Tours in NZ

We will be on the Dawn Princess February 22 through March 3, stopping in Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Akaroa, and Dunedin. Any recommendations for third party tours that are less expensive and smaller in number of participants than the ship's offerings? If not, any ship's tours that you recommend? TIA.

Depends what you want to do.

We wanted to go the Te Papa museum in Wellington and that you can do on your own.

Tauranga- check out archer tours for small group personal tours to rotorua; Wellington- shore trips & tours does half day tour including ride in cable car for $55, if you're interested in taeri gorge railway in Dunedin contact the railway company direct. Good luck

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We're using a company called Zealandier Tours to do tours in 3 of the cities in NZ. We leave this week so I'll try and remember to come back here and let you know how they do!

Thanks everyone! I'll check out Shore Tours and Zealandier.

Check out http://www.viator.com They have tours in a lot of New Zealand ports and have a "return to ship on time" guarantee. You are the only one that knows what type of tour you like to do so it's something you really need to research yourself.

Check out http://www.viator.com They have tours in a lot of New Zealand ports and have a "return to ship on time" guarantee. You are the only one that knows what type of tour you like to do so it's something you really need to research yourself.

I have just booked four (4) shore excursions with Viator.com throughout the south island of New Zealand. I have used them a number of times over the last 10+ years. Also, I checked their pricing against what is offered on board Celebrity Solstice and they are so much cheaper, in fact, one excursion was half the price of the ships tour. Definitely recommend them for any shore trips. :cool:

We do not recommend using APT for any tours. We had an extremely bad experience with them.

KiraKat, we will be on the Dawn cruise after yours. I haven't had luck finding other cruisers on our cruise but I am also interested exploring private tours. Right now I am booked on some ship tours but would gladly use small private tours if we can get a better experience.

I've noted the advice already given and will start a little research. I would really be interested in knowing what you finally decide to do in each port and I would be happy to reciprocate.

Debbie

Two years ago during our trip, we did the Otagos Peninsula through the ship on Dunedin. We were on the Radiance of the Seas, Wellington we did the Ship wreck tour which included a sheep herding demonstration.

I just gave recommendations for Akaroa, Wellington and Dunedin on this thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2437651

Hope that helps!

Thank you!

Check out my review on our New Zealand trip

http://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=2322939

We did mostly private excurisions

which were wonderful.

Thanks so much for all of the great information!

We appreciate all of the recommendations from everyone. After looking at those and the recommended tour companies, here is what we have decided to do. I will report back after the cruise.

Tauranga: www.zealandiertours.com/cruise-ship-visitor-tours-html/port-of-tauranga-rotorua-day-tours/hobbiton-movie-set-rotorua-wonderland-tour/

Napier: https://www.viator.com/tours/Napier/Napier-wine-tour/d4760-20539P1

Wellington: https://www.viator.com/tours/Wellington/Wellingtons-Lord-of-the-Rings-Half-Day-Tour/d399-2964RRTHALF for the morning. Then, we'll probably follow Carolyn's tour (minus the special meeting with a local and tour of some LOTR sites.)

Akaroa: We're going to follow the itinerary Carolyn used.

For Dunedin, the cruise ship was the only option for the Taieri Gorge Railway. There are two cruise ships in town that day and they have booked all train tickets. Every private operator I contacted said there were no tickets for private tours. <sigh> So, we have to pay the for the overpriced cruise excursion. We'll probably spend a few hours walking around town on our own after that.

Akaroa: We're going to follow the itinerary Carolyn used.

Happy hiking!

Carolyn

APT Tours runs a low budget operation in New Zealand. Basically you get what you pay for and not mush else.

NAPIER: I booked with Hawkes Bay Scenic Tour and pre-paid in full. Unfortunately my cruise ship (the adrift NCL Star) cancelled this port after we had already departed. The owner John Hanlon was a great communicator throughout the entire booking and refund process. Although I'm sure that John incurred expenses due to the cancelled port call he issued a full refund to my credit card.

John is an honest business person and I'm sorry that I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy his tour.

We're using a company called Zealandier Tours to do tours in 3 of the cities in NZ. We leave this week so I'll try and remember to come back here and let you know how they do!

May I ask how you went?

I have just booked four (4) shore excursions with Viator.com throughout the south island of New Zealand. I have used them a number of times over the last 10+ years. Also' date=' I checked their pricing against what is offered on board Celebrity Solstice and they are so much cheaper, in fact, one excursion was half the price of the ships tour. Definitely recommend them for any shore trips. :cool:[/quote']

We have used Viator many times and never been disappointed.