South Pacific Travel Agents & Reviews

Our Zicasso travel agent and his company mapped out a great trip to New Zealand and Australia for us. Frankly, it exceeded our high expectations. We told our agent when we wanted to go, what we wanted to see and do, and how much we had budgeted. He got it all done – flights, hotels, ground transportation, and activities – and for less than our budget.

We had only one hiccup on the trip itself, involving a flight mix-up, and that was resolved quickly. Everything else, and it was a four-week trip, went off without a hitch. The accommodations were an eclectic mix of boutique hotels, resort stays, and downtown hotels, but all were four- or five-star. The activities ranged from train rides to cruises to wine-tasting tours to visits to world heritage sites. In short, the trip of a lifetime.

I had a fabulous trip through New Zealand's North and South Islands. It was exactly what I had hoped for and more. The Zicasso travel agent created a fabulous itinerary, with the right mix of group tours, self-driving, and small excursions. The guides were all locals who knew the areas and were knowledgeable and entertaining. I was completely spoiled by all the excellent drivers who shuttled me to and from airports, bus and train stations. It was lovely not to have to figure any of that out and so relaxing not to rush around in a strange city trying to figure out transportation and timing. Their app was great and I always knew what was next up and who to contact if I had any issues.

My wife and I have traveled through most of the United States and Asia, a bit of Europe, and many other places. Traveling is our love and addiction. We often put together trips ourselves, but for Australia/New Zealand, we needed an expert in the area to help us.

We started by first looking at some tour companies (our cousins used one to go to the same destination.), but none had some of the things we wanted and my wife needed a few accommodations. We found four firms online that specialized in this area and drew our interest. We emailed, asking for quotes. Two called and we spoke to the agents, outlining our requests. Our agent responded to my query on Zicasso and my wife let her know (via email and then on the phone) what we needed. She listened and provided a quote with the items and times we had requested, at a reasonable price. So she was our top pick and we began to work together to cull the best items for the trip. We never paid a fee until we were ready to book the tour.

My wife and I worked with our agent and she was amazing. We got the cities we wanted, in the order we wanted, and with a few special accommodations. For example, with my wife's recent knee surgery and my impending knee replacement, we couldn't climb the 300 steps at the Sydney Opera House, so she booked us an accessible tour. Mostly, my wife wanted tours that started at 10am or later. She did have to give in to early times in a few instances because they were not avoidable. We even had a specific order to the cities we visited because we wanted to end the trip in Auckland, New Zealand, where we planned to meet a friend we hadn't seen in more than 30 years.

Suffice it to say that we exchanged tons (hundreds? :-)) of emails with our agent from May through the end of the trip in October. My wife even emailed her at least three or four times while on the 19-day trip and always got an immediate response (if the timing was right with the 15- to 17-hour difference). As a former assistant travel editor for a major daily newspaper, my wife may be more particular than most people and harder to please. Our agent was patient, detailed, and offered stellar service.

PS: The travel app was incredible. It provided every detail at our fingertips for the entire trip, along with reminders.

We planned a 30-day trip to Australia in September 2024. Overall, most everything was excellent. We felt Zicasso’s travel agent really listened to what we wanted and made excellent suggestions during the planning process. We had a couple of small issues which were quickly resolved. We used a travel app, which was an excellent reference for trip details, even offline. There was a bug that showed an old version of the itinerary in one view, so we had to be careful to use the right view.

The choice and location of hotels was excellent. The hotels were nice and always in an area with restaurants, shops, and things to see. Breakfast was always included, which was important as our tours often started early.

The transportation was well coordinated, both flights and ground transportation. We were picked up and dropped off on time. The flights were at reasonable times, but with a block of downtime before or after the flight, which was important for doing laundry.

The tours (some small groups and some private) were well chosen. Knowing what we know now, we might have skipped a few tours.

The thing we did not like was that our visit to Melbourne was in the middle of the footie grand final. We should have been told of this conflict so we could have avoided it. (It was like being in Miami during Super Bowl weekend.)

We’ve recently returned from a custom trip to Australia and New Zealand, developed meticulously with the regional expertise and thoughtful planning of Zicasso's travel agency. Every detail, from outstanding and well-placed lodging in our bucket-list locales to partnering with local, conscientious, and professional transport and guide companies, made for a stress-free travel experience. This allowed us to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery and travel experiences. A key to this happy match was the owner's insightful inquiries and listening skills to draw out our wishes and interests. We would highly, highly, recommend our travel company to other appreciative travelers to New Zealand and Australia; we only wish there was a counterpart travel agency like this one to help us travel well in other parts of the world.

We loved our New Zealand/Australia travel specialist Jo! Our original trip in March 2020 was delayed because of Covid, but Jo kept us updated and then rescheduled our trip. Her suggestions about what to see and do fit in perfectly with what we wanted out of our trip. Taking the trip and all we saw and did was even better than what the terrific itinerary showed. Just a truly awesome trip in every respect!

The trip was fabulous! I'm so impressed with the way Zicasso's travel partner structured the trip by having a travel day and then a tour day. That structure really made it more enjoyable. The hotels were fantastic as well. I made one recommendation to our tour operator regarding a pod experience – it needs some guardrails for the senior citizen demographic.

It was a pleasure working with your company and I have recommended you to friends.

Our Zicasso travel specialist provided us with an itinerary that exceeded all of our expectations. Her knowledge, recommendations, professional attitude, and succinct communications created an adventure that enabled us to enjoy a trip of a lifetime free from worry, stress, or disappointment. Every accommodation, excursion, travel transfer, and gracious attendant was absolutely faultless and beyond compare.

Additionally, our travel company, according to the research we did prior to contracting with them, saved us money! We are grateful to our travel specialist for her keen attention and kindness. We highly recommend this company.