How to Get the Best Price on an Overnight Sailing Adventure

The Whitsundays are a boaties paradise, with many boat trips leaving daily to explore the Whitsunday Islands. Each trip varies in length and itinerary, as well as in style and comfort, catering to each type of traveller as they come to visit this part of the world. From family trips to backpacker trips to luxury catamarans, the Whitsundays has it all.

With so much to choose from and so many boats available to you, it may be hard to navigate the waters of what you want and how to get it. A large concern when travelling to the Whitsundays is price and how to make it work for you.

Below are some tips on what to do and what not to do when dealing with a travel agent and trying to achieve the best bang for your buck.

What To Do

1. Travel in a group: If you're travelling with a group of people, you will get a better discount. It basically comes down to time the agent has to spend arranging your trip for you on the back-end - the more people, the less time spent on each individual booking. The larger the better - try going for a private charter and bring all your family and friends.

2. Do a package: Pair your Whitsundays trip with a Fraser trip, Cairns tour or accommodation to cut back on costs and receive a discount. This is again so that the agents can spend more time on one person (you) who is building a package and less time on administration.

3. Travel in low season: Low season means less people racing to get onto the boats, which in turn means there is a little more wiggle room when it comes to pricing.

4. Book in advance to avoid seasonal price increases: The further ahead you book, the better. Prices increase on a regular basis, depending on the season, and it does affect total pricing overall. We will honour prices that are in effect at time of booking, so even if they increase after you've paid, you're safe from extra charges.

5. OR Risk a standby rate: Booking very, very last minute can have its perks, with operators offering discounted rates to fill up their last few seats. However, standby rates are not effective for every boat, nor are they guaranteed by any means, so this is a risky way to save a dollar.

Bonus points: Be kind to your agents and have good manners. We are, after all, human just like you and genuinely want to get you onto the perfect boat for you and at the best price! 'Please' and 'thank you' go a long way.

Also - be realistic. If one boat is cheaper than another boat - there is a reason. Prices are not miraculously lower nor significantly higher without reason. You get what you pay for, which is important to keep in mind when trying to negotiate the highest price you are willing to pay for your overnight boating trip in the Whitsundays.

What Not To Do

1. Price match: Don't price match between 20 different agencies. It is time-consuming, wastes time and often causes you to miss out on the boat you were hoping to get on. Most of the time you will end up booking within a few dollars of your original quote. By sticking with the original, you've at least saved yourself the time and the headache.

2. Be unprepared: The worst thing you can do for yourself is to come into the conversation completely unprepared. We know you won't have all the answers (that's what we are here for!) but the more information you can provide the better. There are dozens and dozens of boats in the Whitsundays, so before approaching your agent, narrow it down to your top three boats so we can look into dates for you. If you're really unsure of what you want, make sure you know how many people are travelling with you, their ages, how long you'd like to go and what date you want to travel. Be aware of high season and low season - you're not going to get discounts in the high season, nor is it likely to get onto an overnight sailing trip on Christmas Eve if you email us on December 22. Do your research but keep an open mind, we might be able to point you in a whole new direction you didn't even know you wanted to go in!

We love to find the perfect boat at the best price for each and every one of our passengers. Our job is to find you the trip of a lifetime where you can explore the Whitsundays, Fraser Island, Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef and more while staying within your budget!

We're always here to help in any way we can with the goal of each and every customer walking away happy, towards an amazing trip in Australia!

Live chat with a local team member or call us on +61 7 4914 2425 today!