Do NOT book your tours with Hawaiian Activties
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 1/12/12
I paid extra $20.94 for the guarantee to Hawaiian Activities and took the Dolphin Swim & Snorkel with the Ko Olina Ocean Adventures on Jan 2, 2012. We were out there for several hours but unfortunately, we did not see any dolphin. In fact, we did not even see any turtle.
The tour guides (Austin and Tim) then took us further out to the ocean to search for whales. Again, much to our disappointment, we managed to spot just a whale or two but they were more than a mile away. Even with high power zoom lens, I could manage to capture just a picture or two of the whales’ tails (a very small size at that).
Upon returning to the marina, I queried about the “re-ride” with the Ko Lina Ocean Adventures’ reservationist, Ms. Patty (808-396-2068). Ms. Patty then directed me to contact Hawaiian Activities. But as of this writing, I have yet to hear anything from Hawaiian Activities. I do NOT think that Hawaiian Activities will ever return my email.
My conclusion: Do NOT book your tours with Hawaiian Activities because they will NOT honor and return any request for “re-ride” even if you paid for it. Ms. Patty actually argued that the guaranteed is for “Dolphin or whales”. But I did not sign up for whale watching. I was only interested in seeing the dolphins (hint: the name of the tour is “Dolphin Swim & Snorkel”) . I have been to Maui and Alaska to watch the whales and believe me, Oahu is NOT the best place to watch the whales.
Here is another interesting thing: Hawaiian Activities will send you an email to request for your review about the cruise. But if you click on the link, it will say “There has been a system error”. This is indicative that they are not sincere about getting your input.