For a poor sailor/car lover what line and ship is the best?
intrade,
Oct 30, 9:36pm
almost the same prices just compair them . if your poor you better swimm lol.
serf407,
Oct 30, 10:18pm
For that stretch of water, may be leave the car at home and fly to the South island and hire a classic vehicle? (there are a few classic rental firms) e.g https://www.rentaclassic.co.nz/
dublo,
Oct 30, 10:28pm
Thanks, but no, I have to take the car (one way delivery trip.) Main worry would be if we had to park the car on the open deck of one of the ferries. Which is the one with the long open deck near the stern?
saxman99,
Oct 30, 10:48pm
We found BB slightly cheaper if we were happy to sail late night. Also they sometimes have private cabins with bunks available no extra charge.
poppy62,
Oct 30, 10:48pm
If it's a Nor-Easter blowing stay on land, till the wind changes. If you have no option there are some very good sea sickness remedies you can take. It may pay to find a comfortable place to lie down for 3 1/2 hours. Mind you the the Sounds are very calm.
elect70,
Oct 31, 2:18am
Blueberry are the best can get a cabin if you dont want to enjoy the view & are bit cheaper than Inter islander
martin11,
Oct 31, 2:26am
Have some excitement wait to cross on the ferries in a 40kts + Southerly .
richardmayes,
Oct 31, 2:50am
If it is a modern car you could always take it to a $15 drive-thru car wash at any service station afterwards, and pay the $2 extra for the full underside wash as well. ?
My wife used to maintain the lifts on the Bluebridge ships. Just awful, there was always a cattle truck or two on board so the whole ship stank, and there were few windows on the passenger deck, just touristy posters of beautiful New Zild. Stick with the Interislander!
Kaitaki is the biggest one and has the most prominent open vehicle deck at the stern. In my experience Kaitaki is very nice to sail on. she is so much bigger than the old ferries that (in a mild sea at least) she seems to ride up one wave, then surf across to the crest of the next wave, and then pitch back down. So there are a lot fewer ups and downs overall. She also has a great viewing deck between the funnel and the superstructure where you can see out both sides at once if you do need some fresh air to keep your sea legs.
I haven't been on Aratere since she was lengthened but in her old configuration she used to roll and pitch horribly.
I've never been on Kaiarahi but she is a big ship too almost as big as Kaitaki.
ceebee2,
Oct 31, 4:14am
One of my colleagues travels every fortnight on the ferries with his car and swears by Inter Islander.
jcwholesale,
Oct 31, 4:36am
I have been across the ditch many times, on all the boats. Never seen a car on the outside deck, pretty sure they are all reserved for trucks. Anyway when you book just reserve covered parking. Wouldn't have been much good on the Wahine though.
lookoutas,
Oct 31, 4:58am
Shame they got rid of the hydrofoil. That was bloody awesome.
kwaka5,
Oct 31, 5:35am
Having just come back last weekend on the bluebridge, I can highly recommend the interislander. The extra cost is worth paying just to spend less time on board and running to a timetable. The trip down was half Ann hour later in leaving and then just over 4 hours to get there. Coming back was longer for some reason beyond us.
dublo,
Oct 31, 8:20am
Thank you for all the responses! There is a video of a "rough crossing" on Youtube, made some years ago by 3 young fellows with a Kombi camper. Many of the cars and camper vans on the Kaitaki's(?) open deck seemed badly damaged from being thrown into each other (not tied down?) but the VW was driven off into the South Island sunset unscathed.
martin11,
Oct 31, 6:10pm
Was destroying the sounds with its wash and got cancelled many times because it could not handle the conditions in the straits
luxy,
Nov 1, 3:09am
Bluebridge. support private enterprise,, at least they own them, they dont rent them
sw20,
Nov 1, 3:28am
That was the old Aratere before the upgrades. Brought my Blade Master back on that last July. Nice ship now after the upgrades, we left half an hour early because all the vehicle passengers had arrived early, and there were bugger all of us.
mber2,
Nov 1, 3:54am
Competition for the railways ferries so they had it stopped
mber2,
Nov 1, 3:56am
Another Greens stop progress thing
sw20,
Nov 1, 4:13am
Yeah not really. I lived there and the wash was absolutely immense and damaging. slowing the cat down through the sounds was counterproductive to even operating it.
richardmayes,
Nov 1, 4:56am
When I was a university student going back and forwards with my car on the holidays I used to try to get on the interislander fast ferry whenever I could afford it.
Even with the speed limit in the sounds it was a 2.5 hour trip instead of 3.5 hours.
But as it was on a short term lease from the UK, it came with MUCH nicer onboard catering. the old slow interislander ferries still served awful cold greasy pies from the Ministry of Government Owned Misery, and this was around 1999-2002!
lookoutas,
Nov 1, 5:51am
The slow trip through the sounds was OK and even enjoyable, but the quick trip across the strait was great.
framtech,
Nov 1, 10:51am
On Blue bridge you can specify the car to go inside and not outside, I've done that on every trip while checking in.
carclan,
Nov 1, 3:27pm
Have been back and forth umpteen times with my car or truck and always use Kiwirail, service is good and times convenient.
tamarillo,
Nov 2, 5:16am
Bluebridge every time. When on bike they are more aware of bikes needs, friendlier, better. Plus $30 for a cabin if you've had a long haul is bargain.
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