Reviewed by: Brian
For starters, the show Ha! Breath of Life is AMAZING! If nothing else, that is worth a visit.
Ok, so the Circle Island Tour - yeah, you circle (most of) the island and see some cool things (briefly), but you can get circle island tours from pretty much everyone and ended up with about 3 total after all of our activities there over our week. The biggest problem with this Circle Island Tour is that it takes TOO LONG! You're going to want ample time to do the tour, but not when that time cuts into your time at the cultural center.
We did the circle island tour and the ambassador package. By the time we finished the tour and go to the center, did all the ambassador check in crap, and got to start seeing the center, we had already lost at least 1.5 hours of the already short time available to visit the various cultures. The group tour and the guide does help you learn some cool things, but it also makes everything take longer. In the end, we went back a second day so that we could see all the things we missed the first day (maybe that's the point - more $$ from the visitors??).
I don't want to lead you to believe the center is poor. On the contrary, we very much enjoyed the center. The luau was meh. The show was GREAT! We just wouldn't recommend the circle island tour (as it was for us) or the ambassador package (unless you want to buy it for the good seats but ditch the tour guide in the park).
Definitely visit the park, definitely see the show. Consider ditching the tour guide in the park, consider doing the circle island tour with another company or on a different day, and if you see a luau anywhere else, consider skipping it here (it wasn't the best luau we attended).
Note, the 3 stars if for the package, not for the center on the whole. The center was great, we just weren't keen on the package we purchased.
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Packages: | Ambassador Luau - Premium Show Seating & Guided Group Park Tour |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2016/02/22 |
Activity Date: | 2016/02/17 |
Reviewed by: mblock
Photography is one of my favorite hobbies, but my skills are still limited. After participating on this tour I can say that I have finally learned how to operate my camera. Marie is an excellent guide and a very passionate photographer. She was teaching us not only about photography techniques, but also about the history and culture of Hawaii along the way.
This tour is designed for all levels of equipment and expertise, it does not matter if you are a beginner or a pro, if you have DSL camera or a phone, she has tips for everyone. She spends one on one time with each person on the tour so you can get the help that you need.
We explored beautiful beaches, hidden waterfall, lava formations and many other breathtaking locations. The van was clean, comfortable, they also provide water, umbrellas and camera tripod.
Blue Hawaii Photo Tours provided me one of the best experiences I had in the island, I highly recommend this tour to all, It was absolutely amazing!
Aloha
Thank you for your kind review. It was fun showing you the little known areas that are off the tourist grid here in O'ahu. It's a wonderful way to see and capture the beauty of Hawaii to make your own stunning photographs. See you again next time. Mahalo, Marie
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Packages: | Test Package |
Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Posted on: | 2016/02/20 |
Reviewed by: Lani S.
I wanted to head out to the North Shore, but did not want to sit on a stodgy bus all day and listen to someone drone on and on. The Surf Bus was the PERFECT choice since I not only got to experience the highlights of the area, but got to do some fun activities as well.
I decided to do Snorkeling, the Waimea Falls nature walk and SUP. Harry was very accommodating about squeezing in two activities for the morning section, and I am so happy that he did. The snorkeling was AMAZING! It was literally like swimming in an aquarium. I got to be in the water for a little over an hour and then I was picked up to go to Waimea Falls Park. The walk was quite easy, and if you have a hard time walking, shuttles are available for $10 round-trip at the park. I didn't go into the water since I just wanted to sit and relax, but the walk to and from the waterfall was about 45 minutes total. REALLY beautiful.
For my afternoon, I chose SUP and even though I had never done it before, I figured it out pretty quickly after the briefing from the guys at the surf store. I never quite made it to the "stand up" part of "stand up paddling", but my "sit up" paddle was just as fun and I made it all the way down the river.
With about an hour left before I had to meet the bus, I had a delicious burger and fries at Teddy's Bigger Burger and washed that all down with some shave ice from Matsumotos (lychee and strawberry YUM!). All in all, a great experience and wonderful way to see the best of the North Shore in a day :)
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Packages: | Test Package |
Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Posted on: | 2016/02/17 |
Reviewed by: Dolly
I had a wonderful time on this tour, there were great photographic opportunities at sunset, of the ocean waves, and of several other beautiful areas. Our guide was very helpful with the different camera settings and instruction on how to get a great photo. I had a wonderful morning.
Aloha,
Yes...we have some stunning sunrises here on O'ahu. Being on the beach when the sun comes up is a great way to start the day. Thank you for your nice review. A Hui Hou ( Until we meet next time ) Warmest Aloha, marie
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Packages: | 5-Hour Sunrise Tour |
Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Posted on: | 2016/02/08 |
Activity Date: | 2016/02/02 |
Reviewed by: -PAUL-
I mentioned this before on the phone. This was fun, but was only able to do one activity. Unfortunately the ad misleads you into thinking you can do whatever activities, whenever. You are allowed to swim, snorkel, bike ride or hike in the morning. Then you can either surf(which you cant cause it will cost you more when you never did it, apparently you have to take a lesson before using their boards), kayak, or stand up paddleboard in the afternoon. It just was a disappointment to have an expectaion of what to get for my day, then not do it. In other words, two spereate locations for the morning and afternoon activities, so majority of your time is traveling. Which is fine, but also would of have a different opinion. Knowing what i know now, i probably would never choosen this activity.
I missed the bus to go to the afternoon location, needless to say i was given the wrong time by tourist, but honsestly by the time i got there, i was out of time. One thing that is odd is the memory game, being dropped off somwhere and being picked up elsewhere. However, the people that works at the snorkel rental place, especially that young kid, clueless to his surroundings. Knew who i was & i who else i was there with in regards of the other party on the tour bus & couldnt inform me of the other party making it back. So knowing the time i had to be picked up, this kid not being observant and missing the bus is all my fault, right? So thanks for that! I had to wait for the city bus to pick me up to find out where the tour bus was to get back on it.
All in all, i only did one activity and did a lot of sitting & waiting around. Snorkeling was fun, but was my excitement was short lived with the turmoil. I had fun snorkeling, and thats about it. Oh yeah, dont worry, ill take care of that bus fare!
We are sorry you got the pick up times mixed up and were forced to catch a city bus to catch up , therefore missing your second activity. Normally we have other drivers on the North Shore and could have expatiated things so sorry for that too.PLEASE GIVE US A FUTURE DATE TO COMP YOU THE TOUR SO WE CAN SHOW YOU WHAT ITS REALLY LIKE.
P.S; FOR SAFTEY REASONS SURFING IS THE ONLY ACTIVITY WHICH IF YOU HAVE NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE WE REQUIRE YOU DO A LESSON. Those with some prior experience may surf with our basic package pricing.
Aloha Justin
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Packages: | [From Waikiki] North Shore Tour + Two Fun Adventures |
Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Posted on: | 2016/01/11 |
Activity Date: | 2015/05/16 |
Reviewed by: Alberto Ortega
Simply wonderful. You travel around Oahu, visiting many beaches and points of attraction, like the Budist temple, Kualua Ranch, Dole Plantation and much more. The tour guide was excelent, I give him the highest calification.
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Packages: | Standard Package with Lunch & Tram ride [Available until 12/14/2023 ONLY] |
Attended as: | Families |
Posted on: | 2015/12/27 |
Activity Date: | 2015/12/16 |
Reviewed by: McDougalls
We had a wonderful day with AC as our guide. He was very knowledgeable, pointing out local sites and giving history along the way. He bent over backwards to accommodate everyone on the tour, taking each group to their favorite locations, running back and forth moving us around from hot spot to hotspot as we each finished our excursions. He was very professional at all times. We would hIghly recommend him as a tour guide. We had a blast! He even went out of his way to go back and find a lost article for us- which fell out of the van at a previous stop.
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Packages: | [From Waikiki] North Shore Tour + Two Fun Adventures |
Attended as: | Families |
Posted on: | 2015/12/23 |
Activity Date: | 2015/12/21 |
Reviewed by: Honolulu tourist
Our original driver lost his wallet so could not drive us. We had to wait close to an hour to get a new driver. This combined with heavy traffic due to a Christmas parade resulted in our tour being significantly delayed and feeling somewhat rushed as we tried to save time at each stop. Our second driver was very knowledgeable and gave us an excellent running commentary as we toured. We did skip a couple of stops/activities due to the delays, but we're not offered any type of compensation. While this is a highly recommended tour company that provided the service, I find it disappointing they did nothing to make up for their issues.
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Packages: | Standard Package with Lunch & Tram ride [Available until 12/14/2023 ONLY] |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/12/15 |
Activity Date: | 2015/12/12 |
Reviewed by: Mary W., Salem, OR
The tour guide was entertaining, funny, and knowledgeable. The scenery was breathtaking. Enjoyed all the stops.
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Packages: | Standard Package |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/12/08 |
Activity Date: | 2015/11/02 |
Reviewed by: Mr Ed
We had an excellent day out and learnt a lot of interesting facts about Hawai'i, and the shrimps were fantastic
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Packages: | Standard |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/12/07 |
Activity Date: | 2015/11/14 |
Reviewed by: Johanna from Sweden
After finishing our day with two big smiles on our faces, my friend and I agreed that it would have to be something extraordinary to top this! We had the time of our lives.
We met some lovely people, and we, being from Sweden, thaiught that it was really amazing that folks we're so understanding when we lost ourselves in translation sometimes.
The sights we saw were amazing with good variety. The bus was not full to the brim with people so moving in and out was easy and it did not take long to gather ourselves up when leaving a destination to go see the next. (Except when Kevin went out to look for our friend from hong kong haha)
The information we attained during the driving time was fun, entertaining and interesting.
Our tourguide, cousin Kevin, will forever and ever remain in our Hearts and memories. Because he is now a part of our international ohana, and what does that mean? Family. And what does family mean?
Nobody gets left behind or forgotten!
Until next time,
Aloha and thank you!
Mahalo for the excellent review, Johanna! We absolutely LOVE your pictures and we're so pleased that you had a great time. We'll be sure to share this review with Cousin Kevin, as well :)
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Packages: | Arizona Memorial & Circle Island Tour |
Attended as: | Friends |
Posted on: | 2015/11/28 |
Activity Date: | 2015/11/05 |
Reviewed by: Carol
Paul our driver was very informative and told us many stories about the island and showed us so many beautiful places. Shrimp lunch was yummy.
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Packages: | Standard |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/11/20 |
Activity Date: | 2015/11/17 |
Reviewed by: Dan B
Started out from our hotel with a great driver who was very knowledgable and entertaining. We stopped to see Hanauma Bay which was beautiful then moved on to see some very beautiful scenery areas and a stop for ice cream. We hadn't seen this part of the island before especially the beautiful homes with ocean scenery. We ended up at Kuala Ranch that had a tram tour that was somewhat of a disappointment because we saw scenery from the ranch that we could see from the road but now much of the ranch or ranching activities. The gold buffet lunch was okay but only came with complimentary water with tiny plastic glasses. If we wanted any other drinks we had to stand in line while our food got cold. We headed to Dole thinking we would get a tour but again only stopped at the gift shop for shopping. Best part of that was we had another pineapple whip which was great. We saw many of the same things on this tour that we saw the day before on our Pearl Harbor / Polynesian tour. The driver was great and very informative but the tour was just so-so and wouldn't recommend it to others who do the Pearl Harbor / Polynesian Cultural Center.
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Packages: | Standard Package with Lunch & Tram ride [Available until 12/14/2023 ONLY] |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/11/11 |
Activity Date: | 2015/11/06 |
Reviewed by: mblock
I had such a wonderful time!
This was the best way to explore the west side of the island, and we visited so many beautiful spots off the beaten path!
Akima and Robert are really good guides and snorkel instructors. They know a lot about the island and gave us rich information about the history of Hawaii, the legends and marine life. They have maps and pictures to illustrate what they are talking about. They are also professional photographers and took many cool pictures for us, including underwater shots. The vehicle was very clean and comfortable and they were on time for pick up.
My favorite time was the snorkel, I am not a good swimmer but the guides made me feel very comfortable and safe.
I would definitely recommend Hawaii Real Nature to everyone visiting Oahu!
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Packages: | Test Package |
Attended as: | Friends |
Posted on: | 2015/10/28 |
Reviewed by: Doug and Sue
It was a long day but the time flew by as our tour guide/driver kept us entertained the entire day. We will definitely recommend this tour to friends and family and we look forward to booking more tours the next time we're in Oahu!
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Packages: | Standard Package |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/10/19 |
Activity Date: | 2015/10/16 |
Reviewed by: Eric
This was one of the most enjoyable and informative tours I have been on, Tiffany was an excellent and knowledgeable host this tour offers more than the tour description indicates and includes detailed interesting natural fauna information. I can highly recomend this very enjoyable tour and is excellent value for money the shrimp meal was enjoyable. Well done Tiffany for making our day day an enjoyable one.
Aloha Eric,
Thank you for your great review, and awesome praise of Tiffany. We will be sure to let her know how much you appreciated her tour. We are thrilled you had a great day, and got an amazing experience with her knowledge and information. That is the Oahu Nature Tour Difference. We hope you join us on another one of our adventures the next time you are in Oahu.
Mahalo,
Oahu Nature Tours
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Packages: | Standard |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/10/18 |
Activity Date: | 2015/10/13 |
Reviewed by: Nikki J from UK
We spent 2 nights in Honolulu after a cruise so as we were short on time so this was the best way to see most of the Island. It was an amazing tour, very well organized and saw a lot of places we would never of seen on our own. Our guide Ernie was brilliant, I would highly recommend this tour for anyone staying on the Island.
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Packages: | Standard Package |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/10/06 |
Activity Date: | 2015/10/03 |
Reviewed by: Laura
Fantastic tour. Was lovely to see so much in one day. Beautiful locations and very well organised.
Mahalo for your great review, Laura! :)
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Packages: | Arizona Memorial & Circle Island Tour |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/09/26 |
Activity Date: | 2015/09/23 |
Reviewed by: Laura
Great day at the north beach. We chose the waterfall hike as our activity in the morning. You could have done snorkelling or bike rides if preferred. We then had free time on waimea bay beach. In the afternoon we had a free lunch instead of doing another activity such as kayaking. Saw sea turtles at a beach on the way home
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Packages: | [From Waikiki] North Shore Tour + Two Fun Adventures |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/09/26 |
Activity Date: | 2015/09/25 |
Reviewed by: Bill
Rained most of day, so sopping wet weather in water or not. Confusion all day about activities etc.
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Packages: | [From Waikiki] North Shore Tour + Two Fun Adventures |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/09/14 |
Activity Date: | 2015/09/11 |
Reviewed by: Dot
The tour guide was not that good, spoke in a soft voice and let the passengers talk too much so it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying.
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Packages: | Prime Rib Dining, Premium Show Seating & Guided Park Tour |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/09/12 |
Activity Date: | 2015/09/05 |
Reviewed by: Janet
We had a brilliant day with Mark seeing the east of the island and stopping at the places we wanted to see - so much fun we extended it another 2 hours on the spot. Mark was very pleasant, knowledgeable and great with our kids too. Highly recommended.
Mahalo Janet for your review. We are pleased to know your enjoyed our "Create Your Own Tour". The foundation of this tour is to be able to enjoy the island your way. Where you want. When you want. It sound's like you did just that. We are pleased we were able to help you make lasting memories. We hope to see you again soon.
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Packages: | SUV Package (6 Passengers) |
Attended as: | Families |
Posted on: | 2015/08/30 |
Activity Date: | 2015/08/13 |
Reviewed by: Bonnie
We had an excellent experience! Will definitely recommend to others
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Packages: | Alii Luau Dinner Buffet Package & All Day Admission (Self-Guided) |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/08/04 |
Activity Date: | 2015/07/31 |
Reviewed by: Family Trips
Overall it was a family friendly, enjoyable and relaxing experience. We all had a wonderful time.
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Packages: | [From Waikiki] North Shore Tour + Two Fun Adventures |
Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Posted on: | 2015/07/30 |
Activity Date: | 2014/08/26 |
Reviewed by: PATRICIA BOLEWSKI
THIS WAS THE BEST TOUR FOR SEEING THE WHOLE ISLAND AND THE GUIDE TOLD US EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ISLAND
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Packages: | Standard Package |
Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Posted on: | 2015/07/02 |
Activity Date: | 2015/06/27 |
Reviewed by: Marcos A Bonilla
Grand Circle tour was great, the guide has a complete knowledge of the island and its history, altough there is not enough time to see the entire Dole Plantation at least it gives you the opportunity to enjoy a good pineapple treat, in general a must in any Hawaii vacation
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Packages: | Standard Package with Lunch & Tram ride [Available until 12/14/2023 ONLY] |
Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Posted on: | 2015/06/22 |
Activity Date: | 2015/06/19 |
Reviewed by: Marcos A Bonilla
Grand Circle tour was great, the guide has a complete knowledge of the island and its history, altough there is not enough time to see the entire Dole Plantation at least it gives you the opportunity to enjoy a good pineapple treat, in general a must in any Hawaii vacation
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Packages: | Standard Package with Lunch & Tram ride [Available until 12/14/2023 ONLY] |
Attended as: | Families with Young Children |
Posted on: | 2015/06/22 |
Activity Date: | 2015/06/19 |
Reviewed by: Karel May 2015
The trip around the island was great I would highly recommend Veltra tours. The trip was made even better by our guide Bethany who was an endless wealth of knowledge, we did this trip2 years ago with another company and I can honestly say that we learnt 10 times more with your tour.
Aloha Karel,
We are so happy you had a great time. Our goal is conservation through education, So anytime we can share our enthusiasm and knowledge of our beautiful island we consider that a great success! We appreciate you taking the time to share your review here and hope we can take you on another adventure during your next visit to Oahu.
Mahalo,
Oahu Nature Tours Management
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Packages: | Standard |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/06/21 |
Activity Date: | 2015/05/28 |
Reviewed by: Jim c
Not as good as I was hoping some parts not good wouldn't do it again or recommend to a friend
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Packages: | Standard Package with Lunch & Tram ride [Available until 12/14/2023 ONLY] |
Attended as: | Couples |
Posted on: | 2015/06/20 |
Activity Date: | 2015/05/29 |
Reviewed by: Johov
Great tour and fantastic guide (Hana). Recommend visiting the submarin Bowfin while in Pearl Harbour
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Packages: | Arizona Memorial & Circle Island Tour |
Attended as: | Solo Travelers |
Posted on: | 2015/06/06 |
Activity Date: | 2015/05/12 |
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Mahalo Brian for your wonderful feedback, very happy you were able to take advantage of another day; however sorry that the guide was not a benefit to you and your group. We will address these concerns with our team. Aloha oe!