Both Karen & Susanna were an absolute delight to us in every aspect from the initial email all the way to the end of our tour. Arrived in Tauranga on Valentines Day - 14th Feb 2015 & we were looking forward to a very special day. We walked off the cruise ship and were greeted with hugs and warm smiles by Susanna and also had the pleasure of meeting Karen also prior to us heading out on our tour. The attention to details is awesome. As we don't like to do ship tours, I undertook to seek out a private tour operator which cost us a fraction of what the cruise ships were charging and we all got so much more than what ANY RCI tours offer also. Our tour was a full day and we got what we asked for + lots more. This tour & operators is sooooooooooo good and awesome in every way. Our private group was only 4 people(2 couples) and we had come into port on a RCI Voyager of the Seas cruise ship for the day so times was very limited for us.
We arrived to be greeted by Susanna @ 7.20am and we have to be back by 4.15pm to get back on the ship. At every point of the way was Susanna professional, warm and friendly and with the sun shining we set off for our adventures in Tauranga.
Our full on itinerary was to see the best of the Bay of Plenty all in one day as independent & not with the cruise ship throngs of passengers who get to see very little!!
We Leave ship @ 7.15am - find lovely Susanna waiting for us to depart.
7.30am depart Port, travel along beaches and stop for photos
8.15am - Kiwi fruit orchard - view vines, taste fruits, jams, honeys, kiwi wine (we were the only 4 people there - Ya aweseome - had tastings of the kiwi fruit and then the liquors and other kiwi fruit operations)
8.30am - visit Okere Falls (spectacular - plenty of time to take it all in and get photos)
9.00am - Maori Village outrigger canoe & Beach areas & also visit geothermal park (Again awesome and no other passengers in the areas that Susanna knew to take us for exclusive viewing and experience times)
10.30 - Rotorua City highlights - Government Gardens, Lakefront etc. (Susanna Highlighted everything and had a full commentary for us)
Drive to Hobbiton (we r all very excited to go here)
Stop to go to a lovely café to get some lunch that Susanna knew about.
11.30am - arrive Hobbiton.
11.35am Quick lunch
11.45am - Hobbiton tour (OMG this place is spectacular and so cool)
2.00pm - Depart Hobbiton
3.30 - Arrive Port
This was to be a full day of adventures for us and was to be a wonderful day out. We hit the Kiwi farm before anyone else got there Ya we were doing fruit & liquor tastings by ourselves and no masses of other cruise passengers in sight,
we then had the delight of going to the beach area and a viewing of the outrigger canoe that the Mari people paddle also, then being shown the thermal and mud region that there was no other tourists or people or thousands of other cruise passengers in sight.
Then off to a local cafe that Susanna knew about, to get some lunch to eat on the run (the food was so fresh and awesome) so as we could then head to "Hobbiton". Hobbiton was such a beautiful place. This place was amazing and the highlight of our trip. (Again no other cruise passengers in sight & we never had to worry about anything as Susanna had booked everything in advance for us) The entire time we were with Susanna she also gave us a running commentary of every thing that we were passing and this was so appreciated by us. It was wonderful to be able to see everything that we wanted to go to & more in such a limited time frame for the day, our tour was nothing but sensational and loved it in every way. We all found them to be top class and we never had to queue at any point. Susanna also took us to places off the beaten track to show us the thermal regions that she knew about from her local knowledge with no people there also so we were like treated with VIP service every where.
There was NO issues here about getting back on the ship in time as we were back at 3.35pm and very happy after an awesome day of fun, laughs and super adventures.
If u r visiting Tauranga, do a private tour, forget cruise ship tours that like to rip u off.
These ladies are amazing and we had such a great day that we all would highly recommend them to anyone. including cruise ship tours that like to rip u off. U WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED, DONT HESITATE TO BOOK THE BEST AND FORGET THE REST.
Contract Karen or Susanna @
Cruise Tours Tauranga
2 Edgecumbe Road
Tauranga, 3110
New Zealand
+64 7 571 2453
+64 212 741 613
www.cruisetourstauranga.co.nz