All in all, we had a good day...not a great day!
Our tour driver was a recently un-retired local woman who, in all seriousness, should have stayed retired. She was dramatically unsure of herself, had no managerial or organizational skills, was scattered in her thoughts and my wife and I quite uncomfortable with what the day was going to be like after meeting her for the first time when she came to pick us up!
This all aside, she definitely knew the route as she knew every turn! She knew where to stop for pictures as well.
Her commentary along the ride was painful! She rambled on and on from topic to topic and never stopped talking the entire time. Many times, we had absolutely no idea what she was talking about as it was completely unrelated to the tour. We never knew where we were or how long it would be to complete the tour.
The tour was long. We left our condo at 7 AM and returned at 7:30 PM. So, be prepared for a very long day.
Lunch was quite good (even tho our driver did her best to mess up on the lunch orders that she gathered at the start of the tour - again - she had no management skills and couldn't handle the 8 lunch orders from the menu that she handed us). Ultimately, she got it right but it took her no less than 4 tries to get it right.
The views were incredible and we took some fabulous pictures.
If I was faced with taking this tour again...I would definitely do it. But, I would do a private tour in a Jeep Wrangler where it would be just a couple of tourists and the driver. As I mentioned earlier, our tour guide had no management skills. She never informed the tourists when to return to the van when we stopped for pictures or lunch. As a result, 2 of the 4 couples routinely went off to do their thing and the tour driver had to search for them in order for the tour to continue.
Одговор домаћина
Sep 2022
Aloha Dick,
We are sorry that you were disappointed in your driver (Lynn). As a regular procedure we contacted the other guests onboard and Lynn had already contact us during the tour to advise of the difficult passenger she had onboard so we were prepared to respond adequately, That being said, we would be happy to respond to your review.
Mahalo Tours does go all the way around Haleakala (full circle) and it’s a 10 - 12 hour depending on the hotel you are staying (that is clearly stated in our tour information). She showed aloha which is our culture (it’s not indecisive or disorganized to be polite) our drivers give extensive commentary all day and the other passengers onboard were very satisfied with her narrative and tour. Unfortunately sometimes we cannot meet everyone's expectations no matter how hard we try.