Island Rainbow Tour — Local services in Honolulu

The ABSOLUTE WORST TOUR I’ve Ever Taken – Do Not Waste Your Time or Money

If I could leave negative stars, I would. This was hands down the worst tour experience I’ve ever had, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

We were originally booked with All Star Tours and were suddenly switched to Rainbow Island Tour Company at the last minute. From the start, it was chaos. The pick-up process was completely unorganized—multiple buses showed up, none clearly marked, and we had to wander around asking each driver if we were on their bus. No signs, no coordination, and zero help.

We were supposed to leave at 7:30 AM, but didn’t actually depart until 8:10.

The tour guide was the worst part of the day. He never introduced himself, not once. I had to ask him his name at the end of the tour just for this review, and he told me it was “Eric.” However, I suspect that’s not even his real name, likely so he doesn’t get called out in these reviews. Another reviewer described an almost identical experience with a guide named “Henry.” Based on the details in their review, I strongly believe we had the same person (I took a picture of him to clear this up). If “Eric” and “Henry” are the same guide, the company is knowingly allowing him to continue behaving this way. If they’re different people—then there are multiple unprofessional guides operating under this company, which is even worse.

The guide was completely unenthusiastic, clearly didn’t want to be there, and acted like everything was a chore. He gave maybe five basic facts about the island the entire day. Most of the time was filled with silence, rambling, or downright offensive comments, including:

Referring to the LGBTQ+ community as “confused individuals”. During roll call, saying “we’re missing “the —-Black lady” instead of asking for names. Making inappropriate jokes about the Mormon community. Repeatedly saying “don’t blame me, blame the company” whenever anything went wrong Telling us no one was allowed to stay on the bus at stops because he “got fired from his last job after someone accused him of touching them”—wildly inappropriate and unsettling

The bus itself was also in poor condition. The windows were dirty, the air conditioning broke down the first 20 minutes into the tour, and the driving was rough and jerky, with the guide often taking off before people were even seated. He even made a personal stop at a corner store for himself, wasting more of our time.

The stops? Rushed and unimpressive:

10 minutes– ocean photo op 10 minutes– another ocean photo op (same view) 20 minutes– Jamie’s Gift Shop with “free coffee” (clearly a sales commission stop) 25 minutes– macadamia nut farm 15 minutes – regional beach park, just to look at the water again 15–20 minutes– lunch at a dry, overpriced spot where sauces cost extra. There was a 7-Eleven and other food options literally next door, yet we were pressured to eat there.

We then spent: 1.5 hours at Turtle Bay Beach at the Ritz-Carlton. We were told that tours are no longer allowed there due to prior issues, but the guide shrugged and said, “I don’t care.” He also told us to leave our valuables on the bus, which felt sketchy and unprofessional. This was the only decent part of the tour. We were given fins and snorkel gear, and actually had time to enjoy the water. There were showers to rinse off and change, which was appreciated.

After that, it was back to the rushed itinerary:

5–10 minutes for shaved ice or fruit 20 minutes at the Dole Plantation—barely enough time to order food, let alone eat it. We were warned that if we weren’t back on time, we’d be left behind and have to find our own way back to Waikīkī. 15 minutes at Green World Coffee Farm—another generic tourist trap.

This wasn’t a tour—it was a joke. Disorganized. Uncomfortable. Offensive. And clearly run by people who don’t care about guest experience or basic professionalism. If you're easily offended—or just expect a safe, respectful, and informative experience—this is NOT the...

Island Rainbow Tours

There is a lot to take in with this tour overall, the setup, the tour itself, and everything else.

Let's start with the Cons: -Poor pickup and send off. We were picked up at a Red Lobster near our hotel by a guy who seemed unprepared and called his boss a few times to know for sure what he was doing. From there we then went to another hotel to pickup two final passengers but the bus only had one spot left so one passenger had to hold on for a little bit. From here we made it to another hotel where we got off and then had to wait around 10 minutes before they finally started to announce names and bus assignments. From here the rest of the process was smooth sailing and we were off.

-We made a stop for some lunch but leading up to arriving, we stopped at a beach spot and the driver took our food order. At no point during this point, did they specifically announce that the food was not included and you had to pay yourself. The website also did not mention this. This is a snippet from their website: "We also provide some refreshments on top of the good time that you will endure on this trip." From that I would assume (or at least I believe fairly assume) that a meal would be included, especially since the whole tour lasts about 9 1/2 hours spanning from 7:30 am - about 5:30 pm. Unfortunately that is not the case and you will have to pay yourself despite it seeming to be included. The price of the dish itself is a whopping $18 USD... the food tasted good but wasn't worth $18 in the slightest. This was the most frustrating part of the tour.

-The Price: if you order the tickets on their website, it will cost $72 per person (for adults). Typically it's couples so that is $144 for two people to attend this. Considering the cost, it's absolutely reasonable to believe a meal and snack might be included in the trip itself.

Now for the Pros: -The tour guide: our guide during this tour was Maya, he was funny, kind, and gave so much extra knowledge you wouldn't normally get during one of these tours. He made a few extra stops since we were ahead of schedule and pointed out and thoroughly explained various points of interests around the island of O'ahu!

-The sights: you get to see quite a few beautiful spots all around the island (minus the South West area of O'ahu). This includes, but is not limited to, The Dole Plantation, The North Shore (multiple beaches and you can swim and/or snorkel at one for a little over an hour), A Macadamia farm (where you can try different flavors of macadamia nuts and flavors of coffee), and multiple other really beautiful places.

Overall I have a few breakdown ratings for this tour:

Tour guide (/5): 5/5 Sites: (/5): 4.7/5 Planning (setup)(/5): 1.5/5 Price (/5): 0.5/5

Overall rating: 2.9

You are always free to choose to go yourself, but I wasn't overall impressed with certain elements of this tour. I really liked the tour guide but he can't single handily make up for some...

I do not recommend this tour. Where do I start? They begin by having a few shuttles running around Waikiki picking up passengers and then they all meet to consolidate everyone to fill the shuttles. And by full, I mean you are packed in like sardines. The seats are extremely uncomfortable and narrow. I had a contoured part of the seat in the side of my back the whole time and my wife had a lever from the emergency window in her shoulder all day. It’s really, tight. The tour guide was great, but the intercom was so bad you could only catch bits and pieces of what he was saying. The bus stopped at all the touristy things – mostly souvenir shops, etc. The lunch was good, but again, very touristy – all the tour busses were there, and it was busy – really busy. There were some scenic stops along the way, but they were 9 minutes, enough to get out, take a couple pictures and get back on. The snorkeling portion was the most frustrating. The gear is absolute garbage – you should bring your own if you have it. We stopped for 1 hour of snorkeling in Turtle Bay. If you need to change, you must do it in a restroom. There were 2 stalls for the women and 1 stall for the men. The lineup took about 15 minutes to get changed. Then walk to the beach, spend another 15 minutes messing with the crappy gear (my fabric mask headband was so stretched out I had to tie knots in it). My wife’s mask had a deformed seal and constantly filled with water and her snorkel has a stuck valve. Then swim for 15 minutes – then back to the restroom to get in the line for 15 minutes to change. That’s your 1-hour swim/snorkel. A couple more tourist stops and you’re back. As mentioned, our driver was great (Uncle Chief), but the tour itself was not worth it. For $130 (2 people) I would recommend renting a car on Turo for $50, take your own snorkel gear, spend $40 on gas and do the drive yourself. You can stop when you want, for as long as you want in a...