online in the sample menu (picture attached) we were told we would get an aussie bbq and snacks would be a mezze board. I know this is a sample menu but the snacks were Coles pizza and crisps which is far far from the sample menu advertised. As well as this, the meal was a pasta bake, or for people with other dietary requirements it was pasta and sauce - nothing like what was advertised.

When asking about the BBQ the deckhand said it would take too long to cook for all of us.

All in all, I wish I could get my money back from this trip, feel as though I have been robbed of my money and an amazing experience.

Please do not support this boat and...

Had an incredible time on the Waltzing Matilda overnight tour! Skippers Pete and Ziggy were amazing—so friendly, passionate, and knowledgeable about the Whitsundays. We snorkeled in perfect conditions at Mackeral Bay (turtles, reef fish, and dolphins!), had a sunrise swim in Tongue Bay, and beat the crowds to Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach. We were so lucky with the weather, and Pete and Ziggy made the most of every moment.

Only downside was the limited dietary accommodation—there’s a $15 charge for coeliac/gluten-free, but the only change was a separate loaf of GF bread. I mostly had to pick and choose from the shared food. I’d offered to bring my own, and Sailing Whitsundays said it wasn’t necessary—but I did anyway and was very glad I did. If you have dietary needs, I’d recommend bringing some of your own food just in case—dry goods can be kept in your bunk, though fridge space is very limited.

Huge thanks to Pete and Ziggy for making it such a memorable experience—highly...

Honestly, this trip just wasn’t for me. The boat had definitely seen better days — it was old, stuffy, and sleeping onboard in that heat and humidity was nearly impossible. Add a stormy night to the mix, and let’s just say I didn’t get much rest.

What really made things worse was the captain. He had a pretty unpleasant attitude and came off more like a drill sergeant than a host. He kept pushing everyone to snorkel and swim, even when the weather clearly wasn’t on our side. I would’ve appreciated a bit more understanding and flexibility.

To top it off, the weather meant we couldn’t do half the things the trip was supposed to include. It really should’ve been postponed, because what we got was not what was promised.

All in all, I didn’t enjoy it and wouldn’t...