A Guide to the Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise

While visiting New Zealand and the South Island and after visiting Christchurch and Dunedin, I heard about Doubtful Sound & Milford Sound from many people.  I did the 2hr cruise on Milford Sound and found it beautiful but when I saw the Doubtful Sound pictures of the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise, I knew that I somehow had to fit it in my trip.

It is certainly something that should be added to your bucket list for the south island of New Zealand.

It was originally named Doubtful Harbour by Captain Cook in 1770 but then later renamed by whalers and sealers.  Doubtful is a lot bigger than the famous Milford, it’s 40km to the sea compared to Milford’s 16km.  Milford Sound is also accessible by road meaning that there are a lot more tourists and a lot of tourist boats on the water.

I had a trip to the booking office and managed to book real journeys doubtful sound cruise.  It was a lot more expensive than the Milford trip (in 2019 the price is USD326 compared to USD37 for the 2hr cruise in Milford, but I knew it was something I had to do.

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There is also the option of the Doubtful Sound Day Cruise.

How to get to Doubtful Sound

I was picked up in Queenstown and transferred to Manapouri where you take a short cruise across Lake Manapouri which itself is stunning, this can be included in the price of your trip.  If you have a car though, you can drive to Lake Manapouri and take the boat from there.  You also arrange a transfer from Te Anau.

We then boarded a coach to take us across the Wilmot pass and to where we would pick up our boat for the Doubtful overnight cruise.  The scenery here was stunning, there were beautiful waterfalls and we stopped at the top of the pass to get our first look of Doubtful Sound, what an amazing site.  It was an amazing clear day, not many people get to see this view when they visit Doubtful Sound as often its shrouded in clouds, we were so lucky.

If they had told us at this point that it was the end of the trip, then this view alone would of been worth the money, I had completely fallen in love with it.

We got to the dock and boarded the Fiordland Navigator our boat for the trip, I was in a small 4 bed dorm room, tight for space but we would only be sleeping there and I then went on deck for a cup of tea before we set sail.

There are three distinct arms of Doubtful Sound and we set off from Deep Cove to explore these.

The scenery was stunning and after a few hours we finally reached the sea 40km away from where we had started the day.  We saw seals sunbathing on the rocks and we then circled round and started heading back inland.

We stopped after a little bit and the crew got out the kayaks so we could do a kayak trip closer to the shore, this was great fun, I love kayaking so I was one of the first out there.

After our kayak trip it was back on the boat for a shower and change before dinner. First we went outside to see sunset and take some more pictures of the stunning scenery.

After dinner we got an early night on the Doubtful Sounds overnight cruise as we would be up early the next morning (6am) to start our journey back to Deep Cove.

The views this morning were spectacular and we were also lucky to see the Fiordland Crested penguins.  They are one of the rarest of New Zealand’s mainland penguins and the breeding season had finished so they are not normally in the area in December.

Once we got back to shore it has back on the bus to cross the pass before getting the ferry back from the lake.  This was one of my favourite trips in New Zealand as well as visiting Hobbiton and one I will never forget.  Yes it might be a bit expensive but it’s worth getting the credit card out and splashing out, it’s simply stunning.

Where to stay in Queenstown

I stayed in Base Queenstown where you can get a dorm bed from US $15 a night which is the cheapest.

There are lots of other options of hostels for less than US $25 a night.  If you want a hotel you can get a nice one from US $100 a night for a double room.  Click here for all the options in Queenstown.

There are options to stay in Manapouri if you have a car which is where the cruise starts from, but nothing for much less than US $60 a night.  Click here for options in Mapapouri.

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