We took this 6 hour cruise as a day excursion from a cruise ship and were disappointed. Our guide Bob? talked a lot about Hawaii, which was ok, but the bus was a problem. Fourteen on the tour, but the bus windows were tinted very dark grey. Sitting on the side behind a secondary door we were unable to see very well. We spent most of the time in the bus and were left at each stop without any commentary or information. The tour was not in the order listed in the description. We were not allowed to take food off the cruise ship and food options at the macadamia farm were very poor. This was supposed to be a lunch stop but we were there at 11am not lunch time. This was the only place to buy food and we could not be dropped in Hilo at the end of the tour to buy food.
Awesome Tour! We highly recommend it. We enjoyed the waterfalls at Rainbow Falls. Walking through the Lava Tube was such a neat experience and then getting to see the Red Hot Lava bubbling up at Mauna Loa Volcano was such a thrill.
We actually made a mistake when we booked this tour. We thought it was leaving Kona but it actually left from Hilo. Our mistake, but once the problem was known the company switched us to a tour that the company ran from Kona. Many thanks for your help. Absolutely great day and the information Bob gave us was excellent. Can highly recommend the tour from Kona. Thanks again Bob. Geoff and Paola.