Cardrona Alpine Resort — Attraction in South Island

Our family had a fantastic time at Cardrona Alpine Resort. We had a huge range of ski experiences in our group. We had a 2 year old, two 4 year olds and a 6 year old -- none of whom had skied before and all took lessons. The lessons were GREAT. The instructors were incredible. They encouraged the kids with the perfect pitch of encouragement and knew when to back off. In particular, Kanoe from the U.S., who taught our 6 year old in Skiwees. Our youngest all attended the daycare option and had a blast. The resort knows how to get in touch with parents who are skiing, should they need to, putting our minds at ease. We had 4 adults in our group and a range of experiences from one adult who had never skied before. He took the "First Timers" class and had an incredible instructor, Mattei from Prague. And we had two adults who had previously been ski instructors themselves in Canada (so very experienced). We all had a great time. We found slopes that we enjoyed and challenged us. The service and hospitality of everyone who worked at Cardrona was incredible. They are so helpful, so kind. The signs are clear. the processes are clear. We particularly loved that we could rent skis and then store them in a container overnight for the next day, so we didn't have to wait in line for the ski rental again or take them home with us. Our 2 year old lost one of her gloves, and amazingly it was found. Cardrona has a central lost and found database where the staff type of descriptions. That was impressive, but not how we found it. The very helpful customer service rep recommended that we ask the lifties, and sure enough, they had set it aside. The food options were delicious and varied. We look forward to...

After skiing Cardrona (plus TC, CP and Remarkables) most years for the last 12 years, we think Cardrona has lost its appeal. Across a full week in early August 2023, these were our experiences and observations: The infrastructure is way below par. The road up the mountain continues to resemble something out of a 3rd world destination. The restaurants are routinely overcrowded. The lift infrastructure is unfit to cope with the numbers of skiers, so that 15-30 minute waits are common. Whitestar and Captains are both way too old and small to cope with demand and break down regularly, which exacerbates the queues issue. We had to take a bus up during one such breakdown. The lift infrastructure and how it is run, resemble Fawlty Towers. Whilst the ski instructors were of high calibre, the same cannot be said of the restaurant and its staffing and leadership. Aside from the inability to get a seat due to crowding, the prices are stratospheric for bog-ordinary "cuisine". We had an experience where the hot water machine was malfunctioning. We needed hot water for our kids' meals. My wife and I asked for hot water and were told by staff, clearly on instructions from leadership that there was no other hot water (a kitchen without hot water.....? Yeah, nah.), and that to provide hot water other than through the machine which was not working, would be to breach food regulations. Yep, more insults to the intellect... We thinks that overall, Cardrona is a mountain where the owners and leaders have money extraction top of list, and re-investment and looking after clients at the bottom. Greed is the driver. It has potential to be far better, but we now think it is best to...

Good ski field. Was very busy during school holidays. There was no where to sit for lunch and barely enough room to fit everyone whether sitting, standing or just walking through the main food area. No such thing as a chocolate milkshake or iced coffee here (was offered a choc smoothie instead - not sure what that is). We hired our ski gear in town the night before. Staff were friendly enough. I gave our hotel details with exact address and we went to reception the following morning to collect our gear from the ski room which wasn't there. Cardrona had delivered it to the wrong hotel. Our hotel staff were friendly and called Cardrona to ask if the bus driver could pick our gear up from that hotel on the way to collecting us and they just refused - said we just had to hire our gear again at the top of the mountain. Once we hired our gear, we left it with concierge overnight and apparently we weren't in the system for a second day lift pass/ski hire. The gentleman was friendly enough and took our details, but when we went to collect the gear again in the morning, the same thing happened. Both that and the ski gear getting dropped at the wrong hotel was a very big let down. Bus times were very confusing. In town, we were told the only bus returning departs at 4:15. Once we arrived, we were told there were several other departure times. The bus drivers also have very different introductions/important messages at the beginning of the ride (e.g. when they mention compulsory...