Qld’s new $10 million party boat Oasis makes its third debut attempt this weekend

Queensland’s newest $10 million party boat will make its third attempt at launching this Saturday after two prior attempts were canned at short notice.

Brisbane’s newest party boat, Oasis is scheduled to launch on Saturday. Picture: Supplied

Brisbane’s new $10 million party boat will make its third attempt at launching this Saturday off the back of last minute decisions to can two separate debuts last month.

The Oasis vessel’s launch party was set to cruise along the Brisbane River on April 19 but the owners sent out a last minute cancellation email two hours before its scheduled start.

“Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond control of Oasis, tonight’s launch of Oasis Cruising has been cancelled. The owners and crew apologise,” the cancellation note said.

The owners said the boat was simply not ready in time.

“Despite our best efforts, the boat just wasn’t ready for tonight’s invite-only launch. We look forward to the first weekend on water this coming Saturday and Sunday,” the statement said.

From the team that bought you Seadeck Sydney comes Brisbane’s newest floating venue, Oasis. Picture: Oasis Brisbane

The exclusive event was ahead of the vessel’s originally scheduled first public voyage on April 22, where guests were then invited to tag along with paying customers.

“They (the owners) would like to offer an invitation for you to experience Oasis at a time of your choosing – just let us know – they begin cruising on Saturday,” invitees were told in the cancellation notice.

But the owners of the party boat then decided to halt all opening weekend voyages.

On Tuesday, just shy of a month later, the Oasis team sent out a new invitation stating they had rescheduled their launch to May 20.

Oasis Managing Partner Dave Auld said they had swept the boat floor to floor to ensure everything was perfect from staff and crew training to “operational and system procedures.”

“There were certain things I wasn’t happy with, some minor things,” he said.

“We really needed to hone in on the crew training.”

Part of the interior on board the Oasis party boat in Brisbane. Picture: Oasis Brisbane

Mr Auld said a test run on the river on Saturday went well.

“It’s not just beautiful and aesthetically pleasing but it will deliver an experience that’s amazing from start to finish,” he said.

“We’ve now spent the extra time to make sure all other areas of the vessel are perfect.”

Several organisations that had pre-booked functions aboard the luxury vessel were forced to relocate following the boat’s delayed launch, including the Brisbane Broncos rugby league team.

The Broncos were forced to shift their “The Network event” on May 4 to celebrate the Magic Round from the party boat to the Iris rooftop bar on top of Hotel X in Fortitude Valley because of the cancelled launch.

– With Georgia Clelland