Dunedin City Highlights, Otago Peninsula Scenery & Albatross Guided Tour

We had a great shore excursion with fantail tours while cruising with Celebrity Cruise line. Our driver and guide was Asta. The tour was small, unlike the big buses used by Celebrity. Asta stopped in certain areas for photography and pointed out birds and plants. It was probably the best excursion in the whole trip.

Theresa was incredibly knowledgeable about almost everything (geology, plants and animals history of the island including great respect for Māori culture and use of their homeland resources All this on the ride to the albatross center!! At the center we got to see the great birds nesting and flying along the cliffs while learning about their physiology life cycle and life span The conservators were extremely passionate about their “jobs” and helped me to understand so much more about these fabulous avians I would definitely recommend Fantail tours and Theresa in particular!!

We thoroughly enjoyed our day with John. He was very friendly and informative. The views of the countryside and the city were breathtaking. The albatross visit was quite interesting, and we saw several albatross nesting and flying.

Teresa, our driver & guide, was very knowledgeable about plants, animals, geography, history, and New Zealand culture. She was very accommodating to all guests. We had several photos stops. We stopped by a grocery store to buy sandwiches to later. have a picnic lunch. The guides at the albatross center we’re very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The city tour was quite extensive. This was one of my favorite excursions in the past year.

It was a good overview of area Teresa was excellent, HOWEVER overbooked to exceed advertised And left myself sitting over the hump and step behind driver uncomfortably all thru tour no acknowledgement of my discomfort or unfairness of not rotating the car seat was put in full seat the back row of bus filled by 3 larger guests leaving me no options or support from driver just continual shifting of sitting sideways with one leg cramped up higher . Timing of stops were rushed except for grocery pick up to choose your own lunch which to us seemed backwards not to give more time at sights rather than store. Pushed time to return to ship very closely so left no time to walk the shops at dock which most of tour bus guests had hoped to do..I would recommend if ever doing car seat again that be placed behind driver where no leg room allows for a regular adult and I would stress if advertising maximum 15 to hold firm to that and not create discomfort for anyone I paid just like everyone else I was not last to arrive at check in I was left no choice in my positioning on bus and no help to remedy my discomfort . Driver very knowledgeable and personable narrating and sights are lovely but I would warn any traveler to realize the ad says maximum 15 was not true and you may end up riding side sitting leg up over the engine jump behind driver with limited visibility AND very uncomfortable position for a all day tour we did go see the few albatross nesting on side of hill but people need to realize animal sightings are not guaranteed so other guests had hoped for penguins and seals.. the red billed gulls most prevalent and with new chicks interesting but if really want to see wildlife this was perhaps exaggerated to what reality was..if ok with a bus tour to see around the area it does that.. hope others get better seats and if car seat needed that tour operator will acknowledge the mistake of not accommodating the adults and overbooking the bus made my day less than comfortable I dreaded climbing on and off to that seat and nobody offered to take a turn nor did driver offer any solutions to my predicament even after mentioning ‘nobody should sit behind me for lack of visibility and room.. ‘ yet the 2 seats were more than needed since will mentioning again, tour operator overbooked but like those reading this review I wanted to see Dunedin and only in town on cruise ship short time I had no choice but to put up with what was left Just verify tour is only 15 not the 18 they pushed ours to…they do split up to go to albatross penguins BUT that’s only an hour in mid tour does not excuse the overcrowded bus the other 6 hours..

We did the albatross tour with a guide named Kym. Ut was a private tour and he was brilliant. My wife is disabled and he looked after us well and gave a great history of the island itself. My son enjoyed it and definitely recommended Kym. It was a great day out.

Asta was an excellent & informative guide. Since it was only the two of us who signed up for that day, it ended up being a private tour. Asta was friendly & showed us around scenic areas of Dunedin that we hadn't heard of in the usual guidebooks. We saw a few chicks at the Albatross Centre and enjoyed the drive along the coast and talking to her about life in that part of New Zealand.