We’re off on our trip to Tasmania by cabin & car and to get there we took the Spirit of Tasmania from Melbourne to Devonport. We chose a day sail, which saw us departing around 9:30am.
We really weren’t sure what to expect through the loading and boarding process. There didn’t seem to be much information on exactly how it worked. We knew boarding opened 2 hours prior to the sail and having done cruise ships a couple of times previously we were used to the madness, hustle and bustle of check in time.
We drove up to the ferry terminal in Port Melbourne, and it was well signed. We were ushered into multiple lanes where we were checked for any quarantine items we might have been carrying. We were all clear and then ushered around to the front of the ship. On approach a ticket box was present, they had our tickets ready to go, handed over a few kids packs and directed us to join the queue to enter the ship.
This only really took maybe 5 or 10 minutes to wait, before we joined a single queue up a ramp and onto the ship. There was plenty of room, it was easy to park and they really do have the system down on the Spirt of Tasmania.
We parked on Port Level 3 and there are little dockets you can grab to help remind you where you parked. No more hunting for the car like at the big shopping centres!
The staff were all very friendly and helpful, and as we made our way up one of the staff saw we had kids and advised we head straight to level 10 where a playground, games consoles and plenty of lounge area awaited.
We found a comfortable couch and settled in for our trip. There were plenty of toilets, bars and entertainment close by. The kids spent their time on the Spirit of Tasmania going between face and arm painting, an easter egg hunt, games consoles and a playground.
At lunchtime we headed down to the restaurant and Harry was most pleased to see that as a 5 year old he ate free! The rest of us were charged per head for our main, given a plate which we were then encouraged to load as high as we could! It was good value.
There was live football on the TV which kept Justin happy, a cinema where Steph ducked off to catch a latest release movie and the option to participate in trivia and bingo throughout the cruise.
We put a lot of planning into this trip (plus got a lot of great feedback and input via Facebook in particular and are now looking forward to enjoying our 12 days touring around the Apple Isle.