New Zealand by Bus Not Ship Shuttle

[CRUISENAV8R]

First, thank you to Budget Queen (BQ) me a TON of money. Here post at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=666960 is a good read. This post will only look at city bus use in my New Zealand ports of call. Remember, $1NZ = $0.78US. Use an ATM machine.

 

This is the information about public transportation the ship would not tell me.

 

Dunedin: BQ said it best: “The ship sold $9US each way shuttle tickets, there was a city bus just outside of the security gates for $2.60NZ (note: I think it is now $2.90 and children are $1.50NZ), with NO stops except pick up and drop off at the Octagon” The city was running a special bus every half hour just for the ship. The City Bus was only one block to the left outside of the gate. Our pick up to the ship was NOT at the Octagon, but a couple blocks away, right across the street from the Cadbury Factory, so save that for last. There is also a supermarket there to pick up, liquid refreshments, or whatever.

 

Christchurch: The ship shuttle was $10US each way to “downtown”. We took the bus for $2.50NZ/adult, 0.95NZ/child, and dropped us off at the Cathedral. One of the notable stops along the way was the Gondola. BQ has more details about the bus to the airport, we met a friend and spent the day with him. Note: Unlike our other ports, you COULD NOT walk out of the port. However, there was a FREE shuttle that dropped us off 2 blocks from the bus stop, and the walk was downhill.

 

Wellington: The ship shuttle was $6US each way to the Kirkcaldie and Stains Dept Store. No bus needed to town, we just walked out the gate, down the street (which was rather busy) then veered left and walked the rest of the way to the Te Papa Museum. The Museum is a MUST see, and is FREE. Downtown is a couple of blocks from the Museum.

 

Tauranga: The ship shuttle is $8US each way to downtown Tauranga. The bus is called the City Hopper and was $2.50NZ/adult and $1.50/child, or if you want an all day pass, $6NZ. The pick-up and drop-off was a block up the street outside of the pier, next to the information center. If you really have no touring planned, I recommend just staying in the port city (Mauranga).

 

Auckland: This was our last port, and we had purchased the cruise air, so the transfers to the airport were included. I had scooped out what to do for the day after the airport drop off, since I had a 7:30PM flight. Well, our airport transfer actually dropped us off at the Crowne Plaza for the day. They had a baggage hold area for us, which allowed us to walk around the city for the day. Because the kids wanted to, we did the Sky Tower, which was 2 blocks away. We had assigned times to be back to the hotel based on our flight departures.

 

Good luck, and enjoy New Zealand!

 

Jon

[Stacey779]

Thank you Jon for this helpful post, and thanks also to Budget Queen for her post as well. I'm not sure how I would have planned my Alaska trip without Budget Queen's advice, and it looks like she's going to be just as helpful on these boards as well. This is why I love cruise critic! :D