New Zealand Recommendations?

[VoidoftheSeas]

My wife and I are sailing the last 10-night NZ cruise (Ovation) of the season next April (3rd-13th). We're looking for suggestions or recommendations for the ports:

Picton

Wellington

Dunedin

Christchurch

We're open to RCL excursions or rebooking and managing things ourselves - no restrictions on activity level. What have you enjoyed? What would you stay away from?

Thanks in advance!

[ChessE4]

We walked Wellington and did funicular to botanical gardens, also museum downtown. Dunedin was Royal excursion to a penguin sanctuary. If there are Lord of the Rings sites anywhere you go, I'd avoid them--overpriced. If you can, watch Brokenwood mysteries before your trip!

[VoidoftheSeas]

4 hours ago, ChessE4 said:

We walked Wellington and did funicular to botanical gardens, also museum downtown. Dunedin was Royal excursion to a penguin sanctuary. If there are Lord of the Rings sites anywhere you go, I'd avoid them--overpriced. If you can, watch Brokenwood mysteries before your trip!

Honestly, I'm such a huge geek that I will still pay for the LotR stuff, even if it is overpriced. We're going to be looking into self-guided or non-RCL tours too, since there is no language barrier, so we're open to those options as well. 

 

[ChessE4]

22 hours ago, VoidoftheSeas said:

Honestly, I'm such a huge geek that I will still pay for the LotR stuff, even if it is overpriced. We're going to be looking into self-guided or non-RCL tours too, since there is no language barrier, so we're open to those options as well. 

 

Have a great trip!  My son and I did the "shire" excursion, but I forget which port.  It was OK, just over-priced.  You don't actually go inside the hobbit huts-- you just see the door and village, eat in the tavern, etc.  The hobbit houses are at a sound stage, which is a different excursion (and I also forget which port).

[LCWind]

We did the following excursions in Feb 2023:

Picton- wine tasting in Marlborough thru viator.

Wellington- Weta workshop (booked on Weta’s website) and then spent some time in Te Papa museum (free admission and highly recommended)

Chrischurch- no excursion booked. Just walked around the city

Dunedin- city tour thru Royal

Whatever you decide to do, have a great time.

[F1guynz]

Hi,

I would suggest the Weta workshop in Wellington, you can catch a local bus to the workshops. You get to see LofR stuff as well as Thunderbirds if you are into that. Te Papa museum is also a great option as they have the Gallipoli exhibition which was also done by PJ.

Picton I suggest taking a trip to Blenheim to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre or any of the winery around Blenheim. On a nice day Picton is a nice place to walk around and grab a bite to eat and there are plenty of tourist shops.

In Dunedin we have done the penguin tour, Lanach Castle, Speights brewery and the Otago Settlers Museum. Dunedin railway station is also worth a visit for a photo opportunity.

We haven't been back to Christchurch since the earthquake in 2011 but the Antarctic Centre was always good along with a trip to Akaroa. 

For some of these activities you should be able to pre-book a local tour guide to meet you off the ship, I would google it to see what is available.