Review, Luxury New Zealand & Australia Trip, Bruny Island, Lizard Island, Tasmania, Seafood Cruise, Snorkeling

Review by traveler

Earl H.

2.11.2019

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Australia

New Zealand

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

In a word, Excellent! Our itinerary was almost flawless. That is, all reservations, transfers, and activities for a three week trip, covering two countries, four destinations, and nine hotels, happened as planned and reflected in our itinerary. Upon our arrival at our first hotel a very nice leather portfolio was awaiting us with a nicely printed and bound itinerary. Very nice touch. All accommodations were very nice and met or exceeded all our expectations. All transfers to and from airports happened as planned. The only issue we experienced was a change of planes in Sydney. There was only fifteen minutes between flights which would have been very tight had the flights been on time but the flight from Auckland was twenty minutes late arriving into Sydney. Luckily the outbound flight in Sydney was delayed due to weather so we made it. Everything else was perfect. Especially liked the country information and travel tips documentation.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

The seafood cruise out of Hobart was awesome! A great tour of the River Derwent bay, and Tasmania coast. Lunch in a Bruny Island cove prepared by the crew. Fresh oysters prepared several ways, live lobster prepared on the boat and cooked in seawater, vegetable and cheese plate, fresh urchin and abalone. And all the food is accompanied with very good wine and champagne. Bring your swimsuit if you want to take a swim to the island.

Snorkeling in Watson Bay on Lizard Island was amazing. Especially the clam garden which is just a few hundred meters off Watson Bay beach. Snorkeling in the bay was actually as good as or better than the Inner Reef excursion. Except for the Moon Jellies that is. We encountered thousands of Moon Jellies! Simply awesome... The Lizard Island resort was beautiful and comfortable, and the staff was exceptional.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

I would take a much closer look at the private tours. Some were great but some were a bit tiresome and were not worth the cost or time. We also learned during the trip that for some tours we were paying for the tour guide as well as ourselves for admission and meals. I suppose I should have been able to deduce this from the reservations but this was my first rodeo so didn't understand why some of the reservations indicated a party of three. I questioned this when I examined the documents but was told it was a typo. Now I know but I think it's a little ridiculous since the tours were not inexpensive. Some of the guides were not what I would call personable or interesting and really didn't offer much color on the outing. Sort of like inviting a stranger to join us on the outing and we had to keep the conversation going. Admittedly a difficult issue to deal with.

Travel Company Comments:

Mr. H.

We are so pleased to hear you had an excellent time and it was nice to chat with you about the details of your trip. For your flight in Sydney we received a last minute schedule change from the airline the morning you were leaving, so unfortunately that was out of our control but we did try to rebook you as close to the time as possible. Regarding the private tours, we will certainly provide the specific feedback you shared with about each tour. I know the days can sometimes be quite long to get to certain locations and I had proposed several of the tours as I thought would enjoy the experiences. I wanted to note that you did not pay for the guides meals and the typo mentioned was the appearance of a one of your names twice in our system for your flights; not the land program.

Hope that helps clarify a few things and many thanks for the feedback and for booking with us.

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