Back from New Zealand!!!

[jmb4534]

Aquarians,

 

I see that one can book Whackarewarewa on-line. Are advance reservations necessary?

 

If we do need to pre book, what time would you suggest? Our car is going to be at the port ship-side about 8:30am.

 

Thanks, Janelle

[Aquarians]

Aquarians,

 

I see that one can book Whackarewarewa on-line. Are advance reservations necessary?

 

If we do need to pre book, what time would you suggest? Our car is going to be at the port ship-side about 8:30am.

 

Thanks, Janelle

Kia ora i Rotorua,

I doubt if you would need to pre-book. Whakarewarewa is NZ's only living Maori village and is less than one hour's drive from the port. The cultural shows are normally scheduled for 11.15am & 2pm so you will have plenty of time to get there. Enjoy the thermal area and with a bit of luck Pohutu geyser will be erupting too! Seeing the village & marae is a great experience. Information on their web site, www.whakarewarewa may assist too (the lady with the moku is a resident and was my Maori language tutor). In addition, there are a number of smaller thermal areas around town too. Especially Kuirau park (free) which has some good boiling mud pools and a hot water lake.

Aquarians

[kaseyoz]

this is the thermal springs we visited also.

we didnt book but luckily we did time it right to join a tour just starting.

this village is owned and run by the locals so you can see how they operate as a co op. Our lady guide was very informative and after the tour we rested with an ice cream and checked out the handicraft shops before the show started.

well worth a stop

[cands]

The trip that Holland America offer differs from our normal tour - the train goes the extra distance to the Port to pick up the passengers ship side, morning tea and a light lunch is included as is a drinks service. It is one of the most popular tours to take while visiting Dunedin. Sorry I could not help you out more.

Kind regards, Barbara Reid, Marketing Manager

TAIERI GORGE RAILWAY Website:www.taieri.co.nz

 

I still don't know whether to fork out the US$200 or not - must be an amazing boxed lunch!

 

 

We took the tour with Holland America in November 2006 for USD200 a piece! We found out while on board that we could have done much the same for NZD67 each.

The boxed lunch, although pleasant, was not worth the difference!

I had the impression that the majority of the extra cash went straight to HAL, not the railway!

 

Apart from the slighly sour taste left by discovering we'd been severely ripped off, we had a great time.

 

 

 

 

[Tredebo]

Hi Cands

 

Thank you so much for the photos! My jaw dropped when I opened them. This will be my third trip to NZ (first cruise) and I truly love the place.

 

I've done the Tranzalpine so will not cry if I can't do the Taieri Gorge trip.

[new york34]

Hi,

My husband and I are sailing on celebrity Mercury 1/20/08. We booked our own excursion in Tauranga to spend half the day swimming with wild dolphins. We are done with this excursion around 12:30 or 1:00pm. Our ship does not leave until 6:00pm that night. Since you have driven to rotorua from Tauranga I was wondering if you knew if it is reasonable to go to the thermal springs and maori village or if there is really not enough time to try to do this. I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks,

Amy

[wblevin]

Hey Amy - NJ here and doing the same ship. Curious - the boards say we leave at 6pm. I just changed our tour from 9pm departure to include Hells Gate to the 6pm departure - screws up the entire day because there is soooo much in this port that we would like to do. But now I just received my cruise documents, and it very clearly states the 9pm departure.

[Aquarians]

Hi,

My husband and I are sailing on celebrity Mercury 1/20/08. We booked our own excursion in Tauranga to spend half the day swimming with wild dolphins. We are done with this excursion around 12:30 or 1:00pm. Our ship does not leave until 6:00pm that night. Since you have driven to rotorua from Tauranga I was wondering if you knew if it is reasonable to go to the thermal springs and maori village or if there is really not enough time to try to do this. I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks,

Amy

Kia ora i Rotorua,

If you need to be back on board at least half an hour before departure, you would be pushing it if you leave at 6pm. You wouldn't be in Rotorua before 2pm. and would most likely be between the timing of a 'cultural show. That said, there would be time for you to visit a thermal area, EG. Whaka or Tikatere (Hell's Gate).

My thought would be that while you can swim with Dolphins in a number of places, Eg. Bay of Islands, you will not experience anything like Rotorua anywhere else in the world! A day there would give you time to experience the unique Maori aspects, (marae visit?) the boiling mud pools, hot springs, geysers, perhaps the Buried village, plus a glimpse of some of the bush & lakes and the magnificant Maori Church, St. Faiths & the adjacent marae etc at Ohinemutu. etc

Aquarians

[SheilaNC]

I agree with Aquarians. You really don't want to miss all that Rotorua and the Maori sights have to offer. It's a cultural experience that has been so important to my understanding of NZ. Swimming with dolphins is a wonderful experience but the weather, water conditions, etc could compromise your experience. Of course, you need to decide what is most important to you. This is just my opinion... :)

[Tredebo]

With a choice of dolphins or Rotorua (ex Tauranga), I'd definitely go back to Rotorua. It is truly a unique experience.

 

If you really want to swim with the dolphins and your itinerary takes you to Christchurch, then can I suggest taking the shuttle bus from the city centre and go out to Akaroa for the day (check the times they go though). You can swim with Hector's dolphins out there with a number of operators and I'll vouch for the wonderful experience. The township is quite beautiful, not to mention the countryside you travel through to get there. Lots of history, Maori, English and French.

[ErinH1]

Thanks all....will do some checking on that....as I do not know if Avis offers a shuttle bus to their cars from there....maybe will phone using Skype as that is really cheap.or let Avis figure it out for me....for free...ha ha.....Ken

 

Sorry to bring up the subject of rental cars again, but I can confirm that in Jan. '07 Avis would not provide transporation to/from the ship. I have $50 in Avis "apology coupons" as proof! I made reservations from home and Avis confirmed in writing that we would obtain the car at the dock. We got off ship, looked for our Avis car, then called--they said no, you need to take a taxi to our office. So wasted time. Lucky for us there was one Pegasus car left, however, at a higher rate than if I'd booked with them ahead of time. Tip: remember to bring your driver's license with you off the ship--we forgot and had to spend more time going back to do that.

[Budget Queen]

Hi,

My husband and I are sailing on celebrity Mercury 1/20/08. We booked our own excursion in Tauranga to spend half the day swimming with wild dolphins. We are done with this excursion around 12:30 or 1:00pm. Our ship does not leave until 6:00pm that night. Since you have driven to rotorua from Tauranga I was wondering if you knew if it is reasonable to go to the thermal springs and maori village or if there is really not enough time to try to do this. I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks,

Amy

 

You do not have time for Rotorua if you leave at 6pm and I definately agree with the others, go dolphin swimming in Mexico, :) and change your plans to include Rotorua.

[Kelownabccan]

Sorry to bring up the subject of rental cars again, but I can confirm that in Jan. '07 Avis would not provide transporation to/from the ship. I have $50 in Avis "apology coupons" as proof! I made reservations from home and Avis confirmed in writing that we would obtain the car at the dock. We got off ship, looked for our Avis car, then called--they said no, you need to take a taxi to our office. So wasted time. Lucky for us there was one Pegasus car left, however, at a higher rate than if I'd booked with them ahead of time. Tip: remember to bring your driver's license with you off the ship--we forgot and had to spend more time going back to do that.

 

you are right...got an email back saying take a taxi to them so cancelled the res.....took some advice from anatoo and booked with Ian at mctours for the 4 of us....just sit back and relax and let the locals drive us about..-22 outside here tonight so can hardly wait to go back to summer

[DesertSailors]

We had put our deposit down with Ian last year for our tour on March 9th for Tauranga - Rotorua. We have not been successful in finding others to join us - would you all have room for two more on the tour you just booked?