Well put together itinerary. All arrangements spot on. Most accommodations excellent and a few absolutely outstanding. The TranzAlpine railway was not running and options were offered and put in place to complete the trip without fuss. Good mix of trips included in the package. Overall we were delighted with the whole holiday and sad to come home.
We had a great time on the cruise The crew made the trip along with the beautiful scenery. Spent some time on the bridge with the captain and nature guide and they were both very professional and fun to engage with. The only thing that would be nice to change is have a little more time at departure. Understand time is limited but it would nice to have an extra 1/2 hour to settle in to our cabin before leaving the dock so we could be outside during that time. Other then that a great trip and very good food.
Outstanding in every regard. Can’t really say anything more that would make it any more splendid. Except…I thought I heard it rain, then I heard it again and again. And when I looked to check for sure, there, it rained some more! The rain just added to the splendour and the pod of bottleneck dolphins that guided the ship, well what more can I say? I think you get the message. Tell anyone undecided, just go!
We had a great holiday with all of the details organised for us. It was hassle free.
Too much driving. We didn’t need a car in Auckland, just had to pay for parking. What wonderful scenery. I really enjoyed the variety of places to stay. Some of the breakfasts were outstanding and some were pitiful. The vouchers were great.
We thoroughly enjoyed our self drive tour of New Zealand. We liked the way you always got the same person to help you through your decision of what you wanted to do, Marie was excellent and patiently helped us through all our decisions and made it work when we wanted to add extra things to an itinerary or take something out. That way we ended up with exactly what we wanted. The tour went like clockwork, there was a voucher for everything so once we had paid for our holiday it was only really lunches and dinners we were paying for and of course any take-home gifts! We recommended Relaxing Journeys to quite a few people as we were touring around, everyone liked the voucher system and that we were booked onto everything so you knew you were on a tour or trip. We would have no hesitation on recommending them to friends and family and would use them again.
Our 30 days self drive tour was very well organized and the itinerary was very detailed and easy to follow. Unfortunately, highway 1 between Blenheim and Kaikoura was closed and we had to drive many hours and then the route took us north on Hwy 70 to Kaikoura which was an extremely hard drive with many stops for road works. This day should have been broken up or directed right to Christchurch…. it took us nearly 11 hrs with a stop in the lovely Hanmer hot springs but, drive time was 8 hrs. Also we were disappointed that the TranzAlpine train was cancelled and would have changed our route and not bothered with Franz Joseph Glacier. The tour from Queenstown to Milford Sound was absolutely stunning. We did have a very good overview of your wonderful country, so clean and welcoming to visitors. Thank you Mani, we appreciate your hard work.
Places booked to stay were all very comfortable and friendly. Your suggestions for side trips along the drives were much appreciated and helpful. All in all, tour was wonderful!
Thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Even the less than brilliant weather could not spoil our trip. In fact we were treated to spectacular waterfalls and atmospheric scenery. The crew were extremely friendly and expert multi-taskers. The meals were superb. Our cabin was very comfortable and clean. Thoroughly recommend this trip.
We would like to thank Marie and Christine of Relaxing Journeys for making our 32 day driving holiday around New Zealand one we will never forget. It was fantastic! We got to travel around both islands and Relaxing Journeys had arranged all our accommodation and transportation for every stop. Our accommodations were all centered nicely at each stop, so all we had to do was walk to restaurants or shopping or sight seeing. Relaxing Journeys also prearranged some amazing sight seeing attractions also. The bus trip up to Cape Reinga and drive on the 90 mile beach, the fun catamaran trip to see the famous Hole in the Rock, the scenic train ride from Christchurch over to Greymouth, and also our trip to Milford Sound. We were so amazed with our trip, always something new to see everyday. From driving through farm land, rain forest, mountains past the oceans, through the vineyards orchards and wineries. Thanks again Marie and Christine for taking the stress out of our holiday. We were very impressed with your expertise and service.
The time estimate between stops was greatly underestimated. At least two hours additional would be more accurate. At the Fletcher Lodge no one was available to help us carry our luggage up two flights of stairs. Blanket Bay was outstanding. The George was also very nice.
We thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The planning was well done and the ability to relax while making the journey at our own pace and seeing the things we chose. We really appreciated the way that when things needed to change due to weather, the team at Relaxing Journeys made all the arrangements and had everything in place with a minimum of fuss. We enjoyed the level of accommodation, a couple of locations weren’t as good as others, but all were good. The whole trip ran smoothly and we felt relaxed and free to do as we pleased throughout the journey with all the hard work competently done by Relaxing Journeys.