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in Port Chalmers

We had an excellent time travelling around Dunedin with our guide Arlene. She was very experienced and explained the history of every place we visited. Pam and I enjoyed the day very much and had some laughs along the way with Arlene's humour. We would highly recommend the tour to our family and friends. Andrew

We did the Castle to Cruise Tour - and what a treat! David was an amazing driver / guide for the Otago peninsula and the Larnach Castle, and the crew on the cruise was great too. So many bird sightings and we saw a couple of very playful sea lions, a very special treat. The guides were very knowledgeable, and the sites are all amazing. Highly recommend

What an awesome experience we had. Just a short water taxi across the harbour from Port Chalmers to Portobello with our bikes. But Rachel the skipper was brilliant. A salt of the earth, passionate, knowledgeable, woman. In the short time we were on board we learned so much about the area. And loved every minute of it! Can’t recommend this service enough and can’t wait to come back and do it again!! Thank you Rachel and your team! Xxxx

With excursions provided by cruise companies at times being (a) expensive and (b) limited I was determined to make the most of our time in New Zealand and in particular this last port of call. After all Dunedin is also known as little Scotland!It initially looked as if my desire to identify an all day tour which took in both city and country highlights with a wildlife experience thrown in would be thwarted as the company I initially approached were not running tours or were available the day we visited. However it was recommended that I contact Fantail Tours. This would appear to have been the proverbial ill wind as I cannot imagine that another tour or company could have bettered our experience. That is not to say that everything was perfect so shall we get that elephant in the room out of the way first? (Ignore the next bit if a bit of a moan is not your thing). Timings. For any cruise passenger the main concern will be getting back to a ship in time for embarkation particularly as in this instance when it is the last port of call with two days at sea before reaching Sydney. It only dawned on me 48 hours before reaching Dunedin that the tour was due to finish at 3.30 pm and passenger embarkation was to be at 4.30 pm. Okay there is always some leeway however it is not ideal. I therefore contacted Fantail and received a prompt reply assuming me that we would get back to the ship in time. Suitably reassured we turned up at the port meeting point with the tour due to leave at 9.30 am. And we waited. Other tour companies came and went and still we waited, albeit not too long but it was relevant given what happened later. When our guide Teresa arrived she dealt with formalities but probably rightly would not leave until her colleagues turned up to deal with their passengers. Gold star ensuring there were no outstanding issues. However it meant our 9.30 departure was missed. From then on everything lived up to expectations (see below) until we headed back to the ship. Expected return time of 3.30 pm came and went. We returned to the ship at 4.20 pm. In effect 10 minutes to spare. It had transpired during the course of the day that instead of two roads being available one was closed with the resultant knock on. Yes, there were a couple of tour buses behind us; yes the ship probably would not have sailed for another hour; yes the ship would have been aware of the traffic issues but the fact remains it was a really tight return time and it could have gone so wrong. This could have been avoided if the guides had turned up and left earlier. I contacted Fantail on my return raising these points and I received a very satisfactory reply. Another gold star.You know what though it was a really good excursion and was the perfect way to end the port section of our cruise. Our guide Teresa was just so good. For a start she did try to keep our merry band on time. 5 minutes late back from a stop then we had 5 minutes less at another stop. She was so friendly, fun, knowledgeable and informative. That makes such a difference when you are spending 6 hours or so with someone. A true joy to be around.The tour itself is not to be missed given literally the area it covers. We saw so much: vantage point over Dunedin; visit to the steepest road in the world;Dunedin University; walk through botanic gardens - fascinating; quick city centre stop for a bite to eat/souvenir shop; tour of Otago Peninsula; visit to penguins or albatross then finally the so impressive old station. For me the cherry on the cake was the visit to the Royal Albatross reserve. Only four of us made this stop with the rest of our group settling for the penguin option. My only encounter so as to speak with albatross had been the Samuel Coleridge poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner so thought it would be interesting to learn more. I was so glad I chose that option as the time we spent at the reserve was so very worth it. After an initial talk you are taken to the hide. Our guide Lydia said she could speak forever about this fascinating bird and that was abundantly clear. This in itself made the tour so very worth it. It was certainly a not to be missed experience.I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Fantail Tours for your dayin Dunedin. As I have said before it is so easy to accept praise when things are going well but the mark of a good customer provider is when things have not gone so well they can be acknowledged and where appropriate acted upon.I wish Asta and all her team at Fantail all the best and every success. They do deserve it

This tour, owned, operated and skippered by Rachel, was an absolute pleasure. Rachel's commentary was to the point and never overly effusive. She was expert at recognising birds both at a distance and on the wing, which is not to say that we didn't see birds and seals close up. If you're going out on the harbour I really recommend this tour.

Great experience right from the booking to the completion.Rachel was so efficient at loading and unloading our bikes and gave a very warm welcome aboard to us. She also gave an informative commentary during the harbour crossing taking time to point out a group of little penguins in the water. Would absolutely recommend Rachel and her wonderful service.

Amazing tour. Russ was incredibly knowledgeable and took us all over Dunedin. Photo stops and stunning views. A must do if you're in Dunedin!

This was an excepional experienmce. We were lucky, soft rain had smoothed the ocean flat. As a rsult of schooling small fishes the albatroses were everywhere, We saw 3 seals , and one blue penguin, I can recommend the informative commentary, the great boat, and the close encouters with these magnificant birds. I have been to the land based albotross viewing and that viewiimg is a joke compared with this cruise.

Such a special experience - highly recommend! So many different things to see with incredible local knowledge from super friendly guide & owner, Rachel. I’m sure every trip would be different & uniquely amazing in its own right due to the nature of the wildlife and environment.

Had an amazing trip out with Rachel in a small group, very personal and informative throughout. Managed to see so many amazing sites of the birds including albatross in full flight, blue penguins, and a couple of sea lions alongside many sea birds and learnt so much about the comings and goings of the Otago Peninsular. I only took short. Videos which I can’t download sadly.

We landed in Port Chalmers from our cruise with nothing planned for our day in Dunedin and were very grateful the port side information desk was able to secure us places on the Exploring New Zealand Garden and City tour. Tour guide, Craig, was a hoot and entertained us the whole day as he showed us around his beautiful city. This tour is excellent value, informative and lots of fun.

It was a very good itinerary with key tourist spots. The driver-guide Tim was knowledgable, friendly and good in time management. The Larnach Castle & gardens worth the visit, the Railway Station and Octogon University were beautiful buildings. If we could have more time at Octagon to browse around would be even better.

Craig was an absolute star! If you’re on a cruise ship in Dunedin for the day please book this tour. The cruise ships charge exorbitant prices but this local independent company offers great value and a really good look around the area. The town is small but the places Craig took us to with his local knowledge and stories were very entertaining. Going it alone in Dunedin we would have missed such a lot. Thank you so much xx

It was a lot of activity for one day. Teresa showed us all the fun highlights - local grocery and steepest road and stopped at all the beautiful view points along the way. The albatross chicks were fuzzy- sitting on their nests waiting for the adult birds to bring them food.

With Russ we had a fantastic day. From start to finish Russ provided us with a lot of information with his very good mood. Russ drove us safely to all places. The highlight of course Larnach Castle with a fantastic view as well as a very nice and really worth seeing garden. We had a lovely day and can highly recommend this trip.

Russ is an awesome and knowledgeable guide and driver. There are so much packed in 3 hours. We got to get off the van to walk on those most beautiful sceneries and we totally enjoyed it.