From the boat ride across the lake, to the fun bus drivers, to the incredible Doubtful Sound boat cruise, it was an incredible experience. Scenery, Laura’s narration, stopping the boat and turning it off to hear nature - all unforgettable!

We hit the lottery and had a beautiful blue bird day. Skies were blue and waters were calm. Everything about the day was well organized. Our boat even rescued someone in Doubtful Sound! We saw fur seals, an albatross and bottle nose dolphins. Overall a pretty wonderful day! Thanks to all the crew members. We learned a lot. Very informative.

Amazing views Good and knowledgable commentary. When they shut the engines down for 5 minutes was an awesome experience👍🏻

We experienced the Doubtful Sound Wilderness Cruise on a rainy gray day with no chance to reschedule due to our itinerary. While this adventure was good and the RealNZ team did a fabulous job, the sun would have made this tour “spectacular”!!! Yes, there are hundreds of waterfalls due to the rain, but we’d seen a lot of waterfalls in a lifetime so we found this 7 hour excursion (not counting the travel time/queue time we had to be there) a very expensive “gray” experience. That being said, still recommended but sure hope you are “weather-lucky”.

Doubtful Sound was gorgeous. We had done an overnight in Milford Sound several days earlier. Both are worth doing, but if you can only do one, I'd go with Milford Sound, especially if you can do it overnight when it is less crowded than during the day.

Stunning scenery. Comfortable seating. Staff friendly and helpful. Fine weather. Excellent commentary. A great day.

It was a fabulous experience. the tour guides were very helpful.. interesting information. It was beautiful and relaxing to be on the water surrounded by breathtaking scenery . Options for lunch and spending time on one of the islands was a highlight. Though we did not see a lot of Birdlife, the setting was idyllic

Expensive but a good 7-hour trip. Great to experience a remote part of NZ. Well-run and efficient. Good commentaries. Of course, awesome Doubtful Sound; you get a really good view of it. Would've liked more time and info about the Manapouri hydro-electric powerstation.

This is a very nice tour to do. The boat trip across the lake was very good and the bus ride over the mountain pass was nice. The highlight is the boat trip in Doubtful Sound which is beautiful. It is wider than Milford Sound so the scale is difficult to appreciate as you are not so close to the mountains, but it is very peaceful and quiet as there are not all the boats and helicopters etc. that there are in Milford Sound. We saw fur seals basking on the rocks at the mouth of the Sound and the best part was when the engines were turned off and we got to listen to the silence out on the water, broken only by the sound of a waterfall and birdsong. A great experience.

Excellent day out Free parking near the departure centre in Manapouri - although pretty busy. WiFi available prior to boarding. There were quite a lot of people on our tour (three full coaches) but the boat that carried us across the lake and the second boat that took us out on Doubtful Sound didn't seem at all crowded. Very modern and well equipped vessels. Excellent commentary on both the lake crossing and the tour of the Sound (the latter obviously more comprehensive). Amusing commentary from our coach driver on the trip over the Wilmott Pass to the sound. A little bit of time to check out the information in the visitor centre prior to the coach ride. The boat trip up the Sound was fantastic. The three hour trip didn't feel rushed and we felt there was nothing more we could expect from the experience. Comfortable indoor seats and tables at which to eat the lunch we'd brought. We spent most of the trip outside, as the weather was great, although the wind at the prow at times meant it was more comfortable to stand at the side rail further back I expected the vessel to seem crowded, with three coachloads onboard, but it really didn't. All of the staff and crew we encountered were great. A truly memorable trip - helped by lovely weather.

Our trip to Doubtful Sound with Real NZ was a long day. We drove to and from Queenstown to take the 7 hour tour. Would recommend staying at least 1 Night close by to make the day easier. The tour itself was fantastic. Starting off with a ferry ride across a lake , a bus ride through Wilmot Pass, which was pretty hair raising but spectacular followed by a cruise up Doubtful Sound to the Tasman sea and return. The scenery was beautiful and we were so Lucky to have a sunny day to take this trip. A real bonus was to spend 5 minutes on the ferry with motors cut, silence from all the guests and total wilderness silence. Really glad we made the decision to do this rather than Milford Sound. Not cheap but worth it

We did this trip with Real NZ on the 7th February. Three days before we were advised it was being re-booked as an 'inner fjord' cruise, rather than the 'wilderness cruise' we had very expensively booked and paid for, due to 'essential maintenance'. Seeing that the total time for the trip had reduced by 45 minutes, I responded by email via. Get your guide (who we had booked through) to ask how our experience would be affected by the change and if we had an option to cancel and receive a part refund. On not receiving a reply we did the trip and were left very underwhelmed and disappointed. A 2 hour cruise instead of 3, poor unenthusiastic commentary by the guide, and not even a mention of the wildlife which can be seen. I suspect this was because we did not travel far enough into the sound to have even the remotest possibility of seeing any. When one of the published key highlights is that you may see dolphins, seals and penguins this left a very sour taste in the mouth. It was clear it was an inferior experience but we were not offered any sort of apology of part refund by Real NZ. For what is a very expensive experience, I'd therefore recommend booking with alternative providers to avoid the risk of this happening to you.

Gorgeous sunny day! Went all the way out into the ocean, passed a fur seal colony. Lovely calm water and amazing mountains and waterfalls. Lunch was great too!

What a lovely trip from Te Anau to Manapouri by coach - very informative & friendly driver. Then onto a boat to trip across Lake Manapouri - despite the drizzly weather it was still ok to stand outside to appreciate the smell of earth and air and water. Onto another coach to take us to the sound. I am not a good coach traveler but the driver was great and again very informative stopping at special viewing spots - including the moss covered trees so Lord of the Rings. The cruise itself was beautiful - the captain and assistant gave us again great information - a little hard to hear at times as the boat PA system wasn’t the best. If you go get ready at the end of the outward bound leg to take photos at the bow as there will be seals at the rocks. On the way back the Captain cruised us into a cove and asked for silence for 5 minutes so we could appreciate the silence of this quiet nature space fully. I restrained myself from throwing some people off the boat at this point as they couldn’t stop talking & walking around - sigh !

We booked our trip months ago only to have it canceled 2 days before departure when it was too late to rebook with another tour company. We paid $505 USD for 2 tickets but with exchange rate fluctuation our refund was only $454. VERY disappointed!!!