My 21 year old daughter and I took the Best of the West cruise on May 20. We had a wonderful time. The crew was professional and knowledgable. We did not see spinner dolphins but we did see spotted dolphins bowriding, pilot whales, brown boobies and swam with green sea turtles. I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone interested in seeing a more wild side of Oahu. Edmond, Oklahoma

We booked a morning wildlife charter tour with this company. I called on Friday, May 16 to book a trip on either the following Monday or Wednesday. First of all, when I called, the woman on the phone refused to take my reservation by hand and made me book on-line. That was annoying, but I did so and we received a detailed email confirmation. We followed the instructions to a T, which told us to be at the dock at 6:30 am sharp. Well, by 7:30, no one had shown up. There is an "phone number" to call that is supposedly for the boat, which we tried about 10 times, but it kept going to some random person's voicemail (i.e., no mention of WildSide at all). I was finally able to get through to someone on the phone in the office, and he told me that the trip had been canceled!! When I asked why no one had informed us, he didn't have any explanation for me, except for that I "wasn't on his list of passengers" despite the fact that I had an email confirmation from two days prior. The boat was broken, according to the gentleman I spoke with. I never received another phone call or anything in conciliation for their mistake.

I would recommend booking on Dolphin Adventures instead, who was nice enough to take us on their boat when Wildside totally left us hanging. They leave out of the same harbor, and it was the absolute best thing we did on the trip. The crew is fun and knowledgeable, and it was the most amazing snorkeling, The spot they take you to swim with dolphins was swarming with them!

If you do decide to book with Wild Side, I recommend calling their office the day before to confirm that you are on their list and that the cruise is still taking place.

My partner and I researched for weeks before traveling Oahu which tour among the hundreds we should select. We decided on wildside and called for reservations. At no time during the conversation did they mention that there would be no signs directing customers at the dock nor which boat to look for among the half dozen other tours available. My partner and I called a second time when we were a couple blocks from the dock and again no mention that we would have to find their boat on a private dock, that was locked when we arrived, among the various other tours. Other tour groups did have signs and were rounding up there respective customers. After waiting for 45 minutes and asking around, we took a different tour since we traveled 2 hours. Wildside then charged our account $353 and berated my partner and myself during a telephone call for not being able to find their boat on a private, locked boat dock. I was especially shocked at their behavior in the aftermath of the missed tour and our issue is currently pending arbitration. Beware.

This was one of the highlights of our trip to Hawaii! We took the smaller boat tour for 6 people that included whale and dolphin watching and snorkeling. It was a very nice clean boat and a friendly and knowledgeable boat staff. Being on a smaller vessel we had more say in how long we stayed looking for whales and snorkeling. We pulled up to a lagoon after this and dropped anchor and watched dolphins for almost an hour. It was incredible. We were served a delicious lunch and were entertained by the dolphins swimming around the boat. You could opt to snorkel and swim with them but we stayed on the boat and watched. I cannot say enough good things about the tour, the operator, or their professionalism. This is the thing that we talk about the most when we tell others about our trip/ Thank you Tori and Melissa!