Hobbiton Movie Set Tours

[JJK2008]

Some updated news on the Hobbiton Movie Set tours. As always, I suggest people do their own research and CONFIRM for themselves this info. The Hobbiton Movie Set is scheduled to undergo a construction project through November. Our original tour company (Zealandier Tours) was unable to book anything for the upcoming season and emails I received from them was that the set was going to be closed with no official reopening date scheduled. This was most disturbing for us since visiting the movie set was an anticipated highlight of our trip. Princess Cruise Lines offered an excursion to Hobbiton and is still taking reservations. We found this peculiar assuming that at some later date the excursion would be cancelled. But to cover our tracks we booked this excursion with Princess. Doing more research, we have now discovered that the Hobiton Movie Set will NOT be closed completely and will still be giving tours through the construction period. Some of the set may not be available for tours but tours will still be taking place. So, we went back onto the Viator website and sure enough they are offering a 6hr tour to Hobbiton, slightly different than the one we had previously tried to book. The tour is catered to cruise passengers. It picks you up at the pier and guarantees return time to the ship. This tour is conducted in a small van (12 passengers) rather than a bus that the cruise ship uses. The cost is slightly less than the cruise ship. So, my DW and I have this excursion booked with Viator as well. As we get closer, we should know whether or not one or the other excursion will happen, and we can cancel accordingly. Viator has a 24 cancellation policy and the cruise ship has a I think 5 days cancellation. So, should be plenty of time to confirm the excursion. Hope this info is helpful. Again, confirm for yourselves. 

[Aussieflyer]

Thank you for the update - I hope you do get to visit and it is a lovely place to see.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 6/18/2023 at 8:37 AM, JJK2008 said:

Some updated news on the Hobbiton Movie Set tours. As always, I suggest people do their own research and CONFIRM for themselves this info. The Hobbiton Movie Set is scheduled to undergo a construction project through November. Our original tour company (Zealandier Tours) was unable to book anything for the upcoming season and emails I received from them was that the set was going to be closed with no official reopening date scheduled. This was most disturbing for us since visiting the movie set was an anticipated highlight of our trip. Princess Cruise Lines offered an excursion to Hobbiton and is still taking reservations. We found this peculiar assuming that at some later date the excursion would be cancelled. But to cover our tracks we booked this excursion with Princess. Doing more research, we have now discovered that the Hobiton Movie Set will NOT be closed completely and will still be giving tours through the construction period. Some of the set may not be available for tours but tours will still be taking place. So, we went back onto the Viator website and sure enough they are offering a 6hr tour to Hobbiton, slightly different than the one we had previously tried to book. The tour is catered to cruise passengers. It picks you up at the pier and guarantees return time to the ship. This tour is conducted in a small van (12 passengers) rather than a bus that the cruise ship uses. The cost is slightly less than the cruise ship. So, my DW and I have this excursion booked with Viator as well. As we get closer, we should know whether or not one or the other excursion will happen, and we can cancel accordingly. Viator has a 24 cancellation policy and the cruise ship has a I think 5 days cancellation. So, should be plenty of time to confirm the excursion. Hope this info is helpful. Again, confirm for yourselves. 

Just be aware that once you reach the Hobbiton Tour Start, The Shire's Rest, you will change to the Hobbiton tour buses so your small group will probably be combined with other groups or individuals for the actual Hobbiton tour.

 

I hope you get to go there. It is a fascinating place to visit and very beautiful. 

[mr walker]

16 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Just be aware that once you reach the Hobbiton Tour Start, The Shire's Rest, you will change to the Hobbiton tour buses so your small group will probably be combined with other groups or individuals for the actual Hobbiton tour.

 

I hope you get to go there. It is a fascinating place to visit and very beautiful. 

When we did Hobbiton tour with Zealandia (10 pax in mini-bus), the driver/guide rang ahead and a Hobbiton guide met our bus and travelled with us to the tour start 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

When we did Hobbiton tour with Zealandia (10 pax in mini-bus), the driver/guide rang ahead and a Hobbiton guide met our bus and travelled with us to the tour start 

That's good to know. When we went there we did it privately from Auckland before our cruise started.

[westborocruiser]

On 6/17/2023 at 5:37 PM, JJK2008 said:

Some updated news on the Hobbiton Movie Set tours. As always, I suggest people do their own research and CONFIRM for themselves this info. The Hobbiton Movie Set is scheduled to undergo a construction project through November. Our original tour company (Zealandier Tours) was unable to book anything for the upcoming season and emails I received from them was that the set was going to be closed with no official reopening date scheduled. This was most disturbing for us since visiting the movie set was an anticipated highlight of our trip. Princess Cruise Lines offered an excursion to Hobbiton and is still taking reservations. We found this peculiar assuming that at some later date the excursion would be cancelled. But to cover our tracks we booked this excursion with Princess. Doing more research, we have now discovered that the Hobiton Movie Set will NOT be closed completely and will still be giving tours through the construction period. Some of the set may not be available for tours but tours will still be taking place. So, we went back onto the Viator website and sure enough they are offering a 6hr tour to Hobbiton, slightly different than the one we had previously tried to book. The tour is catered to cruise passengers. It picks you up at the pier and guarantees return time to the ship. This tour is conducted in a small van (12 passengers) rather than a bus that the cruise ship uses. The cost is slightly less than the cruise ship. So, my DW and I have this excursion booked with Viator as well. As we get closer, we should know whether or not one or the other excursion will happen, and we can cancel accordingly. Viator has a 24 cancellation policy and the cruise ship has a I think 5 days cancellation. So, should be plenty of time to confirm the excursion. Hope this info is helpful. Again, confirm for yourselves. 

I just started working on booking this with Viator today. Hope it works out. Princess is no longer offering tours of this. Did your reservation get canceled?

[westborocruiser]

1 minute ago, westborocruiser said:

I just started working on booking this with Viator today. Hope it works out. Princess is no longer offering tours of this. Did your reservation get canceled?

I forgot to say I’m on the Oct 8 th sailing of Majestic from LA to Sydney.

[JJK2008]

4 hours ago, westborocruiser said:

I just started working on booking this with Viator today. Hope it works out. Princess is no longer offering tours of this. Did your reservation get canceled?

Well so far, our reservation is still on. The latest info I got from Viator was that Hobbiton is still doing tours during the construction but that certain parts of the original tour will not be included. In particular the outside of the Hobbit Houses built into the hill as seen in the movie. From what I know, this is where the construction is happening. They are creating an inside of the Hobbit Houses like in the movies. Whereas before they were only an outside facade. The tour will also be shorter than the original one. Construction is scheduled to be complete by the end of November. But that is NOT set in stone. All we can do is hope for the best. 

[Thrak]

We are booked through Princess on November 23, 2023 but the Princess price is AUD $229.95 per person! What are you paying through Viator?  Can you please provide a link to the exact excursion you are referencing?

[Te Aroha]

This may help Thrak check out the tour offerings, enjoy your visit as you can see that is where I live 🙂

 

https://www.hobbitontours.com/

Edited August 6, 2023 by Te Aroha
spelling

[coo359a2]

On 8/5/2023 at 3:24 PM, Thrak said:

We are booked through Princess on November 23, 2023 but the Princess price is AUD $229.95 per person! What are you paying through Viator?  Can you please provide a link to the exact excursion you are referencing?

If you have to pay for any Princess tour on these Australian cruises using  your credit card, the amount you have to charge is converted to US$..  The AU $ price then looks better after it is  converted to US$.  

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, coo359a2 said:

If you have to pay for any Princess tour on these Australian cruises using  your credit card, the amount you have to charge is converted to US$..  The AU $ price then looks better after it is  converted to US$.  

 

I used OBC which was already automagically converted to AUD - at a 1:1 ratio. The $229.95 is in AUD. Approximately $151 USD per person.

[coo359a2]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

I used OBC which was already automagically converted to AUD - at a 1:1 ratio. The $229.95 is in AUD. Approximately $151 USD per person.

Between obc and credit card we have everything prepaid using the  “free” obc or getting the better conversion rate with the credit card. Didn’t want a big bill at the end of the cruise with a service fee tacked on. 
 

I’m not sure how we would close out our US$ account at the end of the first cruise since it is mostly non refundable except for military. Wont come close to spending it all. Had figured it would roll over  to the Australian cruises and become AU$ for the  obc

[cruiselvr04]

Thanks for this link.  I booked Hobbiton with shore trips as Zealander wasn’t going through.  Hopefully it will still be a great day.  We are excited! 

[Tahitian Pearl]

We just received cancellation by Azamara for Hobbiton 1/23/24 due to “operational” reasons🙁

[cruzky]

Contact Zealandier tours. I’m booked for the Feb 19th 2024 tour with them to Hobbiton.

 

Roseanna