Overnight Dunedin / Milford Sound

[Verity]

Has anyone done this excursion that is offered by Celebrity? It is offered on the day of our 35th anniversary and we thought it would be something special to do.

[StevenW]

Hi there. I can't comment on Celebrity, however if I understand your question correctly, I've done something similar with Princess, so with no other replies yet to your question, I thought you might find my feedback useful.

 

I cruised from Australia to New Zealand with Princess in Jan2005, and I took the overnight excursion where we got off the ship in Milford Sound, and travelled to Queenstown via coach for an overnight stay, and then on to Dunedin the next day to rejoin the ship.

 

I'm really pleased that I did it, as it was a highlight of my cruise.

 

The scenery within Milford Sound is spectacular, and the trip from Milford Sound to Queenstown was equally as memorable. Queenstown is very beautiful. The trip from Queenstown to Dunedin was fairly average for me though, as it was very similar to driving through the Australia country, which for me was nothing special. (this day was just a long drive)

 

If it is a Queenstown overnight trip you're considering, then I recommend doing it, as it is special.

 

Feel free to ask me any questions.

[Verity]

Thank you, Steven W. The trip sounds similar. I copied what was written about the trip.

 

 

> DAY 1

>

> Disembark the ship by tender to the small dock area in Milford Sound, located in spectacular Fjordland National Park, New Zealand's oldest National Park and a World Heritage Site.

>

> Leaving Milford Sound by coach you will follow the Cleddau River and climb the winding roads leading to the 3,900-foot Homer Tunnel. At this elevation, the mountains are covered with beech forest, subtropical woodland, and a beautiful alpine landscape. The park includes a number of fjords, headlands, mountains, and waterfalls and makes a perfect setting for photographs. Passing through the tunnel, you will then enter the scenic Eglinton Valley, passing Lake Fergus and Lake Gunn before stopping in the town of Te Anau located on the shores of the lake bearing the same name.

>

> Te Anau is a charming resort community, and the gateway to Fjordland National Park. Te Anau is the starting point for many famous hiking trails including the Milford, Routenburn and Kepler tracks, and therefore known as the walking capital of the world. Upon arrival, you will enjoy morning tea and have an opportunity to browse through the souvenir shops found in this quiet town. After you morning tea, depart Te Anau and travel across the Five Rivers farming district to Kingston, located on the southern tip of Lake Wakatipu. Your coach will circle the lake in the shadow of the towering Remarkable's Range and cross the Kawarau River at Frankton before reaching Queenstown, a mountain resort city situated on an old glacial valley floor surrounded by towering mountains and rolling hills.

>

> You will stay overnight at a resort hotel in Queenstown. This vibrant city is an ideal place to stroll with its narrow streets and compact town center lined with shops, boutiques, courtyards, restaurants and century-old buildings of timer and stone. Upon arrival, lunch will be served in the hotel restaurant. After checking-in, you will have the remainder of the afternoon to take in the sights, shop in the local stores or simply walk by the scenic lake. A special Hospitality Desk will be available during your stay for you to inquire on local events or optional sightseeing.

>

> In the evening, you will board the vintage steamship, T.S.S. Earnslaw for a 40-minute evening cruise across Lake Wakatipu to the Walter Peak High Country Farm. At this time of year in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun sets late in the evening, so your trip across the lake offers you the rare opportunity to see the majestic wonders of the surrounding mountain landscape.

>

> An elegant dinner awaits you during your visit to the Walter Peak High Country Farm. This is the site of the original homestead of one of New Zealand's most famous sheep and cattle stations. Enjoy the excellent food, music and entertainment in this beautiful setting. While at the farm, you will be treated to a demonstration of highly trained dogs in action with the sheep and observe the Scottish Highland cattle at close quarters. Following the demonstration, board your vintage steamship for the twilight trip back across the lake to your hotel. Have fun with a sing-a-long at the piano on the return cruise.

>

>

> DAY 2

>

> After a good night's rest, a Western-style breakfast will be served in your hotel before beginning your second day of sightseeing through the beautiful countryside of southern New Zealand. Your first visit will be Arrowtown, a former gold-mining community situated beside the Arrow River. Tour the Lakes District Centennial Museum to get a feeling of this area's rich history, take a stroll and browse through the area of town that retains its old-world charm.

>

> Afterwards, drive to the Kawarau Suspension Bridge, situated at the entrance to the Kawarau Gorge. This bridge is where commercial bungee jumping first began, and you might be lucky to catch a bungee-jumper making his or her dive into the depths of the gorge.

>

> A short journey further will lead you to the Gibbston Valley Winery, location of the southernmost winery in the world and renowned for its unique wine caves. Carved from sheer rock, the wine caves provided a near perfect underground storage environment and you will have an opportunity to taste these very distinct wines.

>

> Crossing the Clutha Ravine into Cromwell, you will pass through a town, which was relocated from its original site to make way for Lake Dunstan, formed by constructions of the Clyde Dam. From Cromwell, you will travel a short distance to Clyde, a small mountain town where you will stop for a delicious lunch in a unique stone lodge, which was once a stagecoach stop for the Otago gold fields. After Lunch, your mountain drive will pass through the Central Otago Township of Alexandra. Traveling through winding mountain roads, your tour will pass Clarksville Junction and Lake Wailhola before reaching the city of Dunedin.

>

> Situated on the extreme southern edge of the Pacific Ocean, this historic city offers scenic beauty, cultural and architectural vibrancy and boasts rare wildlife. During your short orientation tour you will pass by such highlights as: the University of Otago, which was founded in 1869, "The Octagon," focal point for shopping and entertainment; the Flemish-style Railway Station; and the Town Hall. You will then make the sort drive to Port Chalmers to re-join the ship.

>

>

>

[StevenW]

Yes, that's exactly the same trip!, and that detail brings back some good memories.

 

I personally found it well worth the cost (and I paid the single supplement, as no-one else within my family wanted to do the overnighter).

[kgmoran]

I too am trying to decide about this overnight excursion. It sounds like a grest opportunity to see some of the interior country. My only hesitation is that by doing this excursion, you miss Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound, and don't have time to explore Dunedin either - just do a drive by tour.

 

Is DOubtful Sound or Dusky Sound significantly different than Milford Sound?

 

What exactly do you get to do when the ship visits these two other sounds. I know you don't get off the ship but do cruise ships actually travel up the fjord?

 

It is so hard to pick excursions on these long cruise. There are so many to choose from - and they are all expensive.

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

[StevenW]

I too am trying to decide about this overnight excursion. It sounds like a grest opportunity to see some of the interior country. My only hesitation is that by doing this excursion, you miss Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound, and don't have time to explore Dunedin either - just do a drive by tour.

 

Is DOubtful Sound or Dusky Sound significantly different than Milford Sound?

 

What exactly do you get to do when the ship visits these two other sounds. I know you don't get off the ship but do cruise ships actually travel up the fjord?

 

It is so hard to pick excursions on these long cruise. There are so many to choose from - and they are all expensive.

 

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Personally I didn't see any Dunedin day trips which interested me, and I did get a 1hr stop in the middle of Dunedin CBD at the end of the overland trip...however if you see a Dunedin tour that interests you, then yes you have to consider that.

 

As for Dusty & Doubtful Sound, my family stayed onboard took photos, and based on those photos personally I couldn't see much difference to what I saw in Milford Sound.

 

Hope this helps.

[HokiePoq]

Am I understanding correctly that you wouldn't book an excursion for Dunedin if you do the overnight? We are trying to decide as well.

You are right. The excursions are quite expensive.

[FLA Cruiser]

Am I understanding correctly that you wouldn't book an excursion for Dunedin if you do the overnight? We are trying to decide as well.

You are right. The excursions are quite expensive.

 

Our trip is going in the reverse order of the ones on this thread. We are taking the overnight excursion from Dunedin to Milford Sound. We won't be booking anything else in Dunedin as our tour leaves early that morning. Not sure what time you would be getting into Dunedin if you are going the opposite direction.

[dancing lady]

StevenW,

I've been curious about the excursion where you leave the ship like you did in Fiordland Nat'l. Park. Since your family stayed on board while you took the excursion, in their opinion, was the scenery in the different Sounds, much different from what you saw? I've wondered if many people did the excursion because the price seems pretty steep.

 

Thanks for your input and explanation of the excursion.

 

Dancing Lady

[rebeccaluvscruising]

I signed up for this last night and hope it will be worthwhile. It is very expensive and we don't get the benefit of the low exchange rate, but I've heard that the rainforest and lake is spectacular. We decided to splurge on it as it sounds like fun with the winery and farm dinner. Sorry to miss Dunedin wildlife but can't do it all!

 

Rebecca

[StevenW]

Am I understanding correctly that you wouldn't book an excursion for Dunedin if you do the overnight? We are trying to decide as well.

You are right. The excursions are quite expensive.

 

Hi. I'm just back from my latest cruise.

 

Yes. On Princess, the west-bound overnight excursion disembarking the ship in Milford Sound early morning as soon as the ship arrives there, and your coach arrives in Queenstown late that afternoon (there are stops along the way). Then the next morning you leave Queenstown early and it takes until late afternoon to reach Dunedin (again there are stops along the way), so you would not have time for a further excursion in Dunedin.

[StevenW]

StevenW,

I've been curious about the excursion where you leave the ship like you did in Fiordland Nat'l. Park. Since your family stayed on board while you took the excursion, in their opinion, was the scenery in the different Sounds, much different from what you saw? I've wondered if many people did the excursion because the price seems pretty steep.

 

Thanks for your input and explanation of the excursion.

 

Dancing Lady

 

Hi Dancing Lady

 

The only comment I'll add to my earlier post "...As for Dusty & Doubtful Sound, my family stayed onboard took photos, and based on those photos personally I couldn't see much difference to what I saw in Milford Sound...." is that no my family did not report seeing much difference either, but then my family were a little indifferent towards the scenery.

 

I can't recall whether I earlier discussed the number of people on the overland trip, however almost 4years on, I'd guesstimate that perhaps 100-150 of the ship's 2500 passengers disembarked in Milford Sound for either the 1night Milford-Queenstown-Dunedin excursion, or the 2night Milford-Queenstown-Mt Cook-Christchurch excursion.

 

For anyone who loves cruising fjords, they should stay on the ship.

 

Personally I believe that the inland scenery of NZ's South Island outweighs what you lose not being on the ship. (I've since flown back to NZ's South Island to further explore the beautiful inland areas)

[kwhite7]

I can only comment on Milford Sound, not Doubtful as I personally have only been to Milford, but I will offer what I know. Milford Sound has become very very commercial with lots of boats, while Doubtful is a little harder to get to so not as many boats go there. Ive been told that they are similar, but Doubtful is more pristine and untouched, not that Milford has been touched, but there is just more people and more boats. I havent cruised to NZ, but I did spend about 2 months there and I absolutely loved it. I would suggest taking the excursion as it goes to Queenstown, which was one of my favorite spots in NZ. If you dont know Queenstown is the adventure capitol of the world, it offers something for everyone. We did jetboating over the Shotover Canyon, which was great. Some friends went bungee jumping and I almost went skydiving, but it was really expensive. Its also worth while to take the gondola ride up to the top of the mountain, it gives you a birds eye view of the surroundings, which is pretty spectacular. It doesnt sound like you will have a lot of time there, but its worth going to. I was actually in Queenstown twice and loved every minute of it. The one thing you have to do in Queenstown is get a Fergburger. They have one of the best burgers I have ever had, I think I ate there 4 times. But they do get very busy. I also have been to Dunedin, which was ok, we didnt spend much time there. The only thing we did there was take a tour of the Cadbury factory, which was very interesting, especially since Willy Wonka was one of my favorite movies as a kid, it brought it all to life. One thing we did there that wasnt time intensive was went and took pics of the Dunedin train station, sounds weird, but the train station is beautiful, looks like it was taken right out of Europe. Its actually the second most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere, second to I believe the Sydney Opera House which is also spectacular. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

[travelax]

We took the Princess Tour in Feb 2006 and it was one of the highlights of the trip. The views were spectacular, we enjoyed the boatride on the lake followed by dinner and the second day was also fun with the vistas including among other things Bungee jumping. We had a great driver and when we got back to Dunedin he took us around the city sights before taking us back to the ship. Highly recommend this tour, it was worth the money and was also a nice change in the middle of the cruise