Sail Trilogy — Local services in Maui

My wife and I went on the “Visit Lāna’i” tour on the Trilogy III from Ka’anapali - it was amazing from start to finish. As expected, Lāna’i is beautiful and secluded - we basically had Hulopo’e beach to ourselves the entire time. White sand beach, large schools of tropical fish, beautiful vistas from the top of the cliffs - stunning. It’s pretty much what you would expect from this kind of tour, but the staff was such a pleasant surprise. They were ever-present (in a good way) making sure you were comfortable and more importantly safe at all times. You especially felt safe in the water as Captain Raquel was looking out from the beach, Scott was helping people in and out of the surf, Steve was helping people with SNUBA, and First Mate Zach was watching out from his surfboard. At lunch, they served as the waitstaff, and on the boat, they were constantly catering to everyone’s needs. On the return trip, the bar opened, and they made sure that everyone was happy with their drinks. It also helped that they were all easygoing and funny as well. We also appreciated that Captain Raquel spotted two pods of dolphins and took a short detour for us before docking at Mānele - such a wonderful experience. We would highly recommend the Lāna’i tour by Trilogy Excursions to anyone.

Just some advice… Go to the bathroom (especially #2) before you get on the boat…unless you like doing your business in a cramped little space that moves like a rocking horse. Fortunately, there are toilets on Lāna’i by the harbor and the beach. Bring sun protection - you will be in the sun a lot on this tour. You will get wet as you get on and off the boat, so dress appropriately. If you sit in the front of the boat…you will have great views, but will probably get splashed at some point. One guy got soaked along with his giant iPhone… You don’t need to bring your own snorkel gear - they provide everything. They provide plenty of drinks (POG and water) at the beach. The lunch is actually very good, but I would advise against overeating just in case the trip back is rough. They provide dramamine and ginger candies if you are concerned. Bring sandals that you can easily take on and off - they ask you to remove your shoes before you get on the boat to keep it clean. If I were to do it again, I would bring a string bag just for our sandals. There is a little shop at Mānele Harbor to get Lāna’i swag, so you may want to bring some cash/credit card. If you hike to the top of the cliff to admire Pu’upehe Islet, make sure you have appropriate footwear as it’s pretty rocky. Just my opinion, but you may want to bring some extra cash to tip the staff - they are really wonderful, and I think really deserve to be compensated extra for their efforts - in a world of tipflation, Raquel, Zack, Steve, and Scott are the first people in a long time that I thought earned it.

Here was our exact itinerary - others did their own thing, but this is what we did.

6:30 AM Meet by the beach at the Sheraton Maui to check-in. Listen to some introductions and then receive instructions on how to get on the catamaran from the beach. 7:00 AM Board and head to Lāna’i 7:30 AM Coffee and breakfast (cinnamon roll, pineapple and orange slices) 8:20 AM Captain Raquel spots dolphin pods and makes a detour to watch dolphins 8:45 AM Dock at Mānele Harbor 9:05 AM Arrive at Hulopo’e Beach and receive water safety instructions 9:25 AM Go snorkeling 10:40 AM Go hiking 11:30 AM Return to harbor 11:35 AM Lunch (green salad, stir-fried noodles, huli-huli chicken, corn, rolls) 12:20 PM Shop at Mānele Harbor store 12:45 PM Ship leaves harbor 12:46 PM First Mate Zack opens the bar and I drink my first glass of Sauvignon Blanc ~2:30 PM Ship returns...

We left our Maalaea Sunset Sail a little disappointed. It just didn’t live up to the hype of the other reviews, and this was one of the “excursions” I was most excited about. The Maalaea port is supposed to the be the 2nd windiest… and it really is! We chose that port because it’s closest to Wailea, we know that the crew and company can’t do anything about the wind, but it put a little bit of a damper on our trip out of the dock. My husband and I had to keep our head down most of the time because the wind was so strong, it started to even give me a headache. We eventually found a calm cove to pull into, which helps significantly.

Food was just alright. We were hungry, so we ate it. Definitely wasn’t luxury, pretty cheap food IMO. I figured they’d walk around passing them out, so I could grab more of 1 thing but they put 2 of each on your plate and that’s it. Wish there was opportunity for more.

The timing of the cruise was a little confusing. 4-6pm. The sunsets at 5:30… so most of your time is sitting waiting for that. Once it does happen the boat turns around to leave. We didn’t catch any of the beautiful pink sky’s after the sun goes down the horizon (my fav part).

Lastly, the vibe overall was not what we expected. Maybe it was just our ship, but my husband and I are here to celebrate our honeymoon and when we booked it we expected a relaxing, romantic cruise… and it just wasn’t that. There were a couple small kids, but they didn’t bother us. We had 2 large groups on our boat and just felt like we were constantly getting in their way. One even asked us to move so they could get better pictures. This happened a couple times. We’d go find somewhere to sit and enjoy. The boat was move towards the sun and the crowds would follow forcing us to move so we could get out of the way. It just had too many people. The music was very upbeat and pop music.

We left feeling like it wasn’t worth the $300 we spent. We didn’t enjoy it enough for that kind of money. The crew was amazing and very nice. It was just the overall vibe.

We also didn’t go anywhere new to us. We only went a couple mins outside the harbor. We can see the same view from our hotel, I couldn’t help but wish I was sitting on our hotel...

What a phenomenal cruise and snorkel experience with Trilogy Boat Tours! We decided to skip the crowded snorkel experience at Molokini Island, and go on the less-traveled snorkel tour of West Maui, off the Lahaina & Kaanapali coastline. We met at 8:30 for a 9:00 AM departure at Ma’alaea Harbor (double-check your texts for slip # updates, as we waited at the wrong slip #), and once onboard and underway, the crew served a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls, fruit, juice, tea & coffee. The crew was absolutely amazing….super friendly & helpful. Our crew was Captain Zac, first mate Kuki’i, deck-hands Kayden & Hope….and photographer Cynthia. Each of them was genuinely interested in getting to know the passengers and all made us feel welcome and at home on beautiful Trilogy III. The snorkeling was great…..I saw 7 turtles, other reef fish, a small (4’ long) white fin shark, that was just cruising the reef for lunch, and paid zero notice of the humans in the water. Captain Zac dove down and brought up two completely different sea anemones that we could hold in our hands….very cool! After snorkeling, we got back onboard and a wonderful lunch of shoyu bbq chicken, salad, rice & a Hawaiian roll…..delicious! And then, ice cream…yum!! Also with lunch, alcoholic beverages were served, along with non-alcoholic beverages. The crew got all of the lunch and bar duties handled very efficiently. On the way back to Ma’alaea Harbor, we saw dolphins swimming with our boat. Photographer Cynthia got some amazing photos of our day and I was happy to purchase these for our group. This cruise was such a fun experience buy a top-notch, professional outfit. I cannot recommend Trilogy Excursions highly enough. This company is dedicated to making the visitor experience the very best it can be. We will definitely book Trilogy Excursions on future...