Shuttles from your ship in New Zealand ports

[FraserK]

We will be doing a Ruby Princess cruise around NZ next February.    Recent cruisers, did your cruise line, or port, provide shuttles into town?

Were they free or was there a fee?  Visiting the following...

 

Dunedin (Port Chalmers)

Akaroa

Wellington

Napier

Tauranga

Auckland

Bay of Islands

 

Appreciate any advice and thanks in advance.

 

Kat

 

[Chiliburn]

Dunedin,the ship doesn’t have anything to do with the shuttle.you need to buy a ticket in the terminal for $20 nz or au is accepted.

Bay of Islands the shuttle was free.

[possum52]

Dunedin (Port Chalmers) - pay for shuttle

Akaroa -  if you are going into Christchurch then you either have to go on an organised excursion or use the local bus - tenders into Akaroa

Wellington - free shuttle to and from port into town

Tauranga - no shuttle

Auckland - not needed, dock at in the city or anchor in harbour and tender into city ferry dock.

 

Enjoy your trip down under.

 

Leigh

[GUT2407]

Or Dunedin, five minute walk into town $5 for public bus.

 

[WAVTAM]

Dunedin has a local bus available right outside port gate.

Wellington has bus . Can't remember if there was a charge. If not windy, a nice 20 minute walk. Bay of Islands is a nice walk of 20 minutes also around harbor.

Auckland, Akaroa and Tauranga all dock in town.

[epixx]

And Napier had a free shuttle in Dec 2018 when we arrived.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 3/27/2019 at 1:02 AM, WAVTAM said:

Dunedin has a local bus available right outside port gate.

Wellington has bus . Can't remember if there was a charge. If not windy, a nice 20 minute walk. Bay of Islands is a nice walk of 20 minutes also around harbor.

Auckland, Akaroa and Tauranga all dock in town.

You can no longer walk off the wharf in Wellington, you must use the free shuttles.

[FraserK]

Perfect thanks everyone 

 

Kat

[WAVTAM]

8 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

You can no longer walk off the wharf in Wellington, you must use the free shuttles.

Well I know we walk back to ship.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We're in Tauranga today on Celebrity Solstice. As we walked ashore at the port, which is actually in Mt Maunganui, I noticed three transport options:

- a shuttle bus to Tauranga, departing fro. The wharf itself. $15pp, each way I think

- a HoHo bus stop a short walk to the right of the wharf entrance. Not sure of cost.

- a regular bus stop a little further along with services to Tauranga.

Mt Maunganui shops, restaurants and beaches are a pleasant flat walk from the ship.

 

 

[Barwick Cruiser]

25 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We're in Tauranga today on Celebrity Solstice. As we walked ashore at the port, which is actually in Mt Maunganui, I noticed three transport options:

- a shuttle bus to Tauranga, departing fro. The wharf itself. $15pp, each way I think

- a HoHo bus stop a short walk to the right of the wharf entrance. Not sure of cost.

- a regular bus stop a little further along with services to Tauranga.

Mt Maunganui shops, restaurants and beaches are a pleasant flat walk from the ship.

 

 

We were planning to do the hike up Mt. M, can we access the base walking from the ship or will we need to take a shuttle?  Enjoy your cruise, we'll be there in December!!

[OzKiwiJJ]

20 minutes ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

We were planning to do the hike up Mt. M, can we access the base walking from the ship or will we need to take a shuttle?  Enjoy your cruise, we'll be there in December!!

Yes, the base of the Mount is a easy walk from the ship. BTW there are hot salt water swimming pools at the base in case you feel i  the need of a therapeutic soak after the hike.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Here you go: this photo was taken from the Sky Lounge on Solstice (hence the blue tinge). The Mount is at the other end of the bay. It couldn't be much closer!

Edited March 31, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[Barwick Cruiser]

13 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, the base of the Mount is a easy walk from the ship. BTW there are hot salt water swimming pools at the base in case you feel i  the need of a therapeutic soak after the hike.

That's great and we'll def bring our swimsuits, the saltwater pool sounds perfect for post-hike!!  Great picture too, thx!  How's the cruise so far?

Cathy

[FraserK]

Great picture

 

Thanks

 

Kat

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 3/29/2019 at 2:57 AM, WAVTAM said:

Well I know we walk back to ship.

You obviously haven't been there for at least two years. I'm in Wellington today. Passengers are NOT permitted to walk off or on to the wharf. Free shuttle buses are provided and there were two stops today. One at the start of Lambton Quay opposite the Beehive, about ten minutes walk from the cable car. The other is in Wakefield St opposite Cuba St. There is an iSite information office there and it's a short walk across to the Te Papa museum.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 4/1/2019 at 3:39 AM, Barwick Cruiser said:

That's great and we'll def bring our swimsuits, the saltwater pool sounds perfect for post-hike!!  Great picture too, thx!  How's the cruise so far?

Cathy

Excellent although the weather has been a bit temperamental. It's decidedly cool on Wellington today. The meals in the MDR on Solstice have been excellent. Far better than on the short Majestic Princess cruise we did late last year.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I'm back onboard now. Security to enter the wharf on the shuttle bus was much tighter than it was two years ago - the bus was not allowed near the ship until seapasses and photo ids had been checked by wharf security. There was no way anyone could walk to the ship.

Edited April 2, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[WAVTAM]

10 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm back onboard now. Security to enter the wharf on the shuttle bus was much tighter than it was two years ago - the bus was not allowed near the ship until seapasses and photo ids had been checked by wharf security. There was no way anyone could walk to the ship.

Why all the tense security.  Is this new since the Mosque attack.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We've done this NZ cruise three times now: Dec 2015, Feb 2017, and now.

 

On the first cruise I don't think we had to show any other ID apart from our sea passes.

 

Just before the 2017 cruise there was an earthquake that affected Wellington. The entrance to the cruise dock was changed to the far end of the wharf, near where the interisland ferries leave from, and passengers were no longer permitted to walk off the wharf. I can't recall if we had to show photo IDs there. We certainly did at Napier, another working port so not dedicated to cruise ships. Shuttles were required and they were very strict about the IDs - they had to be originals, no photocopies allowed. They pulled one couple off the shuttle bus for "further processing". Other ports that have dedicated cruise docks were more relaxed.

 

This year, as mentioned earlier, Wellington did have tighter security but I suspect that may just be because they have a proper security entrance to the wharf now - it was a bit ad hoc in 2017 due to the recent earthquake changes.

 

At Tauranga we had to show photo IDs at the wharf entrance. We're at Akaroa now and are just about to go ashore and are in Dunedin tomorrow.

[Barwick Cruiser]

On 4/1/2019 at 11:23 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm back onboard now. Security to enter the wharf on the shuttle bus was much tighter than it was two years ago - the bus was not allowed near the ship until seapasses and photo ids had been checked by wharf security. There was no way anyone could walk to the ship.

 

Are you planning to do a review after your cruise?  I'd be interested to hear of any changes you found since you last did this cruise as well as what you did at each port and any tips for the ports or onboard.  Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise and have calm seas over the Tasman!!

Cathy 

[OzKiwiJJ]

On 4/4/2019 at 1:08 AM, Barwick Cruiser said:

 

Are you planning to do a review after your cruise?  I'd be interested to hear of any changes you found since you last did this cruise as well as what you did at each port and any tips for the ports or onboard.  Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise and have calm seas over the Tasman!!

Cathy 

I'm not planning on doing a review but am happy to answer any questions.

 

We spent most of the port stops catching up with friends and family (which is the reason we do this cruise regularly) and trying to eat as many Bluff Oysters as we could! I'm originally from NZ and we did several land trips before we started cruising so sightseeing isn't a priority for us.

 

The only differences onboard that I've noticed is that the appetisers and mains in the MDR are better than ever but the desserts are boring and repetitive. Also they seem to have cranked up the volume of the music in most of the lounges. There has been some great music but it's often too loud for our delicate ears! 

 

We had reasonable seas across the Tasman, 4 metres at most last night I think. Both sea days were comfortable cruising.

Edited April 8, 2019 by OzKiwiJJ

[OzKiwiJJ]

I just heard the Captain's report - apparently we had seas up to 6 metres last night, not that I noticed them though. This ship is very stable.

[iancal]

We were on an RCI cruise.  In Dunedin the cruise line did have a shuttle. Forget the cost.  There was also a local bus.  We took that into town.  It dropped us off at the train station.  We took the train excursion.  RCI cost for the train was $200. or so.  Booking it on our own was $95 (at the tourist office in Wellington).  Only difference was the RCI excursion train came to the dock and they provided a box lunch.   We had lunch at a small town at the end of our trip, prior to returning.   THe local Rotary club put on an outdoor barbeque.  Then we went to the pub.  We would not recommend the train, it was a little boring.  And for $200. we would have felt ripped off...box lunch or no box lunch.  That evening quite a few people were complaining about it, especially when they found out what others who had booked on their own paid.

Edited April 15, 2019 by iancal

[tsutt35]

We did all NZ ports on our own other than Tauranga where we wanted to go to Hobbiton (we booked ourselves online through Zealandier). Off the top of my head the only shuttle we paid for was Dunedin with Wellington and Napier free. That was on a Princess cruise. I blogged about our cruise if you are interested in what we did at each port. 

https://tanyastravelblog.wordpress.com/cruises-2/december-2017/