The tour from start to finish was excellent. The staff at Real Journeys were professional, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful. It was a great value for the money. I definitely will not hesitate to book another excursion with Real Journeys.
Milford Sound is incredible and Relaxing Journeys provided an informative and enjoyable tour. Our cabin was located on the lower level and we did not sleep much during the night due to constant noise (sounded like cables rubbing against the boat?) – other passengers we spoke to had similar problems. The food was great with a wide variety, alcohol prices were ridiculously expensive.
Outstanding tour. Saw NZ from top to bottom. Paul an excellent driver and guide. Meals and hotels quite good overall. Lots of driving involved but the elegant coach made it quite comfortable. With only 20 people, everyone became pretty friendly during trip.
My tour was organised and there were no problems with any of the bookings. Out of the 11 motels there were only 2 that I wouldn’t stay at again, majority were excellent places. Changes to the tour were made with no issues or problems and in a very timely and friendly manner.
Very well be organised, good food and just so enjoyable.
Tour was extremely well organised – launch and bus transfer to ship. The ship itself was very well designed and suitable for the experience. Our cabin was ideal and well appointed. The crew were extremely able, helpful, happy and eager to help. I have marine engineering background and Glen (skipper) was very happy to engage my interests in the ship. The food via Philip was high quality and generously prepared. Carol, the naturalist, was a charming lady and very knowledgeable. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, all experiences and meeting the other passengers. We cannot recommend this cruise highly enough.
Jointly planning this trip with Relaxing Journeys gave us the best of both worlds — an independent tour with the benefit of the experience and connections of helpful professional tour planners.
We had the most amazing time in New Zealand thanks to the fabulous organisation of Toni. We couldn’t have been happier with every aspect of trip.
We thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Cabin and bed was comfortable. Food was plentiful and great quality! Staff were helpful, friendly and knowledgeable!
I initially was a bit hesitant in not using a local Australian travel agent, but after all my dealings with Relaxing Journeys and their rep Toni, I can now say that after the trip is over I can’t praise the organising of it highly enough. Toni was extremely easy to deal with about a few changes to the initial itinerary as listed on the website. One thing to keep in mind when doing a driving holiday is that even though the trip should take “x” hours per day it was not unusual in our case to add 3 hours to this for the sightseeing and meals. I would also suggest that you have at least a two night stay in one place per week of travel to allow a bit of r&r. And don’t forget that it is supposed to be a holiday so no need to get up at the crack of dawn and hit the road.
Tour was very good and we enjoyed the included activities. Distances were quite reasonable and total driving time reasonable except day one where we scored large amounts of roadwork. All the B&Bs were good with great breakfasts and excellent informative hosts. Not sure about the Kruse. The commentary was great but GPS one of worst I have used and maps out of date with it not knowing where we were on several occasions including twice on SH1. Often reverted to Google Maps on phone.
The location is fantastic and the Milford Mariner is an excellent way to see it. The team went out of their way to make the tour memorable. An excellent choice of buffet dishes for the evening meal. Our itinerary did not make it clear what time we needed to be at the wharf and where to park which resulted in us wasting about 4 hours. The tour checks in at 4pm and you can drive your car to the actual wharf at 4pm and park in the allocated bus bays.