Hanauma Bay Snorkel Adventures — Attraction in Honolulu

Hanauma Bay is fantastic but we will not use this company again in future nor recommend. Driver was late and while they do say allow a 15 min window, the issue was his attitude-he wasn't friendly at all, appeared frantic and stressed and possibly ill as he was wearing a mask and coughing and now I have a cold so sucks if I was exposed to something he had. And then he was driving like crazy to make up time. Once we checked in he was rude when handing out our fins and spent maybe 20 seconds explaining snorkeling and putting on the mask. He clearly gave zero Fs about his job and it showed. Meanwhile, I watched as another female guide from same tour company spent a great deal of time explaining everything to her group with a map too, telling them about the bay and the best places to snorkel etc.and look for turtles so why couldn't we have had her as our guide? We def got the short end of the stick. After arrival at the bay we had to wait a good deal of time for entry so this group tour didn't help get us in earlier or save time. Hotel pick up was supposed to be 545am and didn't get in and start snorkeling until after 8am and then had to leave at 11am to get shuttle back up in time for pick up. Why not allow a later return? Felt rushed and not enough time. Better off booking on your own and leaving when you want. This company guarantees entry vs relying on reservation system but you still pay $25 on top of the tour cost for entry so other than drive you there and get you entrance, they don't do much. Oh and driver kept impatiently demanding the $25 cash at the office during check in only to give it back and ask one of us to pay the entrance inside for the group. So I still do not understand what these drivers do as a service. And if you are unlucky like us and end up with unfriendly drivers then it really is not worth it at all. A group from this same company who arrived after us got in before us. I still don't get how that happened. The woman at office who checked us in was the only friendly person besides the person I talked to on phone before booking with this company, so not sure who is running this operation but it seriously lacks consistency as far as service goes. And now I have read some reviews that the white male drivers are racist and my husband is brown skin and his English isn't perfect, so maybe that played a part too in how we were treated. When it was time to leave we were looking for our driver not knowing a different driver was picking us up for reasons unknown. Apparently he texted us in middle of snorkeling but we weren't checking our phones for obvs reasons. So the guy who drove us back (another real friendly one-NOT) was clearly annoyed because we didn't tip him. We said thank you very much and he said nothing to us in return. What a joke. I'm so sick of the entitlement when it comes to tips. We only had this guy drive us back and he was not nice nor informative and the original driver was even worse so what exactly am I tipping for? Doing the bare minimum of your job that your paycheck covers? Tipping is for a service and none was provided. To expect something for doing nothing outside of what we pay for with the tour cost and then being a jerk about it on top of it only reinforced why we did not tip. Trust me-if we had the friendly lady who took the time to give her group lots of good info, she would have received a fat tip. Drivers, learn from her about customer service and you will get tipped. Buyers, read the reviews before you book and you will see a pattern regarding the drivers. They're as rude and unhelpful/uninformative as they come. Worse than public bus drivers and we don't tip city bus drivers. Just be aware that this is not a tour by any means but a transport service-first to an office and then to the bay. I'm sure you would get a nicer driver with Lyft or Uber and get there safer and faster. We had a great time in HI not including the miserable vibe with this outfit. Bring cash AND credit. Inside park no cash is accepted yet cash only to get in. Go figure. Would have been...

this tour doesn't tell you the truth on how their package works. they picked us up from our hotel at 545am and we did not get into the bay to watch the required 9 minute video until 845am. why do we need to get picked up that early if you don't set up an appt to get in. they just get in a line and what ever number the driver gets is your slot to enter the park. our driver went to a look out but the parking was full because the bay wasn't open yet and other vans/tourist were there also waiting. then he randomly took us to a gun range. the van complained since non of us knew why he wasn't driving us to the bay. then the driver when back to the look out and we took some pictures and all the vans started leaving and our driver was told by the another driver that they needed to go since the bay was opening and he kept ignoring him, until the other driver just left due to the time. we were last van to leave the look out, so other tours got 720am slots to enter the park and we got a 840. the driver lied to us saying we would get in like 730am and that 840am was not the actual time but he was wrong. we also have to pay to get in and the driver didn't have change for the required cash, once he got change and collected the money he wanted to hand it to one of the people in the group. on one wanted to hold onto all of the tours cash and he picked a young couple to hold the money to pay to enter the bay. someone in the group yelled out "you better count it first" which was a good thing since the driver shorted the money holder $50. we all said we paid and he just wanted to leave and let us figure it out, but we insisted he had the money that was missing, and that he must have lost the $60 dollars. He didn't have any answers for how we were getting in if he lost the money and wanted us to figure it out since he had to "leave to avoid a ticket" after a while of the driver searching for the money he finally found the missing money in his pocket outside of his wallet. I saw him pull it out and it was on the outside of his wallet. he gave us the missing $50, we took the snorkel gear which worked and went to the bay after 840am and then the same driver picked us up and took us back and he insisted that he lost $60 and the $50 he gave us was his. even though he didn't have ten dollar bills and needed to get two tens for a twenty for change. Don't use this company other companies dropped people off at 800am for 810 and 820 appt slots to get into the bay. or you can uber/lyft/taxi there and rent snorkel gear at the bay or bring your own from an abc store for less money than this tour. They bay...

If you’re in Oahu, HI, you must visit Hanauma Bay. It is nature’s aquarium and you’re allowed to swim with the fish. You’re in for a treat!!!

There’s a big issue though: tickets to Hanauma Bay are limited, and you’re not guaranteed to find one. Also, if you have a ticket, parking is an issue and if you can’t park, you can’t go! This was a big lesson for me last year after experiencing disappointment and not visiting the bay. This year, I was determined to visit the bay and let my kids experience snorkeling with the fish.

After some research and reading reviews, I decided to book a tour with Hanauma Bay Snorkel Adventures, and I am glad I did. It was worth the money. Here’s what’s included in your basic tour price: round trip drive to and from Hanauma Bay, Snorkel gear and fins. What is NOT INCLUDED: $25 bay entry fee for 13+ year olds, only in CASH!! For additional fees, you can rent beach chairs, umbrella and life jackets. I did all of the above, and learned a few things for next time. When I go again, I will rent life jackets. Safety is absolutely critical, important and priceless, and these life jackets are only $10 a person. However, I will not rent a chair and umbrella. First, you’re hardly sitting down especially if you’re with kids. Secondly, it is windy in that area, and our umbrella fell constantly and we finally had to fold it and put it down. Additionally, logging the chairs and umbrella in addition to life jackets, fins, snorkel gears and beach bags is a lot of work, even if you’re taking the tram up and down the hill. If you’re inclined to have chairs and umbrellas, you can rent them right at the bay too, and leave it for them without carrying them around with you.

Go with the early morning tour. They have one around 6am and another at 8am. By the time they pick you and others up, drive to their shop for your gears, drive to the beach, have you watch a short video, it is about 2 hours process. The earlier you get to the beach, the more peaceful it is and less crowded.

Side note (has nothing to do with the snorkel company but good to know) : take snacks, water and sunscreen with you. Food prices at the bay are ridiculously expensive and you have limited choices.

When I return to Oahu in the future, I will use this company for Hanauma Bay snorkel...