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Shore Trips and Tours

For the most effective browsing of our Tours, please Login / Register with us to create a MyCruise account. We can then display your cruise itinerary and show you the full range of options we have in your ports of call.

Some tours offer an 'Express Booking' option, so you can quickly book one of our most popular tours if you have not already registered, similar to our new 'Smart Phone' web site.

Save money over the cruise lines own shore excursion programs as well as travel in much smaller groups. We offer passengers on cruise ships a range of shared tours in most of the ports of call in New Zealand and Australia. We have a great selection to suit all interests and budgets, from general sightseeing, geothermal sights, Maori culture, adventure and special interest tours.

Standard tours are priced per person and usually include all entry charges for locations visited. Some Standard tours are also available as Exclusive tours which allows you to book the tour just for your own party - prices will be given if this is an option.

When you book places on our standard tours you will be travelling with others from your cruise ship.

We currently offer Standard Tours from Bay of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Akaroa and Dunedin in New Zealand. In Australia we currently offer Hobart, Burnie, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin and Cairns and more tours and activities will be added in the other ports that you see listed on our web site in the coming weeks.

Even if you travelling solo or as a couple, you can still find others to share your shore excursions with, so check out our Tour Share feature. Once you have registered on the site you can then view Tour Share posts from others on your cruise and also create your own postings.

Our Private Tours allow you to book a suitable tour vehicle and driver/guide for your party so that you have total flexibility to see and do just what you want. The cost is based on the duration of the tour and type of vehicle, which range from luxury Rolls Royce limousines to minivans, minibuses and small coaches.

These Private Tours do not include any destination or activity charges, but our experienced tour consultants can create an itinerary to suit your interest and budget, and add these to your account, so the tour is 100% matched to your requirements, and best of all there is no additional charge for this service.

We do recommend that you let us plan your itinerary and pre-book tickets for any destination or activity as availability can often be a problem if you have not pre-booked.

Group Tours offer you the chance to book tours for bigger groups travelling together, with itineraries that are not offered as Standard tours. Group tours are priced according to the number of people in the group and are usually planned for groups from 10 to 40 persons or more. Group tours are usually fully inclusive of all entry fees.

If your own group is even larger than this we can arrange a selection of tours that you can offer the group members, allowing them to select their own preference. Not everyone has to do the same tour.

We can handle all the bookings and payments for you, so we take the stress out of being the group leader or travel agent. Once we have set up your group members in our database, they can then log in to view just the tours you want to offer and make their selections. It could not be easier.

Prices will depend on the size of the group, so please contact us for a quotation if the itinerary you require is not listed, and we will create one to suit.

We are now offering self drive rental cars in a number of ports in New Zealand for passengers on cruise ships.

In many ports we have a selection of cars available for self-drive so look at the port of call page to see the options or search for self drive tours in the interest search box.

We can also pre book your activity tickets so all is ready when you arrive at the port of call to collect your rental car.

For cruise ship passengers who would like to experience the ports of call from a different perspective, we now offer an increasing range of fixed wing and helicopter flight seeing options.

Using fully certified passenger flight operators, you can now book anything from a short 5 minute flight experience up to a full day flying adventure.

Select from a range of options that could include fixed wing modern aircraft, vintage biplanes, World War 2 aircraft or modern day jets.

For cruise ship passengers visiting New Zealand and Australia you can now purchase all of your destination activity tickets in advance.

Ports of call we cover include the Bay of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Akaroa and Dunedin in New Zealand.

Please note that the Experiences Ticket cost does not usually include transfers to and from the destination from the cruise port. You will need to make your own arrangements for this. Or you could book one of the rental cars we list on the web site.

In Australia we currently offer options in Hobart, Burnie, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns. We will be adding new tours and activities in the other ports of call in Australia in the coming weeks.

These will include Albany, Brisbane, Broome, Bunbury, Cooktown, Darwin, Newcastle, Freemantle, Townsville, Yorkeys Knob and Peneshaw.

So if you are traveling independently by self drive rental car, have a look at the Experiences tab on each port to see what you could do.

    What if my ships arrival or departure time conflicts with the tour times?

We arrange most of the tours just for cruise ship passengers so we adjust the tour start and end times to suit.

If the ship is arriving after the advised tour start time, then please come of the ship as soon as you can to meet your guide who will update you on the new start time.

If your ship is departing the port less than 1 hour after the usual end time of the tour, we will usually bring the tour start time forward, so that the tour ends at least one hour prior to the ships departure. Again you should come of the ship ASAP to meet the guide and get an updated start time.

There are a few tours that have fixed departure times that can not be moved, in such cases we will advise you of this when booking. This also applies to activities which are booked for a specific time, such as Jet Boating or Bungee Jumping.

We also send out a TXT message on the morning of your booking to remind you of the meeting time and give any updates should the time have changed since you printed your voucher, so it is important for you to give us your mobile phone number and check for any messages. We also email a reminder the day prior.

    What if the ship is unable to make a port of call ?

It is very rare that a ship is unable to make a port of call. In the event that this occurs a full refund will be provided back to your credit card. If your tour was booked through an agent and not directly with us, then you should contact your agent. There are a few tours where some charges may not be refundable, but these will be noted in the tour listing.

    How many people will be on a tour ?

Most of our tours are "small group" tours, usually no more than 10 or 15 persons. We offer some tours that are very popular and these may have up to 34 persons on the tour and operate in tour coaches. As we do not know until a few days prior to the tour date how many people will book a particular tour then we can not guarantee the size of the group. Often tours will run with the minimum number, just 4 or 6 persons. If you want to be sure to travel in a smaller group then you can often select an Exclusive version of the tour just for the number in your group.

    How will I find my tour guide ?

When you make a booking you will be sent detailed instructions on how to meet your tour guide, these are written on your Voucher. In some ports our guides will be close to the ship, often at the base of the gangway, holding a Shore Trips & Tours sign or with a name board.

Independent tour guides and vehicles may have to wait in designated locations to meet passengers who are not on the official cruise line tours [not cruise line arranged]. In such cases you will have clear instructions on how to find them.

Some ports require you to take a shuttle from the ship to a designated location in the city, please be sure to read your voucher instructions carefully as the meeting points do vary depending on the tour you have booked and for some ports you do NOT have to use the shuttles for all of our tours.

You will also be provided with the name of the local tour company and a contact phone number, something that many other booking web sites will not tell you. If you have any difficulty then you can call the local guide or Shore Trips and Tours .

    I am in a large group on the cruise, can you cater for us ?

Most of our tour groups are for small groups of 10 or 15 persons. However we can cater for large groups of 50 or more and have a lot of experience with tours suitable for large groups. Each itinerary would be tailored to suit the groups interest and size, as often many of our small group tour itineraries are not suitable for larger groups. Please contact us for details. You can see some existing "group" itineraries on the "Groups" tab for each port.

    How will the tour cost in NZ $ be charged to my credit card ?

Our tours in New Zealand are priced in NZ $ and this will be converted to your own credit card currency by your bank. As these rates do fluctuate then you could see a difference to the cost if you select your own currency from the 5 optional currencies. The tours in Australia are loaded to the database in Australian dollars, this rate will be converted to the current NZ$ rate on the day you make the booking.

    What happens to my money when I book a tour in advance, is it safe ?

Yes it is secure. When you book a tour the money you pay in advance is held in a separate "clients account", this is then transferred to our trading account only when the tour takes place. The interest this money earns is paid as a donation to our local charity, The Waipuna Hospice, so your money is also helping us support this very worthwhile Tauranga organisation.

What you
have to say...

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We totally loved all your tours and especially your incredible service, having one place to look and book all available tours for each cruise stop is such a terrific service!! Plus the personal care you give each passenger is above and beyond what cruise ships or any other tour operators provide!! Christopher McCall - visited December 2019
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Latest News
Latest News

Despite the information being given out by the cruise lines, the Hobbiton Movie set location is open for business as usual. We have tours available there from the Tauranga-Rotorua port of call.

May 2023 - With the first cruise ship season since the COVID lockdown we are now planning for the 2023/24 arrivals beginning on the 18th October.

We have a smaller range of tours now but still include the best and most popular destinations, such as the Hobbiton movie set, Rotorua geothermal sights at Whakarewarewa and Te Puia, and new for the coming season, the Redwoods Forest Tree Walk, now included in our Rotorua Naturally tour TRG-9

We have just been awarded a Travellers Choice award for 2020 by Trip Advisor. This award goes to the top 10% of tour operators in the world confirming our position as a leader not only in New Zealand but on the world stage.

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