Big Island Tours

[Beachiekeen]

On Kona and possibly Hilo, I am thinking of doing a tour to give my hubby a break from driving. Many companies seem to get excellent reviews.  My only concern is that it appears they make several shopping/coffee/macadamia nut type of stops.  For those of you that have done a tour of these areas, did you feel like it was worth it or would you have rather driven yourself?  Any companies you would recommend?

[cccole]

Mary Lou's tours will personalize a tour.  If you come up with a plan and post on your roll call I would imagine you would have a full tour in no time.  Maybe pick up lunch for a beach stop?  Most do not want a stop to shop and/or go to the nut farms.  I enjoyed the coffee plantation on Kona side but think the Mauna Loa nut stop is a waste.  The email for Mary Lou's is kensmet@hotmail.com  I hope you find something fun.  Cherie

[Beachiekeen]

Thanks. There will be six of us so in some cases we could pay for a private tour for not much more, so that is an option. It’s just hard to know what stops are worth it and what aren’t.

[cccole]

It might be good to reserve the private tour and then work out the details.  I think I have read that Mary Lou's gets totally booked when cruise ships are in port.  Cherie

[JStar]

Just took marylous tour. Excellent and she will go or not go wherever you want. All small groups. We had 4. She can do 6 easily as well. I would definitely recommend.

[Beachiekeen]

4 hours ago, JStar said:

Just took marylous tour. Excellent and she will go or not go wherever you want. All small groups. We had 4. She can do 6 easily as well. I would definitely recommend.

 

Thanks, she does get excellent reviews, it's hard to think we wouldn't enjoy our time with her.  And since we can do a private tour with 6 of us for not much more than a regular one, I think customizing our tours would do the trick.

[faerievert]

We're doing two tours on the big island because our cruise does stops on both sides. 

 

Kona -- Big Island Air airplane tour -- taking a taxi or rideshare from cruise port to airport 

 

Hilo -- Kamaaina Custom Tours private van tour -- picking up inside the port

Tip: Full day private tours at Hilo (and probably Kona, but I didn't look) are very reasonably priced, IMO, and there are several great private tour companies available! We picked this one because he was most amenable to my itinerary customization requests. I spoke to several different private van tour options, and there were none that I would say to avoid. I just liked Kamaaina best. 

[Beachiekeen]

8 hours ago, faerievert said:

We're doing two tours on the big island because our cruise does stops on both sides. 

 

Kona -- Big Island Air airplane tour -- taking a taxi or rideshare from cruise port to airport 

 

Hilo -- Kamaaina Custom Tours private van tour -- picking up inside the port

Tip: Full day private tours at Hilo (and probably Kona, but I didn't look) are very reasonably priced, IMO, and there are several great private tour companies available! We picked this one because he was most amenable to my itinerary customization requests. I spoke to several different private van tour options, and there were none that I would say to avoid. I just liked Kamaaina best. 

Thanks, I think I recently read about Kamaaina on another thread and have added them to the list.