Greatjourneysnz Omdömen 9

David Ansell in his appraisal of Feb 17 is correct ,
In fact the advertising said 4 and 5 star hotels and they were more like 2& 3 and the occasionnal 4 !
Air conditioning often didn’t work correctly often .
False adventising .
Don’t trust this company or book with them

My husband and I signed up for 17 day Signature New Zealand up close rail tour. From the Great Journeys advertisement, we thought this tour would be a classy train tour with 4-5 star hotel accommodations. False advertisement!! The inconsistency in hotels from advertisement is main reason I would never recommend this tour to family and friends. Worst hotels Naumi in Wellington and Ramada in Queenstown. Neither of these hotels would get more than 1 star. The actual train rides were great, but the majority of time we were on small/large tour bus. At one point we were just happy to be in a large bus. It was tight in small buses. I feel that Great Journeys took our money and used it on previous clients and then they ran out of money and put us in low budget hotels. They asked for a critique at end of tour and we have never heard from them again. They don’t take responsibility for their unfortunate advertising and their choices.

We were very unfortunate to take the Coastal Pacific train journey from Blenheim to Christchurch on 16 February. The 5-hour journey starting at 2.00pm took 12 hours due to an engine breakdown which required an engineer to be despatched from Christchurch. The train was repaired around 9.30pm after 6 hours stationary in the middle of nowhere. There was a further half hour delay once the train was repaired due to the replacement driver being late. The train finally arrived in Christchurch at 2.15am on 17 February. No scenic views as the journey was mostly at night due to this considerable delay.Poor customer service with minimal updates on the situation and no contingency plans. A shambles. Great Journeys best avoided.

We took the 17-day Signature | New Zealand Up Close tour starting in Auckland and ending in Queenstown including all 3 trains. It was an amazing tour in many ways, but disappointing / frustrating in others. There is no way we could have seen this much of New Zealand in one trip had we organized it ourselves, and several of the days were truly once-in-a-lifetime experiences. But we were often unhappy or uncomfortable. Here is what could have been better:

Lodging: We were promised 4-star hotels. We got that only about half the nights. Also, GJNZ did not do a good job of following through on our original request for rooms with king beds. Instead this got handled at each new place as a last-minute upgrade request at check-in which sometimes could but sometimes could not be accommodated.

Transport: The trains were wonderful. There was also (necessarily, it seems) quite a lot of time in a bus, with not enough bus stops for either scenic photos or bathroom breaks.

Pace: There were lots of early morning starts - which did not leave adequate time for sleep and getting ready for the day. There was generally not enough time at the various destinations. Activities often seemed rushed. We would have appreciated a longer tour with a few extra unscheduled days peppered into the itinerary to either rest or explore - especially in the cities of Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown.

Info / education: We had thought this would be a guided tour, but our tour director was NOT a professional guide and was not particularly knowledgeable or able to answer many questions about what we were seeing. Her role was limited to organizational and trouble-shooting; more of a conductor than a guide.

Overall this is an ideal tour for someone who is young and able to go many hours between bathroom breaks; doesn't mind a fast pace with early morning starts; isn't picky about hotels; and who doesn't want or need a guide. If you are highly educated and plan to ask a lot of probing questions; if you are older and slowing down; or if you prefer luxury accommodations and service, this is probably not the right tour for you.

It's amazing if your train does run. If not be prepared to deal with the worst customer service ever. They will send your cancellation request out 6 minutes after their phone line closes for the day. They will offer you alternative transport via coach for just a 50% refund of your $240 ticket, which is more expensive than an intercity bus or flying. They will ignore your request for a refund for almost 3 weeks.

They fail to understand that their customers often make a special trip out to do their trains, the cancellation reason was out of their control but they refuse to offer any discount to a future booking on an off-season train with empty seats. They will ignore your email, likely not read it all and just respond with one sentence. It's basic customer service to offer customers a partial discount on their fare if their first journey was impacted.

If you do try to phone up good luck getting through, I tried multiple times and it feels like you are permanently on hold. Disgusting company considering they charge so much for their train fares, as much as I would love to try to do the Northern Explorer again I can't as it's now outside my budget to make a whole separate trip to do it.

Greymouth to Christchurch - TranzAlpine

Late booking, the previous evening.

Booking was smooth, ticket came by email shortly after. Check in was fine but I forgot to ask for another seat and it couldn't be changed after check in, my assigned seat was aisle seat/no table, politely asked onboard staff to be moved to a better seat and the staff took the time to fully check the passenger log and locate me a vacant seat, which was a window seat and perfect.

As for the journey itself, indescribable, breathtaking.

Had roast lamb & veg dinner and a couple of drinks also, at a reasonable $47NZD

100000% recommend, as a train nerd, this day was one i'll remember forever

Booked my elderly mum a seat on their Auck to Wgtn train. The website showed a seat that she wanted - forward facing window seat with no one facing her. We paid the money and clicked on the 'download ticket' button but nothing happened. Called the company and they said that the ticket will be sent 48hrs beforehand with a random assignment of a seat, even though the seat had been indicated when before we bought the ticket. So mum could have ended up with an aisle seat facing 2 strangers - not what was shown. This is appalling - not only does it specifically show your seat (and we kept changing dates until we got one mum liked) but nowhere does it say on that page that the seats are randomly assigned.

Northern Explorer Train, Auckland to Wellington on March 1, 2025. We were looking forward to the wonderful scenery of the 11hour train journey. Enhanced by 'Scenic Plus' top class table service, food etc this was eagerly anticipated. However, the day before, we received email telling us catering carriage had problems so no cooked meals. So,, breakfast was a slice of omelette and a muffin, lunch - choice of sandwiches and dinner - a choice of sandwiches. All very tasty but not 'delectable .... dining experience', not 'seasonal menu filled with freshly picked ingredients', no hot food at all, no specialist table service. We got our hot drinks in paper cups, wine in plastic glasses, paper plates and wooden cutlery. Staff were great - they struggled to make the best of the situation. Eleven hours later we disembarked at Wellington. Great scenery. The wonders of Scenic Plus not as advertised. We don't feel that sandwiches for lunch and dinner were the best that could have been done for us. A few days later we were on the coastal pacific route - about 7-8 hours. We'd gone for regular Scenic class for this and we asked GreatJourneys if they'd upgrade us on this second journey, as gesture in respect of well below par experience on the scenic plus northern journey. Simple 'no'... they offered everyone $100 per person refund (it's now april and we've still not got it). Upgrade cost was $300 per person, so the $200 pp they've still got, covered some drinks and very poor food provision is way to much for us to pay. No flexibility from them. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE. As a post note, some positive.... when on board the coastal pacific train we were approached by the train manager who identified us, acknowledging the problems we'd experienced and invited us to visit buffet car and 'have what you want'.... so some coffee, wine, sandwiches and some snacks. A very nice gesture but it felt like this was courtesy of the train manager, rather than the company trying to make us happy customers. On this second journey we noted the scenic plus car was barely half full, so they could have easily accomodated us. Someone at Great Journeys needs to go on a Customer Service course. Extremely bad response to a situation, out of their control to be fair, but one that really spoiled what should have been an excellent experience - and an easy way to cheer us up, was simply refused. We'd travelled from UK for this rail journey to be highlight of the holiday. Shame on you, Great Railway Journeys.

Northern Explorer: Wellington - National Park
Coastal Pacific: Picton - Christchurch
TranzAlpine: Christchurch - Greymouth (return)
Oh how I lament the days when we had a live commentator on board. They always added a bit a fun, trivia, and importantly, humanity to the trip. Instead we now have a recording, triggered by GPS, dreadfully mechanical.
Having said that these trips are still among the highlights for any visitor to New Zealand. Not to be missed to be sure.
The staff are very pleasant and helpful, it's well organised and should not disappoint even the most demanding visitor.