Akaroa Harbour Nature Cruises
Black Cat Cruises
Reviews
Stefano Clerici
Ranking: 10/10
Very well organized, we sow dolphins and seals. Very cold day but we'll remember it. I'd recommend it.
Fran and Ben
Ranking: 10/10
Enthusiastic guides, very informative and made our experience lots of fun.
Sue Milne
Ranking: 10/10
Comfortable, exhilarating ride. Complimentary drinks. Friendly, helpful staff. Interesting, reflective and informative commentary. The weather was against us for seeing penguins and dolphins but we loved the seals.
Patricia
Ranking: 8/10
Dolphins, penguins, seals were seen on the boat tour, great waves. Guide made lots of jokes and was cool.
Ceri Eaton
Ranking: 9/10
Fantastic boat trip in the harbour. Lots of wildlife and beautiful scenery.
Thomas Zilio
Ranking: 4/10
Cruise with boat to explore animals (dolphins, seals, penguins etc....) Few animals seen during the cruise, few explanations and already $80 per person, quite a lot!
JoMary Smith
Ranking: 9/10
Black Cat is very professional and well run. We had an excellent wildlife experience. The boat did not have many passengers so it was very personal. We saw lots of dolphins and the boat was stopped and engines off so that they would come really close. We also saw fur seals and lots of birds. The skipper gave us an excellent and informative commentary on everything we saw, and answered questions we had. It was one of the top experiences of our NZ stay.
Christian Schumacher
Ranking: 10/10
Had a lot of fun seeing many dolphins with very nice company and staff.
Marco Schmidt
Ranking: 10/10
Well organised and environmentally aware.
Akaroa Harbour Nature Cruises - Black Cat Cruises is open for business… Visit Website …now's your chance to take a closer look.
N Zitscher
Ranking: 5/10
OK but too expensive.
Karin Genyn
Ranking: 10/10
Nicest wildlife, penguins, seals, dolphins (hectors) on one trip for a good price.
Peter Harden
Ranking: 9/10
Ticket purchase and booking easy - trip to view dolphins and other wildlife in Akaroa Harbour was excellent with good first class commentary.
Mike & Jennie
Ranking: 8/10
Well looked after in the sea, lots of information.
Stefes Wencke
Ranking: 10/10
Mostly impressed by the friendly hector dolphins! Very friendly crew and lots to learn.
Jenny McTigue
Ranking: 8/10
Really good cruise of Akaroa Harbour. Informative and got to see a dolphin, so they delivered.
Johan Kroese
Ranking: 9/10
Very nice, kind guide.
Herbert
Ranking: 8/10
Excellent animal viewing and friendly staff.
Louise van der Hyden
Ranking: 9/10
Nice boat trip with a free drink and cookie. We saw penguins, seals and dolphins and the crew was very friendly, (and a little Dutch!)
Thank You - to the thousands of travellers that have contributed to our Top Voted NZ Activities Map - it's free from Rankers.
Michael
Ranking: 9/10
Commercial trip with the Black Cat to see Dolphins, we were lucky and saw lots of them.
Richard Dudfield
Ranking: 10/10
Great boat, interesting and entertaining commentary. We saw all the wildlife advertised. Bonus Top10 card discount, complimentary hot drink and free fish and chips.
elmoandjoey
Ranking: 10/10
What a great cruise we had.We were thrilled to see such a large number of Hectors dolphins swimming around the boat and the trip outside the heads was the icing on the cake.The skipper's commentary was very informative,the young crew very friendly and this is a fantastic trip for both kiwis and tourists.
Wayne & Lyn Bellaney
Tim
Ranking: 10/10
The kids loved it and were lucky enough to see several pods of Hectors Dolphins, one pod of 13 so we were very lucky.
The staff were extremely friendly and helpful and the vessel was immaculate. The weather was perfect as well.
Risch & Seybold
Ranking: 9/10
Great cruise. We saw a lot of Hector Dolphins. Friendly staff, lots of information given druing the cruise.
Conny
Ranking: 9/10
Nice tour, wonderful view, seals. Very kind, drinks and cookie for free.
Victoria Slater
Ranking: 7/10
Brilliant, very commercial.
Kathrin Thomas
Ranking: 9/10
Excellent unobtrusive commentary, pleasant and unrushed.
csziegler
Ranking: 10/10
Good service and nice tour.
james masura
Ranking: 10/10
Our family was fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience an Akaroa Harbour Nature Cruise. The boat was immaculate, the view breathtaking and the Hector dolphins unbelievable. The crew was knowledgable and made sure to point out all the spectacular points of interest. The wildlife was amazing. Hector dolphins, New Zealand Fur Seals, Little Blue Penquins and Sea Birds greeted us, which made the excursion a definate memorable experience. The Akaroa Harbour Nature Cruise is a must for your holiday travels. Thank you for a wonderful cruise.
Camping NZ App
Every camping site on your iPhone™, iPad™ or Android™ phone or tablet. Avoid camping penalties using this council approved app. Featuring offline maps.
JohannaB
Ranking: 7/10
Nice cruise, nice crew but expensive, just go there when you have to much time.
Steve Drake
Ranking: 1/10
We missed the fully prepaid dolphin tour by a few minutes. We asked to go on the harbor cruise instead and they insisted we pay for that too though at a discounted rate even though there was plenty of room on the boat. Typical tourist scam operation. They are the big operator in the area and act like it. Look for small operators instead if you don't want to feel like a cog in a machine.
Akaroa Harbour Nature Cruises - Black Cat Cruises responds:
This is tad disappointing for all of us at Black Cat as we were trying to do the right thing. It was a pity the customer arrived 40 minutes late but the boat has to depart on time in fairness to others. Our policy for latecomers is to give a free ticket on a stand by basis. If we can get them on somewhere we will. The harbour cruise was in fact full that day too (not plenty of room) a wait list was operating; there were no other cruises scheduled that day. Next day was not suitable. Sorry!
eatc
Ranking: 9/10
Impressed by their approach - if they felt you hadn't had enough time with the dolphins they refund you - we had ten mins in the water before the dolphs got bored, then tried again another couple of times with no luck, and go about a third of the cost refunded.
Peter Bowen-Simpkins
Ranking: 9/10
Comfortable boat, knowledgeable commentary, good value for money.
JimmyK
Ranking: 8/10
Safety first priority and they respect the wildlife.
NatasjaV
Ranking: 8/10
Nice people, explain a lot about the Hector dolphin. Safety is good also.
stephen
Ranking: 9/10
Very professional. Boat was very stable and it was enjoyable even for a land-lover. Captain was funny and informative.
Andrea
Ranking: 7/10
Dolphin and nature cruise. Was fine and interesting. I have nothing to say against it but it was quite expensive and they gave no student discount.
Daniel
Ranking: 3/10
Too expensive for what you get to see & hear.
schenk
Ranking: 8/10
A lot of dolphins (hector).
Akaroa Harbour Nature Cruises - Black Cat Cruises is open for business… Visit Website …now's your chance to take a closer look.
groenewold
Ranking: 8/10
Good skipper, nice comments.
Karen
Ranking: 8/10
The staff really tried hard to find dolphins. We had a few chances but the dolphins stay short with us. Finally we received a refund.
Ducolq
Ranking: 7/10
Well organised but poor information and maybe not eager to show us dolphins.
Rebekka
Ranking: 5/10
You can't really enjoy swimming with dolphins - too fast, cold water, only a few dolphins. Better to only watch them.
Mary Hamilton
Ranking: 10/10
After being told the next sailing was full, we managed to get on the cruise at the last minute after some intensive praying by the 7 year old member of family. Her prayers were sure answered. The boat was well set up for viewing, comfortable, and felt safe. The skipper was superb - gave an amazing commentary for a recently immigrated Scotsman and did a wonderful job of finding the wildlife and getting up close. We saw lots of dolphins and got a great appreciation of the beautiful Akaroa Harbour. A highlight of our holiday.
Esther
Ranking: 8/10
They were really nice staff who are prepared to do a little extra for their customers.
Jim Summers
Ranking: 8/10
They took their time, explained lots of interesting things and made a really big effort to find the dolphins.
Knol
Ranking: 9/10
Well organised with informative guides.
Dorris Schwarz
Ranking: 9/10
Great day.
Eleanor Adams
Ranking: 9/10
Seen dolphins, seals,sea birds. Good info, great boat. Friendly staff