Princess Queenstown overland overnight tour.

[cazz0069]

Would anyone have any feedback regarding this tour..i am particularly interested to know where the hotel is they use in Queenstown... 

 

Thanks everyone 🙂

[Chiliburn]

30 minutes ago, cazz0069 said:

Would anyone have any feedback regarding this tour..i am particularly interested to know where the hotel is they use in Queenstown... 

 

Thanks everyone 🙂

If you’re doing a cruise to fiordlands and you do the tour you will miss a lot of it.

Queenstown is good but if you’re wanting to see it fly and grab a car,it’s only 3 hours.

[cazz0069]

9 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

If you’re doing a cruise to fiordlands and you do the tour you will miss a lot of it.

Queenstown is good but if you’re wanting to see it fly and grab a car,it’s only 3 hours.

Fly and grab a car from where?  Thanks 🙂

[Chiliburn]

4 minutes ago, cazz0069 said:

Fly and grab a car from where?  Thanks 🙂

What I’m saying if you want to see Queenstown and the interior of NZ you would be better to do a land trip.

If you’re doing a cruise it’s all about the cruise.

Unless you have done that itinerary multiple times and you want to do something different.

[mr walker]

We haven't done the overnighter in Queenstown on a cruise, but have heard only good things about it. Terry who posts as TLCOhio  @TLCOhiowrote about it in his thread here:

 

We spent 3 nights in Queenstown as part of self-drive landtour in Jan ahead of our cruise from Auckland. 3 nights was barely enough for that area.

 

As chilli posted, you will miss much of the scenic cruising thru the sounds in doing the Queenstown excursion, seeing Milford only on the way in or out depending on which way you are sailing.

 

[cazz0069]

9 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

What I’m saying if you want to see Queenstown and the interior of NZ you would be better to do a land trip.

If you’re doing a cruise it’s all about the cruise.

Unless you have done that itinerary multiple times and you want to do something different.

Ahh gotcha.....i thought you meant that, just wanted to clarify... we have done this cruise before, so you raise a valid point! thank you 

[Chiliburn]

3 minutes ago, cazz0069 said:

Ahh gotcha.....i thought you meant that, just wanted to clarify... we have done this cruise before, so you raise a valid point! thank you 

As mr walker said ,a land tour would be just a tease.

Fly to Queenstown a hire a car.

The cruise is all about the cruise 

[Busy Mum]

Hi caz0069 - we did the Queenstown overland trip with Princess several years ago and absolutely loved it.  We would highly recommend doing this tour.  The hotel we stayed in was the Novotel Queenstown Lakeside Hotel and it was great, not sure if they still use this Hotel, we had a beautiful room and great food. This was certainly a very big highlight of our cruise.  Fortunately we had wonderful weather and a lovely bunch of people in our group.  Hope that helps a little. 🙂 

[Scanorama]

Seeing you are from Melbourne, I'd recommend doing a separate land tour to Queenstown. I did the Sea Princess cruise a few years ago and those who were on the Queesntown tour disembarked the ship via tender at Milford Sound, the first stop of the Fiordlands, missing Thompson, Doubtful and Dusky Sounds. 

 

The drive from Milford Sound to Queenstown is about 4 hours and between Queenstown and Port Chalmers (where you will meet the ship the next day) is also 4 hours. Altogether you'd spend nearly 8 hours on the bus alone, meanwhile you'd also have paid for your cruise that you aren't on.

 

If you do a separate land tour, you will get to stay in Queenstown longer and see a lot more.

 

 

[Porky55]

cazz0069 - I’m with Busymum - we did this overnight off Solstice in Dec 2015. 
First, yes you miss the other two Sounds, but they are just the same thing as Milford Sound (sort of) You get to see all one side of Milford before you disembark. 
At Queenstown we went on a fabulous restored steam boat to Walter Peak High Country homestead  where we were provided a wonderful smorgasbord hot bbq lunch and drinks.
https://www.realjourneys.co.nz/en/experiences/tours/walter-peak-farm-tours/images/
Followed by a shearing demo and working dogs with the sheep. 

The location on the lake was stunning and we have been to NZ a few times but this was one of the more outstanding places we have seen.

We stayed at the same Novotel as BusyMum in Queenstown and were more than happy with stay.

Next day we travelled towards the east coast to meet up with the ship at Dunedin, but stopped mid morning at Arrowtown: Their words -

“Arrowtown is charming and quirky – a delightful gold rush village nestled below the beautiful peaks that surround the sparkling Arrow River. You’ll be enchanted by Historic Arrowtown, a New Zealand treasure.”

We then returned to the ship, tired but very happy with this tour, recommend it very highly.

Rose.

 

Edited October 12, 2019 by Porky55

[MicCanberra]

I think the overland tour would be wonderful experience but having toured the area for several weeks, feel that as you are from Australia, a more extensive trip with a fly stay option would be better. Whichever way you end up seeing the area, it would be wonderful. 

[cazz0069]

Ugh, thanks for all the comments... I am still unsure.... Its a lot of money for what it is and its a long time on the bus too. Really appreciate all your thoughts. 

[getting older slowly]

Just at add something..... we have cruise around NZ a few times and enjoyed the cruise..... but we are now think of a fly, then land tour then cruise home.....

 

Two things would love to do is White Island and the Trans Alpine, but the tour from the ship are not good

 

ie White island ship tour 1 1/4 hour flight over the island $1000  the real tour 4-5 hours land on the island 1-2 hours walk around, and lunch $370....

 

Also not to be a wet blanket... four cruises to NZ only got went to Fiordland once....

 

So enjoy your cruise.... but do not let it be make or break due to the overland tour..

 

Cheers Don 

[mr walker]

1 hour ago, getting older slowly said:

..... we have cruise around NZ a few times and enjoyed the cruise..... but we are now think of a fly, then land tour then cruise home.....

 

Our experience exactly. We did fly/self-drive/cruise home in Jan this year. Thanks to advice from some posters on here, we got to see so much of NZ, that we hadn't been able to on cruises. Can't speak highly enough of that trip.

[MicCanberra]

Definitely better to tour around than have a shorex across but then if time is limited then it is better than nothing.