All Reviews for Top Places to Visit in Hawaii

For what it is, the cruise seemed pricey to us. You board the boat and then sail along the coast for about 45 minutes before heading back in. We were relieved to find that though our cruise was scheduled to end at 6:30, we stayed out on the water long enough to watch the actual sunset—the whole point of the cruise for us!

The crew is small but nice. We were a bit dismayed to arrive and see a large number of young children booked on the same cruise. Maybe it's just us, but who drags infants and toddlers onto a sunset cocktail cruise?!? Predictably, a number of the children wound up getting sick (gee, who didn't see that coming?), and many puke buckets were passed out. While I can't fault the company for that, I wish they would limit the sunset cocktail cruises to adults only (or at least offer it on a number of nights). There are plenty of other boats that parents can drag their children onto in Hawaii. And if you can afford to bring your kids to Hawaii on vacation, you can afford a sitter for a few hours while the adults go have fun. (Note to the crew: Unless every passenger on the boat is puking their guts out, don't suggest heading back early just because some parent decided to introduce their 2 year old to sailing on the open ocean and the kid got sick. I'm sorry the kid is sick, but I paid for a 1.5 hour cruise and I expect to get what I paid for.)

The snack offering was decent; cocktail options were more limited and (of course) watered down, but I think that's expected on something like this.

All in all, we enjoyed ourselves but overall felt it was overpriced and saw many areas for improvement.

Such a great time had by all during our sunset cruise! Convenient meeting location, timely departure and arrival back to shore. Amazing and accommodating captain/crew. The passengers were all very friendly. The cost was very reasonable as it is BYOB which was fine with me. Weather fabulous. We saw a whale in the distance, a rainbow and a surfing dog! All in all a fun time, highly recommend!

Went with another couple and had such a great time! We were only here a few days and this was honestly the highlight of our trip! The crew was fun and loved getting to know them a little bit! We will definitely be back and I will book this same trip again! Mahalo!

Wow, where do i start? first of all, the online purchase was very easy and straight forward. you get what are being described in the details plus more -- FUN and KINDNESS from all the staffs!

let's take it from the top -- we stayed at Waikiki area, the drive to the harbor was pleasant and nice. please do arrive early to find parking though!!

Check in -> meet the staff under the red umbrella. It literally took us a minute or less. once you get a stamp on your hand for everyone in your party, you are good to go use the bathroom, change or just hang out until the boat arrives.

Once on board -> staff will tell you where to sit and once you put your stuff away you are free to get in line for lunch. Lunch is no 5-star Ritz quality, BUT it's enough to fill your belly for all the fun activities you will do. you are always welcome to go 2nd round if there are food left behind.

Before water -> staff will introduce themselves, hang out life jackets and tell you all the rules before you jump into the water. While you are in the water, there are multiple staffs in the water to help or give you a pointer of where the fishes/corals/sea cucumbers/sea urchins are. once you are tired of snorkeling you can use the paddle boats and/or kayaks. First timers? no problem, the staffs will help you to get a hang of it before you take off. if you go far beyond or get drifted by the wind/waves (like me!) they will send someone out with the speed boat or kayak to pull you back within the area...with a SMILE! let me just tell you how many times (3) i got drifted away and these people always pulled me back with a big smile on their faces.

These staffs are so kind, helpful and so happy. they really know how to put a smile on people's face. oh and the live music onboard was wonderful, you can dance your way back to the shore! i highly recommend this group for your sandbar visit!!

Family trip to have a wake for my father who just passed. The crew was fun and amazing. They even played a terrible Clancy Brothers song in his honor. The whole boat went silent (the Clancy Brothers are that bad). Thanks for the memories!

My family of 7 with 4 kids ages 12 to 7 had a great time. It was their first time snorkeling so they were able to walk in the water and try out snorkeling rather than being thrown into the ocean to figure it out. We played volleyball, football, and kayaked. Crew was excellent.

The boat crew were friendly and very knowledgeable about the whales. The whole family had a good time. It was beautiful watching the ocean and getting a glimpse of the whales.

The crew aboard the catamaran was terrific, fun and entertaining! We would recommend experiencing this snorkel excursion in the morning, as the fish and turtles seemed to be more active earlier in the day. We had snorkeled in the same vicinity a couple of days before in the afternoon, and the sea creatures seemed to be less active then.

The Manta Discovery tour was overall, super cool and a definite must-do if you’re planning to visit Hawaii’s big island. Depending on the day, the number of mantas will differ, so don’t expect to see ten of them when you go. If there are rays around, they will do flips and aren’t afraid to swim right up to you, which is an AMAZING experience. The mantas are really friendly, and make the activity almost magical. The crews are very informative and friendly.

JJ, Dave and Corina were fabulous hosts and set the stage for a wonderful time! Lots of fun and beautiful views!
Mahalo nui

Jesse and all crew members,

I am reaching out to thank you for all your efforts in making sure my daughter & grandchildren and I had a good time. When we arrived we expressed our disappointment and you all were so kind in reassuring us that you would do your best to make sure we had a good time. And we did!!
You were all so wonderful. Jesse, you made Jack’s day by playing football with him on the sandbar. At the end of our stay in Honolulu he said that was his favorite day of the whole vacation. I am quite sure he will remember that day all his life. And eventually my daughter and granddaughter went out and enjoyed sharing a kayak.
The lunch was very nice and all the crew members we spoke with were very kindhearted and friendly. I just can’t say enough about everyone. And Jesse, you’re also a very good singer. You and your band member are very talented!

So thank you again for making our sandbar adventure a wonderful day that we will never forget..

Sincerely,
Deborah Muehlenbein

This all day long tour was the absolute best. Our tour guide was super knowledgeable and shared a ton off information about all the stops.
Halaiwa town was very quaint, but expect to do a bit of walking, and waiting in line for good, if that's what you decide to do.
Overall, this trip was great, definitely worth the price paid.

This was a great tour - really educational and fun. Be prepared for rain, you are in the rainforest and it rains a lot. Our guide cam prepared with umbrellas and rain jackets, which was really appreciated.

This was a fun experience. If you zipped before, you may find the first few lines not very exciting - they're shorter and mostly traveling over farm field without much in the way of scenery. But....the last 2 lines are really great and offer some fabulous views! The staff is also really great!

Wow! What a day! We booked a private tour for our family and it was worth every penny. Our guide Kapena was amazing! He would tell us stories about ancient Hawaiian legends that made the already beautiful views come alive in a different way. Kapena would give us the history of all the sights we saw and really tailored our tour to what we wanted! 20/10 would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see the sights and learn the history behind it! Thank you Kapena - the kontra family

The day with the Trilogy people was amazing. We had great weather with little wind for the trip over to the island. We were able to pick a pod of dolphins along the south shore of Lanai. Captain Raquel and her crew on April 8 onboard Trilogy IV took care of everything. They were active to check on everyone to be sure that all were doing well. Beach time on Lanai was incredible. Snorkel time over the reef in the middle of the bay allowed lots of fish viewing time. Crew was active to assist everyone into the water and was watchful as we were in the water to stay safe. Plantation lunch was excellent and was served comfortably in the Pavilion. Our return trip was comfortable in spite of the waves being more vigorous.
We have been to Lanai with other companies. Captain Raquel and her crew delivered incredible service and made the day very enjoyable.
Leave early to avoid traffic issues even if arriving for the 6:00AM check in. We parked in the Republic lot on Dickenson and had a short walk to the check in area.

Our guides were friendly and provided great information about the sharks local to the area. Totally recommend taking Dramamine the night before and the day of the dive as the water was a little choppy. We got to see about a dozen Galapagos sharks during our dive and even got to see a whale.

We went on this near the end of our trip and wish we had booked it earlier. Chris was our tour guide and he was *chef’s kiss*! He was knowledgeable and personable and entertaining for the whole 9 hour day. This was a great experience seeing what the island has to offer and would be so helpful in figuring out the spots to go to for a longer amount of time.

The Kualoa Ranch Movie tour was so much fun! Our tour guide shared many bits of knowledge about the ranch and the island, and “The Rock” and his family were even on the ranch when we were there( unfortunately we didn’t run into him) we can’t wait to book another tour.

You get a great view of the island and a break from the bustling city feel of Waikiki. It's very peaceful, there's music playing and you have a chance to meet some other tourists. We even saw some whales. You won't be disappointed.

The Fairwind crew is very professional, for they stress safety and they are helpful. In addition, the captain highlighted dolphin sightings and the historical information regarding ancient Hawaiian culture. He also gave facts about the Captain Cook Memorial.

We loved our adventure!
We stayed in Waikiki for a short trip and decided to book with this company because it had many of the activities we wanted to do available in one trip. We chose the option to be picked up in Waikiki, and it took less than an hour to get to Kaneohe. BYO food and beverages so we packed hotdogs, pbj, water and my husband packed a beer. We also packed 2 towel and a change of clothes. There is a convenience store on the dock for last minute food and drinks; TBH we probably could have bought all our food and drinks at the dock instead of lugging it from Waikiki.
We set sail with live music to the sand bar which was incredibly magical. Took 4 songs to get to our area of the sandbar and the day we went the water was about 3 feet deep. I would ADVISE to get to the floating barge asap and get a spot because we had a large family get there first and dominate the raft. (Be courteous to others and let people enjoy the raft and don't hog it!) We got to experience all activities we wanted and it was over before we knew it. We didn't kayak and had maybe wanted one more hour but the time we were out there was enough to be highly satisfied.
We paid extra for the banana and tube rides and they were so much fun! While on the banana boat, the gentleman driving the speed boat slowed down for us to see the sea turtle that was swimming passed. What a great surprise! You only get one trip on each.
All the staff was friendly and I felt comfortable they had everything under control.
We would HIGHLY recommended this adventure, especially if you have a short time in Hawaii and want to do at lot of water activities. Great for families, too!

I’ll start off by saying our guide, Hiro, was excellent. From start to finish he showed that he was very knowledgeable about the subject at hand and proved to be very courteous towards everyone in the group. The veggie sandwiches that he brought along for us were surprisingly delicious.

The trip itself was amazing and truly a once in a lifetime experience. Naturally I was a little anxious at first considering the high altitude but our tour guide was sure to explain everything in detail and was very considerate. That helped ease my tension a bit.

The day that we left the weather proved to be in our favor and we managed to encapsulate all that this trip had set out to be from the start. The view from the summit was amazing and when we went down to s t a r g a z e once the sun fell the energy from the group was electric.

My daughter loves it so much. However, we don’t have big Sun that day, so I choose to stay inside of the boat most of the time. My daughter go paddleboarding and diving. She loves it. Both of us go for the banana boat, it’s too short actually like 5 mins. But it’s fun and we have people fell off. So, if the weather is good, it’ll make a big difference.

The rides are super fun and we enjoy it very much. The horses are very kind to people. We feel very different when riding a house in Hawaii beach, it’s so enjoyable & fun.

It was my first time going on this boat ride. I had a Great time and wanted to do it again before I departed Hawaii but I didn’t have time. The drinks where Good and the boat ride was AWESOME. The crew was great and very attentive. They played an assortment of great music while out to sea. I’m looking forward to doing it again very soon. Thanks

It’s a most do when you’re visiting the island! It’s a perfect activity if you have young children! It’s well worth it! Book with enough time to experience this activity! We booked in the morning and the weather was still perfect!

My friend and I went on this catamaran ride never doing this before. We had a Fantastic time. The crew was Amazing, Friendly and funny. The view, well it's Oahu. I would recommend this ride to anyone looking for a good time for a little while. Great memories were had by all

Place was amazing, not all tours have kayaks to use or standing paddle boards. Amazing views of the sandbar. Will definitely come back again or invite friends to see this amazing nature wonder.

We booked our tour not knowing quite what to expect. We were absolutely blown away. The staff was knowledgeable, professional, and hilarious. I was new to snorkeling and nervous (i had approximately 1 hour practice messing around on a local beach) but i immediately knew i was in good hands with the crew and there was always a crew member close enough so i could relax. Words cannot explain seeing these amazing creature swim inches from you. The rays were super active the night we went and put on quite a show. I think the topper for me was a few days after our tour we saw a crew member at a local farmers market and he remembered us and came up and spoke to us about our experience. I absolutely recommend doing this because we will do it again next trip.