New ferry timetable starts Sunday

CRUISE Whitsundays is about to introduce a new timetable, effective from Sunday, February 1.

Cruise Whitsundays general manager of operations, Gary Kilby, said the company recognised regular timetable changes could cause disruption “therefore we try to limit the number of changes throughout the year”.

“Generally these are the result of airline schedule changes but this timetable change also needs to take account of the sudden closure of Long Island Resort,” he said.

Mr Kilby said Cruise Whitsundays was continually reviewing its operations and identifying how it could provide even better products and services and “this timetable change has given us the opportunity to make those changes”.

Under the new arrangements, guests utilising Cruise Whitsundays resort connections services will now travel on the pride of the company’s fleet – brand new vessels Kingfish and Cobia, and the completely refurbished Seahorse.

Mr Kilby confirmed Seaflight and Camira would continue to operate tours to the Great Barrier Reef and Whitehaven Beach.

“The change has also allowed us to remodel some of our scheduling through the middle of the day, giving our guests two major benefits – less waiting time on arrival at Hamilton Island Airport and improved day cruise products offering more, equally-weighted time at each of the islands guests visit on multi-island tours,” he said.

The new timetable will soon be released on the Cruise Whitsundays website, with hard copies available from all local agents, tour desks and the Cruise Whitsundays Maritime Terminal at the Port of Airlie.

Early morning and late afternoon services to Daydream Island and Hamilton Island remain virtually unchanged for the convenience of island staff and regular travellers.