Travel Review, Australia & New Zealand, Queenstown, Christ Church, Auckland, Phillip Island, Wildlife

Review by traveler

Dean K.

2.20.2019

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:

I would like to state that the overall trip was good. We had a number of issues that we felt were not up to the standards we were expecting for the money spent. Starting with our initial stop at the hotel in Sydney where we were told to use the men's and women's bathrooms on the 7th floor (outside the pool/workout areas) as changing rooms while we waited to check in. By the way the women's bathroom was already in use as a changing facility by another woman.

The transportation to and from airports,train stations,bus drop offs and hotels was terrific. No complaints.

One issue that was a complete surprise to us was the level of choices for each tour or event that had not been offered to us during our planning process. A good example was the Phillip Island Penguin Tour. The issue was two fold (1) Was there a direct tour to the Island vs the waste of time on the small side trips and (2) The different ways to view the Penguins. The general admission,the private viewing stand,the underground viewing and the Park Ranger as a guide for the viewing. We encountered a number of tours lacking knowledge of the possibilities we should have been made aware off.

Generally the Hotels were good, however the travel service placed us in a hotel in Queenstown, New Zealand where we were told that they had a personal relationship with the manager and we would love the stay and food. We found the Hotel quite nice except they do not have AIR CONDITIONING.But our agent later said it cools off at night and the heat shouldn't be problem. Well we had fans from the Hotel delivered to our rooms and used them not only to keep the air moving but also to blow the SMOKE from the other units tobacco users from coming into our rooms. If you don't smoke you know what we are saying.

We would have loved to consider another option for our coach trip to Christ Church from Queenstown. The sights were terrific but it was like riding a city bus.We made a minimum of 5 -6 stops on the way to Mt.Cook to pickup and drop off passages and at least 4 - 5 on the way to Christ Church. It would have been nice to consider a more direct method. So a question I have is there a lack of knowledge/experience related to these excursions?

The last comment I have to make is this. I had asked our travel advisor to check for me if there was a possibility of extending our stay on the front end in Auckland. I never heard back from her and it turned out that we needed 3 additional nights. When I called the travel company they were less then helpful. The answer was the following, " None of the hotels we work with have rooms available. We suggest you try AirBnB." That was dissatisfying and I asked if they would try outside the city and was told that they had tried their contacts and there was nothing and I should just use AirBnB. We did that and ended up in a very shabby and confusing unit for $300 per night.

We had a nice experience with our friends and many of the tours were very good however there were things lacking.

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

The various Cties were fun

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

Read comments above

Travel Company Comments:

Thank you for booking your vacation with us. Vacations are important. They are opportunities to relax, learn, discover, unwind and find new exciting things in the world. I am glad to hear that overall your trip was ‘good’. We really enjoyed working with you and your friends for your vacation to Australia and New Zealand. Thanks for the opportunity to address some of the issues that came up for you – and explain the process we go through in recommending tours and hotels.

To your last comment first… about help with accommodation in Auckland when you needed 3 additional nights: Our business is designing custom made vacations. We never turn down an opportunity to sell a hotel room and we are always out to get our clients the best price and advice on hotels. We first talked about your vacation in late February/early March in 2018 and you told us you were staying friends in Auckland from 8th – 14th, so no need for our help with hotels there. Just before you left for your vacation in January 2019 you mentioned that your plans may change and you may not be staying with friends anymore and may need a hotel. Once you actually decided you did, in fact, need accommodations, you contacted us on the 10th for 2 rooms from the 11th to the 14th. We tried really hard to find you a hotel in Auckland last minute in peak season. But Auckland was sold out. This happens in Auckland and Queenstown in high season. We even searched Expedia for you– but there was nothing available. Our best travel advice to you at the time – last minute as it was – is to try AirBnB. AirBnB does not work with custom travel companies like ours – so we could not book it on your behalf. I’m sorry you didn’t like the AirBnB you ended up with, but please know we did everything we could to find a hotel for you for those 3 days…. It is super hard – and super expensive – to find a hotel room – last minute in Auckland and Queenstown in January/February.

To your points about the hotel in Sydney on your arrival, the Phillip Island tour and the Queenstown-Christchurch options:

We had a conversation about your arrival in Sydney before your departure. You had an early arrival time in Sydney. I told you we would (and did) request an early check in so if a room was unoccupied from the previous night you could check in, but it is not guaranteed unless you purchase the previous night. You didn’t want to purchase it. I am sorry there were not early check in rooms available... and sorry someone was in the women’s changing room when you wanted to use it.

To Phillip Island/Little Penguins:

As I’m sure you witnessed – hundreds and hundreds of people travel to watch the spectacle of thousands of Little Penguins. So there are literally dozens and dozens of different tours you can take to see the Little Penguins and Phillip Island. We have been sending clients to this amazing nature experience for 18 years. We know pretty much every tour company and what tours they offer. You are correct: there is a direct tour that takes you from Melbourne to the Little Penguin parade, but it is a large group motor coach with 44 passengers. You made it clear to us you were not interested in large group tours – you preferred small groups – so we didn’t present the direct/large group option to you. The description of the tour we presented highlighted the stops along the way. I am sorry to hear you thought the touring stops at Melbourne’s icon landmarks, the Conservation Park to see and feed Australian animals, and see the fur seal colony was “a complete waste of time”.

Sorry to hear of the bothersome second-hand smoke at the Rees – that can certainly be annoying. Many of the hotels in Queenstown do not have air conditioning as the average temperatures during summer is 70F during the day and 50F at night. We apologize for not making that clear.

With regards to traveling options between Queenstown and Christchurch – I offered several ways of doing this: You can fly, there was a coach tour option, or you could self-drive. You didn’t want to fly and you didn’t want to self drive, so we suggested the coach tour would suit you best. The ‘direct’ coach tour between Queenstown and Christchurch is not something we would recommend – and early morning departure with no hotel pick ups in Queenstown or drop offs in Christchurch. It does not work for foreign visitors with luggage. New Zealand is a small country… there are sometimes limited options.

We have a lot of experience and knowledge about New Zealand and Australia as we are from there and we are truly sorry to read you think there was a ‘lacking in the planning and selection’. We really enjoyed the time we had working with you to put this together…. Glad to read you had fun with your friends.

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