Spaceships vs Waka Campa

Both are independents rather than group brands, and both run Auckland and Christchurch. Neither hands the keys over at a staffed counter: Spaceships’ Christchurch pickup is fully self-service, and every Waka Campa depot runs collection through the company’s app at any hour. Reviewers register the cost of that. Unstaffed pickup is the clearest complaint Waka Campa draws; at Spaceships the most consistent one is an automated first reply before a human follows up, sometimes many hours later. The ratings are good on both sides, on very different amounts of evidence. Spaceships holds 4.5 on Google from 485 reviews and 4.5 on Trustpilot from 434. Waka Campa holds 4.8 from 139 Google reviews across three depots, with no Trustpilot page at all to check it against.

The vehicles are not close. Spaceships runs five compact vans: four sleep two, the Beta seating four but still sleeping two, and the VW Cosmo seats and sleeps three. Waka Campa runs one Toyota HiAce design at three vehicle ages, from a 2013–2015 Explorer Saver to a 2025–2026 Explorer Neo, plus the newer three-berth Outrider. Each Explorer tier seats six and sleeps four on the same floor plan, with a two-burner gas hob, a sink, a fridge-freezer, a 150-watt solar panel and camping chairs. Every Spaceships van has a fridge too, 75 litres in the Cosmo. Certification splits the same way: Spaceships lists the Beta 2S, Sigma and Cosmo as green-warrant certified and the Beta and the Dream Sleeper Mini as not, while Waka Campa lists all four of its models as certified with a fixed toilet. Heat is the limit on both sides. The Explorers’ heater is electric and needs a 230-volt mains hookup, so the unpowered nights the warrant unlocks are the cold ones, and their only shower is the outdoor one at the rear. The Outrider and Spaceships’ Cosmo are the two vehicles here with a diesel heater, and only the Outrider has an indoor shower.

The consequences land on the whole trip rather than on a day rate. A Beta or a Dream Sleeper Mini needs a holiday park or a DOC site that accepts a non-certified vehicle every night. Compare these two on total trip cost rather than on a daily rate. Bonds separate them less than the vans do. Spaceships freezes NZ$5,000, reducible to NZ$3,000 or removed for NZ$35 a day (NZ$40 if added from 1 October 2026); Waka Campa freezes NZ$4,500, which doubles as the excess and clears for NZ$45 a day. Waka Campa also adds Queenstown to the two shared depots, which rules Spaceships out of any trip finishing there. Spaceships charges no one-way fee between Auckland and Christchurch, while Waka Campa quotes its one-way charge on request. The Cook Strait ferry is your own booking and your own fare on either fleet.