10 Day South Island Spectacular

We had a great time during the tour with Grand Pacific. As a total rating, I want to rate it as 'Excellent''. I summarize the highlights as below: The tour staff quality was very high. Raewayen (I am not sure the spelling of her name..), tour guide, and Andrew (driver) took good care of us. They were very professional, caring and funny. Especially the tour guide was genuinely nice to us and tried her best to make us comfortable. Participants : This time we travelled with mostly Australians and two Canadians. It was really fun to travel together with them. They were really friendly, sweet and fun-loving people. We had so much laughter together during the tour. Tour Content : The tour was well-organized with enough time for sightseeing and break. We had fully enjoyed all the beautiful scenery and natural landscape in the South Island. As the final message, I had a wonderful time during the tour. If I had a chance to go back to NZ, I will choose to travel with the Grand Pacific and the same tour guide and driver if possible. Thank you!

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

The tour is wonderful. I enjoyed it very much. Both of our drivers (Steve) are great. It would be better if some of the accommodations can be improved, such as the Heritage Gateway Hotel.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

We had a fantastic time and would recommend this tour. The tour host Nick H and bus driver Chris where accommodating and very personable. They make a good team and made our trip memorable.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

We enjoyed the tour but would have liked a smaller group, say about 24, as it was in the last part. Did not think too much of the hotel in Christchurch, large but empty rooms. Liked the availability of laundry facilities at most to the places we stayed. Impressed with the IBIS in Wellington.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

Well-organized and well-paced. Capable tour director (Dianne Stanford) with a good sense of humor. Our bus driver, Cole, offered thoughtful insights into NZ's indigenous history. Perfect balance of organized visits and free time. Comfortable accommodations. Interesting for us to be the only Americans in a group of Australians and to have only 13 in the group. Well-chosen visits and commentaries.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

We really enjoyed our tour, the organisation was excellent and we were very pleased with the accommodation and the food quality. The coach captain was well informed and our contact with the company, Toni Harris was extremely helpful and kept us well informed.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

I enjoyed the tour very much. However, it seemed very rushed and we didn't get enough time to enjoy some places. I realise that this is due to the long distances we covered and it gives one an opportunity to decide whether to return to certain areas.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Grand Pacific were excellent.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

Loved the South Island. There was always lots to do and see. Peter our guide was great - very knowledgeable.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Driver and Tour Guide were very knowledgeable and worked well together. It was a very enjoyable experience. Grand Pacific are a great company to travel with.

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8 Day Taste of the North Island

The tour was great! We enjoyed very much the sights, history and the people. The driver, Rod, did excellent job.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

It was a great experience to travel with Grand Pacific Tours through New Zealand. There were so many highlight and all was well organized, also the tour group was pleasant.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

Sights were amazing, accommodation very good, meals excellent. Pace was okay, a bit long in bus a few occasions (especially Christchurch to Picton). Felt coach captain was good but he had a very large group of 48, too much for one person - I would have like an escort to assist us.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Making reservation with Mani at Relaxing Journeys was very easy. He provided excellent service. Grand Pacific tour company planned the activities of their New Zealand tour very well. We would like to go back there someday.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

Very enjoyable. The sights and experiences were terrific. Enjoyed everything. Thanks!

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

Long hours in the coach, but I guess that is to be expected in a tour that covers so much ground. It might be sensible/helpful to give daily mileages and/or travel hours in the tour description/itinerary. Overall, a good and interesting introduction to South Island.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

We had excellent weather, loads to eat, lovely good sized (mostly) twin rooms, and a fun guide. I would recommend it. The last couple of days was rather too much travelling and unfortunately Franz Joseph tour was cancelled due to railway destruction. However we all received a refund for that.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Tour guide, coach captains were very good and helpful. Hotels were all very good and the food was top quality. Tours were excellent. It was a shame that 2 of the train trips were cancelled due to "acts of God", but not the tour operators fault.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

An excellent tour. Very well planned and executed. Hotels first class. Tour Captains and Tour Manager informative. The Grand Pacific badge gives priority at venues, discounted drinks and excursions. The inclusion of most meals was a bonus. Included excursions and visits were also brilliant and we got priority - e.g. visit to Te Papa museum in Wellington before opening time, dedicated area on the Milford Sound boat, special evening at Dunedin and an evening's entertainment on our last night - wonderful!!!

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19 Day New Zealand Southern Explorer & Cruise

Except for spending too much coach time, we had a great time. Nick went above and beyond to help and guide us.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

Drivers were excellent. Accommodation averaged very good. Meals averaged very good.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

Bit of mix up on arrival at Auckland airport - we waited at least an hour for another couple off our flight from Melbourne to discover later that they were flying in from Adelaide! The general travelling and touring was fine. Our only gripe was that the evening meal arrangements were a bit too regimented for us - eating between 6.30pm to 7.00pm - we would have preferred a bit more flexibility but I don't know whether that would be possible.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Wonderful tour of New Zealand that doesn't miss a highlight. Pace is fairly quick, although your do stay a couple of days in several places. Accommodations are generally located near the center of town and were very good. Tour director was awesome! The number of included tours makes this a great value.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Hotels and attractions were first class. Guide did a wonderful job.

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10 Day South Island Spectacular

Grand Pacific was excellent from planning through execution. Driver Andrew and escort Barrie were very friendly and informative. The hotels and food were above average. Overall, the entire tour exceeded my expectations.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

I would have rated it excellent except for the miscommunication between Grand Pacific Tours and the operator of the Milford Sound cruise. Our cruise was cancelled and we missed seeing Milford Sound.

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8 Day Taste of the North Island

Journey from Wellington to Rotorua and from Rotorua to Bay of Islands is too long, it is better to split it up, accommodation & meals are average, there is no tour director. Our tour consultant Toni is very helpful, thanks Toni.

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8 Day Taste of the North Island

Distance between destinations quite long. One can only watch so much pasture & cattle/sheep. Coach Captain Cole excellent. Extremely disappointed with start of tour at Ibis Hotel. No welcome pack available & no name badges. Welcome pack was eventually provided but no name badges ever supplied. This made balance of tour inconvenient having to constantly reintroduce ourselves.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

We had a great time. Every thing was well organised. The tour guide and the Coach driver were very informative, helpful, courteous and happy.

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16 Day Single Travellers Highlights Tour

Could not suggest improvement. Meticulous attention to details. Staff, a driver commentator for each island and a tour director who was outstanding in service to the group, made the whole experience a pleasure. Included activities, cruises, train rides, and the bus route made the long drives days as comfortable as possible. Rotating seating in the bus was well thought out. Great meals and rooms better than expected throughout the tour. Quality included events, especially at Milford Sound, Queenstown (what a breakfast!) Bay of Islands and at Rotorua were far better than expected. Very impressed with the range of extra activities, joy flights and such. Quality staff and company handled the earthquake closing the ferry very competently and I believe they also had a bus group on the North island they were assisting. Must note that we were extremely lucky with the weather. Only had flights closed by low cloud at Franz Joseph Glacier, and very little rain.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

Got back from an incredible, lovely, fascinating, awesome journey of New Zealand. What a beautiful country. In-spite of the strong earthquake we felt in Wellington, nothing could stop us from a wonderful trip. We are full in capacity 42 I think, everybody is on time, get along and takes good care of one another, that is what made your trip worthwhile. We commended and applaud from Marie (tour consultant) to Riki - South Island coach guide and driver, Kevin - North Island coach guide and driver and the two lovely ladies from Christchurch and Auckland who attended our needs, thank you all so very much.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

I enjoyed the tour very much. Our tour guide, Ricky was organised, punctual, caring & humorous! Would certainly recommend the tour to friends & family. Cheers

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Loved New Zealand!! Our guide Nike, was the BEST! Drivers Kevin and Riki were very informative, courteous,and there to help me, whenever it was necessary. They all contributed to a wonderful tour and made sure we enjoyed the best time we could, while touring New Zealand. All in all, the tour and the people, exceeded my expectations.
I will recommend this tour to my friends and family, for sure. It truly does not get better than it was.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

The NZ-tour surpassed my expectations, it was an amazing tour. I have learned a lot from the tour-guide and the coach-drivers: 1) about the geology of the NZ Islands and 2) about the culture of the Maori people, their history, their beliefs, and their way of life. New Zealand is a civilized, clean, welcoming, friendly country. In short, it was for me a great experience. The only minor lowlight is that the tour-group was not more diverse with respect to different nationalities. One aspect of traveling is to meet people from different parts of the world and exchange views with them. One word about my travel consultant, Marie, she is excellent in what she is doing, she is very responsive and she guided me throughout the process of booking and she provided me with all the information I needed to make this a successful travel experience. Thank you.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

We had a fantastic holiday in this amazing country. Will definitely return one day. Grand Pacific really look after you. The only negative is I felt we didn't have enough "free time" and felt things were a bit rushed in places. A special thanks to Marie for her help in organising our tour. I will be recommending both Relaxing Journeys and Grand Pacific Tours to New Zealand travelers.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

Thanks, Mani, for helping me organize this trip from the other side of the world. To start, we took an extra night in Heartland Hotel at the beginning of the tour so we could get adjusted to the time change (coming from Toronto, Canada). We were not happy with the accommodation there (room 906 - no storage in bathroom, very low shower head, too far from downtown Christchurch) and the first official dinner, also there, was pretty awful. Other than that, the tour was wonderful. Our coach driver, Chris, was quite good and I loved the spots we visited. I appreciated the frequent stops to allow us to stretch our legs and freshen up but I do think some of the cafes jack up their prices for the coach tours.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

There were some very interesting inclusions in the itinerary. e.g. lunch at the sheep farm, visiting a castle, visiting an historic home, overnighting on Milford Sound - just to mention a few. New Zealand is a very beautiful country and we were blessed with perfect weather for the 3 weeks of touring.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Excellent tour that far exceeded our expectations. Terrific itinerary with great included activities. Great choice of interesting optional tours as well. A very busy pace, we sure appreciated when we had more than 1 night in a hotel. In particular we really enjoyed the train journeys and the overnight on Milford Sound. Terrific driver and host. Efficient service from Toni at Relaxing Journeys, was easy to deal with even though we were in North America. We have recommended this particular itinerary to our friends as well as the services of Relaxing Journeys.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

We had a wonderful holiday. The coach captain Cole and guide Rangi were full of knowledge about the places we visited. We also had a good crowd on the coach and made some new friends.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

Wonderful! Excellent overall experience of NZ. Packed a lot into a few days. Drivers were about the best we have seen on our worldwide travels. Food was good in all hotels except one. If the flight was shorter from USA we would come back. Thanks for all your help.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

What a great tour! It exceeded our expectations and we are delighted that we decided to go. The tour pace was hectic with some early starts and a few long drives, but is soon became apparent that you have to do that in order to see everything. If we were to do a self drive tour it would have taken us probably twice as long. Touring on a coach also meant the we could see all of the beautiful scenery, something that would not have happened if we drove. The coach captains were both professionals who gave some great commentary and insights about the culture, landscapes and history of New Zealand. For the most, the accommodation was more than we expected and the food was of high quality and plentiful. There was a good mix of people on the tour as well and everyone seemed to mix very well. This really was a set and forget tour, we only needed to book the tour and flights and everything else was taken care for us.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

The tour was great value for money. We thought it would be an escorted tour like our ones in Europe but the driver was the person for everything. He was excellent and came out of retirement to do this trip as a fill in. The itinerary was very good and all the places you wanted to visit we did. The hotels for the most were very good and the food provided by them in most instances was excellent.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

Good tour but made even better by the excellent coach captain who was a very safe driver and full of really interesting local information.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

This was a fabulous tour. The guide and coach driver were very knowledgeable, the hotels were great and the food delicious and plentiful.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Grand Pacific Tours are very good at what they do; we would recommend them to anyone. Tour was full-on, particularly with the 6.00am starts. Saw much more than we would have done had we hired a car. NZ is a beautiful country and the people are very friendly/helpful. We shall definitely return....under our own steak next time around. On the 'downside', not receiving our bags, wallets, etc until we reached Auckland was unsatisfactory.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

We loved our trip. The tour leader and the drivers were all exceptional. Our only complaint would be that at various spots on the South Island there were two, even three Grand Pacific buses at each stopping spot we went to. It seemed a case of "who is going to get there first"!! Of course, this meant that we were effectively on a coach trip with 80 or so people. It meant lines at facilities that could be avoided if staggered trips were planned, i.e. one tour start off on a particular day, then the next etc. I know Grand Pacific can't plan around other coach companies but some planning within Grand Pacific could be helpful. Very large groups made difficulties at meal times especially breakfast when timing is tight. I must stress, there were no ugly moments! Staff in hotels were great. Having said that, we had a lovely group and we couldn't fault our drivers and leader, John, as I said before. Thank you for the opportunity to share ideas with you. Kia Ora Marilyn and Paul C

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

If I was going to recommend this tour to someone, I would say do it from Christchurch to Auckland. The pacing of driving and activities in the South Island is very hectic, so I'd suggest doing that first before relaxing in the North Island.

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10 Day South Island Spectacular

The South Island Tour was extremly well organized. I enjoyed every single day of the journey!! Both the Couch Captain Craig Inglewood as well as our Guide Paul Dodd told us all we wanted to know, showed us the most interesting places and sceneries and were absolutely helpfull in each and every way. The Hotels were very good, the meals excellent and the special trips like the TSS Earnslaw Boat Trip or the boat trip in Milford Sound were beautiful. I would definitely join that tour next time again and can highly recommend this tour to everybody.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

The tour in it's self was first class, The coach and driver/captain were excellent but the guide although pleasant was very poor with his instructions, we and many of our fellow travellers were confused at times because of the conflicting information given. The hotels were of a reasonable standard although in the hotel Sudimar in Rotorua we had to change our room because of the very poor standard. Our main concern at all the hotels was the food they were all buffet style which was not made clear to us when we booked. The Sky City and the James Cook Grand Chancellor the food was very good with a good choice. The others the quality was not good with limited choices. The Copthorne in particular was very poor,There was not sufficient seats provided for my wife and I to sit together and they ran out of food, and we were unable to have a starter. The hotel offered us a glass of wine in recompense I would not consider sumptuous dinners, as described in the tour sales paperwork to be buffet style.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

It was an amazing tour, real value for money. We could never do a tour like this ourselves and see so many beautiful places. We like our stay at Donegal House, Kaikoura as it was a very unique place and we thought it was well worth a visit.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

Only slight criticism was that most of the hotels used were a bit out of the town centres but very high standard throughout. Tour was excellent. Amazing how much was crammed in to such a short time. Highlights for me were Queenstown, Milford Sound, and the helicopter flight to Franz Josef Glacier (not to be missed and worth every penny).

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

We had a very enjoyable tour with a excellent coach captain, Andrew Brown. We would certainly recommend Relaxing Journeys to friends and also Grand Pacific Tours. One slight thing we would have liked to see arranged was collection from the railway station in Christchurch at the beginning of the tour. Other than that we were completely satisfied.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

We 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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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

We 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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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Loved 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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9 Day Taste of the South Island

The coach travel, hotel program and optional excursions were all excellent. The only really bad aspect which would put me off doing a tour like this again was having to get up so early; we had to get up in the dark in summertime-often at 6am which does not make for a relaxing holiday! Time could have been saved by having 20-30 minutes for the morning coffee break instead of 1 hour and arriving later at the hotel.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Well 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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23 Day Best of New Zealand by Cruise & Luxury Coach

Our coach drivers were excellent, and very knowledgeable. Our coach guide, Anthony O'Brien, was very accommodating, helpful, and enjoyable. He certainly had our best interests at heart, and kept good track of all of us. I would gladly recommend Grand Pacific Coach Tours to all travelers. I found New Zealand to be a beautiful, clean, and friendly country.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Having 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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9 Day Northern Spectacular

We had a wonderful tour of the North Island. The accommodation, meals and all of the inclusions were top class. Our driver Linda and our tour guide Rangi were knowledgeable and efficient. Our dealings with Relaxing Journeys was trouble free and everything went smoothly. I would highly recommend Relaxing Journeys and Grand Pacific Tours to any of my friends who may be planning a trip to New Zealand.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

The tour far exceeded my expectations. The organisation was very good, nothing left unchecked. The days were packed and varied. I think the information we were given at the start of the tour was excellent, and was referred to on a number of occasions. New Zealand is a beautiful country and I am very pleased I decided to see it with Grand Pacific Tours. I will not hesitate to recommend you to friends. Thank you, I had one of the best holidays ever.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Brilliant tour would recommend to anyone and explain it is not a holiday as it is full-on to cover all the areas in both islands. Also loved all the little extras - collecting suitcases, private room for last night dinner, arrangements on board so etc. etc. To many to mention. I loved the whole thing.
Only downside was access to wifi in a few places. Some unreliable and others because hotels were charging. Travelers need it!

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

It was a great tour! We saw so much of the country in the 3 weeks we were there, and we loved the Hobbiton village as well as the Weta Cave Workshop as I am a big Lord of the Rings fan. It was a very fast paced trip, however, with not much time to relax. Linda and Rangi were wonderful drivers and tour guides!

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

A 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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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

A very well organized tour, comfortable coaches especially the North Island one. However I think it is better to have a separate person giving information about what we are seeing and let the driver do his job of driving. Both drivers we had were excellent in this regard as well as being helpful in any way they could with the luggage etc. In particular the South Island driver drove too fast as far as I am concerned (as if he had a train to catch) and very often what he was pointing out we missed because of it. In several places it would have been nice if he had slowed down to allow us to take photos from the inside the coach if the schedule didn't permit a couple of photo shots outside.

I think a separate guide would also have been able to give us more historical information. We got very little of this. I was in NZ a few days before Waitangi Day and all the discussion about letting the PM on the Marae. So why didn't we get any information about the relationships between the population descended from the original settlers and the Maoris. After all NZ has the wonderful heritage of having given the Maoris citizenship over 160 years ago the first nation to do such a thing. The only information about Maoris we got was at the Te Papa, a fantastic museum and at Rotorua. Perhaps this info Australians know about but people from Europe, and there were several Europeans on the tour, know very little about the relationship with the Maoris. You don't have historical monuments as we do in Europe but you have a wonderful landscape which on several occasions just raced by due to the speed of the coach and this interesting relationship with the Maoris. Sorry to be so long winded but I strongly feel Grand Pac should provide a proper guide not just a driver who has read some facts in a book.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

The tour itself was fantastic and we had a great group and tour leader as well as two very good and informed drivers who shared their knowledge as we went. The hotels were good on the whole except for Te Anau which shut up the bar ridiculously early as the girl wanted to go home! The food was generally very good except for Te Anau which had a disappointing breakfast and although we had a Haggis Ceremony which was fun, the hotel itself was not as good as some of the others. The optional extras where brilliant and many took them up. Overall a very good experience with lots of professional care and fun.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

A wonderful overview of New Zealand!

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

Marie was on top of everything and very prompt in her responses. Great customer service! While both tour driver/directors were excellent, Andrew (South Island) was superb. Food in each hotel were excellent. The dinner at Walter Peak station (Queensland ) was wonderful. Christchurch hotel is dated and accommodation could be improved. 46 people in a coach tour is somewhat larger than we are used to. Overall very happy with the tour and would recommend Grand Pacific to friends.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

We have thoroughly enjoyed our week on the South Island tour. We had to get up early most mornings but you saw so much more for that effort. The tour centered around our fabulous guide and driver Alec. A faultless driver, he is very funny and incredibly well informed about anything to do with his country. He never let us down once. We will be recommending Grand Pacific tours to our friends and family. It is our first and not our last tour.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

The tour was very well organised and everything ran smoothly. I lost my luggage at the airport and Johnette was very helpful in assisting with the recovery. It was great to have someone to speak to get it resolved.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

The tour was well organised, we didn't need to worry about our luggage , practically all meals were catered for, a few adds on were included. Drivers were all good, very thorough. However, some days were unnecessary long , eg the trip to Mt.Cook, visiting two lakes which are almost the same. Some of the activities were not very appealing to Australians eg the Agrodome and the visit to the wild life farm which hadn't got wild animals. I would have like some more walks in the rain forest or the National parks, or places where NZ was famous for as we can see in movies!

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Overall was awesome. To see the whole country in that amount of time is awesome. I understand that one night stays are a necessity to insure the coverage of both islands but you should consider two days and eliminate some small towns.

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10 Day South Island Spectacular

The standard of the tour from the tour director, coach driver, accommodation, attractions, meals and pace was very good.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

Loved the whole tour, excellent driver. Think would be good if older people could have ground floor accommodation where possible. Overall wonderful tour & excellent service from Relaxing Journeys - thank you I will be recommending you to others.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

Excellent tour. Drivers very informative and entertaining. Got to see a lot in the time on tour. Would use this tour company again.

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

Hotel WiFi limited for hotel at Wellington & Wairapapa. While hotel at Wairapapa room cleanliness not up to standard. Quite dirty. Room at Wellington window sound proof bad. All day we heard the wind sound. Overall pretty good especially coach Mr Kelvin & Mr Paul tour guide. They very nice, helpful, presentable & kind. Lunch time very short due to need rush for next itinerary.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

The trip was really great - hotels all very nice nothing lacking. We can't speak highly enough of our driver Alex nothing was too much trouble for him. An extremely careful considerate driver. We seemed to have priority wherever we went. Only thing we had against it was as it was our first trip like this, it spoilt us for any other trips as we think any other company would have a lot to live up to in our minds.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

This was a fabulous trip. We never had to worry about anything. We just got on the tour at the start and everything was handled for us from the minute we arrived. NEver had to handle our luggage and we were on the go from day 1. Could not have seen all that we saw without this tour company. Itinerary was very varied and something for everyone to love. The group was fabulous and we all got along famously. Accommodations were mostly excellent. Just one or two that were slighly off but nothing that concerning. Not all hotels gave free Wi-Fi and in today's world most people find this important.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

All four of us enjoyed the tour. It was very well organised and I felt it covered the main sights of New Zealand better than we could have done if we had organised it ourselves. Food was plentiful and good to excellent in quality. Accommodation was comfortable and I found the hotel staff I met friendly and helpful. A special word of praise for our two drivers - Chris (South Island) and John (North Island). Besides their driving skills on often narrow, winding and mountainous roads, both gave detailed (and often humourous) commentaries on our route and places we stopped.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

The tour was well put together well coordinated the both the driver and the captain friendly and informative really felt like we were part of the family it was amazing experience and one we hope to repeat soon.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Very good I got full value of my money. Drivers and tour guide very professional.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

Congratulations to Tour consultants Mani and Toni - their pre tour prompt communications and attention to detail with bookings were exceptional! Both Steves (Nth and Sth Islands' Coach drivers) were also exceptional and very knowledgeable and friendly. Coaches were always spotless. Both exceeded my expectations in their service and communications. I would bring to Grand Pacific's attention that the South Island coach blew very cold air down over the cold windows. Everyone had to wear coats to keep warm. Secondly the Nth Island coach's rear steps were often too steep for some seniors! The tour itself was very good up until Wellington and Auckland where the accommodations were disappointing and not up to the standard of everywhere else. Attractions included in the tour were enjoyable as well as optional extras. Sadly we were not able to take a helicopter ride over Franz Josef glacier due to arriving too late one day and leaving too early the next! Biggest disappointment - being dumped off the coach in Auckland! Some sightseeing with the group in Auckland and a farewell dinner together that night would have rounded off the trip nicely. It would also have given us a chance to contribute to a collection (tip) for our Driver Steve who deserved it.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

Excellent tour, excellent drivers, great fun, nice people although the average age was very late 60's, fast paced whistle stop tours in places, not enough time in some places but we covered a lot of ground. Hotels most very good although let down by a couple. Food excellent. New Zealand was amazing!

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

I loved this tour!! It surpassed my expectations! The accommadations were very nice and clean. Some didn't have complimentary wifi which was a bummer at times. The tour was at a great pace, early mornings but worth it for the amount we were able to see and do. I loved the little pit stops along the way that were little hidden treasures!! I liked both Alex and Russell but I must say Russell was my favorite and grew a soft spot for him. He was the best! Genuine, honest, knowledgeable, and thoughtful, doesn't get much better than that! I also loved that the luggage was taken to and from the rooms that was a nice touch, especially for those on the tour where it was hard to get around let alone to carry luggage around. Everything was so well organized and planned. There was a never time where we were just sitting around confused about what's next. I really love this tour and tour company. I really think this company should expand to Australia and worldwide. I can tell the way this company is run is well thought out and really wants the passenger to be happiest. It's great ethics to run a company by. Please do more tours in other countries and let me know when you do! Thanks again! It was wonderful!

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Wonderful way of seeing New Zealand. The tour guides were absolutely wonderful.

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9 Day Taste of the South Island

We were so glad that we chose your tour instead of using other options we had considered. The tour exceeded our expectations in every way. Thank you soo much!

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

We both had a very good time and enjoyed touring New Zealand. The coach driver Steve in the North Island was very knowledgeable and informative and his humour helped all of the passengers have a very good time. Most of the hotels were excellent with one or two such as Scenic Hotel Franz Joseph and MacKenzie Country Hotel Twizel not meeting our expectations. Disappointed that we did not see either the Franz Josef or the Fox Glacier. Some form of road / walking trips to these needs to be arranged for future tours.

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19 Day Rail & Coach Holiday

Fantastic 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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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

We did the 19 day Grand New Zealand Tour. I think it could have been shorter. We spent a lot of time in the coach retracing our steps and zigzagging across the county. I also think the coaches should have WiFi. We spent a lot of time on the coach just sitting there, waiting for others.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

On the whole a very well organised tour. Lovely bunch of people. A pity some hotels do not offer free wifi. The hangi feast was great and though we took a few optional tours, most of the stopovers were great, namely Hobbitton. Skippers canyon was out of this world.

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16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Tour

This was my husband's bucket list trip but ended up my favorite trip ever. I am so happy we choose this company to fulfill his dream. What a great deal price wise with cost of most meals and so many of best of NZ activities included. The food at all the locations were above and beyond what we expected! All kinds of healthy and delicious choices including desserts were available . Buying these meals would have been very expensive. The pace was perfect for us and we were thrilled to discover New Zealand along with so many friendly people on our tour.

Our coach drivers were exceptional and informative - especially Paul. My only recommendation for improvement would be that all the hotels offer free wifi because a few did not. Before the tour we had to contact Toni at Relaxing Journeys and she was always quick to respond and very helpful. Most of our traveling in past has been on our own and not with tours. But, we would have missed out on so much doing this on our own. I highly recommend this tour!

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10 Day South Island Spectacular

We thought that we were looked after extremely well. The tour guide Paul was full of knowledge and a great organiser. As for the bus driver, he was an extremely good driver, we felt safe the whole time, as the roads have a lot of bad bends in them coming down the mountains. The bus driver Bernaud was very knowledgable, knows South Island and also some of the north like the back of his hand. The places we visited were amazing and the hotels/motels were on a whole very good.

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10 Day South Island Spectacular

This whole tour, right from the beginning of booking to the end of the tour, was so well organised. The logistics of Relaxing Journeys and Grand Pacific, is amazingly excellent! Our tour consultant, the coach captain and the the tour guide extended their services with professionalism, diplomacy, patience and utmost courtesy. I like to give my thanks to the whole team who provided services beyond their duties. I would highly recommend my friends to these travel tours.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Would have liked to go to Invercargil. Hotel in Dunedin was very cramped and dining room space was very poor, we were not informed about the gardens across from the hotel which we could have visited instead of walking around the town centre waiting for the coach to return. The visit to the Treaty Grounds was disapointing , some tours got a show, we only had a talk and a song from the guide.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

The hotels were good (except MacKenzie Country Hotel - furniture tired looking, problems with closing doors/patio doors). The food was very good, the tour guide Paul excellent, both drivers helpful, and quite knowledgeable. Too early wake up calls. The guided tour in Napier wasn't very good.

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10 Day South Island Spectacular

Fantastic trip. The itinerary was varied and interesting. Our driver and tour leader were totally professional and everything went like clockwork.

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14 Day New Zealand Panorama

Both tour guides/coach drivers were excellent and provided great commentary on the country and sights. Hotels also were very good. The sights of New Zealand are fantastic!

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9 Day Northern Spectacular

The only portion of the trip that was not up to high standard was the pick up at Auckland airport due to the search required for the duty person and the length of time before we boarded our coach to the hotel. Somehow this must be smoother. The Sudima hotel breakfast lacked the variety as others but still ok. The Auckland Hotel - Star City was generally catered to gamblers and TV lacked any real news and good TV, although its location was ideal. The visit to the islands excellent but the trip to see the sculptures was quite dangerous and should have been advised. Excellent Bay of Islands, Rotorua and glad to be in Napier during their celebration weekend. The tour guide was impressive in his knowledge and the tour captain was good and precise - happy with both. We also had good quality time in Wellington with family and friends - this was on top of a very good tour and our tour group was a good one.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

This is the first time we have been in New Zealand. The 19 day tour was great. It highlighted the many different aspects to NZ. We were amazed by the scenery and diversity that New Zealand has to offer. Totally awesome. As a keen photographer I would have liked to have more stops for photography but I understand the needs to keep to scheduled itinerary. Taking photos from a moving a coach is difficult and largely hit and miss given reflections in the glass and rapidly moving exterior. All in all I got some pretty amazing shots. I had reported earlier that a couple of the hotel rooms we stayed in were in need of renovation and maintenance (eg lights that did not work and cracked tiles in the bathroom) but that did not detract from our comfort. We found all the hotels clean and a suitable standard overall. Our thanks to Murray, John and Barry for taking such good care of us.

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19 Day New Zealand Showcase Tour

Thought day 14 was a wasted day, would have been better to stay half a day in Queenstown then do Arrowtown arrive in Te Anau late afternoon instead of before lunch. I have just retired after 38 years driving and managing a bus and coach company, the drivers were very very good in my opinion, maybe just a few too many buffet meals on North Island.

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