Signature South Island Reviews

From go to whoa everything went smoothly, not a hitch. Would highly recommend everyone. Wonderful New Zealand a trip not to be missed. Easy planning and booking, and great driver and tour guide with an excellent company.

We had a wonderful time on our 10 day trip through the South Island. It was a large group - 48
people from all over the world. Everyone was always on time and on the whole the group was
very pleasant and easy to talk to and to have fun with.

The accommodation was very good and at Franz Josef was absolutely fantastic. The rooms at Twizel could read more certainly do with some updating, but the beds were very comfortable in all hotels. Food on the whole was very good, just got a bit tired of buffets. Some of the meals were excellent.

The South Island exceeded our expectation. It was just so scenic, green and beautiful. We would recommend Grand Pacific as a great Tour Operator and Global Journeys was fantastic to deal with. We would certainly book with Global Journeys again.

Jemma at Global Journeys was very patient and accommodating in assisting with our booking. Grand Pacific was well organised and ensured we saw the best in our 10 days. Our only concern would be that a couple of times the fact that we were a three share group was an oversight in provisions in our hotel rooms.

We really enjoyed our trip around New Zealand's North Island. It is definitely a good time to see the north. It was quite warm and enjoyable. We travelled with different age groups and the people were very nice. The accommodation was varied and we really appreciated staying in the same place for two nights twice.

We would highly recommend touring read more with Grand Pacific. Their staff were very courteous and informative and their good sense of humour made the trip more enjoyable.

We were very satisfied with Jemma Rosen's handling of our booking also. Well done Global Journeys.

From day one everything went like clockwork. Global Journeys were very helpful and well organised. I loved their website for its efficiency and helpfulness prior to the trip.

On landing in Christchurch we were met by a representative of our tour company even though it was after midnight and were delivered to our hotel with a smile. Our coach driver read more was very knowledgeable about the history and destinations of the South Island. The accommodation was good and the food well presented and of a good quality. I would definitely travel with this tour again.

Overall, excellent. Our first visit to the South Island and we loved all the natural beauty. The accommodation was very good to excellent, as was the food they provided (with one exception: our 2nd dinner in Christchurch seemed to be all their leftovers!).

This was an unescorted tour, meaning that our driver needed to do double-duty - but it WAS read more promoted as an economy tour! Our driver was Maori so we learnt a LOT about Maori history and customs. On the whole, the stories were good but several travellers felt it was too much!

This was also a 9-day tour AND a 16-day tour: those who booked the 16-day version shared their first 9 days with us, then went on to Picton for several days on the North Island. We weren't told about this upfront and found out only after we joined the tour. Would it have made a difference? No, but it would have been nice to know in advance.

The one thing that we would have liked more of was photo stops. We did have them but, due to time constraints, we also missed many, many opportunities to create photo memories and had to content ourselves with a quick snap through the coach windows.

The other thing worth mentioning is that we only had the one 2-night stop on this tour (Queenstown). We understand that it was deliberately a short tour with a lot of ground to cover but it made us think that next time we'll book a slightly longer tour that includes more than the one 2-night stop.

We have never taken a coach tour prior to this experience and were impressed with the Coach Captain's knowledge, cleanliness of the coach and his apparent enjoyment in sharing his favourite stops (including some not on the Itinerary) and very bad NZ dad jokes! (ha ha).

He read the clientele well and was accommodating to all on board. We had a great read more group of fellow travelers.
Accommodation overall was pleasant (not five star however clean and restful) and we enjoyed a variety and an over abundance of food. Albeit we were not prepared for the hectic pace and early morning starts, but as our captain explained we were on tour not holiday and it soon became the norm.

Sights and travel itinerary were well planned with some favourites being the coach drive into Milford Sound & the Sound itself, an unexpected lock down at Fox Glacier due to land slides, Helicopter ride over Fox Glacier, Larnach Castle, Penguin and Seal wildlife enclosure (we actually saw Penguin chicks) and fell in love with Christchurch.

Thank-you Global Journeys for a hassle free booking and holiday, we met and made many new friends.

A really enjoyable holiday. Very well organised and a great tour guide who had a great wealth of knowledge and made the whole tour really entertaining. Food was amazing (now the hard part starts to work it all off!!) and the accommodation was more than adequate although there was a mix up with who I was sharing (which worked out in my favour for the read more rest of the tour), The only difficulty was the early morning starts but that's to be expected when it's a scheduled tour. We had a full house on the tour and the people were really nice and friendly and easy to get along with. The view you get when you are in the coach or at the hotels are amazing. It's a photographer's dream. Overall very pleased with the holiday.

We felt that the trip covered everything which we wanted to see in the South Island. It was a well organised tour and the Tour guide was amazing. As well as being very knowledgeable and interesting he told us lots of personal stories which were very enjoyable. Our trip was near the end of the Season which meant that the places and the accommodation read more were not too crowded and this was a bonus. We had excellent weather which was great as we spent alot of time outdoors sight seeing when not on the coach. The coach was clean and comfortable and all the accommodation was of a good standard.

The food was also very good with buffet style menus in some of the hotels and happy hour drinks were essential although a little extension of the time would have been useful. We found that our group were all very friendly and everyone mixed well. Of the optional activities we went to Olveston House and Skippers Canyon both of which were excellent. We did book our trip online with Global Journeys and on the whole it was very good, our only complaint was with the flights. The outgoing flight was with Air New Zealand and it was great we had breakfast and a movie whereas the flight back to Melbourne was with Virgin and was cramped, crowded and we had no food which was a very disappointing way to finish our holiday. (GJ: We agree Maureen & Tony that Virgin definitely have work to do on their Tran-Tasman flights. We will relay this information back to Grand Pacific who are responsible for flight bookings that accompany their tours.)

The trip was memorable and well organised. Our tour guide also coach driver was incredible. His sense of humour and excellent knowledge and experience provided us a wonderful trip. April and May was a good time to visit, with nothing else besides the blues of the lakes and golden autumn leafs in beautiful Queenstown. People on the trip - very lovely read more and friendly, easy to get along with. Must say I really enjoyed the trip, loved NZ and would come back for another visit. Thank you to Global Journeys and Grand Pacific!

Thank you Grand Pacific for a very well organised tour of the South Island of New Zealand. My 89 year old mother and I had a wonderful, stress-free holiday. The accommodation and meals were good quality, although the Twizel accommodation needs updating of the rooms. Autumn turned out to be the best time to travel as the weather was stable and the read more leaves were turning. Our tour guide, Nick, and tour driver, Alex, did an amazing job of looking after us. In particular, Alex was a very safe driver! We appreciated hearing about the Maori culture, as well as the history and geography of the stunning scenery we passed through. Both Nick and Alex were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their country and heritage. I have no hesitation in recommending Grand Pacific - in fact, we loved it so much, we are thinking of doing the North Island some time in the future. Thank you Madeline at Global Journeys for answering all our questions promptly and courteously. All in all, a holiday to remember!

Overall is was a great trip and a wonderful experience. We would like to have seen a little more content and we would like to have had some different dinners other than the hotel buffets. The buffets were nice but became tiresome. Some specialty restaurants offering local foods for the areas would have been better. Grand Pacific is a good operator. read more We were well looked after all the way. Mostly the hotels were very good but the one at Teizel did not meet expectations. An extra day in the tour (if it were possible) may have relaxed the pace just enough.

Would highly recommend touring with Grand Pacific and booking through Global Journeys. Everything was hassle free from the get-go. My partner and I were able to monitor the progress of our booking and received our travel packs straight away. We had a friendly and knowledgeable Tour Director on-board to ensure a smooth and enjoyable tour for the entire read more group. The recommended activities and places we visited were all superb. It's hard to pick a favourite but honourable mentions to the boat cruise on magical Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown and Milford South (Fiordland) plus the tour of Skippers Canyon.

The time of the year was good and we had perfect weather hence really enjoyed the magnificent scenery. Our driver was excellent and the travellers were of approximately the same age which was good. We will definitely go back to New Zealand next time to the north as we did not experience any Maori culture. I have attached the view from our Resort read more in Queenstown which was a wonderful surprise indeed.

We both very much enjoyed our tour of the South Island. The coach was comfortable & we liked the introductory dinner in Christchurch. Marita gave us very clear information re the trip. Andrew Brown was an excellent driver. We were very impressed with his knowledge & we liked his jokes. The accommodation was excellent & we enjoyed the meals. We were read more lucky to travel with a nice group of people. We both have travelled widely & we have to admit that some other touring companies left a few things to be desired, but our Grand Pacific Tour was excellent. We couldn't find fault with the quality of the tour & will definitely recommend it to others.

The trip was great the tour guide and coach driver provided excellent information. The included attractions provided a fantastic addition with many giving you an understanding of New Zealand life and culture.

The tour was very good value for money the food was excellent throughout and the standard of the included and optional experiences was very high. The coach driver was very professional and gave an excellent informative commentary and the tour guide had a genuine concern for the customer and his or her needs. The hotels were of a very good standard.

Long story short, the entire south Island trip was fantastic, from airport pickup up - to travel and accommodation, tour guide & bus driver, everything together made it a wonderful experience. Great reason for me to look forward to the North Island option! Loved it!

We very much enjoyed our 10 day trip of the South island with Grand Pacific tours. We left mid April and it turned out to be a great time to go with beautiful Autumn foliage especially in Arrowtown. There waere a good mix of people on board and even though there were 48 of us there never seemed to be any delays. The hotels were very good with the read more exception of Twizel which I believe is to be renovated. The meals and inclusions were very good also and the whole trip was excellent value. I especially was impressed when a Grand Pacific manager came and gave a speech at our farewell dinner and also provided a musician to entertain us on our last night together. Georgie at Global Journeys promptly and efficiently handled our booking.

Had a great holiday seen some beautiful places ,would use Global Journeys again and have recomended them to other family members.