Catalina Island Company — Hotel in Avalon

We went on the Bison Expedition with Halvy on 11/23/23.

I had booked this tour for my family of four and some visiting friends (another family of four) as a special treat. Of note, my family of four took the Ridgetop Eco tour last year with a different driver, and it was fantastic, which is why I booked again. The tour we got this time could not have been more different.

There are 12 seats (in three rows of four) in the main part of the vehicle. There is also a 13th seat that is up with the driver and the engine noise. When Halvy notice that he had a full 13 people waiting for the tour (after I brought it to his attention), he said the last people that booked should have been warned that someone in their party was booking the 13th seat, separated from the main group. I knew this was not my party of eight as we had booked weeks in advance, and I had checked in more recent days and saw that there were still spots available on our tour. Yet still, a party of two grabbed seats in the back row and a party of three took three seats in the middle row. None of them took this message from Halvy as them needing to move, so Halvy said he would go and check which was the last party to book. He came back and said it was a party of two, but then he provided an incorrect last name. No one moved. He said, "Boy, I sure wish someone would help you out.", and stood there. So no one moved, because obviously no one is going to sacrifice their family's experience unless forced. He looked at me, as if it was up to me to force someone. Like it was not his job to do so. So we all just got on, two of our party in the last row, one in the middle row, four in the front row, and one in the 13th seat.

It only got worse from there. Halvy talked literally non-stop. About anything and everything. He would get distracted in his own stories and then repeat what he had just said. Not a moment of silence to enjoy the view. (For comparison, when we did the tour last year, the driver would sometimes play music, along with sometimes telling us about the island. He was much more personable and funny. Last year, he also found a great spot for us to get out and take pictures. This did not happen this year.)

Side note, another piece that made the tour more enjoyable last year, is that it was a very rough and bumpy ride. We loved it. The strange thing is that even though I know we went on many of the same roads this year, it was a very smooth ride. We had joked last year that it felt sometimes like the driver was driving rougher on purpose. It seems we were right.

When the tour was over, I went to the ticket booth to tell them about our experience, and they were closed. Understandable as it was a holiday. I instead called the office number and explained the situation. The woman I spoke with seemed very understanding and said she would have someone call me back right away. It's now two days later and I have heard nothing.

Based on these experiences, I would suggest not booking with this company, but...

My husband and I got married in the ballroom 20 years ago. It was a magical experience with relatives flying in from all over the country and out of the country. We had over 150 guests. We planned on renewing our vows for our 20 year anniversary and rebooked the ballroom. We lined up all vendors, sent out invitations, and were about a few months into the planning, when surprise at age 46, we found out that I was pregnant! Not planned at all. We immediately contacted the ballroom and told them our situation and asked if they would make an exception on our deposit. We were honest and upfront that we hadn’t even shared this news with our family but wanted to let them know in the spirit of full transparency and fairness. They had required a $6300 deposit. We would never expect the full amount back, but we’re hopeful that, especially if they rebooked it (which they most likely will since it’s 4th of July weekend - the BIGGEST WEEKEND ON CATALINA ISLAND!) they would consider giving us $1000 or $2000 back. We explained that we would rebook in the future, as soon as we had the baby and knew that baby was healthy & well. All of our other vendors were so gracious… Either giving the full deposit back or a portion of it. We gave all of our vendors over 8 months heads up. The contact in charge at the ballroom was rude and would not budge. He wouldn’t even communicate with us directly. It’s really disappointing to see their 10 page contract, all their requirements now (verses 20 years ago), and the lack of any sort of compassion in such an unplanned situation. It put such a sour taste in our mouth for the Catalina island company. We spent so much money 20 years ago and we’re planning on spending over $100,000 this time around!

It’s too bad they’re all about a business now; especially when they work with people on their most special and joyous life events. Be careful before deciding to have your wedding or renewal in any of...

We booked the Casino VIP Backstage tour through Catalina Island Company over a month before arriving at Avalon. We spent a day on Avalon during a cruise three years ago but this tour was not offered on that day. We really like Art Deco buildings and the Casino tour was the number one reason for coming back and spending two nights on the island. We arrived at the Casino 30 minutes before our scheduled tour at 12 noon. When no one showed up by noon, I started trying to call the company. I then received a voicemail at 12:08 stating the tour had been cancelled. We were told the tour was cancelled because they were cleaning up the casino after the Jazz concert the day before and a "computer glitch" allowed us to book the tour for this day. Later in the day, we received a text from Westly who profusely apologized and asked if there was anything he could do to make it up to us. We told him that if we could take a later ferry back to Long Beach the next day, we could take the 10 a.m. VIP Backstage tour the next day. We had to check out of our hotel and had two small suitcases. Wesley said we could stow the suitcases at the Casino and take that tour. So we did all that and the tour was great. Our tour guide Kaitlen gave an informative and interesting tour. Casino manager Mitch stowed our suitcases and gave us a ride to the ferry terminal after the tour. Finally, they gave us a complete refund for our trouble. While we were pretty upset at the glitch, we were very happy we were still able to...