Kauai
The Smith’s Wailua River Cruise was a beautiful way to spend our morning. Start off by learning some island history and geography by a native guide from the Smith Family. Ours was Wade.
Once you arrive at the Fern Grotto, you’ll walk a beautiful path to get there and learn about its natural history and cultural significance as well as anything you’d like to know about it. We learned so many fascination facts and it was so beautiful and peaceful.
On our way back, we were treated with professional musicians and a top notch dancer. Everything about the small group of performers was beautiful from the sweet sounds of the musicians to the graceful display of cultural dance. You couldn’t get better quality and for the price!
It was an honor and gift to ride with the Smith Family. Looking forward to coming back with the kids.
Wish it didn’t rain the whole time but they can’t control that obviously. I recommend it.
It's a nice way to spend an hour on the water with some fun Hawaiian music. It's relaxing and a calm way to just chill. The actual fern grotto was an incredible sight to see and enjoy. That was the best part. Just a couple of minutes of walk from the dock to the main area where you see and appreciate the phenomenon.
Fun!
The building where we pay and gather is very depressing. The boat ride was uneventful, the grotto was a beauty of nature. We music was okay, we could tell the performers were tired because it was the last trip of the day, but they were nice and accommodating.
Good way to spend a couple of hours meandering down a river.
The Shaka self driving g tours are great we can do them at our own pace and they give lots of great stories, history a d legends.
Thank you for letting us know you've had a great time on your Shaka Guide tours. Don't forget to tell all your friends about Shaka Guide so they too can have an amazing vacation when in Hawaii. Mahalo Glen!
We have two toddlers so this was a nice adventure to take with little ones. The fern grotto is beautiful.
Nice boat ride and walk to the fern grotto. The customers on board got into the group songs and their hand movements. A good family outing.
Nice cruise, lots of fun info and entertainment and a great trip for the value.
Our group of 4, aged 50s to 70s, very much enjoyed the entertainment and river history. One of our group was in a wheelchair. Bathrooms were accessible but the ramp to see Fern Grotto was so steep that 2 of us chose bathrooms over seeing that trip endpoint. This excursion is the best value on the island. Book it!
Captain on cruise was very informative and relaxed. He made the cruise more enjoyable. The young man who sang had excellent humor and a great voice for the songs he sang. The ladies were doing their job. Hula was beautiful and graceful
Great short cruise for the money, even includes entertainment. We loved it! We would do it again.
Great opportunity to sit back, relax and enjoy and hour and 20 minutes on the Wailua River and “getting married” at the Fern Grotto. The music and hula dancing on the journey up the river added a wonderful ambiance and the history and information on movies filmed on and around the Wailua on the way back was very informative. All in all a wonderful addition to our trip to Hawaii.
This experience is a really good sightseeing tour. We covered about 1/2 of the island Kauai from the south, the west, and the north side from about 9a-4p.The places we stopped were great and the were plenty of bathroom breaks! I did think there would be more hiking involved because of the description. There is a nature trail at Koke’e State Park that is nice. Our guide was a native Hawaiian with great stories to tell!
The shops in Hanapepe were fun to shop at! We loved the swinging bridge there! And, the stop at the coffee farm was great with amazing coffee to be taste tested and purchased. You could also see the coffee beans being grown on the trees! It was a fun trip!
We had not been to the fern grotto in 25 years. It is more beautiful and serene then we remember. The staff a Smith's are welcoming and deliver a fun trip. We like the music and the Capitan's narrative explaining the area.
I had the worst experience on this tour, had to wait about an hour and a half for the driver to do a food pick up and then wasted an extra hour plus just idling at a pic nic site after everyone had finished eating their lunch, while we speeded through all the main sights and barely had time to take photos of the breathtaking Waimea Canyon!!!!! Poor timing would be an understatement. It was my last day on Kauai and wish I had found another tour company to see Waimena Canyon!
Aloha ! Remarkable performances by the musicians and Aloha dancers. A very entertaining group! My family was amazed all througout the river cruise. The walk to the Fern Grotto was a unique experience because the beauty of the lush and large tropical plants was amazing and beautiful. Overall, an exciting experience to see a beautiful garden ( Fern Grotto) . It is very well recommended to have the river cruise and if we come back to Kauai, we will do the Wailua river cruise again.
We went with our 22 month old baby. They are family friendly and fun. Made the boat ride easier to handle with a toddler with the hula dance and jokes. They seemed authentic. The cave was beautiful as well. Good to take kissing pics.
My husband and I had such a good time on the ATV ride and waterfall swim! It was a great day and the people were so experienced and knowledgable! I would totally recommend doing this!
This tour was absolutely wonderful! It was my family’s first visit to Kauai and it was overwhelming seeing all the activities that are available on the island. We settled for this as a way to see a lot of the main sights and it was the PERFECT way to spend the day! We had Kana’e (sp?) as our guide and she was absolutely a joy to spend the day with. She talked stories with us, shared her culture with us and told us all the places to go for our trip! The sights were gorgeous and we recommend this to anyone who is visiting for the first time!!
The tour was at an easy pace and covered the West side of the island concluding with spectacular views and vantage points of Waimea Canyon. Our driver Rosario was thorough with explanations, local trivia, and very personable to everyone. The pickup and drop offs from the hotels were punctual. The lunch was also good as were the local stops in Hanapepe and Waimea. Each stop including those of Waimea Canyon allowed for plenty of time to use the facilities, investigate the area, and take plenty of photos. The tour bus had plenty of space, and was air conditioned and comfortable. I would recommend this tour for any visitors to the Garden Isle!
Our tour guide was one of the best parts of the entire trip. She was so informative and had such a deep love and respect for her island and also for the tourists that are visiting here and falling in love with it as well. She provided us with so much useful information and history to help us appreciate this beautiful place and took us to the best stops along the way to see the amazing canyons!
Exciting tropical ride, expect to be covered with mud and dirt!
The experience was excellent. Dan is very knowledgeable and super nice! He was excellent with time and engaged our group the entire trip. He drove carefully. The food was delicious. Glad we did it! Beautiful views.
This was a great tour to get to know the history of Kauai and see beautiful views. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and fun.
The Wailua river cruise to the fern grotto was fun. I really enjoyed the music/entertainment on the boat to the grotto. My whole family was memorized looking at the fern grotto. Definitely a good tour for family.
This was a quick sightseeing adventure that was worth the cost. The boat trip was relaxing with authentic music one way and informative talk the other way to and from the Fern Grotto. The Fern Grotto is not as impressive as it once was due to storms that have torn away some of the older, longer ferns, but it was still worth the trip.
We had a superb experience with our tour specially with our tour guide Domi who entertained us well. He’s excellent and very knowledgeable. We highly recommend this company and if possible look for Domi!!!
This is a wonderful tour. The boat is comfortable and a mild ride for all ages. The waterfall and fern grotto are beautiful. You receive history of the area and enjoy Hawaiian song and dance. There is time to walk around and enjoy the beauty
So fun! very professional and organized! Views galore and lunch was yummy!