Best of Hawaii Tours and Activities — Local services in Honolulu

I have mixed feelings about my experience so I'll list the pros and cons and let you make your decision on how to proceed. I booked the "Arizona Memorial, Punchbowl, and Honolulu City Highlights Tour (2B)" at $57 a piece which was supposed to include the following: Arizona Memorial*, Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, Punchbowl Cemetery, Iolani Palace, King Kamehameha Statue, Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses, Hawaii State Capitol, and Honolulu Hale. The pros: our tour guide Lee Ready was awesome, very knowledgeable, humerous, and on time. I learned a lot of things about the island that I never would have known had I not gone on the tour. The bus was comfortable, clean, modern, air conditioned, had a bathroom on board and the driver/tour guide brought some snacks and reusable water bottles for us that were prefilled with water. We were also able to leave items on board if we wanted to which was convenient. I very much enjoyed the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor Visitors Center. The cons: we only actually got off the bus to see the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor Visitors Center (3.5 hours), the Iolani Palace and King Kamehameha Statue (20 minutes all together). The remaining time was spent in the bus driving around. I was disappointed because I really wanted to see the Punchbowl and spend time there and all we did was drive around the main road once because commercial vehicles are not allowed to stop there. This also meant your view was limited depending on which side of the bus you were seated on. So if you want to go to the Punchbowl I recommend renting a car or taking the bus or an Uber to drop you off and then pick you back up. This was no where in the description on the website until we got our confirmation less than 24 hours before at which point I could not cancel the ride or we would lose our money. Also the capital is mostly boarded up on the outside so you can't see most of it, even if you have a window seat on the bus. Please be aware you can buy tickets on the national parks website for $1 to the U.S.S. Arizona, we found out after the tour so really the money spent was on transportation and the tour guide. The tour guide dropped us off at 11:30 and then we had two hours to wait prior to our actual boat launch time out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. There are some free exhibits to look at, but if you want to go to the bowfin submarine exhibit and museum that is an additional $25 per person. That is also where the other cafe for food is, so to get to food you have to pay more. There were also tours to the aviation museum on Ford Island and tours for the U.S.S. Missouri (also on Ford Island), but you then had to pay admission to those and get a shuttle and make sure you were back in time for the U.S.S. Arizona tour. Long story short, the tour guide was great the bus was great, the description of what the tour offered...

We originally decided to go with a company (Best of Hawaii-BOW) to lessen the stress and have expert local advice. I was really impressed with the initial suggestions and how I presumed the agent was on top of making any necessary preparations. However, I was really concerned with both initial tours that we selected were cancelled and we were then forced to choose whatever available as we neared our departure date (still paid for the original more expensive tours without any discount or refund). That said, what we ended up doing was really fun and the first day was planned out beautifully. Sadly our second excursion was not even booked by BOW leaving me to scramble and pay for the tour again. BTW-Roberts Hawai’i telephone agents were extremely rude and not familiarized with pick up locations of their own tours. The tour guide David was spectacular from Kona, I would solely recommend them only for David. I did call BOW but couldn’t reach them at the time until after having to sort it out myself with Roberts Hawaii...BOW also booked the flights back to Oahu too early resulting in another $100 flight change

All in all I found the agent in particular from BOW pleasant to deal with although I am left feeling completely taken advantage of. Having asked several times for a clear statement of charges (still not received) and also left with 4 flight change charges and a tearful morning of stress that all could have been avoided should BOW have been more thorough with the necessary preparations. It was also misleading having directly asked how BOW they make revenue - It was clearly stated on the phone that “they only make money through their preferred vendors (not patrons)”; having to have to pay for a tour last minute myself I noticed everything is substantially marked up through them.

Anyone travelling to Hawaii for the first time I would recommend:

Limiting your time in Waikiki for a more authentic experience. Book your tours yourself - it’s an amazing place, rent a car and have data on your phone...that’s all you need. Doing so, you’ll have a blast and rest assured everything will be taken care of and you’ll be paying a reasonable amount for...

AWFUL customer service!! If you value your money, please DO NOT book anything with this company. I booked an ATV Tour for my fiancé and I on August 7 for August 19. I found out my fiancé had work the 19th and couldn’t make it so I cancelled the tour on August 12. They were understanding and said I should see my payment posted back to my card in 10-14 business days. That was AUGUST 12. It is now September 19 and still no payment from them. During the month and a half of waiting for the payment, I’ve contacted Best of Hawaii SEVERAL times to only get excuses of how the financial department is booked up, I’ll get my payment in 5 more days, 3 more days. One person even told me they just don’t know why I haven’t gotten the payment. I’ve been promised that the financial office will call me back, and of course no call. I had to take it into my own hands and make a claim through my bank and through the Better Business Bureau. Best of Hawaii had the nerve to tell the BBB that my request was processed days after I cancelled but it was delayed due to Hurricane Lane. (Which is just another excuse because Hurricane Lane was over a week after I cancelled). They then told the BBB I would have my money back in my account after 72 hours. It’s over 72 hours. Do you think the money is back on my account? Of course not!! Luckily I have a great bank that is handling this.

I am truly astonished by this business. I paid over $300 for a tour and then was never reimbursed. Did “Best” of Hawaii think I was just going to forget about it and drop it?! Please be aware of this company. I don’t know how the actual tour experience is since we cancelled but I will never know since I will NEVER book anything with this unprofessional company...