Experience Milford Sound, the 8th wonder of the world, with a fascinating Coach & Cruise trip brought to you by Southern Discoveries.
Thanks for a fantastic trip. Our driver Vaughn was amazing. He’s a highly skilled driver, friendly, funny and we learned lots of interesting facts from him about the area. The cruise was incredible, a must see for all. Highly recommended
We drove from Queenstown to Te Anau and then took the coach from Te Anau to Milford Sound. It was raining the whole day and there were some road blockages which meant there were no stops along the way to Milford, which was slightly sad. The buffet provided on the cruise exceeded expectations. The Milford cruise was an unique experience. Southern Discoveries did well overall
It was my mom's first time in NZ so I wanted to book the best cruise for her as I live in NZ and have been to Milford sound multiple times personally so just wanted a nice package for my mother. However it was a weird experience overall. The bus picked us up from Queenstown, stopped at a cafe in Te Anau, saying we could get some food here without telling us that the buffet will be served at the very beginning of our cruise. So we had our breakfast at the cafe, and then 1.5hrs later when we got on the cruise we had to eat again because the food will be taken away soon. You'll be doing the cruise with tons of people so you'll waste a lot of time waiting in lines. The route was shorter than other operators so we didn't even see any wildlife during the cruise. Also the bus didn't stopped at some places where other operators would have stopped for people to take pictures probably due to the size of the bus. And also because it's a huge bus so it took 5 hrs to do what's usually a 3hrs drive for a smaller bus. So avoid this company and look for a smaller group if you don't want to waste your time a money on a mediocre experience. The bus driver did a great job making the drive comfy and interesting and this was the only thing I want to give a good feedback for.
Keith who was the bus driver and tour guide on the way to Milford Sound boat ride and back was wonderful and really made the trip the wonderful experience it was! Keith gave amazing explanation about different locations we drove by and gave a lot of history about each place, so we were able to learn from him so much. Keith also provided heads up on beautiful scenery that we were about to approach giving us passengers time to ready our cameras to capture the scenery if we chose to do so. The boat ride was nice, and I picked the buffet lunch option, which had a good variety of foods to choose from all of which was tasty! There were 3 different types of salads, a fish dish, beef options and pork belly for the meat options as well as a lentil option for the vegetarians/vegans. There was fresh fruit cut up on a tray, garlic bread and cake for dessert. It was a wet and windy day (winds of 45 km per hour), so I was great full to have dressed warm for the wind and rain (which you should plan for, the average rain fall for a year is 6-10 meters of rain in Milford Sound). I have amazing photos from the experience and would highly recommend it especially with Keith as the bus driver and tour guide! Thank you for a wonderful experience!
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Ali from New Zealand wrote on 24 January 2026
Incredible experience
This was an absolute highlight, our driver Greg was fantastic he had so much knowledge and was very funny. He kept everything very much to time and was clear with instructions. The cruise was incredible with lovely staff and a great lunch. I couldn’t rate this experience highly enough