What flights do I need to book for my Kimberley cruise?

So you have your Kimberley cruise booked and now you are ready to book your flights. Before you do, just check out my thoughts on flights to and from Broome, Darwin and Kununurra.

Let me start by saying that airlines load their inventory about 10-11 months prior to departure. If you have (wisely) booked your cruise more than a year ahead of departure then you cannot book your flights straight away. Diarise to have a look at the flights around 10 months out (and we usually send a reminder as well).

We can definitely help you work out the best flight options to fit your trip. My team and I have been booking Kimberley cruises for over 15 years so we are very familiar with the flight options and can make recommendations if you need our assistance.

We are here to help you find the best flight options to complement your travel plans. Once we’ve identified suitable flights, we’ll provide you with the correct links to the airline websites so you can easily make your booking. This is usually the cheapest option.

Alternatively, we offer a comprehensive flight booking service for a fee of $55 per person. This includes booking and issuing your tickets, as well as managing any cancellations or schedule changes before your departure. Please note: for last minute, outside of business hours, changes or disruptions you will need to contact the airlines directly.

Your flights can be booked directly with the airline on their websites as follows:

www.qantas.com

www.virginaustralia.com.au

www.airnorth.com.au

A quick note about using frequent flyer points. Direct flights from the eastern states to Broome are close to being the most expensive domestic routes in Australia. Coincidentally, Qantas has a monopoly on these routes (yes that’s sarcasm). if you can get reward flights for this route it is a very efficient use of points – you are getting better value than you do normally. But you need to be ready to pounce on them when the flight is released for booking as reward seats go fast.

You can get to Broome from anywhere in Australia in one day. The question is; how long will it take?

There are several daily flights to Broome from Perth with both Virgin Australia and Qantas. So you can get to Broome from the east coast any day if you are content with flying via Perth. As you can imagine it is a long trip – often over 8 hours with the transit times.

Of course going direct to Broome is better. Qantas (and only Qantas) have direct flights to Broome during the dry season (May – September) from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It is important to note that these are not daily flights.

Qantas did not operate direct flights between Brisbane and Broome in 2024 and do not seem to be planning them in 2025 – much to the annoyance of our Queensland travellers.

Traditionally Brisbane – Broome has been once a week whereas there are usually direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne at least three times a week. Again I stress these direct flights operate just during the high season.

If you are from the eastern states then it might be an idea when looking at flights to consider the direct option even if it means an extra night or so in Broome. We can look at your individual itinerary and advise you about this.

This should be fine but obviously no room for problems. All it takes is a 30 minute delay out from Newcastle and this connection is missed. So my recommendation would be to catch a late flight from Newcastle the day previous. In this case that flight left at 6.45pm to arrive in Melbourne at 6.30pm. The airport hotel was about $250. In this instance my clients felt this was more than a fair price to eliminate the stress of trying to do the flights in one go.

By the way this suggestion even applies for passengers departing Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne who are not catching a connecting flight. Unless you live right near the airport, maybe save yourself the stress of morning traffic and overnight near the airport.

If you would like assistance working out the best flight options for your Kimberley cruise then one of our team will call you at the scheduled time. Remember we do not book flights ourselves but, after a discussion with you, we will send through our recommendations – flight numbers, times and indicative prices.