I'll preface my review by saying that good weather here is much like the luck of the draw. With an annual rainfall of more than 22ft (that's a 2-story building) chances are it'll rain on your visit. So just be warned that you may not get the picturesque photos like the ones on the brochure.

Having said that, i LOVED the outing. The day started with miserable rain and chilly temperature, and the rain only got harder as the bus drove towards Manapouri. On Wilmot Pass it was snow flurries. But lucky for us, as the cruise ship got to the farthest point of the journey, the ocean inlet at Doubtful Sound, the sun broke out and it was so picture-perfect! Word can't really describe the majesty of the landscape, it was breath-taking. When the sun is out, it was like a warm spring summer day. But on the way back, it quickly turned into rain and snow again as the bus journeyed back to Queenstown.

Unlucky for us, the only wildlife we encountered was the New Zealand penguins. They are so tiny and far away that you need a good binocular to see their trademark yellow eye brow. We didn't get to see any of the seals or resident dolphins. Oh well, I'll leave that to my imagination.

Real Journeys runs a very smooth operation, from pick up to drop off. No real complaints from me.

I am always reluctant to write negative reviews, especially when I think Mother Nature wrecked my day. But here goes, as this was the ONLY unpleasant and strikingly PAINFUL excursions I have been on in my life.

It rained and rained and rained and rained. Raining only not to be outdone by the chilly boat\bus, AND NO WAY OUT.

It is said it rains 5 out of every 4 days in the sound. JK, of course it rains more than the sun is shining.

Luckily we drove to the Sound from Auckland which was AMAZING...the only bright spot in our day. SOOOOO happy we didnt take the bus-to-a-boat-to-a-bus-to-a-boat-to-a-bus-back to baot\bus\boat\bus. THATS WHAT YOUR SIGNING UP FOR WITH THIS TOUR. We just had Car-to-a-boat-to-a-bus-to-a-boat-to-a bus-to-a-boat.

It rained all day. COLD all day. Bus was under heated. Boats were not warm due to in-and-out of passengers to take rainy\foggy pictures of water and nothing.

The box lunch was awful. I upgraded to the deluxe and the cheese and crackers was fake cheese and the sandwich was slathered in that ketchup sauce...dripping...eeeeeek. My friend had the vegetarian and the ginger cookie tasted like a big lick of a can of ginger with no sugar...YUCK.

The Captain came over the loudspeaker at one point and said "If you not having a good time it is because of your attitude". He KNEW most of us were not enjoying our trip. Attitude? If they had a $ 500 option to get airlifted outta there we would have taken it in a heartbeat.

Wish I would have gone to Milford.

This tour is perfect. The commentary from all the crew is great, interesting and informative. Nice modern buses and boats. It is a big day from queenstown but you can rest on the way home if need be. However, the scenery is worth staying awake for.