Hire cars & tour operators at the port

For those of you who have done the Sydney/New Zealand cruises... are there hire cars and/or tour operators available at the ports when you get off the ship??

If so... all ports? and were there plenty available or not.

We have been trying to arrange a hire car for the day in one port in New Zealand and have not had any luck in getting one. :(

Thanks for any responses,

Kim

From which NZ port are you trying to rent a car?

We have rented a car in Hobart twice.On the first cruise we simply asked at the Tourist Information office that they have set up on the wharf,and on the second cruise ,knowing where the depot was, we prebooked and walked to pick it up.

The only other port we saw rentals at the dock, was Tauranga.

The only other port we saw rentals at the dock, was Tauranga.

Kiwi Kruzer

Interesting... since this is the port we are trying to rent from. We might just leave it and wait til we get there to hire a car (they may have some set aside just for this day, although none of the companies we have made enquires to have said this) and if nothing is available we will just have to find something else to do. Thanks for the reply!

Kim

I know of some good local [to the ship berth] companies that will hire you a car in Tauranga at reasonable rates. If this is still a requirement let me know.

Just a note for anyones information, Despite what the ships newspaper may say before you get into a port, all of the New Zealand ports have good and reliable taxi services, which in most cases offer more competitively priced tour packages than other tours offered onboard. (Taxis prices' are per vehicle not per person and are alot more personel and flexable)

Yes, Taxis are a good alternative to the sometimes expensive on board excursion offerings. All NZ taxis are properly licensed and shold have good knowledgable local drivers. Taxis working direct of the port wharf can be booked for a tour package [not a metered fare ride] so you can discuus where you want to go, how long for and what cost [agree this up front and make sure it is in NZ$ not US$. If its just a short trip to where you want to go, rather tan pay for waiting time. Just book a Taxi to the destination [an NZ taxi can not refuse a fare without valid excues [if he believes you are intoxicated, or unable to pay etc] and pay the usual metered rate. Then when you have finished your visit get the staff there to call you another cab back. Taxis are either normal sedans [4 passengers] or mini-busus [8 passengers] and are charged at the same rate. If you need a wheel chair lift then taxis so equipped can be supplied as well. If you can not find a taxi on the wharf by the ship then just walk out to the nearest payphone or information site and call one by phone. However, if you want more of a guided tour and not just transport, look for the Private Tour Operators usually available at or near each cruise ship port. You can find these also by contacting the local visitor information centre. If you want to know their detials let me know as i have an email list of all NZ offices.

We hired cars in each port. We were a group of 6. All was arranged on the internet. It wasn't any more than the ship's tours, and often less. We were extremely happy with the ones in Dunedin, Hobart, Auckland, and Melbourne. If you need particulars, let me know. Louise

I would love to know who you hired (contact information and/or website) and the excursions that you took. We are going in February 2006.

I believe you can post that kind of information, since you are not the tour operator. If you don't want to post the information, would you please send it to me at jean underscore ort at hotmail dot com. Thanks . . .

Dear Jean,

The 3 top tours we took were: Stu Baker. He can be reached at res@customtransfers.co.nz. He picked us up at the airport, took us on an all day tour, and on Sunday, he took us on a half day tour and transferred us to the ship. He is extremely knowable.

In Duneden we had the tour of our lives. Get in touch with Brian Shirley. tours@elmwildlifetours.co.nz. He has his own nature preserve where we walked with penguins, seals, etc. on the beach. This was in addition to the city tour. It was really super, and after when we spoke to others on the ship, none of their tours compared.

In Hobart we toured with Tony McGee. He's a retired army colonel who works for Tigerline. He was terrific. He can be reached at amcgee@big pond.com. The website was through Tigerline.

In Melbourne we used Anna Cook. She was excellent, but pricy. It's a flat rate for the van, so it would pay to go with more than 2 of you. We were 6, and should have been 8, but the other 2 cancelled. Anna Cook's

E-mail Address cook@alphalink.com.au

We didn't like sdtours in Sydney. They didn't live up to what they advertised. We found another group who had tours of 21 people and took them to the Blue Mountains. I have to find their information. I'll post it when I do.

I'll also have to find Wellington and Christchurch. Mention Louise & Seymour Peller when you get in touch with them.

Thank you for posting this for all of us who are scheduled to cruise Australia/New Zealand next year. I've copied the message into a file for safe keeping. I'll look at their websites and search on the ports to see what I want to do and then I'll contact them about what they have to offer. I really love penguins so that is a must in Dunedin. I'd also like to see the albatross colony. In Sydney we're planning a four-day prestay. I've found a company for a day tour to the Blue Mountains and we're sightseeing on our own the rest of the time. We do not stop at Wellington: Tauranga. In Christchurch we might do the Tranz Alpine Experience offered byPrincess. Do you have any feedback on that excursion? Thanks again . . .

This an excellent tour.

Due to time restraints you are really locked in to booking the Princess tour.Bookings can be very heavy ,so I think Princess block book their own coaches.The normal trip would take you over the Alps to the West Coast,but on the Princess tour ,coaches are waiting ,I think at Arthurs Pass, high in the mountains ,and you return to ship via a farm visit.

You will see some excellent scenery.

Wanted to share some good experiences we had on our Sapphire Princess cruise in February:

In Dunedin had a wonderful day with Arthur's Tours. Picked 6 of us up at the Port at 8:00 AM and we were out until 5:20 PM. Arthur was colorful, friendly and very knowledgeable about the area, people and places. We did a tour of the city, visited the Otago Peninsula (Albatross Colony as well as some places that Arthur knew about where there were no other tours and we got up close and personal with seals, penguins, etc.), visited gardens, etc. You can reach him at http://www.arthurstours.co.nz or at PH: 0800 840 729. Very personalized service at a lower cost than the boat tours. We would highly recommend him to anyone.

If you stay in Auckland try the Braemar B&B. It is centrally located at 7 Parliament St & it is an easy walk down to the waterfront area, the museums and the other downtown attractions. The owners John and Susan Sweetman are wonderful, friendly folks who took a lot of time to walk us through everything from the basics of Crickett & Rugby to the vagaries of "New Zild" speak. The B&B itself is a cozy, comfortable and well maintained older house with some interesting history. Their website is http://www.parliamentstreet.co.nz email: braemar@parliamentsteet.co.nz and Phone: +64 9 377 5463. It was a lot more fun than the big hotels and you can catch an "Airbus" to the airport around the corner at the Hyatt for $15NZ.

Again in Auckland, a "sleeper" restaurant. It is called Wino's on Lorne at 2-4 Lorne Street, Phone: 366 0885. It is a "Wine and Tapas" bar with some really wonderful food at reasonable prices. Wide variety of wine choices and they had a good variety of tapas which were very well prepared. They have both inside tables and a small, pleasant, courtyard.

Hope some of these ideas may be of help. We really enjoyed them!!

Christchurch Rentals, there are a number of the usual rental car operators in CHCH but none of them are located in Lyttleton, where the ships come in, all are in CHCH itself. I don't think that any are overly keen on doing day rentals. I have dropped a few people off at rental car placeses for day hires but they usually find it would have been easier to hire a cab and do a tour, that way then they won't get lost.