Ocean Spirit Michaelmas Cay Cruises — Local services in Cairns City

Flew halfway around the world to enjoy the barrier reef. High expectations were met by the following on our Michaelmas Cay Cruise April 29th, 2025 cruise for my wife and I and our daughter.

Pros: Beautiful day. Food was adequate. Cons: Staff. No beach tour.

In all my years I’ve never witnessed a staff so ill-suited for customer service. I’ll give the young lady who described the reef four stars for her knowledge and smiles. She did ok on the submersible tour.

The rest of the staff, mainly men, were dismissive and at times blatantly unkind to others. Based on watching this we stayed out of their way as much as possible.

When we were shuttled out to the reef the young long hair guy met us with a scarf over his face, glaring at the guests as if he was about to draw a gun. Didn’t say a word other than “watch your step.” Later he showed off by standing in the skiff doing circles in the water and disturbing the very wildlife we were there to observe.

No one, and I mean NO ONE, helped anyone with the equipment. Mind you this was a small group and it was advertised as boutique. I counted enough crew to easily manage the number of guests. They could have walked around and checked on folks, helping them adjust the equipment. This crew was more interested in chatting amongst themselves versus being friendly or helpful. Even an occasional smile would have been welcome.

The equipment was also substandard.

A guided beach tour was advertised. My wife doesn’t snorkel so she would have enjoyed going on that versus sitting waiting for us to finish snorkeling. I counted five staff on the beach just sitting talking amongst themselves and not helping anyone. Only when it was time to leave did we hear one of them yell that the shuttle back to the boat was coming.

In the end my daughter and I had a tremendous time exploring the reef and we’ll take that with us forever, but if you want any level of customer service shop another group.

In closing, the crew had the disingenuous “smile and goodbye” as you exited the boat. Seriously? You treat your customers poorly all day and THEN you smile?! Save that for the suckers.

Highly suggest you shop elsewhere. Looks from other reviews that this is in their culture. Our bad for not researching better and lesson learned.

PS: Happy to alter my review if anyone reaches out with a...

This was the experience of the life time. Let me start by telling you that the cruise was so fantastic. The island was so beautiful. Since it was a small cruise, it was so much comfortable. The crew staff was so awesome, specially Ricky or may be Richie. OK, sorry maybe I might be spelling the name wrong. He gave us so much in-depth knowledge about the reef and the preservation of the reef and so on. Here are another 2 example of the stuff he did, which was so helpful and impressive. I had my 3 years old niece and she dropped her sun glasses in the reef while going to the submarine ride and started crying.

Ricky saw that and just jumped in the water to get her sun glasses. If someone else falls in the water, that is for sure that these guys will save them. Second thing was that I had a twisted ankle on the beach and after couple of hours, I was unable to walk. Ricky brought a wheel chair for me at the end of the cruise and helped me and my family to get to the car. Coming from Texas, USA to Australia for a holiday, these acts of kindness were so awesome and created a great impression on the perception of Australia. I loved every bit of it. Ocean spirit and Quick Silver group must be promoting this kind of people, who has such a passion of what they do. Little bit about the beach. If you are a good swimmer, this is a good place to go against the current and see the coral. If you are not a good swimmer, on the beach, you will not see much, however the island is beautiful

Thanks you so much for the reply.

Happy Australia Day to all of you. Yes, We are planning to come back this year in December/January time frame. Hopefully we will got to see all...

I recently went on the Ocean Spirit day tour and, unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. The boat was extremely crowded, with around 120 people on board, which made it difficult to find a comfortable seat. If you needed to get up for any reason, such as going to the bathroom or getting a drink, there was a high chance that you would return to find someone else in your spot. For that reason the availability of stinger suits was also a concern. There weren't enough suits in common sizes, and I was offered a suit in my size that was totally covered in mold. I declined to wear that due to health concerns. The alternative options were either wear two sizes smaller or three sizes larger, which were not ideal. Same went for my child - who is 7. We both ended up in suits that were too tight and of course that dampened the whole snorkelling experience due to lack of comfort.

The overall experience felt chaotic, with long lines and waits for everything, and the staff appeared overwhelmed, which diminished the atmosphere of the tour.

The food provided was average, and while the destination itself was beautiful, the large crowds made it challenging to fully enjoy.

Having been on various excursions with different companies in the past in the region - this particular tour was not my favourite and I would not consider or recommend it. It may be a better experience for those who don’t mind the crowds, but personally, I wouldn’t choose to...