Entertainment
13 December, 2024
Party time on the inlet
A NEW way to party is available for those looking to make the most of their Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations with Cairns Party Boats – a Trinity Inlet cruise to pair your top tier celebration with the best views.
Pioneering a new entertainment market in Cairns, founder of Cairns Party Boats, Shaun ‘Snapper’ McCabe – better known for being the owner and founder of Party In Cairns – launched the Sea Dancer this year, a 41-seater, 14m flybridge catamaran adapted with a big dance floor, high impact sound system, two dancing poles and lounging areas.
The Sea Dancer has been available for charter since the end of January and has seen hundreds of parties since but Mr McCabe is aiming to reach more people this holiday season so they can have their dream Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties.
“Party in Cairns has been running since 1992, with our party bus. Our pub crawl has been going for 23 years and then last year we started Cairns Party Boats,” he said.
“Through Party in Cairns I had lots of inquiries from people asking if there were any party boats in Cairns and finally last year my business partner John and I bought this boat from Port Douglas. It was an old crocodile spotting boat and we transformed it into a proper dedicated party boat.
“Ever since we started our first trip on Australia Day this year, it’s been going off.
“We’ve been going out as many as three times a week and we’ve had lots of hens parties, bucks parties, staff parties and birthday parties.
“It’s BYO. We now have a license to sell alcohol but we need to transform the bar first, so they’ll definitely see this happen next year. We just cruise through the inlet, so if you’re not good with sea sickness, this is perfect.
“An average trip for us is two and a half hours, so 5.30pm to 7.30pm is what we recommend to catch the beautiful sunset but people can book for midday, morning or night.”
Mr McCabe said Cairns Party Boats would make for the perfect New Year’s Eve party.
“We’re doing two different cruises on New Year’s Eve for the fireworks show,” he said.
“One from 8.30pm to 10pm and another one from 11pm to 12.30am, so they get to have the boat out for an hour and a half, see the fireworks, enjoy the drinks package and they also get entry to a few clubs afterwards so it’s going to be a great night for those looking for something different.”
For bookings and more information, visit https://bit.ly/4gitEv0
