Cruise Milford NZ Small Boutique Cruise Experience
Description
Rated one of the Top 10 Experiences in New Zealand. Join our boutique small boat cruise and experience Milford Sound the "local" way. We limit passenger numbers on all cruises to half of the boats capacity (capacity 150 passengers) to guarantee an uncrowded and much more personal experience. Let us show you our backyard on this once in a lifetime experience. Relax with complimentary coffee, tea and biscuits and enjoy the skipper’s live commentary while marvelling at the breath-taking scenery. The smaller size of the vessel enables us to get you up close and personal with the local wildlife like New Zealand Fur Seals, dolphins and the very rare Fiordland Crested Penguin (spring/early summer). A “Glacial Facial” under the Sterling Falls is an experience not to be missed.
Tour Options
Itinerary
The best thing about Milford Sound Cruises is that the weather doesn’t matter! On a sunny day, it is beautiful and on a wet day it is spectacular! Fiordland has some of the worlds highest waterfalls and they are a popular feature of Milford Sound. In all weather, you will see water cascading down massive cliffs into the sea. Milford Sound is in the Fiordland National Park, which is part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site which covers 26,000km² and encompassing four national parks. It is widely considered to be one of the World’s top travel destinations. At Cruise Milford we know that you will have a wonderful and truly memorable day out on your Milford Sound cruise. We love sharing the natural beauty of this special place to visitors and your captain will inform you about the Sound, it’s history and wildlife.
Mitre Peak is the most photographed mountain located in New Zealand
Uncrowded cruise with uninterrupted views of this UNESCO World Heritage area.
Explore beautiful Milford Sound up close and personal
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please feel free to bring your own food and drinks on-board the cruise.
- Please note proof of age for children is required upon check-in at Milford Sound.
- For any extra information regarding the drive, transport or the cruise please contact us via phone or email.
- The main car park at Milford Sound costs $10 per hour. Payment can be made at payment stations on site. This Car park area is approximately a 10 minute walk to the Milford Sound Visitor Terminal building.
- A free car park is available on the corner of Milford Road and Deepwater basin, the walk from here to the Milford Sound Visitor Terminal building will take approximately 40min.
- Disability Parking can be found outside the main Milford Sound Visitor Terminal and is wheelchair accessible.
- Office hours for bookings assistance: 8am to 8pm
Reviews(3,176)
Beautiful area and the cruise was amazing. The crew was great and the stops were wonderful. It was a great company. The only part that was hard was we couldn't hear the commentary which we enjoy. We liked being out on the deck and didn't want to go inside but it was hard to understand what was being said.
Amazing boat trip. Multiple waterfalls due to rain. Absolutely incredible 🫰it was a truly life experience and i highly recommend it
We had a great time. Everything went smoothly. The company can't take credit for the views but it was not over full and it felt very comfortable.
I would like to praise the service we had at Cruise Milford. We arrived late for the ride in the competitor next door and Léo realized that we were Brazilians and offered an hour 30 minutes earlier. But, we ended up with the last time, because there were fewer people, since we were staying at Milford sound was a very good proposal. The company provides coffee, tea and cookies at will without charging for it. And as informed by IA, this company was the only one that came so close to nature, as it had the smaller boats and with reduced capacity, which makes the ride more pleasant compared to the competition. The people who stayed outside literally took a waterfall bath. The day was beautiful and sunny and everything flowed perfectly. In addition, we were able to see dolphins and the pilot of the boat waited for a few good minutes patiently so that we could enjoy this beautiful moment. I thank Leo for his patience with our indecision and for approaching us without any commitment and making our tour a special day.
Amazing experience and we got up and close to some amazing waterfalls. Staff were great with knowledge and able to help capture the beautiful sights by taking pictures of us - thank you so much.
A must-do activity when travelling the South Island. Friendly service, a seamless experience, and breathtaking scenery throughout the drive & cruise. Slightly overpriced, but understandable given the remote location and logistics involved. Well worth it for the experience.
Absolutely amazing great crew, so much room on the boat. Highly recommend!
I was so looking forward to this cruise, only to be left extremely disappointed, wet and cold! Unsure how this could be described as a ‘small boutique cruise’, it was nightmare fuel, the amount of people was excessive for the size of the boat. The trip should have been cancelled or we should have been given the option to reschedule or get a refund due to weather (which was noted by the guide as over 100ml of rain having fallen and 100km winds). The trip was extremely rough, and my partner and I were counting down the seconds until it was over! Having paid over $300 (not to mention fuel costs for the 8 hour drive there and back) for this was actually awful. And to hear over the radio comms another tour guide asking about the conditions on the water and whether another tour should proceed and our guide saying “everyone is out on deck with smiles on their face” was a blatant lie! Clearly this company don’t care about the quality of the tour/satisfaction of the customers and are in it for a cash grab, very, very disappointing!
Hi Briana, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are genuinely sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations, particularly after the effort and expense involved in traveling to join us. The safety of our passengers and crew is always our highest priority, and all departures are assessed carefully against marine safety requirements before proceeding. While conditions can sometimes be perceived uncomfortable, the tour only operates when it is deemed safe to do so. We are concerned to hear that you felt our boat was overcrowded, our vessels are surveyed for 150 passengers. Upon checking our system, we had 74 people on board on your particular departure. To clarify and so you are aware, though we can carry up to 150 guests on board, we limit each cruise departure to 50% of what our capacity allows (75 passengers). To put this into perspective, there are other larger vessels in Milford Sound that can carry up to 400 guests and so we are very much on the smaller end of the scale when it comes to how many guests we allow on our cruises. You may have also misheard what the wind speed and rain fall was for the day. The Metservice website confirmed the maximum wind speed for the 31st May 2026 was 56km/h and we had a total of 216mm of rain on the day. This is quite normal for Milford Sound as it is a rainforest and we record our rainfall per year in meters (7-8m of rain every year). You can check past weather readings on this website: https://www.metservice.com/towns-cities/regions/southland/locations/milford-sound/past-weather We feel your comment regarding us being in it for the cash grab is unfair. As mentioned previously, we purposefully limit our capacity by half to create more space for guests. We would have very much appreciated you raising your concerns with us on the day either at our counter in Milford Sound or by contacting our reservations team directly, so we could have discuss your concerns in a bid to remedy any matters- whether that would be rescheduling options or a refund. We have also received another review on TripAdvisor for the same cruise you went on (review was left on June 1st) with very different feedback. We pride ourselves on providing efficient, friendly and conscientious customer service and an experience in Milford Sound to match- though we fully understand and take on board that your experience did not meet expectations like it may have done for other guests. We do value all feedback, both positive or otherwise, as it helps us review our operations and improve the experience for future guests. We hope you enjoy the rest of your Winter holiday in New Zealand. Kind regards, The Cruise Milford Team
What an amazing experience - we loved it! Dress warmly though as it gets pretty cold - we were prepared. We drove early in the morning and it was a beautiful drive and we avoided the traffic. The tour and the operators were first class and we were lucky to run into a pod of dolphins.
We had a great experience seeing Milford Sound on this small boutique cruise. Very well organized, with helpful and friendly staff. Great commentary by the captain! We much appreciated the smaller boat and much smaller crowd which made the experience much more private and intimate! Well worth it!
