Auckland Shore Excursion: City Sightseeing Tour, Harbor Cruise and Sky Tower

Auckland, New Zealand

While your ship is in port in Auckland, see the city sights, take a cruise under the Harbour Bridge and enjoy bird’s-eye views of Auckland from the Sky Tower. You’ll see some of the city’s top attractions like Quay Street, Waitemata Harbour, Queen Street and more, plus catch views of the beautiful waterfront. Combining sightseeing, a boat ride and sky-high city views, this shore excursion shows you the many sides to Auckland, New Zealand’s premier city.

See the city from all angles when your cruise ship is docked in Auckland: from the ground up, from the harbor and from the top of the Sky Tower.

Your Auckland shore excursion begins with a sightseeing tour of the city’s most famous sights, including Quay Street, the Harbour Bridge and Waitemata Harbour, Queen Street, Auckland University and Auckland Museum, Dominion Parks and Gardens, and the Tamaki Waterfront. You’ll see how Auckland lies on two island-dotted harbors and is surrounded by the dormant cones of 49 volcanoes.

From here, you’ll be transferred to the Sky Tower, Auckland’s iconic landmark. Soaring 1,075 feet (328 meters) into the sky, it’s the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Take in stunning views of Auckland’s buildings and harbors from the observation deck, and learn more about the city’s history by watching the interesting audiovisual displays.

Then view Auckland from the water on a 90-minute harbor cruise. Explore Waitemata Harbour, see the volcanic cone of Rangitoto Island, visit Devonport and see the Harbour Bridge and Westhaven Marina. On the return cruise to Auckland’s waterfront, enjoy tea or coffee and a muffin before returning to the Ferry Terminal.

Worry-free Shore Excursion: We will ensure your timely return to the Auckland cruise port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.

USD $109.00

Traveler Reviews

Review by:   J.D.,    December 2017
The tour is in three part. The sightseeing tour is disjointed. The stops are partially based on where public bathrooms were more than interesting places to walk around and heaven help you if you brought something to drink back on the bus. The harbor cruise was great and the best part. By itself it was a 5-Star tour, then there was the Sky Tower or getting to the Sky Tower and back to the cruise ship. A different company picked us up after the harbor cruise and dropped us at the central bus station with no instructions, but we had tickets to the Sky Tower from earlier in the day. The Sky Tower turned out was a couple of blocks away, so we walked to it and then were on our own to get back 1 mile or so to the ship. It wasn't the distance as much as no information from the morning tour about us having to be on our own to get back to the ship later in the day.

Review by:   Steven N,    November 2017
The bus was 40 miutes late picking us up- even after multiple phone calls- Sandy, our driver and guide was well informed, but we could have used the extra time we lost from the late pickup at several of the stops - we were dropped off for the harbor cruise on time, but the boat was over 45 minutes late - when we went to the pickup point for the SkyCity tour, no one was there - we had seen what looked like our ride as we walked over from the boat, so I went back and found them, they came and picked us up and we finally got to the final destination...but several of the original passengers had given up and return to the ship. Overall, it was an unsatisfactory tour - mixed with moments of real enjoyment and knowledge.

Review by:   Robert R,    November 2017
Very informative, but found the Harbor Cruise and City Sightseeing sights and commentary crossed over. You could have done either the City Sightseeing Tour or Harbor Cruise. Sky Tower had excellent views.

Review by:   dyanabu,    October 2017
Fantastic tour, got to see the city, the harbor cruise was enjoyable with wonderful commentary and the Sky Tower was great! Took the opportunity to jump off the Auckland Sky Tower, what an experience! This tour has everything in a one day tour!

Review by:   Trevor S,    July 2017
Excellent

Review by:   buckoandme,    March 2017
We really enjoyed this tour....all very interesting the city and then was nice to get on the water and see it from that view._br/_ We stopped at a little island and then the Sky Tower which is incredibly ! We would recommend this to others !

Review by:   peter l,    February 2017
Good way to see Auckland in a day.

Review by:   Dorothy H,    January 2017
This experience would have been much better if we would have had a ride for all of it. Gray Lines did pick us up at our hotel and took us on the City Sightseeing Tour. When we were dropped off we were told to be at a certain spot after our Harbor Cruise and someone would pick us up. We went on the cruise and came to the designated spot along with another couple who were also waiting for this ride. No one came. The other couple left after about fifteen minutes. We stayed until the half hour and then we walked to the Sky Tower. Whoever was supposed to meet us there and get us back to the hotel never materialized so we walked back. We were capable of walking the hills of Auckland, but if a person was not able to do this, they would have had to pay for a taxi to get them back. Not 5 stars for that reason.

Review by:   Joan S,    June 2016
Very interesting. Loved Sky Tower incredible views and great fun watching the jumpers off the 53rd floor.

Review by:   susan m,    April 2016
so well run thankyou viator also our driver was excellent keep up the good work :

Review by:   Patricia G,    April 2016
Tour guide was excellent. A very enjoyable day. Would highly recommend it.

Review by:   Desley T,    March 2016
Great tour and bus driver he went out of his way to show us around. Highly recommended

Review by:   RedWagon,    March 2016
Driver very Knowledgeable and had a good sense of humor. He spoke English clearly and we could understand him.We got to see the highlights and since this was our last tour we did not want to do a lot of walking. Very good suggestions of things to do in the area if we had extra time.

Review by:   atennant7,    March 2016
Excellent choice for a flavor of Auckland's highlights.

Review by:   Steven H,    March 2016
A bit of waiting for the bus and other passengers, but that is to be expected for this type of tour. Nice spots visited, excellent driver/guide.

Review by:   Steven D,    February 2016
Great Day

Review by:   Gilles L,    February 2016
Great tour. Driver was very nice and the combination of bus, boat and sky Tower was perfect.

Review by:   Richard Z,    December 2015
Very good experience

Review by:   peanutwhit,    November 2015
A pleasant experience to see the beautiful city.

Review by:   Roy B,    May 2015
Enjoyed the day but the boats and schedules were not well explained. On some stops the return boats are few and very far between shortening what can be done. The biggest problem is that the boats going to different stops are not the same necessitating a return all the way back to the beginning to go to the next place. This needs to be better explained with selling this venue.

Review by:   relly1,    May 2015
Great tour worth doing.

Review by:   C C,    March 2015
This is a tour that I would have have highly recommend except for the few details that I will mention later. The city tour had a lot to offer and see. Our driver was one of the nicest guys you could meet. He was very friendly and knowledgable. Some of the stops were a bit rushed, but that is to be expecting on a tour such as this that has so much to see. It seem as if every turn down every street would bring you to the end, and then there was more to see and hear about._br/_ The trip to the Sky Tower was very nice, offering the chance to see everything from high above the ground. My husband and I have done this sort of high-rise sightseeing in many world cities, so to some who have done the same, this may seem like looking down on yet another big city, but for those who don't get the chance to travel as often, it is amazing to see the massive city._br/_ The habor cruise was okay but not great. The speaker system was very difficult to hear unless you are seated inside of the boat, and who wants to do that when you are planning to take pictures and feel the breeze on your face. The stops that we made were very rushed - 10 minutes at best to make your way to shore and get back onto the boat. Because of this is the lower rating then highly recommended.

Review by:   pvregan45,    March 2015
Very through as the bus then the cruise. The sky tower was awesome._br/_ Would highly recommend. The bus driver very informative and good.

Review by:   mrsfrbuf,    March 2015
Good trip

Review by:   John H,    March 2014
Excellent tour and excellent guide/bus driver. However, the tour was listed as a shore excursion, but the starting point was not clear to us. The paperwork said to meet at the Hilton Hotel, which we did, but that is not where the tour was. We finally found it, but it was a bit stressful.

Review by:   John P,    February 2014
We had the best time, the City Sightseeing Tour was great, the Harbour Ruise was fantastic the weather was lovely and hot, and the Sky Tower was something else. One great day.

Review by:   Linda C,    January 2014
We had a great time on the excusion.

All Traveler Reviews...