Christchurch, Auckland, Nopier, New Zealand

[Budget Queen]

Any top tour choices here?? I am looking only for independent options as I don't do well with ship tours. :) Willing to rent a car, or go with private tour operators. Scenery and nature of most interest. But city sites and easy to get to areas of interest would be great too. Thanks for all the help!! Will be going in November.

[uktog]

Hi Budgetqueen

Nice to see you on these boards - you made our Alasks trip in 2005 fantastic. If you click on the Mount Classics links above, Ian has listed other operators in porte other than Rotorua.

In Napier, you might want to look at the artdeco website as it lists great trips. Cannot give you first had experience of independents in these ports until after our trip early next year; maybe someone else will have though

A

[helenb]

I just booked a great personalized tour with Canterbury Limousine Tours.

 

http://www.limo.net.nz/aboutus.htm

[SheilaNC]

Budget Queen,

I, too, thank you for the help with Alaskan cruise. I've been to NZ 3 times and will do the cruise there in Feb/March 2008. I've not been to Napier (although I thought we'd be going this time and our ship doesn't stop there :( ) But I've been to Christchurch and Auckland each several times. Both are certainly doable on your own and the city centers are walkable. Christchurch has a tram that is fun to do to get a sense of the city; cathedral and Botanic Gardens are lovely as is the Art Center - in fact, it's probably our favorite city in NZ. Auckland is easy to do - great bus system - ferry to Devenport; wonderful museum to learn about the indigenous people -the Maori, almost a hilly as San Francisco.

 

Please email me if you have specific questions that are not answered by the wonderful folks on this board. Enjoy! It's a wonderful country...can't wait to return

[crazy4cruisn]

I too appreciate your past help on Alaska! We just returned from our LA to New Zealand cruise.....wonderful! In Napier we disembarked, took the ship shuttle to the Visitor Information Center and took the Walking Art Deco tour by the docents. It was very good and cost about $12. You should have better weather than we did as it was very windy and then rained.

In Auckland we took the Explorer Bus, but I think it would have been better just to take the city Link bus as it was only $1.50 per trip and you could come and go as you wish. The Explorer Bus only went 1 direction and came only every 30 min. There was not too much description given. The Auckland Museum was good (although we had been spoiled by the Te Papa in Wellington). There is an interesting Maori show several times a day. It is about a 30 min presentation with mostly song and dance. We enjoyed The Fuller's bus tour of Waikeke island. Have a great time!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Napier on your own;

As crazy4cruisn says,the shuttle will drop you off at the Visitors Centre and the walking tour starts from there.The earthquake Museum is also worth a visit.Its a lovely town to wander around in.

Taxis pull up outside the Centre and we took one on an hourly rate,can't remember the cost,but not very expensive,and visited the following ,all in just over 1 hour;

Drive through Havelock North,to Te Mata Peak, (stunning views from the lookout), drive through Hastings on way to Mission Vineyard (great setting and you can buy a bottle or two for dinner) then drove back to the Visitors Centre via The Napier Hill , down to the Rothmans Building(art deco icon) and the new waterfront developments.

As its a working port you have to take the shuttle back to the ship as you cannot walk through the port.

[Miel22]

Hello David

 

Thanks for the post regarding Napier. Did I understand correctly that you visited all the places and it only took an hour? We like to "do our own thing" at various ports as it is usually cheaper and the tours are more personalised.

 

Our ship will be docking and staying for half a day - I think we depart at 2pm so we would like to see as much as we could in that time. Also you talk about taking a bottle or two back to the ship - we are sailing with Royal Caribbean and they state that guests are not allowed to take alcohol on board. Alcohol is confiscated and given back at the end of the cruise. Defeats the object of having a "local" bottle of wine with dinner - especially as there are some great NZ wines!

 

I recall reading an earlier blog that talked about the difficulties getting out of ports in NZ - confusion regarding buses especially when people are traveling independently. Do you have any advice?

 

Monica

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Hi Monica,

It was not a tour we took,just a local taxi ride.It may have been a bit more than an hour, but no more that 1 1/2 hrs.There were 4 of us and it was an hourly rate,I cant remember the cost as 1 in our group shouted us all.

We simply asked to go up Te Mata Peak and call into Mission Vineyard on the way back.The other sights were on the way. The driver was very friendly and told us about the areas as we were passing through.

Re wine,.......most ships will allow local wines to be brought on board (to be enjoyed with your meal.....they usually charge a corkage fee,) but not spirits.

I haven't heard of any difficulties in getting out of the ports,unless they are talking about security ,in which case you just show your cruise card.Some of the ports in NZ are working ports so you have to use the shuttle to get outside the port gates and then you are on your own from there.

[Missabby]

Alcohol is confiscated and given back at the end of the cruise. Defeats the object of having a "local" bottle of wine with dinner - especially as there are some great NZ wines!

Usually (as on HAL), only hard liquor is taken from you. We brought back both wine and beer on the Statendam on our cruise the last two weeks in NZ.

[Missabby]

Any top tour choices here?? I am looking only for independent options as I don't do well with ship tours.

Go with Mount Classics (Ian) in Tauranga and Arthur's Tours in Dunedin. We just did both - they're great. Ask Arthur to reserve John for you if possible as your guide; he's fantastic!

[DrFUN]

We enjoyed The Fuller's bus tour of Waikeke island. Have a great time!

'

 

We are two couples who are thinking of doing the Fuller tour from Auckland, where we'll stay for two days post-cruise at the beginning of January....

 

We'd be grateful for some info about it. Did you have to get yourselves to the ferry, or did they collect you at the hotel? How many were on the bus tour of the wineries -- and which did you visit? Where was the lunch -- and how was it?

 

Thanks so much!!

Mary-Lou

[Missabby]

We walked around Napier and had no trouble eating up all our port time (we later took the shuttle back to the ship for lunch then headed out again). We first got off at the visitor's center and walked down the Marine Parade to the Spirit of Napier statue (walk through the Sunken Gardens on the way), then back to Clive Square via Munroe Street. There are some carillion(sp?) bells that play in the Square from about 11-2 PM. There are two supermarkets close to the Square to buy beer and wine. Walk back to the Marine Parade along Emerson Street then head north to the Hawkes Bay museum and the Pania of the Reef statue - their version of Denmark's Little Mermaid. Walk back toward the port and go see the Centennial Gardens. You can also walk up the hill behind Centennial Gardens on the residential streets to get a great view of the harbor (can't see much of downtown Napier from there; took about an hour to walk up there). For a laugh, go see the possum building (you can't miss it)! The shuttle drivers can also help you out, too. Very friendly! They talk to you about Napier as they drive the shuttle so you might want to get off at the second stop, the Art Deco store, and hear most of their talk first. It's all easy walking unless you go up the hill.

[DrFUN]

We enjoyed The Fuller's bus tour of Waikeke island. Have a great time!

 

We are two couples who are thinking of doing the Fuller tour of the wineries from Auckland, where we'll stay for two days post-cruise at the beginning of January....

 

We'd be grateful for some info about Fuller. Did you have to get yourselves to the ferry, or did they collect you at the hotel? How many were on the bus tour? If you did the winery tour, which did you visit? Where was the lunch -- and how was it?

 

Thanks so much!!

Mary-Lou