Broome & the Kimberley Coast

Start with the one correction this whole page rests on. Broome isn’t a port of call the way Nouméa or Port Vila are.

It’s a hub. Passengers fly into Broome to embark a Kimberley coast expedition ship, or fly out after disembarking one.

The town is worth the day or two around that flight — but it isn’t the destination.

The Kimberley coast — Horizontal Falls, Montgomery Reef, King George Falls and the rest of the coastline running to Darwin — has no road access at all. No single-day shore excursion reaches it.

The only way to see it by ship is a dedicated, multi-night expedition, typically 7 to 13-plus nights, one-way.

Two cruise terminals, and neither is near town.

Kimberley Ports Authority's own Port of Broome terminal has an outer berth at 331 metres and inner berths 1 through 3 at 170 metres. A smaller Berth 11 runs 65 metres, and vessels up to 300 metres LOA fit.

A second, privately-owned floating wharf, run by Kimberley Marine Support Base, opened 12 September 2025 right alongside it. Its main jetty runs 265 metres with two berthing dolphins, plus three further outer berths, and it takes vessels up to 348 metres.

It was purpose-built to solve a decade-old problem: Broome’s tides commonly run over 10 metres. Ships used to wait for the right tide, or anchor and tender, rather than come alongside.

That constraint is gone — for ships using it.

CLIA Australasia’s Joel Katz has called it a step toward Broome becoming a genuine international “first point of entry” for cruise ships.

That’s his own read on where things are heading, not a confirmed current status — and we print it as exactly that.

Both terminals sit about 8.9 kilometres from Chinatown, Broome’s main tourist and commercial precinct, per Cruise Broome’s own industry page. Neither is walkable — take a shuttle or taxi.

For most travellers here, that distance barely registers.

Most pre- and post-cruise packages from the expedition lines already include an airport or hotel transfer.

The Kimberley expedition roster is current, and worth naming plainly.

Five operators run 2026-season Kimberley itineraries with confirmed ships and starting prices, per operator and trade-press sources found in our research.

Ponant sails Le Jacques Cartier and Le Soleal on roughly 16 Kimberley itineraries for 2026, from around AUD $12,460 per person, per trade reporting.

Coral Expeditions runs Coral Adventurer, Coral Geographer and Coral Discoverer. Its 10-night “Kimberley Classic” Broome-Darwin itinerary is advertised on the operator’s own site from AUD $12,990 per person.

APT charters Seabourn Pursuit for a second season. APT’s own 10-day “Kimberley Coastal Expedition” language quotes from AUD $16,895; Seabourn’s own branded sailings run from around $16,599, per trade reporting.

Silversea Expeditions runs Silver Cloud, in a roughly 200-passenger Kimberley configuration, across 10 new itineraries for 2026 and 2027, from roughly $14,000 per person.

True North Adventure Cruises (also marketed as North Star Cruises) runs True North and True North II — the pair with a full-time onboard helicopter. Its 13-night flagship itinerary starts from roughly $18,000 per person.

Aurora Expeditions also markets Kimberley cruises on its own site.

We could not confirm a current 2026 ship, itinerary or price for them, so none is printed here.

All “from” prices above are starting figures as of September 2026. They move with season, cabin category and demand — treat them as a starting point for comparison, not a quote.

There’s no budget way to see this coast by sea.

Every operator here runs an expensive, all-inclusive small-ship product.

Starting prices in our research range roughly AUD $12,500 to $18,000-plus per person — before cabin upgrades.

If budget access to the Kimberley coast is the goal, we found no way to deliver it.

Fly-in day tours from Broome or Derby to a handful of specific sites exist as a separate, non-cruise product. That’s a different trip, not a cheaper version.

Two live issues hang over the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

Western Australia's government has moved to ban tour boats from physically transiting Horizontal Falls’ narrow tidal gap, effective in 2026 for most operators. It follows a serious May 2022 accident and a request from the Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation, for whom the site holds cultural significance.

One dedicated seaplane-tour operator keeps its existing licence until 2028.

No source we found confirms who the ban covers.

It may reach the Zodiac-tender visits that Coral Expeditions, Ponant, Seabourn/APT and Silversea currently market. It may apply only to the jet-boat day-tour operators based in Derby and Cygnet Bay.

Treat it as an open question, not a settled one — check with your chosen operator before you book a Horizontal Falls-inclusive itinerary.

Separately, the Port of Broome saw a stevedoring and maintenance workers’ strike in August 2026, roughly the 5th to the 22nd, over a stalled pay negotiation with Kimberley Ports Authority.

Several ships, including Ponant’s Le Jacques Cartier, anchored offshore and hand-tendered passengers and provisions instead of using the wharves.

No source we could find confirms the dispute was resolved; the most recent report located dates to mid-August 2026. Check before you sail; don’t assume it settled quietly.

The calendar is this page’s whole structural point.

The Kimberley's dry season, roughly April or May through September or October, is when the rivers and waterfalls still run hard after the wet season and cyclone risk is low. That’s the entire cruise window.

It’s the exact opposite half of the year from the rest of this wave's South Pacific and Australian mainstream product, which peaks in the southern summer.

The wet season floods the Kimberley's river gorges and makes Zodiac landings unsafe. That’s geography, not a marketing preference.

Cruise Passenger’s own 2026-season reporting describes the season running “from now until late September,” with up to 10,000 passengers expected — a trade-press estimate, not an official statistic. We label it that way everywhere on this page.

For the day or two around your flight, and a side-by-side of the roster, go to our Broome and Kimberley expedition guide.

The first half of that list is Broome itself, walkable or a short drive once you’re in town, and free or cheap to do on your own. The second half is the Kimberley coast. None of it is reachable except aboard one of the named expedition ships — no partial access, no day-tripper version.

The specific picks — which paid excursion is actually worth it, what to skip, and why — already have their own dedicated guide, built and kept current on its own schedule. This page stays at the port-identity level on purpose; that one goes deep.

Booking a tour yourself? Our comparison of Shore Excursions Group and Viator covers which of the two suits which kind of port day — and when the ship’s own tour is still the better buy.