Imagine Cruises — Local services in Nelson Bay

Well, I booked a the 3.5 hour cruise for Wednesday 13/01/21 for me and family, whilst my children loved the cruise, I unfortunately was violently sick on the cruise with sea sickness. I have never suffered from such terrible sea sickness in all my life, even though I had taken the necessary precautions beforehand (i.e motion sickness tablets), it did not work. But let me tell you the treatment I received from staff onboard the vessel. When I first starting experiencing nausea, the older woman operator ushered me to the back of the vessel, as it would hopefully improve my motion sickness, it did not, it only got worse. Instead of receiving empathy from the tour operators, this same woman came up to me, held my hand, and basically was telling me to quieten it down as I was ruining the experience for the other customers on board, and somehow I was over reacting ( I was moaning and groaning with the constant headache, dizziness, nausea, I was cold and clammy), and I thought to myself does she think I want to be this sick. Lack of empathy. They offered me ginger, (by this stage nothing would have worked) but by sucking on the ginger , it helped me to throw up. I was sitting on the back of the deck, and she wanted to me move as she wanted to place an empty basket where I was sitting, I said to her ( this same older woman operator) that I couldnt move, to which I heard a sign of "mm" and with a voice of contempt she puffed " Well I guess I will just have to work around you". Hey lady I was really really feeling ill. I understand that the tour operators could not do anything and I know I was moaning and groaning with such severe sea sickness, and I was being a bit stupid at times ( even jokingly asking for a air ambulance, even though I knew it sounded ridiculous, I just had to put up with it the best I could). When I did vomit, it was such a loud and violet vomit, it was just horrible. On the way back , they turned up the music so others wont hear me moaning and groaning. The "captain" of the vessel even suggested to my husband that I was over exaggerating my symptoms and to tone it down, well my husband responded that I did not mean to be this ill. When I finally got off, they did take my bag full of vomit, thanks for that. Whilst my children did enjoy the cruise, but please imagine this would you want your loved one treated the same way as I was treated, I really do understand there was nothing you could have done, but I did not expect such a careless and disregard from the staff. The other people on board were understanding, one kind lady even approached my mum and asked how I was going and if I needed any motion sickness tablets (but by then nothing would have helped, I would have just thrown the tablet back up), maybe the crew can take a page from this strangers kindness and...

We had an absolutely amazing day out on the water last Sunday. Not only was the weather perfect, but the boat, crew and owner of Imagine were fantastic. Unlimited, tea, coffee and biscuits and you can take your own picnic if you want to.

About half an hour from port we saw whales. So many of them. Everybody on the boat was squealing each time we saw some. They travel in pairs with their babies, just frolicking along, enjoying their long distance swims. Some of them performed for us, flicking their tails in the air before descending for another sounding dive.

We also saw dolphins, gannons, sea eagles and seals. The captain took us to a special spot to see the seals lounging on the rocks, so many of them, and there is also a special pod of dolphins that live near the seal colony.

Honestly, if we'd just gone out on the boat for the day and not seen anything I would have been happy, but what we saw was an absolute delight and I couldn't ask for more. We will all definitely go out on Imagine again.

Thanks to...

Best part of our trip! We absolutely loved the Marine Discovery Cruise today. Perfect sized catamaran boat, enough space to have the facilities you need (toilet, seating, table, bar and tea facilities), but small enough to be comfortable and so much more personal than some of the other boat tours in the area.

It feels like a friend taking you out on the boat for the day. They are also really passionate about caring for and respecting the wildlife.

The staff were all really friendly, informative and super helpful. We loved seeing the dolphins on the way to the snorkelling spot, and really appreciated staff getting in the water too, to point out so many fascinating fish and other underwater creatures when we were snorkelling. Then getting to stand at the front on the boat as we sailed back! Also the catamaran was a much smoother ride than other boats I’ve been on.

Great experience all round, and really reasonably priced. It was a perfect way to spend the day! Thanks again to all the...