Exploring New Zealand's Wonders

Great tour going from Northern NZ to the Southern part. At that time of the year it would of been better to go from the South to the North with winter season approaching. I thought the Tour Manager lacked self-confidence. You could detect it in his laughs, jokes and voice. He is young and needs more experience to build his self-confidence. I have been on 4 Collette tours in the past years. This was the 1st one where the Tour Manager had his girlfriend join the group for the last 3 days of the trip. I thought it was strange that she joined in on all activities including the farewell dinner. Not sure who was paying her way for joining in on the boat tours and dinners. Looking forward to my next Collette tour in 2 months.

Great tour, on the go every day to great locations, well planned stops, some down time when needed. Zip lining and 4 wheel drive( movie And metal tour) and Milford sound water excursion worth the money-best part of tour . Mt Cook was exceptional as were the real wildlife encounters.

Amazing tour. Made really great with a wonderful and informative tour guide and bus driver. We were lucky enough to see Mt Cook from base to peak. Spectacular scenery everywhere we went. We learnt so much about the Maori history and how they lived and are living in a geothermal village. All of this is very fascinating and interesting. We would love to return to see and learn more about the wonderful country of New Zealand.

My first time in New Zealand and I wasn’t disappointed. Our tour director was very knowledgeable about the culture of the Maori People and of many other things of New Zealand. I also chose to do the tour extension of 3 days in Nadi, Fiji. The people were super nice a very welcoming.

My tour was comprehensive experiencing NZ from Aukland to Queenstown. Particularly enjoyed our numerous Maori cultural interactions and Queenstown. Bay of Islands, Melford Sound,

We had a wonderful tour director. He was personable, knowledgeable & flexible. His communication was excellent. He provided us with great information a couple of days at a time to let us know what was coming up. The itinerary was very good. The optional excursion at Mt. Cook onto the glacier was fantastic!

Our tour guide and Driver gave us a tour to remember! We feel we saw and experienced all of New Zealand. Great team🥇

The time at Mount Cook was very special. Being in the heart of the National Park was breathtaking, and the sunset which turned the mountain red was unique.

Great pacing! Wonderful vacation highly recommended tour guide and driver were outstanding!

Going on the American cup sailing and the small airplane ride back from Milford Sound. All the scenery breath taking. Food was delicious everywhere. Would have liked to spend a little more time at Mt Cook.

Learned alot about new zealand. Tour was well organized and tour guides were very helpful

Comfortable coach, great hotels, variety of high quality food, ratio tour and free time about right, fine tour guide, nice variety of activities that gave us a taste of nature, history, ethnic background and geological happenings

Great tour. Very professional and well planned.

Everything about the tour was wonderful! Staying at hotels within walking distance to restaurants and attractions is key to a great tour. Milford Sound was beautiful as was the drive out and the flight back

Local inclusions to experience the heritage of New Zealand with tribal rituals, royal albatross center and milford sound tour

The waters are so clear and beautiful, the foliage and animals are delightful, the tour manager was wonderful.

The Collette Tour was exactly what we were hoping for. To discover the wonders of New Zealand from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island. The tour allowed us to see the diversity of the country, which opened our eyes to a number of places we wish to return to. It would be hard to pick one memorable moment. You see, from what we could tell, our guide made slight changes in our itinerary allowing us to enjoy incredible scenes and moments that we felt would not usually be enjoyed on most competitive tours. His knowledge around every corner of our 1939-mile trip was uncanny. From the best view, best bus parking areas, hints on the best places to sit on the boats that carried us to incredible waterfalls, views of wonderful sea life and don’t forget those ever-important rest stops. We traveled in a great coach with a professional and knowledgeable driver (a resident of New Zealand) around Auckland, through the lands of the Māori, back through rolling hills to the South Island of snow-covered knife edged mountains. Then you have the residents. Almost overly friendly and helpful. From the people in the airports to the everyday person you met on the street. It was such a treat to be in that type of atmosphere. A Collette tour must be on anyone’s top tour list. Thank you, Collette, and Joshua (Our Guide)! -- Oh, can't forget to thank our delightful fellow coach team who always tried to be on time!

New Zealand is a beautiful country. Learning about the Maori people was very interesting. I enjoyed the food and me fellow travellers.

Our tour guide, Sharon, arranged birthday surprises from the hotel and group dinner location in Wellington for my 76th. Balloons, glitter and a banner in the hotel and a birthday cake and Happy Birthday serenade from the members of our tour and restaurant staff. Incredible!

I think the flight schedule was not as thought out. I had an eight-hour layover in Chicago. The same airline had two additional flights after the flight from St. Louis that would have reduced the layover by hours. An eight hour layover is too long before a 16-hour flight. Also, there was a lot of driving. I thin you could have cut out one stop and reduced the driving significantly. Our tour guide was excellent and did a great job distracting us from all of the driving, but there was too much!

No……….. I already did this

Our tour took started on the day that a state-of-emergency was declared in Aukland because of completely excessive rainfall and flooding/landslides. The next 10 days were spent one step ahead of the next disaster. Through it all, our tour manager (and the coach driver) were innovative and flexible with itinerary changes that may have ended up improving over the original plans! One example was the visit to the Antarctic Center, which was just plain fun. Collette's home office was good about approving and footing the bill for "substitute" activities to make up for planned activities that were closed/canceled because of the disaster, which we appreciate. We also enjoyed having a very small tour group of people who were on-time for departures and flexible about schedule/itinerary changes. A good experience overall, and we know it had a lot to do with our tour manager and driver working hard on our behalf.

Collette’s Covid policies leave a lot to be desired. Tour inclusions would have been nice but most of the best ones were rained out including Fiji extension. Tour leader was amazing.