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4We loved the itinerary and the hotels were very good apart from Donegal House. There were 2 days which we felt could be improved upon. The day we spent touring Christchurch where we were left at a shopping centre built from containers. Certainly different but a guided tour of this sad city may have been more interesting. The other was the day we travelled to Dunedin and went on a train journey, which was far too long and could have been shortened or missed altogether. We could then have had more free time in Dunedin. There was a lot of traveling but our tour captain Steve lightened the time with his jokes and Peter and Linda kept us occupied with interesting commentaries. Thank you for a lovely holiday.
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June Humphrey (United Kingdom)
- 08/02/2016
5We had a wonderful time in New Zealand. Our 19 day excursion through your beautiful land was fabulous and will long be remembered.
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Richard Rademacher (United States)
- 08/02/2016
5Loved every minute. No better way to cram in to see so much of beautiful New Zealand. As another reviewer said "Its a tour and not a holiday" as it was so active and with all the early starts. We took advantage of any free time to do more of the optional activities so it was partly our fault that we needed a rest afterwards!!! Grand Pacific looked after us extremely well, nice variety of accommodation and our tour guide and two drivers were excellent. Everything happened without any problems so Thank you!!
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Stephen Langfield (United Kingdom)
- 05/02/2016
5Well there's about twenty pages of NZ notes as well as about 20 drawings so it's hard to consolidate! The tour + ends were exactly as ordered. The coach group was fortunately well balanced, the drivers and guide well informed, relaxed and managed a wide range of needs. Inevitably there was a moment in the 19 days when we felt on a treadmill, there were a couple of duff evening meals, no real haggis at Dunedin and a 'ceremony' that I thought (po faced) rather insulted the Scots. But all excellent, good balance of own time with advice and guided visits ... appealed to me as a pipe smoking (bring your own tobacco!!) sketcher ... many opportunities found ; also to Kathy as a quilter, amazing how many outlets she found en route. A great introduction to NZ, a slightly more costly country than we thought, but there is much more to see ... as an urbanist I must get to Napier and return to Christchurch when it decides what to do with itself. Toni set the tone in her exchanges ... a very big thank you!
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Brian & Kathy Goodey (United Kingdom)
- 02/02/2016
5Having worked in tourism both in Australia and overseas I was very impressed with the attention to detail shown by Grand Pacific Tours. Guide Peter and drivers Lyndsay and Bernard were very helpful, had lots of local knowledge and also great senses of humour. I appreciated the time given to lunch/comfort/museum etc. stops and the tour never felt rushed. All the GPT people I dealt with, including Toni at Relaxing Journeys had excellent communication skills including importantly good listening skills. I found all the people in hospitality/tourism in NZ very keen to please, and very tolerant of people whose 1st language wasn't English. (As our tour was during Chinese New Year with many tourists in NZ, it was very hectic at times). Loved - no road rage and no graffiti (unlike my beautiful Sydney).
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Carmel van Oort (Australia)
- 31/01/2016
5A tour I very much enjoyed and would whole-heartedly recommended to my friends. At the end it become a bit tiring and I like to recommend to make Dunedin a bit more relaxing and make the train trip optional.
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Gerda Codling (New Zealand)
- 18/01/2016
5Fantastic tour, visited all the main sights and learnt so much from our informative coach driver and tour guide about New Zealand. Meals and accommodation were first class, and we were given priority to all the attractions which was great. There appears to have been a lot of research into making the trip the success that it was for us. Thumbs up and definitely recommend it.
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Brendan Sheers (Australia)
- 10/03/2015
5The overall experience was excellent. Very enjoyable as you can see from our ratings below. Only 'complaint' - the balance of some days, more towards the last couple of days could possibly have been better. Very early rise and then within relatively short time longish stop for mid morning break purpose of which appeared to be to shop. A slightly later wake up call and later hit the road time allied with less retail therapy time would be an improvement. Suspect many were wilting at the early starts. However the trip was greatly enjoyed by both of us and we would strongly recommend it to our friends and family. Many thanks to everyone we have dealt with.
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John Thompson (United Kingdom)
- 11/11/2014
5This is an ideal tour for a comprehensive overview of the sites and geography of New Zealand. It is designed to appeal to couples with significant exposure to the mechanical - trains and boats for the guys and the beauty of many botanical gardens throughout both islands for the girls (and guys). I would call the pace active as we were up before 6am on several days and sometimes didn't get to our hotel accommodations until after 5pm. This can be exhausting, and as the trip wore on, more and more people seemed to get sick in spite of the fine weather. The tour package is well put together. Grand Pacific's itinerary, equipment and the professionalism of the staff are all of the highest caliber. Given the all that we did and saw, this tour offers tremendous value. My one disappointment was the accommodations at some of the hotels. While an ideal location, the Copthorne Harborcity is in dire need of refurbishment. (This hotel is changing in the 2014/15 season) The WiFi policy at most hotels is outdated an outrageously expensive. Relaxing Journeys did a great job in handling our booking and arranging the trip. I have no complaints. However, when I told travel companions from Australia that I'd booked the trip through your company, they could only smile - the trip is more invigorating than relaxing.
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Joseph & Kathleen Terrible (United States)
- 08/03/2014
5A fantastic and comprehensive introduction to New Zealand. Cannot fault the tour programme, especially the train sections as I am a rail enthausiast but the early starts each day began to take its toll towards the end of the holiday! Would love to return to see more of your wonderful country but the only put off is the long journey time from the UK.
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John Margerum (United Kingdom)
- 08/03/2014
5A really great tour and I think that the variety of including the rail and cruise etc. made it exceptional. Paul the tour guide and both the bus drivers were great and a wealth of knowledge. The only negative that I could say about the tour is that it was a bit exhausting, long days with early starts not what we are used to but got used to it after the first week.
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Maurence & Jeanette Wolfe (Australia)
- 08/03/2014
5An excellent way to see as much of NZ as possible in a short period of time. It was a nice mix of coach, rail and boat travel and the scenery is just stunning. Be prepared, this is a tour not a holiday! Alarm call at 6.00am most mornings, breakfast and cases out by 7.00am and away in the coach by 8.00am, but that's the only way Grand Pacific can get as much into their tours as possible. Our tour guide (Raewyn) and coach captains (John & Ross) were great and so knowledgeable and they were always there to help and to make sure everything went perfectly. I would certainly recommend this Grand Pacific tour for it's variety, fun and the experience and booking through Relaxing Journeys made it easy.
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Alan & Sandra Foster (United Kingdom)
- 02/02/2014
5Excellent tour. Good mix of activities including 5 train journeys and overnight stay on boat. Drivers very good, careful and helpful. Guide very knowledgeable, supportive and helpful. Daily programme well planned and organised. Good quality of accommodation and food, although there was a lot of buffet food. However it should be noted this is primarily a tour and not a holiday. Many days start with an early morning call, breakfast around 07.00 and departure around 08.00. Evening meal consequently is quite early, around 18.30. Coach stops about every two hours for either a visit to something or a rest break. With 48 passengers there are few short photo stops as it takes too long.
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Leslie & Linda Wise (United Kingdom)
- 18/01/2014
5We had a wonderful tour in a wonderful country. Grand Pacific Tours were excellent in providing good quality hotels with good food and excellent accommodation. The tour Captains (drivers) both north and south were very friendly and safe, their knowledge of NZ was outstanding, the tour guide was also ok. One critisism of the tour was of the final farewell dinner night. The service in the bar and restaurant was poor, dinner was delayed which had a bearing on those in the party who had very early morning flights. Overall a fantastic holiday which we would recommend.
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Keith & Carol Ann West (United Kingdom)
- 21/11/2013
5This tour was so well organised and with attention to detail. We would recommend anyone who wanted a tour of New Zealand to use and take the type of tour we have taken. New Zealand is an amazing place to visit. What we did gave us time to see the beauty of the country. Many thanks.
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Ian & Lilian Bennett (United Kingdom)
- 07/10/2013
4A very enjoyable trip. We were the only Americans on the coach. Of the remainder two were British, one was South African and the rest were Australians. We all spoke some version of a common language and were able to freely communicate with each other. We couldn't have asked for better traveling companions. The Tour Director and Drivers did excellent jobs.
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Horace & Philip Page (United States)
- 08/03/2013
4The country is beautiful even when it's in drought. (Ed. That's been solved in the last 2 weeks!) The people are friendly & helpful. Dennis our tour guide kept us all well informed and organised. His joke for the day and especially his singing were very enjoyable. The two bus drivers also kept us laughing along the way. It was the train rides that first tempted me to go on this tour. It was my first tour outside my own country and I would go back to New Zealand again.
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Susan Murray (Australia)
- 08/03/2013
4The tour was excellent and we covered loads and I feel that I have a good overview of New Zealand. The coach drivers were efficient and informative and the tour guide conscientious and attentive. The hotels were pretty good. The tour is quite gruelling with many early morning starts, so not for anyone that wants to lay in bed. Sometimes we didn't get as long at locations as I would have liked but I appreciate that this is the down side of packing so much in. I would have preferred less city stops. Thank you Mani for all your help.
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Alexis Hockham (United Kingdom)
- 22/02/2013
4A very interesting and well organised tour. Perhaps one too many trains - the 4 hour ride up the gorge would have been lovely if we had done it before Milford Sound and the Glaciers, but after them the scenery seemed relatively boring. Also, one of our party had just had a hip replacement and had to stand the whole time - no advance information from the tour guide on duration / comfort and the seats, which were far too low for her (and for many others). Extremely disappointed not to have spent more time in Christchurch. We stopped for lunch in a shopping Mall (can you believe it) when we could have helped the local businesses in town to help regenerate their livelihoods! This matter needs some serious attention from Grand Pacific. Not your fault at all but thought that you should be aware. Some of the accommodation and lunch stops were of very poor quality and VFM. Were the guides getting a kick back for stopping there? On more than one occasion we spent 2 hours in a tacky tourist trap and missed time on a cut short visit of some really interesting bits - eg. where the Maori Treaty was signed - 45 minutes - even the on site tour guides were unimpressed and had to rush things! Your (Relaxing Journeys) part of the organisation of our tour was very good indeed - prompt, courteous and precise, but we did have some serious reservations about Grand Pac. Filled in the critique at the end but unsure whether it will reach the right people as they were handed to the tour guide? Thanks Kirby, for all your help, we loved visiting New Zealand and would definitely recommend you to any of our friends who are considering visiting your beautiful islands. Good luck in the next Rugby World Cup!
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Denise & Peter Challis (United Kingdom)
- 18/01/2013
5Kirby, many thanks for all your help organising our tour. All 4 of us have travelled fairly extensively and have come home voting this holiday as the BEST EVER!! Everything was without a doubt fabulous and we really could not fault a thing. Even with rain throughout the North Island and the disappointment of storms on the night we spent on the Bay of Islands on the Ipipiri, nothing dampened our spirits. Guess we were lucky to have such a great group also, but Grand Pacific crew went out of their way to make it all very personable, friendly, safe and easy going. We thank you all again and unanimously vote New Zealand as God's own country!
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Maureen & Brian Mableson (Australia)
- 16/03/2012
5I must say that our tour on the Grand Pacific coach around New Zealand was the best holiday we have ever had. NZ must be the most beautiful country in the world and I even put a blog on Travel Advisor to tell everyone if they can only manage one holiday in their lifetime, they MUST visit New Zealand. It wowed us each and every day. Thank you again for looking after us so well and keeping us so informed on everything before we left. You were most accommodating and helpful, and must say the hotels Grand Pac used were great and the food, wonderful. We coudn't have wished for a better, or more comfortable way to travel.
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Maureen & Brian Mableson (Australia)
- 16/03/2012
5The tour was wonderful. Our tour guide, Faye, went above and beyond her duties taking care of our bus load of people. What a wonderful experience. Bus drivers were also excellent giving us exact facts and figures. Would highly recommend this tour. Lodging was great too as was the food. NZ is a beautiful country from top to bottom.
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Janet Ray & Ron Ream (United States)
- 04/03/2012
5Our tour consultant Kirby, was very helpful. She made the online booking process very easy and quite a pleasure. She deserves a special mention. If we had an adverse comment it would be that in much of NZ and especially in the larger hotels, the WiFi connection was rather poor. Surprisingly it was best in the smaller places.
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Mr & Mrs Fish (United Kingdom)
- 23/02/2012
5This was the 6th Tour we have be on and was by far the BEST! In fact it was outstanding! The value for the money was excellent and by using the different forms of transportation it made each day interesting and varied. We loved the over-night cruise in the Bay of Islands and the Milford Sound cruise was excellent even if the sun didn't shine. The train rides were most interesting, especially the TransScenic train from Greymouth to Christchurch. If the tour had one fault it was that there was just too much to do as each day was packed full from dawn to dusk, which made it a bit difficult to get a bit of free time for laundry, e-mails, etc. otherwise we loved it and also the hospitable folks of NZ so outgoing and helpful.
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William & Ann Murray (Canada)
- 08/02/2012
5Wonderful trip. Great guide and coach drivers. Provided great details of the culture and history of the country!
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Monte & Phillis Baggs (United States)
- 05/02/2012
4This trip exceeded our expectations and someday we will return to New Zealand as it is such a beautiful country. Food, bathrooms, accomodations and tour were all excellent. Thanks for a great tour.
Bob & Doris Wygal (United States)
- 22/10/2011
4The 19 days I spent in New Zealand was absolutely wonderful. The Grand Pacific Tour was extremely well organised, Craig our coach captain was knowledgable with a great sense of humour. Fay was professional and pleasant and they worked well together. New Zealand is such a special place, the people are lovely, helpful and friendly. I will definitely return & I particularly loved Queenstown! I think at times it was a little bit rushed & would have appreciated even 30 minutes more shopping time in some of the very interesting towns like Kaikoura and Omeru but otherwise it was fantastic. Lots of highlights and wonderful memories. Thanks very much.
Virginia Rasheed (Australia)
- 04/10/2011
4Excellent booking system with prompt and clear answers to all pre tour requests for information. Hotels very centrally located, clean, good facilities, comfortable and large rooms. Large number of excellent meals included in the tour - range of buffet and menu - would have preferred fewer buffets as after 19 days they all begin to look the same, even if they were excellent! Very comfortable coach with plenty of leg room, except for back seat. Drivers very good but felt they need to give non stop commentary all day which really got on our nerves especially when they went onto politics, sport etc. We would rather they concentrated on driving! Included excursions were fantastic and incredible value for money when compared with the purchase price if bought as an individual - we felt you could make much more of this is your advertising material. The rail journeys were all great experiences as was the catamaran overnight experience - real highlights of the holiday. Many thanks.
Richard Swan (United Kingdom)
- 18/02/2011
5We had a really great time. It was very well organised and a good choice of venues & activities. Good hotels too. The main criticism would be we often felt rushed arriving at the hotel with not really enough time to change/shower before eating. An additional free day might have been nice too!
Irene Goodfellow & Richard Finn (United Kingdom)
- 31/01/2011
4It was a well organised tour and we had a splendid time. Unfortunately, the weather was not very kind to us but that could not be helped. The itinerary was just about right. If I were to change anything I would suggest a la carte meals in the evenings as opposed to buffet with the same monotony of food.
Diamond Versi (United Kingdom)
- 18/01/2011
4We were very pleased with the tour - the itinerary, the accommodations and food, the coach captains the tour director. That you had a designated contact person was a plus, as we had some special requests, which were handled seamlessly. In fact we originally planned to tour with Collette Vacations, but their communications were so poor that we gave up on them and turned to you. We were a little surprised that the tour was conducted by Grand Pacific rather than Relaxing Journeys, but we had no complaints. As we said above, everything was handled seamlessly. My only suggestion about the tour is that there are too many train rides, which can be reduced for some other activities.
Bertrand & Bernice Fang (United States)
- 03/11/2010
4This was the best thing we have ever done in our lives! By the time we arrived home my husband had forgotten how to wash up! The countryside was spectacular, the drivers and guide were superb and the other passengers on the trip were always out for a wonderful time - and we didn't have to wait for anyone who was perpetually late. I think it would have been helpful if the times for the next day's activities were more simply explained or maybe written down for us who have seniors moments. I have told all our friends how fabulous it was and thoroughly recommended your company.
John & Lorraine Fanning (Australia)
- 26/09/2010
4A most enjoyable tour even if I was the only Brit amongst 34 Aussies!!! The coaches were comfortable and as they were 48 seaters we had plenty of room to move to other seats if they were free. The Guide and drivers were first class and could not do enough to ensure we had a good time. The itinerary was nicely varied and the fact that most stops were for two nights meant that one could unpack the suitcase and do some laundry.T he hotels were all good quality and the rooms excellent. Food was first rate everywhere. I'd waited some 59 years to visit and I was not disappointed. The hospitality and friendliness of your people reminded me of what it was like in the UK many years ago, don't lose it. Only problem I had was the dreadful rate of exchange, but then you can't have everything!! Thank you for your help in making my trip one of a lifetime (and I've travelled quite extensively around Europe and further afield). I would certainly recommend Relaxing Journeys and Grand Pacific.
Peter Seabrook (United Kingdom)
- 04/10/2009
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