About This Tour Comparison
Every cruise on this site runs from Cairns to Green Island, and every one is currently bookable. Every tour on this site shows the from-price, the duration, the rating and the review count. Sixteen tours sit in the comparison across three groups, covering half-day trips, full days, sailing, diving and seawalker add-ons. No operator pays for placement, and no trip is left out to make another look better.
What This Comparison Actually Does
Green Island lies close to Cairns, so every operator gets you there in similar fashion. The real differences are the hours, the boat and what is included. Big Cat sails half-day and full-day options from A$110. Great Adventures covers the island plus the outer reef pontoon. Ocean Free and Ocean Freedom take small groups out under sail for nine hours from A$289. Match the tour to your time, not the operator name.
The Short Version
The lowest entry price belongs to the Big Cat cruises at A$110 per person, covering both the full-day and half-day formats. For ratings, the Ocean Free small group tour sits at 4.9 from 682 reviews, and the sailing tour with Green Island and reef time scores 4.8 across 413. Combos cost more but fold in transfers, gear or a second island (see Island And Reef Combos).
Where Your Money Goes
Each number shown here comes from a live booking page: nothing is estimated, rounded or inflated. Ratings and review counts appear exactly as published. Where a listing displays a struck-through price alongside a current one, the current figure is what we use. When a tour stops running or an operator changes its schedule, the entry is corrected or removed rather than left sitting with stale details.
How The Tours Measure Up
Tight schedule: the morning and afternoon half-day cruises each run four hours from A$110, enough for a swim and a glass-bottom boat ride before or after lunch.
Three Ways To Do The Island
- Full day on the island: Big Cat and Great Adventures both run eight-hour trips, leaving room for snorkelling, the rainforest boardwalk and the beach.
- Island plus reef: the outer reef pontoon day trip pairs Green Island with pontoon snorkelling from A$312, eight hours door to door.
- From above: the fly and cruise package by GSL Aviation arrives by light aircraft and returns by ferry, from A$429 per person.
- This site tracks 16 tours, which is the full set rather than a shortlist. Nine of them are Green Island day cruises, four are reef combos and sailing trips, and three cover diving and the Seawalker helmet experience. Behind them stand Great Adventures, Big Cat, the Quicksilver Group, Ocean Free, Ocean Freedom and GSL Aviation. If a trip leaves Cairns for Green Island and takes bookings, it belongs here.
Tour Styles Compared
Free cancellation applies across all 16 tours, which helps when wind or swell changes plans. The two biggest by review volume are the Great Adventures cruise options listing at 1933 reviews and the Big Cat full-day cruise at 1727, rated 4.4 and 4.5 respectively. Check the live booking page for current departure times and inclusions before committing, since timetables move with the season.
Comparing tours beats browsing listings one by one. Prices here run from A$110 to A$429, durations from four hours to nine and a half, and every option departs Cairns for the same patch of reef. Once the essentials sit side by side, the choice usually comes down to how many hours you want on the water and whether diving, sailing or a scenic flight matters to you.