I booked with Blacksheep Touring Co.

because I read positive reviews about their group tours. I reckoned their self drives would be good too. Looking back, BS turned out to be too expensive for what they offered and did not do much effort to personalize.

At the last minute we were informed about hotels that were chosen for us. When we did the calculations ourselves by checking the prices online, we found out that hotel prices were on average 150 NZD per night. Looking at the package price BS charged,we expected to be in hotels in a much higher pricerange. Unfortunately the hotels were (all but one) basic,in uninspiring places,looking out on a motorway or car park.Based on our calculations,on the whole package price BS was 2000 NZD overcharging us PER PERSON. We understand that they need to make profit, but this amount is downright ridiculous.We have requested a breakout of the expenses,but they refused.

Furthermore,on their website they claim to provide for personalized trip notes, but we did not have the idea that anything was done with the special requirements form we had to fill out upon registration.We were quite surprised for example that we as vegetarians received dining suggestions for places called Pedro’s House of Lamb or Botswana Butchery (the names say enough).Also little was done with our request for wild life spotting options in the personalized trip notes. The personalized trip notes were not much different of what you would find in any guide book.

Finally,we did not find the Travel Consultant to be very knowledgeable about things that were not part of the standard itinerary.For example, when we suggested to go by ferry instead of flying, we had to look up the ferry companies ourselves, because she didn’t know them.

New Zealand is beautiful,but if you want to do a self drive and don’t have time to book it yourself, try another agency. BS claim to give unique, tailor made trips,but in reality they are not value for money nor tailor made.

Reviewed over 3 years ago and experienced in February 2015