C Big Island Tours — Local services in Hawaii

The "C Big Island" tour guides arrived at the port at different (personal) times. As the cruisers/passengers found the "Big Island Tours" signage, they were instructed to sit on a bench until their complete group and tour guide was present. This is where the confusion started.

The passengers did not know who their tour guide was and EVERY tour guide had a different way to identify their passengers. There were at least four tour-vans populated with 10-12 passengers; about 50 passengers looking for where they needed to go. One guide had a white board with names hand-written on it, another guide had a clip board with a blank piece of paper and asked passengers to write their name(s) on it, while another had a computer-generated print-out with names already populated on it and passengers could confirm their reservation. It was confusing and chaotic until someone could confirm where each passenger belonged. This allowed for a 45 minute milling about and delay. It was a dysfunctional practice and could have been easily avoided with an organized, consistent, professional process.

Once in a van, the driving tour began. Unfortunately for us, a passenger in the front seat commented on the paraphernalia hanging from the tour-guide's rearview mirror... which had religious symbolism. The tour-guide felt this was an invitation to share her personal views of Christianity and politics. The next several hours in the van were filled with scripture ideology and quoting of Biblical texts. It was a one-sided conversation and any anecdotes to Island history were tainted with the limited Christian and political viewpoint of the tour-guide. UGH.

It was mundane, long-winded, uncomfortable and even anxiety-ridden. If the tour-guide could "read the room," she would have noticed that no other passengers gave her eye-contact, asked questions or even acknowledged the information in her self-absorbed speeches. The beautiful views were masked and sometimes lost because of the preaching... it wasn't until I inserted my earbuds that I began to appreciate the views from my backseat window.

As for the tour itself, it was as described in the advertisement- a drive to amazing views with a couple of forced shopping venues (a shop to purchase a sandwich and a chocolate shop).

In my humble, limited opinion: A rented car and a self-guided audio tour would have saved several hundred dollars and avoided the stressful, Christian-laden version of the "C Big...

At first the cost to summit Mauna Kea seemed steeped for a few hours driving tour and a cup of ramen and hot chocolate. However at the end of the day the lack of oxygen and price to rent all wheel drive outweighed those cost. Most rental companies wont let you drive up the unimproved road and if they do there is a steep cost associated with it. Also due to my lack of knowledge of the area I was interested in what a tour guide would have to offer. Edmond did a great job and was full of knowledge the entire way. Luxury SUV got the 6 of us (small tour group!) to the top no issues and in comfort. I saw what other groups were packed in, how large a group some were, and the extra cost they paid (I shopped around) of paying for a warmed up plate of lasagna made my decision an even wiser one. Though we were at visitor center for nearly an hour to get used to the altitude and I thought my self to be in great shape (avid bicyclist) it only took a few quick jogging steps at the top to make me realize i'm glad I didnt drive. Got that altitude buzz real quick if I didn't take my time. Had I driven 1. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the view up or down; and 2. I probably would have hyperventilated and passed out and drove off the side of the mountain becoming a tourist statistic. Edmond was a brave and fast driver navigating both up and down from Hilo like a formula 1 driver and i'm sure there were some pucker moments from other guests, I appreciated the "promptness". View was beyond amazing. Had some light high level clouds and of course lower level covering the rest other than the other peak and Maui in the distance. Don't forget whats behind you, sunset on clouds behind us gave a mountain shadow on clouds out at sea. It is cold at the top, plunged several degrees as the sun went down and the wind was howling though it was mid May. I If you have the lungs for it go early and hike to the lake at the top. Be wary of the weather, it is much different at the top and most important if you want to see stars at the visitor center, make sure you go when there is little or no moon in the sky as it is as bright as the sun and cancels out the stars (other...

Our group arrived in Hilo on the NCL Pride of America and we had pre-booked the C Big Island Tours 'Volcanoes National Park & Waterfall' tour. We were met in the cruise terminal building and left on time on a tour bus to see a number of sights throughout the day with some of the highlights being the Liliuokalani Japanese Garden, Rainbow Falls and Volcanoes National Park. The crater lookouts, steam vents, and Thurston Lava Tube were great stops. It was truly a full day.

I'm sure that someone's individual experience could differ depending upon their tour guide, but we really lucked out. We had Thomas as our tour guide and his commentary alone was worth the tour price. He engaged with us the entire time. He explained what we would be doing at each stop, but went way beyond that with lots of background, shared a wealth of information on Hawaii, and answered all of our questions so patiently. He was so genuine, pleasant, funny, kind, and professional and just a great person to be around. Thank you to C Big Island Tours for the great itinerary and thank you to Thomas for making it such an enjoyable experience...