Waiheke Island Explorer

A short walk to the ferry from the ship and a nice sail across Auckland Harbour. The hop on hop off bus is right at the ferry terminal on Waiheke. The hoho bus gives you a schedule and their times are pretty accurate. We picked just one Winery did the wine tasting and had a great lunch in their pub. Be aware that any of the wineries that have a restaurant are reserved for meals well in advance. We went to the Tantilus Winery and then went to the second to last stop on the return to the ferry terminal and had a short and pleasant downhill walk back from there to the ferry terminal for our return.

This was such a great choice as we had Visited Auckland previously. The ferry was a 5 minute walk from our ship, the 40 minute trip over was beautiful & the island was Auckland ‘s best kept secret. Quaint shops, cafes, restaurants, beautiful beaches & vineyards are all on the hop on hop off bus itinerary. Don’t miss Mudbrick Winery!

Problems with this excursion were that there was not enough time to get to the meeting point to take the ferry to the island. We got off the ship right away and walked directly to the meeting point for the ferry only getting there exactly at the 10am departure time. The gentlemen working for the ferry company said we were too late and we could only get on the next ferry, 1 hour later, if there was room. Thankfully there was room, but we had to wait an hour and lose an hour of our excursion time. When getting to the island the driver was not at the ferry departure point so we went to the counter and were only told to just wait outside as that is where people will wait for the tour. There were a lot of buses outside, but no drivers outside and no one else waiting. Eventually our driver emerged with his sign under his arm, where you couldn't see it and told us what van to board. Unfortunately he kept wandering around looking for people for our tour so we departed 15-20 minutes later than the scheduled time. If he would have been waiting where people depart the ferry with his sign it would have been a lot better. Besides all of this the tour was a nice highlight of the island, but having to catch a ferry an hour later and then waiting to actually start the tour we had no time to take advantage of the all day bus pass. Very unfortunate as we wanted to attend some wineries and the beach. All we time for was to visit a nice wine store in town that offered a wide variety of local wine tastings which was nice. Only take this tour if you want a highlight of the island and maybe some time walking around the town. There wasn't time to explore more on the island or take advantage of the all day bus pass.

found it worth the money and superior to the excursions purchased on the cruise