Seafood Odyssea Cruise — Attraction in Marlborough

Unfortunately our boat broke down within 30 minutes of the cruise starting. We then had to await assistance and eventually limped back to the harbour. Consequently, we didn't get to see the mussel or salmon farms, or to travel into the sounds. Thankfully there were already some mussels on board the boat so, whilst we awaited an engineer, the crew cooked them and they were delicious. Sadly, there was none of the planned salmon available. It's important to acknowledge that the captain and crew were excellent throughout the drama of "losing" an engine and steering; however, the same cannot be said of the Marlborough Tour Company who assumed that an open bar would be adequate compensation for an abandoned tour. An open bar is of little value to a party that consists of teetotalers and drivers. To then send out a standard email with "we hope you had a great time" was at best crass but bordered on insulting. Problems inevitably occur and cannot always be avoided. How a company handles situations like this is a sign of it's professionalism and how it values its customers. The boat crew were thoroughly professional, and should be congratulated and commended on how well they handled the situation, especially as there was one particularly nervous/aggressive passenger onboard. However, for the rest of the organisation, our experience was the polar opposite. I will certainly not use the Marlborough Tour Company again, nor would I recommend...

The food was delicious, the crew were lovely, the boat was beautifully appointed. The reason for the three stars is that the audio commentary during the tour focussed pretty much only on colonial history (and even then not much of that) and a huge amount of house viewing — explaining how each house was constructed and sometimes stories about who lived there. It was a bit dull and we were left wondering: where were the Māori stories and histories of this area? What about some stories of the whaling/traditional food gathering, the different fish/bird/tree species, even some of the famous people and historical figures from the area…? My German friend was very puzzled and I was a bit...

My partner and I had an awesome time on board with Bindy and Phil. The facts about the Queen Charlotte Sound given by Phil during the trip were funny and interesting, and Bindy's cooking was amazing (those pipies!!! My mouth is watering by just thinking of it!). The 3.5-ish hour long tour was long enough to discover the Queen Charlotte Sound, and the seafood farm (mussel and salmon) were interesting to visit. As we were celebrating my birthday, we indulged on a bottle of Savignon Blanc (on top of the glass included with the food) and were happily surprised to pay a very reasonable price for it. That was an amazing experience that we...