Hawaii Volcanoes National Park & Waterfall - Shore Excursion from Hilo Harbor

This was a very good tour that covered all the bases of Hilo, Hawaii. Steve, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and fun. Unfortunately, we expected a tour of the volcanoes and areas related thereto. The tour doesn't actually get to the volcano area until dark so we did not get to see any of the surrounding areas during daylight. I will re-read the tour description. Maybe we did not understand the tour activities.

Im sharing this review as I feel there are a lot of questions out there regarding this tour and I want to help people choose the best one. Booking: I agree with others that it is awkward as there is not a lot of clarity. I was told pickup at noon verbally through a phone call although they arrived at 11am and were about to leave at 11:20am as I was not there even though I was in the lobby since 10:30am. Website is unclear as in one place it says pickup from Hilo Hotels between 11am - 11:10am and departure at 12:15pm from Hilo area. Dont worry, the tour is legit and hits all the hot spots, pun intended. Tour Guide: I forget her name but I will call her Sassy as she has a fun sarcastic sense of humor that takes a moment and disclosures to get used to. Sassy was extremely knowledgeable about the island, volcano, history, and traffic which came in handy. Tour Vehicle: Maybe the real vehicle was in the shop although we drove in a white van with windows. Not the 2015 Starcraft Van that was advertised although got us around. For the cost of the tour, it didnt surprise me. Tour: You hit all the spots on the list. The less important ones youll only spend 10 mins at such as the black sand beach, Orchid garden, and rainbow falls. You will spend most of your time in the volcano area hiking, driving thru the park, and observing the volcano. Lunch: Vague in the description and this could have been way better. We had a choice of a few global fast food joints such as Kentucky Fried Chicken. Personally, a choice of local spots would have better culture, local businesses, and delicious. Volcano Viewing: While great, it could have been awesome. We arrived at Jaggar Museum which is the observation area for the crater to see the lava glow at 5:20pm with sunset at 6:03pm and dusk starting at 6:27pm. We did see glow although not at total darkness which is way better. We had to get back in the bus at 6:25pm to get some tour folks to the airport for their 8:48pm flight. Needless to say we arrived at the airport at 7:15pm which was super early. We stayed overnight and paid the price missing what I believe is the highlight of the tour. Overall, it was a good tour although fell far short of expectations at booking, tour van quality, lunch, and time spent watching lava glow. Sassy did a fine job although I wish she left the observation area 15 minutes later. Recommendations: If I were to do it again, I would rent my own car and do the tour myself. For those coming just for the day and dont want to be bothered by renting a car or enjoy being toured around, this is a good option. Just understand your view of the lava glow is dependent upon the time of your departing flight or for those also in your tour group.

This tour was great. The price for all the things you get to see is pretty reasonable. Our driver, Nate, was friendly, informative, and fun. We were also very lucky to see lava flow. The only reason I'm rating this a 3/5 is because of the tour company. The price includes pick-up and drop-off from/to your hotel. However, you have to call the company 3 days before the tour to make these arrangements. This was not very clear from the site and emails. It was in the fine print so be sure to read your confirmation emails very carefully. I was wondering why I had not heard from the company about pick-up time since the form contains a field for your hotel address as you book online. I ended up calling the morning of and they ended up charging me 50 extra a person just to pick us up. I would think a more legitimate company would try to at least reach out to me the day before about pick up time. We also only had one other person on the tour so it wasn't like there were a lot of pick ups. Again, the tour was great. However, due to my negative experience with the company about the hotel pick-up, I probably wouldn't book through this company again.

We had a fabulous guide ... .Mickey ... and we were the only ones on the tour. It was fantastic. Very felxible, informative but not hectic, educational, and lovely scenery. Highly recommend this for value ... we did a couple of other tours, and though worth the money as well, this one was a real gem.