All Reviews
Relaxing Journeys

We had a great time touring your country. The people are very friendly and happy. We highly recommend the Ultimate Tour with Grand Pacific. Paul was our coach driver, and he did an excellent job. The coach was very nice, and with only 20 people in the group it created a more relaxing atmosphere for the various daily activities. Toni, thanks for all your help.

The entire trip was wonderful and flawless. We purposely planned a leisurely trip and it was worth it. The accommodations (Bed & Breakfasts) were great. One of the best parts of the trip was meeting many wonderful people from New Zealand as well as from all over the world. We thoroughly enjoyed the New Zealand trip and highly recommend Relaxing Journeys. Good job, Toni!

The boat crew and amenities were very good.

Overall a fabulous way to see Milford Sound. The captain & crew were fantastic. Only downside was the temperature of our cabin on the lower deck, possibly because it was a mild night, but the cabin was too hot and no fresh air circulating, so it became quite stuffy & uncomfortable.

The choice of lodgings was fine and we especially liked The Breakers B&B. Of course, New Zealand is nature at its finest and my husband and I are so happy to have been there. One thing that would have been nice would have been a choice between the Glow Worm Caves and Hobbiton in the Rotorua area. A couple of other ideas would be these: It would be helpful for travelers to know ahead of time when they will be staying in a place with kitchen facilities, (pots, pans and stove). This way they could pick up some groceries on the way to the hotel and cook dinner a couple of nights. One other thing would have been a choice between a full breakfast on a few of the days and lunch vouchers. Overall, we were amazed and pleased with the sightseeing locations. Even though we had 16 days neither one of us wanted to leave New Zealand!

Your country is very beautiful and we enjoyed it very much. Everything went well except for the glitch with the missing return flight from Christchurch to Auckland to get us home. One suggestion would be to flag opportunities in the itinerary where an extra day might be beneficial to consider. For example, it would have been nice to stop in Hobbitton on the way to Rotorua, but we had to be in Rotorua for the Maori evening gig by 5PM, so there was not time. The Toyota Corolla was the perfect car to tour around in for two people. It was a good size for going through the mountain switchbacks and in the city and got good petrol mileage. Especially when having to adjust to driving on the left, which was fine after a couple of days. Thanks for getting back to us right away regarding the flight costs. I would sure like to go back at some point to see some things we missed this time around.

We really enjoyed the tour. Well organized and efficient. Chelsea was terrific. We found it a bit too long to be in the car on certain days and might have enjoyed one extra day in the Queenstown area as it took us well over 8 hours to drive there from Franz Josef glacier. Perhaps a better description/warning of the winding roads, one lane bridges and construction would have helped prepare us. Accommodation was good with the exception of the Rydges hotel in Queenstown. Franky, our room was a dump and given we had paid extra to stay in better hotels, it was disappointing (the hotel lobby/restaurant area and location were good).

In general a tight program, but that has to be expected when you want to see and experience as much as possible.

I thought everything was very good, I really liked the hotels that had complementary bottled waters.

This tour was perfect! I can’t imagine a better way to visit New Zealand for the first time. The itinerary and the included excursions were very well done; the majority of the optional excursions that I participated in were well worth the additional money spent. Our coach driver on the North Island, Steve Mahon, was so nice and such a pleasure that we wanted to take him to the South Island with us. However, Steve Roskilly, our coach driver on the South Island, was just as wonderful. I’m still amazed at the knowledge that these men shared with us on their respective tours. I loved them both. Now, our tour guide, Gary Deutscher, was absolutely astounding. His personality was great, and he was always available to help with any questions or problems that anyone may have needed. He worked very hard to make sure that everyone on this tour had the best experience possible. However, he worked in such a way that most people on the tour probably weren’t aware of how much time he spent making sure that this our tour was the best it could be. I don’t believe that anyone could have done a better job than Gary!

This trip was amazing. I will definitely recommend it to family and friends. We saw all of New Zealand and what a beautiful country.

All transfers went smoothly. The B&B’s were very good, especially in Te Anau! Dock Bay Lodge was superior! B&B locations and services were great. When returning rental cars at Greymouth you should advise travelers to leave ample time to not only return the car (there is virtually no parking available) but also to check in for the train trip. Once the in coming train arrives, the station gets overwhelmed with people. Travelers should arrive at least one hour before the scheduled train departure. Also, we had a problem with one of our rental cars and did not realize that the rental company would put the burden on us to resolve the issue. We were fortunate that we were still close to Queenstown, so it only cost us a couple of hours, but if we had been more remote, I do not see how we could have kept to our schedule.