Sky Lounge or Vista Lounge?

The Wineglass Bay cruise is one boat with two ways on board. The Vista Lounge is the main deck, open to all ages, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a bento-box ploughman’s lunch, and drinks bought at the bar. The Sky Lounge is the top deck for adults only, 18 and over, with morning tea, freshly shucked oysters, a ploughman’s lunch and local wine and beer included. The Vista Lounge with lunch, listed as From Coles Bay: Wineglass Bay Cruise with Lunch, is from US$148 a person (checked November 2026); the Sky Lounge, listed as Coles Bay: Wineglass Bay Adults-Only Cruise with Lunch, is from US$228.

The calendar above is the Vista Lounge with lunch, with 587 reviews (checked November 2026).

The short answer

Book the Vista Lounge with lunch unless you are all adults and would drink a glass or two on board anyway. It is the same boat, the same route and the same 4½ hours; the Vista Lounge is the main deck, where families travel, and its lunch is a ploughman’s bento box with drinks from the bar. The Sky Lounge costs A$115 more an adult on Pennicott’s own prices and buys a quieter top deck for up to 30 people, morning tea, a fuller lunch with oysters, and the wine and beer, with a private viewing deck. If you need step-free access, choose the Vista Lounge: the wheelchair-accessible deck and toilet are downstairs.

The two lounges, side by side

Prices per person from the listings (checked November 2026). On its own site Pennicott prices the Vista Lounge with lunch at A$210 an adult and A$130 a child aged 3 to 16, the Vista Lounge without lunch, where you bring your own food, at A$190 and A$115, and the Sky Lounge at A$325 an adult (November 2026).

Pick yours

Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026; Viator checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.

What is the same on both

Both lounges are on the Schouten Passage II, a 150-seat catamaran built in Tasmania, and both are enclosed and air-conditioned. Everyone checks in by 9:30 am at the Wineglass Bay Cruises Booking Office, 61 Jetty Road, Coles Bay, the boat leaves at 9:45 am and is back at 2:30 pm, and the route and the crew’s commentary are the same: south below The Hazards, past Cooks Beach and Bryans Beach, through the inner passage by Schouten Island, and into Wineglass Bay. The Vista Lounge has three toilets, one of them accessible; the Sky Lounge has two of its own upstairs. When the sea rules out Wineglass Bay, both lounges take the alternative route around the Schouten Island group.

The cheapest way on board is the Vista Lounge without lunch, at A$190 an adult: you bring your own food, and the bar and cafe sell drinks, hot drinks and snacks. On Viator it is one of the three options of the cruise, from US$136 (checked November 2026).

Is the Sky Lounge worth the extra?

Work it out from what you would spend anyway. The difference over the Vista Lounge with lunch is A$115 an adult (November 2026). For that you get morning tea, oysters with the lunch, and the wine and beer, plus the top deck with its own viewing deck and direct access to the bridge, and a room of at most 30 adults instead of a main deck shared with families. For a couple celebrating something, or friends who would buy a bottle of wine on board, it narrows quickly. For a family, or anyone who does not drink, the Vista Lounge sees exactly the same coast.

See the Sky Lounge dates