What To Expect

What‘s Included

Reviews

• This was a great day. We...

  Karen L,Feb 22, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  This was a great day. We were treated to the magnificent eruption of the geyser. Don’t miss this if you in town for the day. We were also treated to a kiwi bird viewing and a terrific Māori cultural show. The tour director was great and easy to find. Highly recommend!

• Did NOT receive the tour we paid for.

  Lyndon L,Feb 21, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  2.00

  We have never had to give a tour below a 5 stars before when traveling with Viator as they require only the best to be booked thru them. But we would have wanted to know about this tour company before booking it. While we did get to see Te Puia & the guide at the attraction was amazing, we did not get to see the following which is what was listed when we booked & we were brought back nearly 2 hours early so it could have been included. Redwoods - 15 minute stop. Government Gardens - 15 minute stop. Sulphur Point - 15 minute stop. Kuirau Park - 30 minute stop. Plus we got hardly any commentary on the bus. Just dead air back & forth to Te Puia. So we missed a lot of info on Tauranga. After complaining about it we got lots of excuses, including that they were told to bring us back 2 hrs early, but our ships identical tours came back right at the same time we were supposed to, so clearly that wasn't an issue. They offered us 20% refund, but as we explained to the manager, it wasn't the money, it was that they brought us back early, missing sights, no commentary & Tauranga info, etc, and we live 8,000+ miles away in NC USA so there is very little chance we will make it back to Tauranga to finish the touring we should have had. So they should have told us in advance they were not going to go to the sites & were shortening the tour we had paid for, as we would have cancelled & went with another tour company to get a full tour.

• Great Tour

  Steven P,Feb 18, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  This was a great tour and a good guide. There was a lot to see and wonderful guides at tb we facility.

• Great day

  Bob H,Feb 17, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Had a great day. Messina was very knowledgeable and nothing was too much trouble for her. We visited everything promised on the tour including a couple of extras like the rapids and waterfall but of course Te Puia was the highlight

• Superb Experience

  Mike B,Feb 17, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Everything about this trip was superb Our guide Kia was amazing with a wonderful charm knowledge and pride regarding her Māori heritage. The Māori welcome and cultural show was wonderful. The Kiwi conservation project and the information shared was fascinating. The Geothermal’s are great and the knowledge shared again and timing for “eruption” was spot on. The surprise was the visit to the NZ Institute of Arts and Crafts which demonstrated amazing Māori use of resources and skills with the detailed carving incredible . I came away so more informed than I ever have been about Maori traditions heritage and culture and consider it to have been a privilege and would of course highly recommend.

  

  

  

  

• Mixed review

  Christine M,Feb 10, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  4.00

  Overall the tour was nice. The Maori Cultural Center was really cool. Our guide within the center was awesome. I was expecting more commentary from our driver. Our driver was super nice and answered all our questions. I realize that when booking it was mentioned that additional stops were based on time allotment. Most of us were from the Carnival ship that wasn't leaving port until 7pm, however our tour also included people from the Princess ship that was also in port, but they were slated to leave 2 hours before us. This forced us back early. It was stated we would have a lunch stops in Rotorua and that never happened. Also it was mentioned we would be provided a towel for a foot spa? Never saw or heard anything about a foot spa. I will say that after we returned to our ship we realized we left an item on the tour bus. I contacted the tour operator and they found the item and they said they would send it to us. I provided my address, but have not heard back about this.

• Tom our driver/guide was...

  Ellen M,Feb 4, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  4.00

  Tom our driver/guide was excellent. He is an excellent driver on the mountain road and made the journey enjoyable throughout the day. The art school and learning the history of the Maoir people was very interesting.

• I wish we would have more...

  Andres R,Jan 4, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  I wish we would have more time. The geyser boiling peak was not on the time we were there, but the place is super cool and the history is very rich. I recommend this tour. The only downside is the tour bus doesn't have loud speakers and it was difficult hear the vehicle operator at some points. Everything else was A+

• Te puia without the Maori dance

  Alex L,Jan 3, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  2.00

  My family was sad to miss the Maori dance as the local operator did not check the schedule time for the show properly. The driver was given the wrong time. Otherwise the driver took us to the other places on time and was very friendly.

• The highlights of the...

  Mi Y,Dec 28, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  3.00

  The highlights of the tour in the description give you high expectations. In the actual tour not every featured activity was fully fulfilled. The Kuirau Park and the Māori performance were the highlights. But we didn’t get to see redwoods. It’s disappointing that we didn’t make any stop at the scenic sulphur point.