Busing back to ship : Dunedin and Chriustchurch

[Kinkacruiser]

Hi all,

How easy is it to catch a bus back to the ship after a day in Christchurch and Dunedin? These are the only two NZ ports of call located ouside walking distance from the city. Where do you catch the buses? Do they run fairly regularly?

Will we be given a map of the cities/towns when we arrive?

Thanks,

Kinka

[bobsydney]

Christchurch - 2 local bus services (routes 28 and 35) operate between Lyttleton Harbour to the city on a very regular basis ... about half-hourly. The bus stop at Lyttleton is apparently close to the pier Cost is $2.50 each way. See www.metroinfo.org.nz for more information.

 

Dunedin - there is a bus service between Port Chalmers and Dunedin city centre. In the mornings, there are services to Dunedin at 7.15, 7.45, 8.15, 9.00 and 10.20 and in the afternoons services leave the city at 3.15, 4.00, 4.45, 5.15 and 6.10 and takes about 30 minutes. I think the fare is about $2.80 each way. See www.orc.govt.nz/portal.asp?categoryid=43 for more detail.

Cheers

Bob

[bobsydney]

Also, have a look at this post on an earlier thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=698269

[Kinkacruiser]

Thanks for that Bob... and the details of the thread you directed me to. No chance of getting lost now.

Cheers,

Anna

[wblevin]

We just returned from a two week on the Mercury. Be very careful in Christchurch. They hold you hostage in the morning - in a round about way.

 

We emerged from the ship at about 8am planning to catch the bus to the antarctic center. Problem was, the bus inside the port doesn't start running until 9am. So fine, we will walk outside the port and catch a local bus - ohhh nooo - too dangerous, they couldn't allow us to walk out of the port :confused: We finally ended up hiring a cab (there were 5 of us) for what he thought would be about $60 to take us to the arctic center. There was a traffic jam that we had to skirt around and the fare ended up costing $85. It was still worth it - IMHO - as we saved over an hour waiting (thus getting us to the antarctic center before the cruise buses arrived and then into a beautiful city that we fell in love with.) BTW - there were $5/pp buses at the antarctic center that took us into the center of Christchurch.

[Kinkacruiser]

That's good to know, Wendy. Seems a waste of time having to wait until 9am. I'm glad you liked Christchuch..the photos I've seen on line are just beautiful.

All the best,

Anna