Milford Sound shore trips

[Custommade]

We will be on Princess Aust/N. Zealand which offers an overland shore trip from Milford sound. Has anyone done this? Do you miss out on scenic cruising if you leave the ship? The sites on land sound wonderful. Did you go on your own or with Princess? Did nany travelers do this? Thanks for the help!

[BJS]

Sorry for post was asking if you ever got a response from some place and then found one of the other posts where you did.

 

Have you taken the tour and which one? We are going in Jan 2006 and thinking of a 2 night if offered.

[corniglia]

I don't know where your shore trip goes but we have travelled around that part of the world by car and the scenery is stunning. I can't comment on how it would compare to staying on the boat but I am sure you would not be disappointed. Sue

[Kiwi Kruzer]

We will be on Princess Aust/N. Zealand which offers an overland shore trip from Milford sound. Has anyone done this? Do you miss out on scenic cruising if you leave the ship? The sites on land sound wonderful. Did you go on your own or with Princess? Did nany travelers do this? Thanks for the help!

 

Hi ,

 

I have done this cruise 3 times,but have not done the ships excursion at Milford.

I have been through Milford and Te Anau many times and the scenery is spectacular.

 

Coming from Australia the ship will enter Milford Sound first,so you get to sail into it's beauty.At the widest point in the Sound one of Milford 's excursion boats will be waiting to transfer you ashore.From there your tour begins,and finishes in Dunedin where you rejoin the ship.

 

You will miss out on scenic cruising through Doubtful and Dusky Sound,but what you will see overland from Milford Sound will more than make up for that.

If you have done an Alaskan Cruise ,it is very much like cruising Misty Fjord.

 

Because the boats have to meet the ship in the Sound,I don't think you would be able to do this excursion on your own,and by taking the Princess Tour they would make sure you got back to the ship on time in Dunedin.

 

It is a great chance to leave the ship and see some of NZ's inland beauty,rather than just the coastline,but it is an expensive Shore Excursion.

However, if you only pass our way once,and build it into the total cost of your cruise.......you may have memories to last a lifetime.

[BJS]

Kiwi Kruzer thank you for confirming our thoughts and telling us what we will see before the excursion boat will pick us up. From what you are saying I assume if we were take the 2 night trip and reboard in Christchurch going to Mr. Cook would be spectacular also.

[KiwiIan]

Kiwi Kruzer thank you for confirming our thoughts and telling us what we will see before the excursion boat will pick us up. From what you are saying I assume if we were take the 2 night trip and reboard in Christchurch going to Mr. Cook would be spectacular also.

Hi, just spotted your post. Re the shore excusrion to see Queenstown etc. There is another option we have set up for some other cruisers. Instead of missing the 2 days on board etc, you can see the Queenstown and surrounding areas by hiring a private plan from Dunedin for the day. This can fly you out to Queenstown [seeing the sounds and lakes from the air] land so you can do a short 2 or 3 hour land tour in a private car and then fly back to Dunedin [via Mt Cook if wanted] to join the ship. Depending on numbers [between 2 and 8 PAX] this may actually be chaeper than paying for the additional excursion, especially as you will be missing 2 days on board for which you have already paid. All above i done by fully CAA certified operators etc. Let us know if this is of interest, Pleased to help. Regards Ian. Can also organise other flight seeing options for your other NZ ports of call,

[GottoCruise]

We did the Princess Overland (1 night) from the Star Dec. 2002......it was a wonderful 2 days, 1 night tour.

 

If you have a small group you could do it on your own. I did see a family group on their own from the ship. They disembarked and rented a car and drove themselves the same route. I'm sure their cost was WAY less than Princess.

 

Princess did run a first rate tour however, and with no worries about meeting the ship on time at Dunedin. We had only 2 busloads....we were in 2 different hotels in Queentown. (There was another bus that did the 2 night 3 day Overland.) We saw wonderful scenery and experienced Queenstown and the route back to Dunedin and it was just enough for us.

 

Go for it one way or another - not to be missed..... :D

[happyhelen]

Who is Ian who offers a trip from Dunnedin by air?

marciamaloni@yahoo.com

[flamomo]

I have not been able to find anything on the Princess website about the overland excursion from Milford Sound to Dunedin.

I am curious as to the approximate price.

[Globaliser]

Who is Ian who offers a trip from Dunnedin by air?

I think that KiwiIan, the author of post number 6, doesn't post here any more.

I have not been able to find anything on the Princess website about the overland excursion from Milford Sound to Dunedin.

This may be because it's been 5½ years since this thread was started.

[NCCruzQueen]

I am taking the Milford Sound to Dunedin excursion this November from the Regent Seven Seas Navigator. Really looking forward to seeing some of the inland sights of New Zealand.

[Aquarians]

I am taking the Milford Sound to Dunedin excursion this November from the Regent Seven Seas Navigator. Really looking forward to seeing some of the inland sights of New Zealand.

kia ora,

Milford Sound to Dunedin is an overnighter rather than the usual ships day tour. You will see a variety of scenery with plenty of views of Otago/Southland's lakes, forests and mountains on the wayto Dunedin, a city with a strong Scots heritage gaining its wealth from Sheep farming and gold in the early days. Having worked in the area I can say that Queenstown, a major tourist destination in the South Island is great. We have family skiing in the Queenstown area at present but by the time you arrive in November the inland temperatures should be very pleasant. To give an idea of what some of the area is like visualize the dramatic mountain scenes in the film 'Lord of the Rings', some of which was filmed down there.

Enjoy

Aquarians

[goat rancher]

Curious about this tour, in the opposite direction (going from Dunedin to Milford Sound).....

I understand that sometimes the water is too rough at Milford Sound for pick up or drop off........Is there ANY sort of statistic on how often this tour "self aborts"? We are scheduled on a Sydney-Sydney roundtrip New Zealand cruise that goes clockwise around New Zealand, meaning if we went on this tour we would be trying to rejoin the ship in Milford Sound. We heard that if the weather is too rough, then they have to send your tour group back and you are then flown to Australia....which means we would miss the last part of our cruise, since the next port stop for us is Sydney, our end point anyway.

We REALLY want to go on this overland tour, but don't want to miss out on the last days of our cruise due to being unable to rejoin the ship because of sea conditions:eek:.....

Any help on statistics would be greatly appreciated

 

Liz

[NCCruzQueen]

kia ora, Milford Sound to Dunedin is an overnighter rather than the usual ships day tour.

 

Ka pai, Aquarians. Yes, we are taking the overnighter staying at the St. Moritz in Queenstown. I had heard that the topography does look like the scenes in LOTR. Might need to see those movies again... maybe the ship will show them. Really looking forward to being there.

 

goat rancher, Hope everything works for you on your cruise. Missing the last night on the ship would be tough.