What To Expect

What‘s Included

Reviews

• Picturesque Picton.

  Kathy B,,Jan 24, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  4.00

  A little long. Captain was informative. Left a tip for him. Rating was based on lack of variety of cruise NOT the captain.

• Would avoid

  Asa49,,Jan 3, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  2.00

  As others have said, this is not really a tour. You’re basically riding on a boat while the captain makes stops to pick up/drop off deliveries (people or bags). The people on shore were extremely pleasant, but the captain was not. I asked a question about the length of time at the Cook memorial and was told, in a surly tone, that he would leave whoever wasn’t back on time. In short, you see some nice scenery but the experience is not worth it.

  

  

• Beautiful and must go if you could find another provider

  668hirens,,Dec 28, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  1.00

  It was great to start with we had dolphin sighting and then cruise continue to the destination and that’s where it started to go downhill. The captain rushed us to get back on the boat because he wanted to deliver bags or parcels. For the delivery he made five stops And we felt like being part of a courier service on the way back. Even worse, forgot to take four passengers on board on the way back so they had to return to get them. We started the tour at 9 am. There was no tea or coffee available on board. You could have a coffee if you brought your own cup so basically no drinks no food and we were there with them for 4 1/2 hours mostly doing their deliveries with them highly recommend to avoid this provider. Not even an apology for the 1.5 hour delay. No explanation why scenic tour was turned into a delivery service.

  

• Not as promissed

  Go10084620561,,Nov 25, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  1.00

  We did the  Marlburough Sounds and Ship Cove Cruise from Picton. The weather was quite stormy with rather big waves at sea. Almost everybody else was dropped of or picked up, so had a reason to be on board in these circumstances. There was only once 5 minutes time to get off board. We were on the boat to have a nice morning which was not possible in these weather conditions. They should have cancelled our 3 our trip. It was absolutely not worth the time or money. We didn't have anything to drink in the 3 1/2 hours on board because in the hurry to get on board she forgot to tell us we had to bring our own cup and on board seemed to be none available. The explaining was done, but couldn't be understood because of the noice of the engine and the weather. We complained at the office about not cancelling the trip, but, according to the lady, this was normal and they never cancel even though the can 't live up to their promisse that you can get of the boat to have a look around. So no good review sadly and the handling of the complaint was also not priceworthy.

• Water taxi not a sightseeing tour

  martina r,,Nov 23, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  This was extremely disappointing! We thought we had booked a sightseeing trip but it was actually a water shuttle. We picked up and dropped people off, we also had to pick up and drop off luggage. The one location we were able to get off we were told by the driver that we only had 10 minutes, that he was very busy and that he will leave if we were late. That’s not what you want to hear. At one point there were so many people that we were unable to see out the windows properly which further backs up my point that this was a water taxi. Lastly it was sad that the company would not refund the 50% I requested which I though was fair price to ask as this price would have been closer to the cost of a water taxi. I would recommend going with another company.

• Taxi service disguised as a scenic cruise

  Jason Y,,Nov 20, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  What can be said about this "scenic cruise" that hasn't already been said about politics? It's dull and misleading. We went on this cruise on our last day in New Zealand expecting a scenic cruise with a stop on land to explore, turns out we were just part of a very crowded water taxi service, the skipper was more concerned about getting his jobs done than anything else, he even admitted it was more of a taxi service and blamed his boss for setting the schedule. The 1 stop we had to "explore" was for a measly 10 minutes, by the time you got off the boat, it was time to get back on due to the amount of people onboard, but we got back to Picton half hour earlier than expected, so why we couldn't have more time on land evades me. Everyone we spoke with on the cruise was dissatisfied with the service and a few of us approached the office afterwards to complain. I think paying over $300 to be part of a taxi service is unreasonable, beachcomber don't believe so as refund was refused. Seems Beachcomber are more interested in lining their pockets than providing a descent service. Ruined our last day in NZ, so thanks for that

• More like water taxi

  TalonCalif,,Nov 16, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  3.00

  I just went on a "3.5" hour cruise. The boat staff consisted of one, the captain. It makes numerous stops but mostly to pickup/drop-off passengers and bags. Only stop to stretch your legs was Ship cove, which we were given only 10 minutes. We returned to the harbor at noon (3 hours). Its a long winded way of saying this was an extended water taxi. Im not complaining. Its just to set proper expectations. The ride was beautiful. The people were nice. It didnt cost an arm and a leg. Not much in the way of narration. Captain had to captain. Even a recorded information would have been periodically nice.

• A pleasant day with a lively dialogue from the skipper on the way to

  Cosmopolitan741776,,Nov 12, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  3.00

  Good commentary along the way on what was a dull overcast day. Lots of information conveyed on chatting with the skipper. Shame we can't control the weather but apart from this a pleasant experience. Missed out on coffee provided so needed to be advised that we had to bring our own coffee cups to take advantage of the coffee provided.

• Dolphins!

  Anne M,,Jul 5, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  A very pleasant trip, with lots of dolphin sightings. The captain stopped the boat a few times so we could observe them closely.

• Beautiful Scenery

  Susan S,,May 23, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  4.00

  Lovely area but boat ride was long…basically a water taxi only stopping once. Would have been nice to have a guide talk to us about indigenous culture.

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