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Review of: Customised private tour of Oahu!
We had a great tour with Joe! We saw so many amazing sites and Joe was a fun guide. We were so happy we had a local to get us out of busy Waikiki and show us the beautiful island!
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Date of experience: September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Review of: Customised private tour of Oahu!
We did the Circle Island tour Joe was prompt in responding to our texts beforehand and contacted us the morning of for prompt pickup. He took us to all the places we wanted to go and a few places he wanted us to see. He took us to the best food trucks. There were four of us and we had a variety to choose from. He even ate lunch with us! He was a delight to be around! He didn’t hurry us at any places and told us to text him when ready. Our tour even ran over and he didn’t seem to mind We really enjoyed it!!! We couldn’t believe the review from the Connecticut people!! Some people you just can’t please!! Aloha and Mahalo Joe!!…
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Date of experience: August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Response from Private-Island-Tours, Public Relations Manager at Private Island Tours
Responded 4 weeks ago
Aloha Shirley, Thank you so much for your kind feedback! It's reviewers like you who really help other travelers in their decision making process. We hope you enjoy the rest of your stay on our beautiful island home, Aloha!
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Review of: Customised private tour of Oahu!
We booked with this company due to the great reviews on tripadvisor. Unfortunately, our tour was a complete bust. I wanted to incorporate an east side tour with an activity at Kualoa Ranch. I reached out to Rita at Private Island Tours to see if this was possible - she said it was, but would cost us $50 extra to make our guide "comfortable" with the change in itinerary which I thought was odd as they call themselves "100% customized tours" on their website, but I agreed to the extra charge and booked their east side itinerary. I made it very clear in all of my correspondence with them that we needed to be at Kualoa Ranch by 10:45 am to check in for our activity. On the day of our tour, Joe arrived to pick us up at 9:00 am from Ko Olina, giving us ample time to get to the east side, perhaps see one site and then check in at the ranch. Instead, Joe insisted we needed to see the North Shore. I questioned whether that was a good idea given our time constraints and he said it wouldn't be an issue. It turned out to be a disaster. He first took us to the Dole Plantation, a spot we had not requested and was not on our itinerary. We basically walked in, took a picture and walked out as I knew we were on a time constraint. He then drove us through Haleiwa which is lovely, but, again, not on the itinerary. If we had wanted to see these sites, I would have booked the North Shore itinerary. Once we passed the town, we found ourselves in stand-still, bumper to bumper traffic. It was 10:15 am and Joe insisted he would have us at the ranch by 11:00 am. During our drive, Joe had mentioned he was in stand-still traffic just a few days before. He said he didn't know why "they" didn't tell people when there would be traffic or road construction. I didn't know who "they" was, but asked if he ever considered using Waze to detect traffic issues. He said they didn't use it on Oahu. While we sat in our traffic, I pulled up Waze and, lo and behold, it is a thing on Oahu and it was telling me we wouldn't arrive at the ranch until 11:30 am which is when our activity started. I then got on the phone frantically calling the ranch to see if we could reschedule. They pushed us to noon, but the traffic still wasn't moving. Joe then claimed he knew the owner of the ranch and could work this out for us. He called the ranch and asked to speak with the head of HR (not the owner). He said he thought the guy's name was "Larry" (so it turned out, he didn't really know anyone there). At that point, he turned the car around so we would drive all the way back the way we came. Waze now said we would arrive at 12:25 pm, too late even for our re-scheduled tour. I called the ranch again and they told us they were now sold out for the next three days and they couldn't accommodate us. I really couldn't believe it. We had booked this tour and the ranch activity weeks ago (all of which cost about $1200) and it was the one thing my son was really looking forward to. If Joe had simply stuck to the itinerary we had booked, none of this would have happened. So after driving almost 3 1/2 hours, only getting out to briefly see one site we hadn't requested, we finally arrived at the ranch. The staff at the ranch initially couldn't accommodate us, but then at exactly 12:30 pm, they told us to quickly fill out a waiver and jump in a truck as they, luckily, had last minute cancellations for their 12:30 pm tour - so, without any lunch or time to go to the bathroom, we went on our activity. It just should not have been this stressful. Why Joe couldn't have simply stuck to the itinerary we had booked is beyond me. He kept saying, "some things are out of our control." No, he had ample time to get us to the east side of the island if he had simply stuck to the itinerary we had booked. After the tour, because the tour ended later than our original one, we had only about 15 -20 minutes to see one thing on the east side before we had to start driving back to Ko Olina. Our tour basically consisted of driving endlessly and needlessly because of Joe's poor judgement and poor time management. It was so stressful and a complete waste of time and money. Joe is probably great if he sticks to his regular itinerary, but this company should not take people's money and tell them they can adjust for special requests when they obviously can't. I've reached out to the company to express our disappointment in our experience and they refuse to take any responsibility for our completely stressful, bungled day. Overall, just a terrible experience.…
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Date of experience: August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Response from Private-Island-Tours, Public Relations Manager at Private Island Tours
Responded 4 weeks ago
Aloha Martha, We are so sorry to hear you were not 100% satisfied with your tour. We have been made aware that Joe felt so bad about the traffic that he offered you folks another tour for free later in the week, but you unfortunately declined. We always try to accommodate special requests as best we can, but sometimes it is best to save other excursions (i.e. a Kualoa Zip Line tour) for a separate day, instead of trying to incorporate them in your 8 hour site seeing tour with us. Unfortunately there has been a bit more traffic than usual, due to poor management of road work up on the North Shore. I was pleased to hear that Joe was still able to get you folks on your Zip Line tour, even under the unusual circumstances. Now, we know that Joe always go above and beyond for his guests, and I am certain he just wanted to make sure you folks didn't miss out on our beautiful North Shore. That being said, it is quite a drive, so I'm sure Dole Pineapple Plantation was just a nice spot to stretch your legs and take advantage of the clean rest rooms along the way. We have been made aware that you have falsely disputed your credit card charge with us after booking online. This is considered committing fraud with your credit card company. There is quite a bit of scamming going on right now unfortunately, even to our small local businesses here on O'ahu. Again, our deepest apologies for our tour not living up to your expectations due to the traffic up North. We hope you have better experiences on our beautiful island moving forward. Aloha!
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Review of: Customised private tour of Oahu!
Fantastic private tour of Oahu! Our guide, Island Joe was super funny, knowledgeable and entertaining. Among other fun stops, he took us to a couple of fantastic beaches with the clearest blue water- we had a great day!!
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Date of experience: July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Review of: Customised private tour of Oahu!
Our tour guide Joe ("Fun Joe") was an excellent host and provided us with real local insights to help us better understand our new island home. Would highly recommend this company and Joe in particular.
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Date of experience: July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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