We've done many cruises and tours around the world and we were underwhelmed by Great Sights overall. I had been warned they are hit and miss so I probably should have booked another company. Our driver Adrian was good. But on the boat the service was ok, but not warm or welcoming from most of the crew. One thing I would suggest is DO NOT order the picnic lunch for $40. One of ours was a vegetarian box which contained an appalling, empty and bland sandwich, and less food overall than the non vegetarian option. Even that was pretty average for the price. The cheese and bickies were plastic cheese too. We also spoke to a couple who had gluten free and were extremely disappointed by how stingy and poor it was for the price. They didn't even get the little chocolate we did...which has no gluten. Of course Milford itself was magic. But I would suggest another company if you're expecting a great experience.

This was a wonderful experience from start to finish. Ivan was brilliant as both tour guide and driver, with impeccable timing with all his jokes! The cruise was beautiful and the staff were all great on board as well. A must see in the South Island!

Great road trip, not rushed, comfortable and guide/driver had vast knowledge of the place and history and educated is.

Terrible tourist company - they have left me on the Mt.Cook. I was 5 min before, but the driver Paul decided to leave earlier. I called customer service less then 10 min after the bus departed, but they didn't return the bus. Nor they booked a hotel for me or gave me food vouchers. Total ignorance of their customers! AVOID BY ANY MEANS, especially the driver Paul - very unfriendly and messy driver that constantly leaves people on Mt.Cook. On the next day he left 2 ladies! This is not funny!

Took 3 tours with GreatSights. The tour information was interesting except the one from Queenstown to Christchurch. They have frequent stops to stretch your legs which is nice. Overall it was enjoyable. My only complaint is that the bus drivers all seemed very rushed to make the schedule. On our Milford Sound trip we hit traffic on the way back, it started raining, and the front window fogged up. The driver drove with the window fogged (very quickly). I wish he had pulled over until the window cleared. Both my other trips they left without all the people being on the bus. One was at a small pullout that didn’t have cell reception. Rather than taking a quick look for the missing people, he honked the horn once, waited a minute, and then took off. When the people on the bus complained about the missing people, the driver was very callous. They really need to allow more time in the schedule to allow their drivers to deal with out of the ordinary situations. I don’t think anyone would have minded pulling over for a foggy window or waiting an extra 5 minutes to look for people that didn’t make the bus

My wife & I along with our 4 year old son did this tour from Christchurch to Queenstown on the 22nd of December. My rating is low mainly because of the driver. The Good - Very well planned trip and really nice stops along the way. We stopped at Geraldine for breakfast. We then stopped at Lake Tekapo, followed by Lake Pukaki and then Mount Cook. On the way down from Mount Cook, we stopped at a couple more places including an orchard and then finally Queenstown. The bus was very very comfortable - had USB charging for phones and wi-fi as well. The Bad - We spent 10 days in New Zealand and every single person we met and interacted with were very nice, except for this driver. I think his name was Nui, and he was extremely unpleasant, rude and short all along the way to me and my wife. He seemed very grumpy whenever we asked him a question, and his narration along the way was also very dull and seemed as if he was just doing the narration for the heck of it. Except for our driver, i think the overall tour was good.

We were taking the 745am bus from Queenstown to Tekapo. I was going to catch up on some sleep on the way BUT I was amazed by the scenic views AND our erudite travel guide！He knows everything on the road, flowers, trees, weeds, crops, cattle, shops, spots, glaciers, lakes, even history and recent events！I totally enjoyed his commentary along the way. The journey is also well planned that we always get a chance to stretch our legs before it gets too long. Too bad we parted our ways early at Mt. Cook. Looking forward to next trip in coming days！

This tour is a whole fu@s*ng clown. such a waste of money. I went to NZ for my birthday trip and this trip was the most expensive trip of mine. 8/11 at 7:30am, was supposed to be my trip. I arrived at the pick up point at 7:25 but I am unable to find to vehicle as there's just a lot of them their waiting. I was worried. At past 7:30, I was looking for a way to contact the operator but couldn't reach them as I was using an australian number. Nobody is contacting me which should have been done. The hotel in ny pick up point was just too nice to let me use the telephone so I was able to contact the operator only to find out that they already gone and just left me there without contacting me to any of my contact details that they have. I am asking for a refund because it's their fault but they are just too greedy. Please don't ever book on this agency. Great Sights is the name of the agency.

My husband and I travelled throughout NZ without a car (newly retired). Figuring out how to get to Queenstown from Christchurch was challenging and then I found this tour! Worth the cost as you get to your destination and get to see New Zealand's South Island stunning scenery. Awesome, clean, comfortable coach with large windows-we sat back and watched the magnificent scenery unfold. They gave us the pickup place in Christchurch for 7am and it appeared right on time-I could not believe it. Paul was our expert driver-especially on those windy roads. So happy he was driving and not me! From Lake Tekapo, to Mt Cook, small towns, stopped for lunch at Hermitage Hotel (our cost) and the amazing drive into Queenstown arriving on time about 7pm. A long day but it never felt it. Stopped along the way where you could get snacks and fresh muffins and coffees (our cost) - clean bathrooms. it was one of our favorite days in the breathtaking country of New Zealand. I thoroughly recommend this trip. Thank you Greatsights for providing a phenomenal travel experience.

Definitely worth it in terms of not having to drive ourselves to/from Milford Sound from Queenstown. Bus drive was scenic throughout, with our tour guide giving good commentary on the sights and life in NZ. The cruise was lovely - recommend skipping the lunch ticket and grabbing a cup noodle from the on-board shop :) Super, super windy if you go above deck, dress appropriately and leave hats at home. The overall logistics of the tour could use some improvement - there didn’t seem to be a good system of keeping track of passengers, so we spent a lot of time tracking down one or two people down at each stop, putting us behind schedule. Sometimes the driver just counted heads or asked to make sure the people around us were on board. No one got left behind but I wasn’t expecting to babysit fellow passengers. This was complicated by some people getting on/off at Te Anau - we spent five mins thinking two people were missing but they in fact left the group. Additionally, the stops in Te Anau were not long enough; the very first stop on the trip had wayyy too many coaches pull up at once and the cafe was severely overwhelmed. Felt like a scheduling issue from the tour providers. Food was out of stock, people were complaining their order wasn’t done and their bus was leaving, lines for the toilets, etc. We barely had time to get a coffee before our driver was starting to gather our group. Had to absolutely house our food items as we were told we couldn’t eat on board. We also specified our drop off point when we bought the tour, but the driver just told us to go up front (while driving) and tell him where to stop, as we barreled into Queenstown (he really floored it on the return trip) Only two people got up, as the bus isn’t super stable winding through the roads. Everyone else just got dropped off on the edge of CBD. All fine and good, just unexpected since we were picked up closer to our hotel, so we had to Uber back. All in all, worth it with some room for improvement. These buses seem to be shared among the big tour providers too, so wouldn’t sweat it on which provider you book through.

I really appreciate our trip booked with great sight our coach driver Mr shailander was a great man not only in driving he also gave lot of information about nature history and many more things 7 starts

Bus trip was fine and entertaining but the picnic lunch is a joke. They say a chicken picnic lunch. What you get is a chicken sandwich with next to no chicken on it,a small bag of chips, 2 cookies, 2 tiny chocolate balls a chocolate bar, small cheese and rice crackers and an apple. That is not a chicken picnic lunch, no where does it mention sandwiches. Great boat trip and scenery ruined by false advertising the lunch.

The tour of Milford Sound was amazing. I would recommend springtime - we had a clear sunny day and the melting ice meant the waterfalls were everywhere. The bus driver was excellent, he gave a lot of great background along the way and was really kind and helpful.

This trip was beyond expectations. We had the most wonderful driver Jeff Hill who made the bus trip interesting travelling from Queenstown to Milford sound. He was so bubbly and interactive telling us stories, interesting facts and also stopping at Mirror lakes, Te Anau, Eglinton Valley, we also saw Keas in the wild. The Milford cruise on pure Milford was amazing. This was great value for money, so well organised, the bus was roomy and glass roof is great for this experience. Overall such a fantastic experience

Had a wonderful time despite the weather. Having said that, our photos look amazing. Such a beautiful part of the world. A bit confusing knowing which coach we needed to board but once onboard the driver was excellent and very knowledgeable about the whole area. Boat trip was equally informative and got close to photographic areas.