Kaipara Cruise

"Day 1 was great, lots to see and learn, the cruise was supposedly to capacity (the website said FULL) but there was a nice number of people to be able to move around freely, from top to bottom to back deck. Lunch on board was delicious, as was afternoon tea and dinner at the boat club. Our accommodation was really nice with comfy beds and provided a lovely stop at the end of a busy day. Day 2 started well, we were collected from our motel at 9am, with a continental breakfast provided in the motel room. From there we drove to the marine museum for an interesting look around some of Dargavilles history. At 10:45 we were then transported back to the boat club for a surprisingly early lunch at around 11:45. The boat was there to meet us for the return journey back along the river, we departed Dargaville at about 12:30. Again, pleasant cruising and lots of information along the coast on our way home. Unfortunately things went a little sour when we had to unnecessarily dock again at Pouto Point to collect two cyclists. After much ado, it turned out there were 10 cyclists and their bikes and their loads to pack on board for the final 4+ hours of a cruise that we had paid good money to go on. This pretty much doubled the load onboard as the 10 bikes took up almost the entire upper deck. This deck then became mostly unavailable for seating or viewing as it was totally filled with bikes and cyclists. So our cruise pretty much turned into a ferry service. For maybe the sake of a few extra bucks, I feel like this was a really poor business decision and put a damper on the last leg of the journey. The cruise didn’t finally dock until ten past 8 (after 1st having to drop off the 10 cyclists), meaning after a super early lunch and almost 8 hours on board, I’m quite sure most were getting really hungry, I know we were. All we were offered in this 8 hours onboard was a cup tea and a slice of sweet loaf. After being looked after on the first day with plenty to eat, the second day was a total joke and probably the biggest disappointment of all, if the cruise owners take only one thing from my review, I hope it’s that they organise some dinner for this very long part of the trip. Either that or they recommend that people make sure they have food with them for the ride home. Lastly I believe, as do several other reviewers, the cruise narrator should really learn how to better pronounce the local place names, or at least make some effort to do so. It’s a bad look for international visitors and even though many of the more ‘old school’ thinkers may disagree because “that’s how we’ve always said it”, I think it’s for each and every one of us to make a bigger effort to at least attempt or try to learn the way a place name should be pronounced. I’m sure the couple that run this business are lovely people… but our family were pretty disappointed with how it ended. I therefore wouldn’t fully recommend Kaipara Cruises 2 Day tour, the end part was a total disappointment and I hope they can see that for the sake of keeping 10 cyclists happy, they annoyed most of the 30 paying cruise passengers."

"Joined this 2 day cruise to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Relaxing cruise with interesting commentary along the way, food was plentiful and owners friendly and approachable. My only criticism is the poor pronunciation of the Maori place names. The captain should definitely seek some education in this area to an acceptable level."

"Awesome experience, and saved me a lot of days cycling. I recommend booking with lots of other people doing the tour aotearoa trail."

"Wow what an awesome trip. We learnt so much about the early pioneer days. Being Anzac weekend i had the privilege of attending the Dawn service . Would highly recommend doing the Kaipara cruise . Many thanks for a wonderful experience."

"Great experience, captain shared really good information along the way. Will definitely do it again."