Complete Pearl Harbor Experience Tour Departing Maui

We booked the Complete Pearl Harbor Tour with Aloha Sunshine Tours. We were staying in Maui and had to catch a flight over (which was a part of the Complete Tour package). I called Aloha Sunshine Tours the day before just to make sure that there were not any special instructions that we needed to know about. They sent me a text with the meeting location at the airport after we arrived. We got to the pickup location that was texted to me a bit early and waited. We heard our name called from behind us - we headed over and the driver was quick to point out that we were in the wrong place - I tried to show him my text that showed where we were to meet - he ignored what I was trying to show him and just told me I was wrong. He said we were late and need to get moving. This is just how it began. The driver was rude and disrespectful to us numerous times. Once we got to Pearl Harbor, we were following him to the Pearl Harbor gate - he was vaping and it was drifting back into our faces - he snapped back that we need to keep up - we explained that we did not appreciate his vaping in our face and we were trying to stay back far enough it did not bother us. He snapped at us again - he got face to face with my wife arguing over him vaping and told us if we did not like it - we could find our own way around the tour and find our own way back to the airport. This was probably the moist unprofessional company representative I have ever came across. The Pearl harbor Tour itself went well. Once we got away from our tour guide. Fast forward to the end of the tour - we were supposed to get driven to the downtown area to see some historic sights - the driver decided not to do that and take us to the airport over 3 hours early. Skipping part of the tour that we paid for. The next day I called the office to let them know how it went for us. The person that took my call said that I needed to put it in writing and email it to them. Once the owner got in, he would review it and get back to me. I did the write up that evening and emailed to the email address they gave me. After 2 days with no response, I sent a follow up email making sure that my previous email was received - still no response as of 7-10-2023. We would not recommend this company - they were not our first choice - the first choice was all booked up (2 months early). Now I know why Aloha had openings. Worst experiencer we have ever had in all of our travels.

Pearl Harbor was a great experience. Getting there to enjoy it could have been better. Most of our vacation time was spent on Maui, but we planned a day trip to O'Ahu to visit the memorial. We booked through TripAdvisor and everything seemed to be going smoothly until the day before we left. It took me about twenty minutes of going through texts and emails for me to find the flight confirmation code. I had to copy and paste that to the airline's website to get the boarding passes. (Inconvenience was mostly my fault, but I think TripAdvisor could have made it easier to find). Meeting and pick-up was scheduled at Honolulu Airport at 7 a.m., however the the flight that TripAdvisor booked for us was scheduled to land at 7:15. We waited in the meeting area for a few minutes before calling Aloha Sunshine Tours. They were friendly and helpful. Told me that their shuttle had mechanical problems and that they would send an Uber. He arrived about 15 minutes later and got us to the harbor. ($10 tip that I wasn't planning on). We arrived there probably an hour later that we would have if an earlier island hopper flight was booked. The wait to get get to the USS Arizona was long but expected. The USS Missouri was a great experience and the Pacific Aviation Museum and submarine exhibit were enjoyable as well, except for the fact that we had to rush through the last two in order to catch the pick-up shuttle by 4 p.m. Jorge was a great tour guide for the city tour. (He did unknowingly inform us that there was never a problem with the shuttle). Knowledgeable and friendly. I do recommend Seeing Pearl Harbor, but however you choose to set up the planning, make sure that there are no scheduling conflicts that could reduce the amount of time you get to spend there.

You pay hundreds of dollars to be driven there, then they tell you to go line up in the standby line to try to get a ticket the USS Arizona. I repeat, you do not get a ticket for the main thing you came to see, even though their website says "Your epic day starts at the USS Arizona Memorial". If you want tickets you need to get your own when they are released by the National Park Service. Half are released 8 weeks ahead, so if you plan ahead you can get them. The other half are released at 3pm local time the day before, but the day before ones are snapped up within a minute, so you need to be logged in ready and click faster than other hopefuls. Our tour guide was OK. He did a good job on the drive through downtown Honolulu part telling us the history. I learned some things, although he was an hour late to the morning pickup location, at one point yelled at passengers for talking amongst themselves rather than paying attention to his commentary and at a different point started to drive away without me as he didn't count how many people got off and then back on the bus. I'd recommend you just get your own ticket and Taxi/Uber/Lyft the 10 minutes it takes to get there. If you really like being on a tour bus, feel free but make sure you book your own USS Arizona ticket. Personally I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars to be yelled at by angry man who took an hour to pick us up. You can get that from an angry taxi driver at a fraction of the price.