2 Day West Coast Glaciers and TranzAlpine Train: Queenstown to Christchurch

The many scenic views of mountains and lakes were enjoyed. Franz Josef Bella Vista Hotel staff were excellent as was our driver Lyall. Alice May Restaurant was excellent with great food and service. We enjoyed the trip however we expected meals to be provided and a better itinerary for a two day one night $4000.00 excursion. I wouldn't recommend for the price paid. The train naration was excellent. My seat head phones didn't work so I had to relocate separately from my wife.

My friend and I booked this trip 10 months in advance and were fully confirmed. Three weeks prior to the trip, we were contacted to tell us that they didn’t have train tickets for us even though it had been fully confirmed and that now the train was overbooked. After several days of going back and forth with the tour company, they finally did get us the train tickets, but it took much time and effort on our part to make this right which should never have happened when we were booked so far in advance. In truth, I feel that we should receive a partial refund due to the poor service that we received. During the trip, you spend a lot of time on a bus on both days with few stops which I think is a bit misleading in the description. The glacier was nice to see and the train ride was interesting, but there was a lot of travel time involved.

Beautiful trip. Too bad it was delayed due to heat on the rails which made the trip longer than anticipated. But safety first! Also food was limited and we did not know this prior to getting on board. But we were given complimentary ice cream....gotta love ice cream. Also our seats were double booked which caused confusion at boarding time. Workers tried to help. Commentary was good. We had people around us talking loudly and not listening to the commentary and this made it difficult to hear.