Milford Sound Coach/Cruise/Fly Options

Old Dec 18th, 2016, 07:52 PM
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Milford Sound Coach/Cruise/Fly Options

We're trying to decide between Real Journeys and Air Milford for a coach/cruise/fly journey from QT to Milford Sound and back in late March. Anyone have a reason to prefer one over the other? I can't find much detail on the Real Journeys site about the coaches they use, the size of the boat or the planes that fly back to QT. Air Milford's site has more details--the larger bus is the "Awesome Bus" that seats 50 and has a glass roof. Their cruise partner is Southern Discoveries' Nature Cruise, which bills its boat as "a small boat with fewer passengers." And of course they tout their air safety and their Cessna fleet.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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Old Dec 18th, 2016, 09:28 PM
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Can't help with the flights, but the cruises are all very similar - same sound. Only difference is in boat size and amenities - some offer lunch, some soup, some additional activities, etc.

I've taken many cruises in Milford and have used different operators - I tend to like the smaller boats, with fewer people - Red Boat was one of my favorites.

Is it possible that Real Journeys and Air Milford work together? One provides the bus, one provides the flight?
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Old Dec 18th, 2016, 11:58 PM
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This review might be of interest to you:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Attrac...th_Island.html

I've taken the Real Journeys cruise on Milford Sound twice, but it was the overnight trip in both cases. Great trip. On our first trip, we were to fly back to Queentown after the cruise, but the weather did not comply, so we had to return to Q'town by coach again. So I find the above review about Air Milford's more powerful aircraft encouraging.

Keep in mind, you'll be traveling in March, when the weather tends to be most settled.
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Old Dec 19th, 2016, 06:41 PM
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Yes, Melnq8, it wouldn't surprise me if RJ uses AM for the flight segment of their offering. But RJ doesn't doesn't provide any details of this sort on their site, so I don't have any way to know or compare the two. Thanks.

Thanks, Diamantina. What do you mean when you say "most settled?" I hope that's a good thing!
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Old Dec 19th, 2016, 10:27 PM
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Yes, "settled" weather is good, less changeable, more constant, clearer skies, little rain, less affected by storms. In other words, climactic conditions that are less likely to lead to cancelled scenic flights.

New Zealand can have unpredictable, changeable weather. To give you an idea, here's a news item from last February (which is when NZ as a whole gets its warmest, sunniest, most pleasant weather):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11591346

Where I live, on the Southeast Coast of the South Island, the weather can be warm and sunny from January to February, but it can also be incredibly windy. In March the winds die down. So, for us, settled also means less wind.

See:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/natural-environment/page-3
http://about.metservice.com/our-comp...aland-climate/
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Old Dec 20th, 2016, 03:57 PM
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It'd be easy to call or email both Southern Discoveries and Real Journeys with your specific questions. I regularly use Skype to make international calls from NZ. When I lived in California, I used my regular landline to call NZ, which cost 2 cents a minute.

Real Journeys partners with Milford Sound Scenic Flights. This is the plane shown on their website:
https://www.realjourneys.co.nz/en/ex...cenic-flights/
Milford Sound Scenic Flights:
http://www.milfordflights.co.nz/pilots-planes/
This is also what Real Journeys told me (NZ free call took about a minute). If price is not a concern, you might ask about their helicopter option, as these flights are less likely to be cancelled.

I've done a coach tour to Milford Sound and a coach tour to Doubtful Sound with Real Journeys and both coaches were large, but that's not to say they don't have smaller coaches; you should ask them.

Southern Discoveries indicates they partner with Glenorchy Air, but recent Southern Discovery reviews on Trip Advisor also mention flights with Air Milford.
http://www.southerndiscoveries.co.nz...glenorchy-air/

Reviews on TA (search reviews for "Air Milford" and Glenorchy Air):
https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Attrac...n_South_I.html
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Old Dec 21st, 2016, 10:02 AM
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Thanks so much, Diamantina--this is terrific info!
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Old Jan 5th, 2017, 10:57 PM
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bookmarking
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Old Jul 10th, 2017, 09:28 AM
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I booked the Fly-cruise-Fly tour with the Cruise Milford company because they got such good reviews on trip advisor. However, I was greatly disappointed. I scheduled a flight early in the week on New Zealand Air from Christchurch to Queenstown because I had very limited time and I booked this tour last minute. First of all my original flight into queenstown was not cancelled. I took new zealand flight and they couldn't land in Queenstown so they flew us to invercargill and it took two hours in a bus with no heat to drive back to Queensland. I got to Queensland before 11 AM WHICH IS WHEN The MILFORD FLIGHT LEFT (at 11 am). I could have caught the 11 am flight but the Cruise Milford people mistakenly thought the total flight was cancelled. Second of all I didn't realize that both the larger airplanes and the small prop plane for the Milford flight only ran 50% of the time. That crucial piece of information should be on their website so that consumers can make a calculated decision. I paid up for the flight to queensland and the fly-cruise-fly tour before I got the information that only 50% of flights leave or land due to winter weather. That was too late to cancel. I lost out of $390USD and did not take what I had hoped would be a marvelous experience. The Cruise Milford tour company has refused to refund my $390. I was surprised because it was reported here on trip advisor that they were known to refund customers payment when they couldn't go on a tour. Their excuse is that they are a small company and need the money and I didn't cancel in time based on their policy (when I booked right before the tour and after the time to cancel officially). They also said they couldn't refund the fly portion of the tour because that was a different company. It all sounds weird to me. I would like a refund from both the Cruise Milford people for the cruise part of the tour ($90 usd) and from the Fly Milford company ($300 usd) for the fly portion of the tour.
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Old Jul 10th, 2017, 10:16 AM
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Janice, I'm not really understanding your story. I gather that commercial flights couldn't land in Queenstown and you got re-routed to Invercargill and were transported by bus to Queenstown from there.

You state you arrived before 11am and that you "could have caught the 11 am flight".

My question is why didn't you?

Did Milford Air cancel the flight because they assumed you weren't showing up or did they cancel the flight because weather conditions also prevented them from flying out of Queenstown? If it was due to weather, they must refund you.

But then you state you "didn't cancel in time based on their policy". If you arrived in time to catch their 11am departure, why would they expect you to cancel?

>>>I didn't realize that both the larger airplanes and the small prop plane for the Milford flight only ran 50% of the time.
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Old Jul 10th, 2017, 01:23 PM
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>>And this is Fodors, not Trip Advisor.
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Old Jul 10th, 2017, 02:43 PM
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I did a search and found janicepayan's rant on the Trip Advisor reviews for the company - it was under a different screenname but word-for-word.

It's a shame she couldn't have taken the time to post what she enjoyed, but only could find the time to rant - and on at least 2 platforms! Obviously upset, since there were so many inconsistencies in her story.
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Old Jul 14th, 2017, 12:27 PM
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McGrigg:
Your post was in December 2016 for a trip in March 2017. How did the trip go, especially Milford Sound and getting to/from it?

I heard good things about the BBQBus tour - small coaches - and corresponded with them quite a bit, so booked with them for this coming Oct. Oct is reportedly rainy and avalanche-prone but we're used to that at home in the PNW. In a few months will know how it worked out and will post a report.
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