Hilo Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Excursion Reviews

Rainbow Falls was beautiful. Can spend more time at the Mac Nut factory. Cheaper Mac nut in Wal-Mart in Kona Lovely flowers in the orchid farm.

Provider: Independent Operator

Not the most exciting of tours, but not every day you get up close to a volcano.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Great tour but a bit on the expensive side.

Provider: Holland America Line

Great tour. Our guide was wonderful--gave us so much history about the park.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Nice leisurely tour. You get to see the highlights and make a few stops along the way. Caution: Don't pick up any souvenir pieces of lava rock along the way. It's against the law and considered bad luck. You don't want to incur the wrath of Madame Pele'.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

Did the Chain Of Craters tour and it was AWESOME!! Got to have lunch that was better then most of the food on the ship!!

Provider: Carnival Cruise Lines

We booked through Roberts Hawaii to see Volcanoes National Park. The Roberts website was really easy to use-- it brought up all of their excursions after I listed the name and departure date of our ship. We also booked a trip to Waimea Canyon on Kauai but that port was canceled due to weather. Roberts greeted us warmly as we disembarked in Hilo then introduced us to our guide, Dean, who has an amazing knowledge of the flora and fauna of the islands. He was one of the best guides we've ever had-- friendly and informative without being silly. And, as it turns out, we were the only two people on the tour so we got to take a long as we wanted at each of the stops-- and he threw in a stop to an orchid farm for us, as well. Roberts is charged a flat fee for every vehicle they take into the park and it was only $5 less than what we paid for our tour. It says a lot that Roberts didn't cancel on us but instead gave us the opportunity to learn about this beautiful island.

Provider: Independent Operator

While here with Ricky's Tours we saw Thurston Lava Tube, Steam Vents, Jaggar Museum, Halemaumau Crater/Kilauea Caldera, 1982 lava flow, Keanakakoi Crater, Kilauea Caldera. Ricky was very helpul even suggesting that we take photos of items when we first arrived in case the clouds moved in while we were inside the visitor center. The clouds did move in and if we had waited we would have missed the photos we had taken at his suggestion. He adjusted his tour to make the best use of the existing weather and once again his local knowledge paid off by making it possible to see things either before the clouds had moved in or after they had lifted. Thanks again Ricky. Ricky is very knowledgeable of the local area and history, he adjusted his tour schedule to make sure we arrived at places before the cruise ship bus tours did so we could avoid the big crouds. He even added a stop to at the local Walmart at the request of all the tour guests. He knew that a couple of Sea Turtles would be at Richardson Park and I got some great photos of them. He was very friendly and at $60. per person his tour is a great value as well as a fun day. HILO WATERFALL TOUR - Banyan Drive - Liliuokalani Garden - Rainbow Falls / Wailuku River - Mau Na Loa Mc Nut Co. / they have snack bar - Akatsuka Orchid Garden - Richardson Ocean Beach Park /black sand beach VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK TOUR - Steam Vents - Jaggar Museum - Halemaumau Crater / Kilauea Caldera - 1982 lava flow - Keanakakoi Crater - Kilauea Caldera - Thurston Lava Tube

Provider: Independent Operator

Great trip as usual, but due to the vog surrounding Kilauea, a good portion of the road was closed.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

Booked directly with Ricky. He is well versed; showed us Rainbow Falls, Lava tree state park, Orchid garden, City tour, Volcano national park and Thurston lava tubes and more... Pleasant tour, at an affordable price. Ricky really gives it all.

Provider: Independent Operator

Wife flew it in a Safari Helicopter and the girls and I drove it. Spectacular from both vantage points. We got closer to the calderas but she got to see the lava down inside. Part of the circle road was closed but plenty was open.

Provider: Independent Operator

Great way to see many parts of the park! Bring a sweater or rain coat - Hilo is the rainiest city in the U.S.A

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

This was another fantastic excursion. Lots of stops for pictures and the tour guide gives you lots of information along the way. There is also a stop at the gift shop there. Tennis shoes are a must to wear.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

Learning about Hawaii Volcanoes was very interesting. The tour guide was very kind and was very knowledgeable. It was kind of disappointing not seeing any lava, but we did get a great picture of a volcano smoking in the back ground. The nut farm was OK.

Provider: Princess Cruises

It was good especially the Lava Tube and the Lava Lake. The bus driver gave us commentary during the bus ride but we were on our own at the volcano and I wish we had had a guide to explain things to us. Other groups had guides who were very informative from the commentary I overheard.

Provider: Princess Cruises

Picked us up at the port, clean van, safe operation and very informative! I would recommend their services!

Provider: Independent Operator

This was part of our six hour city tour. We went to the Volcano National Park but it was difficult to see the crater becasue of the fog. The Jaggar Museum was interesting, and we loved walkling through the Thurston Lava Tube. We also saw the Kilauea Iki Crater.

Provider: Independent Operator

We enjoyed seeing it, but no lava was flowing the day we were there. Mary Lou herself picked us up. There was only 4 people(one other couple). Her husband has a van and also had about 8 people. She carried us to Volcanoes National Park, nut factory, lava tubes, water fall, black sand beach, winery, orchid farm, coffee farm, and etc. It was great. $75.00 pp. Ship wanted over $100 for same trip. We really enjoyed Mary Lou sharing her island with us.

Provider: Independent Operator

Nice, even the second time there. Excellent tour guide. Great plumes of smoke coming from the caldera. Miserably cold and rainy though.

Provider: Holland America Line

The park was great and we we're really glad we did it but our van was truly not safe to be on the road,watch out for island marketing, a booking company that simply sets up tours with local operators. They would note refund our ones even though we foundation slip of paper in the van saying that the wheel was not working correctly and the entire van rattled! Hilo is not a very impressive port.

Provider: Independent Operator

The volcano was great and the bus driver informative. But there were too many short stops on the way to the volcanos and park and on the way back also. Lunch was not very good but I only had the great food on the ship to compare it to.

Provider: Cunard Line