Should I buy ferry tickets from Viator?

Question

I am looking at options for getting from the North to the South Island in December. I found this website selling ferry tickets: https://www.viator.com/Wellington-tours/Ferry-Services/d399-g15-c69

What's weird is that they are selling InterIsland tickets but when I go straight to https://booking.interislander.co.nz/, I see higher prices (like 50% more). I specifically compared exactly the same setting, 2 travellers, no car on 15 Dec, and while Viator gives me $85.50 InterIsland sells this for no less than $130. Also, I can only get a 50% refund with the latter (a flexible option would be $150), but Viator says I can get a full refund.

A reseller having lower price than the provider and better cancellation policy looks like a big red flag. But it's just possible that they have some weird kind of deal or special offer. Or that I just entered something somewhere very wrong. Are they legitimate?

Answer 1

I believe Viator is legitimate, but I personally prefer to book at the service provider whenever I can. In this case you have USD as chosen currency at Viator, hence your perceived big difference in pricing. You can change it at the bottom of the Viator page. USD 85.50 is about NZD 133 so the difference is not that big. A discount of 10%-15% is not suspicious. Viator probably gets a reasonable bulk discount and shares some of that with you.