We had the best day ever! The tour guide was excellent and nothing was too much trouble! We saw the beautiful surrounding countryside and even called into two wineries, one of them our favourite wine Cloudy Bay. I would definately recommend this tour and our booking with Viator was easy and made the day perfect.
Review by: Regina W, April 2018
This was great. Pam the owner was our driver and gave marvelous commentary. It was a very interesting tour and stopped at three wineries, a chocolate factory, and some other sights. Pam dropped four of us at the Peter Jackson museum of flight and airplane collection from WWI and WWII. That was outstanding. Paid our own admission. She took the other people on a tour of the town and picked us up later. It was a great day.
Review by: William C, March 2018
Terrific tour....Pamela is knowledgeable, thoughtful, and friendly. Obviously, loves guiding strangers through the lovely wine country of Marlborough and showing visitors the beauty of her homeland. For cruise ships passengers, I highly recommend this small group 8 people in ours tour in a comfy large van rather than one of the 30-40 person megatours with everybody piled into a coach aka a bus to most Americans.
Review by: eykeynes, March 2018
I was unwell and couldn't go on the tour, but my travelling partner told me it was excellent.
Review by: katrina_mesic, March 2018
We were fortunate enough to do this tour with a company called, Your Local Chauffeur. Our driver was Paul and he was a delightful man with a gift of hospitality. His commentary was very informative and by the end of our tour we were sad to part with him. We visited four wineries - had a delicious lunch at one in a beautiful garden setting, with laden grapevines above us, providing us with generous shade. We also visited a local chocolate factory. The salted caramel chocolate is amazing! We also drove along side Queen Charlotte Sound and the views of the vast expanse of water, rolling hills, vineyards, etc was absolutely stunning. We took some great photos from one of many look outs and from one that overlooked our ship, The Ovation of the Seas. Picton is a very picturesque and pretty place, but if you are arriving by ship, do yourself justice and book a tour of the Marlborough wine region. You wont be disappointed. Nor do you have to be a wine-guru to enjoy this tour. My brother accompanied us on this tour and he never drinks wine, but he still found learning about all of the different grape varieties, wines, the history of the vineyards that we visited and the tastings very interesting.
Review by: lesleydudson, February 2018
The rating for this tour is down to unforeseen circumstances outside the control of our Tour Guide. Two guests were 30 minutes late and another asked to be taken back to our cruise ship from the furthest point of the tour which lost us more time. Our tour guide Pamela did her very best to overcome these problems. Our visit to the first Winery St. Clair was very good but Hunters Winery was disappointing as the tasting staff appeared to show no interest whatsoever. Enjoyed the short visit to a chocolate factory and only just made it back to Picton in time for the last shuttle bus.
Review by: Carolyn L, February 2018
Beautiful scenery and very relaxing. The winery staff are all friendly and entertaining.
Review by: Terry S, February 2018
Pamela was great. She was informative and flexible.
Review by: Ann-Maree R, February 2018
We had a fantastic fun day with our tour group. Paul the tour guide and driver made it a memorable day. He went above and beyond. Nothing was to much trouble. We visited 3 winery's , generous taste testings. Also went to a chocolate factory and had a delicious lunch at another winery. The scenery was spectacular through the wine region and Queen Charlotte Sound with lots of photo opportunities. Definitely would recommend this tour.
Review by: Pat D, February 2018
This tour was a highlight of our trip. Very personalized with the owner Pamela meeting us at the departure point and introducing us to Neill our guide for the day. He was excellent with his knowledge of the wineries and countryside on our trip. The chocolate tasting and cheese shop were enjoyable as was lunch at one of the wineries. We had plenty of time to rejoin our ship. A great day.
Review by: terrimanfredi, January 2018
Picton-
Review by: y.boyes, January 2018
We had the most wonderful journey with this company.Set off with the farewell from the owner Pamela. Great attention to detail._br/_ The day was sensational with the small group and experience of driver. He was very courteous and helpful. Visited four wineries with the mast being lunch. Never felt pressured to get in the van. Added extras were a stop for chocolate tasting and a cherry buy top. Fabulous and we highly recommend this company.
Review by: DOUGLAS F, January 2018
Pamela was our tour guide, and one of the best we have ever had. She grew up in the area and is so knowledgeable, personable, and passionate about the area. We went to four wineries for tastings, which were all wonderful! Then on to another winery for lunch on the terrace which was again, wonderful, the food was incredible! Then on to a city tour of Blenheim, stopped at a chocolate shop for a tasting, then on to Marlborough Sound which is truly beautiful! She wanted to take us to more places but we were all getting tired as we were going on 5-6 hours, so we went back to the ship. This was a nice small group tour, and Pamela was flexible with options of what to see and do after the wine tasting, etc. This was one of the best shore excursions of our cruise! Highly recommended!
Review by: Andrew G, January 2018
Excellent tour of wineries and Picton surrounds
Review by: Linda M, January 2018
Paul our driver was informative about the area and the wineries. The 1st winery offered a cheese tasting in the gift shop, very very small cubes of the cheeses, Would have been better if the cheese had been offered with the wine tasting. We were late arriving at the 3rd winery as they were closing for the day so completely missed out. We were allowed to go to the top of the tower and take photos but that was it. _br/_ Had dinner at a lovely pub in Havenlock, called the Captains Daughter, lovely fresh food, I didn't hear anyone from our group complaining._br/_ On the way back to the ship Paul stopped for us to take photos, and once again informative in relation to the areas./towns we passing through.
Review by: barbaratore1, January 2018
Our tour was wonderful and tour guide Paul was fantastic! We were in a small vehicle and Paul took us all around the area and even added in the beach and coastline. We stopped at three wineries had lunch and a rive around the area. Very enjoyable day.
Review by: prof.ginsburg, January 2018
Terrific excursion and much better that what was offered by the cruiseline and at a much better price
Review by: tranmplinh, December 2017
We were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and went on the Marlborough Highlights tour on the 27th December. Overall it was a good trip, we went to visit 3 wineries and got to taste a lot of wine. However the wine wasn't excellent, there's so much acid in the wine as it's all newly produced 2016 and 2017- the visit was good but you should check which wineries you are going to and which year it is produced- because it matters. Our driver and tour guide was a lovely old man, he is knowledgable and was keen on telling us about the town!
Review by: Anne C, December 2017
Spectacular views
Review by: Melanie F, December 2017
I booked my tour ahead of arrival, when we arrive for tour we had to wait for an hour for them to book more people to come. Pamela was ready for us to go to wineries but we booked for highlights of the city, I wished we could of spent more time stopping to get pictures. It was a good tour but was hoping for a little more.
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