Volcano Tours — Local services in Maui

Dear Volcano tours and Juanita, My wife and I went on the 10-Hour Deluxe Circle Island Stargazing Tour From Kona Resorts (on 23rd January )and we would like to provide some feedback and seek a partial refund as the tour was quite disappointing. You have yet to reply to our email.

Firstly, we would like to say that the tour guide was very friendly and helpful, however, when we approached him with our complaints/issues with the tour he said that these aspects were out of his control and we should contact you via email.

The first major issue we had was that the air conditioning/cooling in the van was not working, and as we were placed at the back of the van (not our choice, the only place left), we were left feeling very uncomfortable with the heat and lack of ventilation. The temperature in the van for the first 4 hours of the tour at least was between 85-90 degrees. It did decrease to around 83-84 degrees after than and about 75 degrees by the time we got back to the hotel, however, we spent a large part of the day in stifling heat. The tour guide did let one of us sit in the front seat of the van where it was a little cooler, but my wife spent most of the time in the back of the van feeling very hot. The tour guide mentioned he was aware of the cooling issue but nothing had been actioned by your company.

The other major issue was that despite being called a “stargazing tour”, there was, in fact, no stargazing component even attempted. We were told that because the tour started at 9am (we were picked up around 9.20), the end of the 10 hours would be at 7pm and therefore too early for stargazing due to sunset being later. It was actually quite dark by 7pm and I’m not sure why we couldn’t have had some time stargazing on the tour, or make the tour start later so as to include what was advertised as the main activity of the tour. Had the tour guide attempted to take us stargazing and the issue been a lack of visibility then we would have understood that the weather is out of your control, but that is not the case. There was very good visibility (with stars visible) and yet we were not taken stargazing.

Given that the tour did not include the main activity it was advertised for (even included in the title of the tour) and also given the poor conditions of the van we were taken in, we would request to be issued a partial refund please. We are leaving the Big Island tomorrow and will not be back in the foreseeable future (we live in Australia) so attending another tour will not be a possible remediation, thus our request for a partial refund please.

We look forward to your response on...

I want to start by saying the guide staff was wonderful, and in that vacuum the tour would be a 5 star review like many others. That said - We signed up for a coffee/sun/star gazing tour, but that tour never actually happened, and lack of communication compounded the issue. The tour: We met at the location on the email, checked in and got on the bus, where we quickly found out that this was not the tour we signed up for - instead we got a tour of Hilo before driving around for a while on Saddle road waiting for sunset. When we stopped for food, they handed out our meals (names on each) and my wife ended up with a sandwich instead of the salad she ordered (we had noted that she was gluten free on the form and a voice mail from the company reconfirmed this). While this wasn't what we signed up for and the food was incorrect, the guide was fun to be around and we were able to at least see the stars - overall still not why the review is so low. After: The next day I looked at the website to make sure we hadn't accidentally signed up for the wrong thing (I have made mistakes before, but that wasn't the issue here) and I check if there was any reason the tour couldn't happen - sure enough googling the coffee farm, it is temporarily closed to the public/tours. I tried to reach out to the company the via their contact email to understand what had happened, and let them know that their site may be letting people sign up to a tour that they aren't conducting but didn't get a response. A week later their auto generated email asking for reviews or to contact them for issues came in, so I sent another email via the provided link that also indicated they would contact me. It has been 2 weeks since that second email and no response. I understand things change and mistakes happen, but communication is key to making the experience positive and they have fell flat on this point.

We chose Volcano Tours as they had best reviews instead of another company with a slightly more interesting tour. At this point, I can say there are plenty of other tour groups in the area that provide similar services - I wouldn't tell anyone to shy away from Volcano Tours as a whole (their reviews show they can do amazing tours) but just be aware that you might not be getting what you...

My husband and I had a limited amount of time to see all the sites in Hawaii. But I’m glad we booked a Volcano Tour with Hawaii Tours; we got to see the most of the Big Island all in the span of a day! When you book with Hawaii Tours, they make sure everything is covered—from your cab ride to the airport to your flights from Maui/Oahu and obviously your shuttle and tour guide to take your around Hilo.

We had Justin as our guide and driver for our tour, and he was such a great host! Very funny, personable, and as a native Hawaiian, he had a wealth of knowledge to share about his home state.

Our first stop was Volcano National Park. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. We felt like we were stepping out onto the surface of Mars, viewing the crater, seeing the steam vents, and walking around the lava formations. Justin was gracious and made sure to give us plenty of time to explore and helped us take group photos.

Next we drove into the town of Hilo, and had plenty of time to grab lunch and do some shopping. The town offers a variety of delicious food options (we opted for a small poke and BBQ place that had outdoor seating to enjoy the afternoon sun), lots of gift shops with handcrafted goods, and even a farmers market with fresh fruit and flowers.

We next went to see Rainbow Falls. The falls is certainly beautiful. But the real stars of the show were the giant bayan trees just a short walk down the trail. Great spot for photos and to enjoy the shade of the trees.

Because our group was small, Justin was able to take us to some extra sites to see along the way. He even was able to spot a turtle in one of the side streams, munching on some sea grass. We were able to stop and take some photos of it, which proved to be a positive since there were no turtles at the black sands beach.

Highly recommend this tour if you want to see all of the highlights of Hilo. Be sure to...