I stayed there for a conference and then snorkeling trip for 5 nights. Me, my husband, and 2 friends stayed in an apartment with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was clean and efficient, and staff was friendly. It’s a very old styled motel/apartment, as it’s not serviced. They only changed towels once. 2 soaps are provided as amenities, that’s it. Their pool was small and not super clean.
Above all was ok, doesn’t bother me much. However there were 2 big problems for me, it was too far from the centre and too hot.
It was far from where everything was, so spent more money on Uber. It takes 40 min walk to the reef terminal, shopping centre, or anything. It looks close on the map but not. There are many restaurants nearby though, which is very good.
Also it was not airconditioned well. There was only one air condition in the queen bedroom. Only ceiling fans in the other room and in the lounge/kitchen. It was not super hot season and cool down at night (end of October) so we survived.
Not sure if it was cheap either. If it was cheap, I would have accepted the fact that you get what you pay, but it was not. Regardless Cairns is beautiful city with lots of activities to do, so it was ok.