Reef Encounter 100 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Queensland 4870

"I couldn’t have dreamt of a better introduction to diving! The staff were so patient, fun and confident which made us all super relaxed and confident to dive. Despite choppy waters, the reef was glorious and the vibes were fantastic under the water and on board too! We really enjoyed spending time with the crew who couldn’t have made our stay any better. Thanks especially to Santi who was the most professional, kind and confident instructor. Hope to be back and would definitely urge anyone to come check it out for themselves!"

"By far, the best way to see the reef. I did my SSI Open Water course two years ago on Reef Encounter and have just returned with 4 friends to do even more diving. Every single dive is truly amazing, rooms are comfortable, meals are excellent, and the crew are just awesome."

"“The best crew on the reef” Just as the crews shirts already state, this is by far the best GBR liveaboard. I’ve been out on reefy now 3 times. Did my OWD out on the reef in May 2022. It can be fairly hard to do all your training in the sometimes choppy water, but you will be rewarded with incomparable views from the first moment on. The office crew is so nice and helpful. I had to amend my booking several times, but they have always helped me out :) You will never get hungry on board, they have a great selection of food all day long Thank you guys so much, I’ll certainly be back soon!"

"BUYERS AWARE!!! I did my homework and chose Reef Encounter for 1) ensuite bathrooms 2) Food is suppose to be good 3) 10 dives in 3 days and boat moves twice a day. Well, most of it is true. Rooms are tired but clean. Aircon is good. Chef is very nice and although not gourmet food it's not bad. Boat did move twice a day to different site. I really don't have a high expectation for a dive boat. So overall I should be happy with this trip if not for the way the crew treat us. I can’t say that they are not nice. Most of them are nice enough but they are not approachable nor personable. They mostly keep to themselves, gathering and talking in their own little groups. There is minimal interaction and when you do need something you almost feel guilty to disturb them. We are suppose to board the day boat Reef Experience at 7:30 but they were not ready so we arrive Reef Encounter late. Then there was a long briefing before you get assigned to your room. I appreciate the safety part but the photographer’s briefing is really unnecessary. After we get our rooms it is already too late for the first dive. Meals are buffet style. Nobody ever mention rules and it was my first meal onboard. I never like to waste food so I took a small spoonful of each dish to taste thinking that I will choose the dish I like. When I return to the table just to get some fries I was stopped. ‘No second helpings!’ The crew admonished me. Luckily I wasn’t too hungry and have my own snacks but he embarrassed me in front of other guest. Our trip is in the Easter week and the boat is full to the rim. Guest have to dine in two groups. There is hardly any seat to eat comfortably since a few tables are always held for some guest or crew. The queue to get food is very long and when we finally get to the table one of the main dish is out and the crew said they have no more. My bf doesn’t eat lamb nor fish but it is not consider a dietary limitation so sometimes he does goes hungry. There is suppose to be a hot tub on the boat but I’ve never seen it. I overheard some guest requested to use it but Captain said it takes 12 hours to heat up. The crew said they can fill it with hot water. Captain said then guest who comes back from night dive will have cold showers. I was wondering, why wasn't it turned on in the first place??? Now the main reason for the one star. We booked online for a 3D/2N trip. There was no mentioning of checking in/out time. On our second night during dinner the crew announced that SOME guest MIGHT have to move to ‘transfer rooms’. We had dinner as usual, stayed in the lounge until after dessert and went to bed. The last morning we planned to do the 8:30 and 10:30 dive since we are not allowed the 1:30 dive. Some other guest that we know moved to the transfer room but we were not called so we thought we were lucky. After the boat moved to the new dive site and we are about to suit up the crew told us that we have to vacate our room and move to the transfer room. Btw we have to share that room with 8 other people. We were totally shocked. We asked when? ‘NOW!’, she said, very rudely. Ok, I’m not even arguing if it is right to kick us out of our room without mentioning it anywhere in the booking terms. From the time they announce that SOME guest have to move till this very moment they have over 12 hours and numerous chances to inform us. We at least talked to the crew three times for headcount, paying bar tabs etc. They just did a check in person before the boat move but nobody said anything. To much of our protest the Captain said there's nothing he can do. We scrambled to pack, move and suit up only to be denied our dive by the dive master. 'You are late!', she said. 'But we were told to vacate our room without warning just now!' 'I don't work inside. It's not my concern.' So because of the crew's negligence we lost a dive and because the boat was late we lost a second dive. To add insult to injury nobody cares or even attempt to apologize. So yes, I don't have a high expectation from a dive boat but this is probably the worst experience I had."