Independent Excursions

[kris77]

My husband and I booked for an Australian/NZ cruise in March. For the most part, we are planning to book excursions through the cruise line. However, I'm entertaining the possibility of booking an excursion independently in one of the NZ ports. I'm reluctant to do it for an international cruise, though. In your experience, is it risky to book an excursion independently in NZ? Thanks for reading.

[sk8teacher]

My husband and I booked for an Australian/NZ cruise in March. For the most part, we are planning to book excursions through the cruise line. However, I'm entertaining the possibility of booking an excursion independently in one of the NZ ports. I'm reluctant to do it for an international cruise, though. In your experience, is it risky to book an excursion independently in NZ? Thanks for reading.

 

When we were there on a HAL Grand South Pacific cruise, all of our excursions were booked independently. We did not use ships excursions at all. Saved ourselves a fair amount of money and enjoyed them all.

 

Just read through the posts here on CC to see what companies others have used and what they thought of them. For example, in Port Chalmers/Dunedin we used Back to Nature Tours and had a fabulous tour for a reasonable fee.

 

Cheers,

[MMDown Under]

My husband and I booked for an Australian/NZ cruise in March. For the most part, we are planning to book excursions through the cruise line. However, I'm entertaining the possibility of booking an excursion independently in one of the NZ ports. I'm reluctant to do it for an international cruise, though. In your experience, is it risky to book an excursion independently in NZ? Thanks for reading.

 

No, it is not risky at all. In fact, it is easy in NZ, as we are all English speaking.

 

You can read roll calls to identify which independent tours you would like to do. Then you can contact the companies direct to make enquiries and bookings.

 

I don't ever prepay excursions, in case the ship doesn't make port.

 

The only independent excursions I wouldn't do are long day tours and ones reliant on the weather, such as tides, etc. (eg Great Barrier Reef) Those I would do through the cruise line, as they will wait for their own tours.

 

Have fun researching.

[Flipper133]

My husband and I booked for an Australian/NZ cruise in March. For the most part, we are planning to book excursions through the cruise line. However, I'm entertaining the possibility of booking an excursion independently in one of the NZ ports. I'm reluctant to do it for an international cruise, though. In your experience, is it risky to book an excursion independently in NZ? Thanks for reading.

 

I understand (and used to share) your concerns, especially about not getting back to the ship in time, but you should not be worried.

 

There are a number of reputable cruise tour companies operating in NZ and they are very aware of these concerns as well. Most offer a guarantee to get you back on time...although I am not sure what that means. I take comfort in the fact that in the highly unlikely event of a private company not getting back on time, they have resources to take you overland to next port. Exceptions would be last port of call.

 

I have done some research and as far as I can find there has NEVER been a situation develop where a passenger has missed the ship in NZ because of the private tour operator.

 

cheers

[cjm66]

A big plus for booking tours independently in NZ is the excellence of the web sites for popular attractions, the Information sites for various ports and the helpful responses you will get to enquiries by email.

 

We enjoyed both sruises to NZ and are planning a third. We did a mix of ship and independent tours.

 

Colleen

[kris77]

Thank you all for your responses!

[donnaham]

By corresponding with private tour companies, you will be able to get a "feel" of them via their responses. There [should] be adequate information on their website specifically aimed at Cruise Boat passengers; (e.g. return-time policies, any extra costs like lunch, or if lunch is "included", what are their hygiene standards!!). There may even be group discounts or discounts for cash available. Another great place to get unbiased opinions is from review websites such as Tripadvisor.com

[paul929207]

We have taken private excursions on every continent except Antarctica and never had a problem. All were arranged with or by people on our roll call.

[Globaliser]

We have taken private excursions on every continent except Antarctica and never had a problem.

Why, what was the problem with the ones on Antarctica?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did the penguins not speak English? ;)

[Grumpy100]

We used D-Tours in Dunedin on our cruise two years ago and we had a fantastic time. Saw alot in one day and he was very nice and experienced. Happy sailing....