Took the eight hour tour to Volcano Park last week. While enjoyable, the tour was just average. Felt kind of rushed. Especially once we got to the park. We got off the bus at the rim of the crater, had to walk a couple hundred yards for the best view, and the guide told use we had twenty minutes. We hardly even got time to take a look before it was time to run to get back on the bus. Next we the stopped at a crater view restaurant. Were told we had forty five minutes. Food didn't come until almost twenty minutes after ordering and we felt rushed to scarf it down and get back to the bus.
Half of the park was shut down due to last years eruptions. The lava tubes we thought we were going to go walk through were closed. The rim road cut off due to lava flow. For the first time since 1983, the volcano wasn't erupting and there wasn't any lava to be seen. Not their fault, but a real disappointment to come 5,000 miles to the worlds most active volcano, expecting to see rivers of lava, only to see no lava flowing. Not even smoke. Just steam vents and a half closed off park.
On an eight hour tour, I think we were in Volcano park for less than 2.5 hours? 45 minutes at the lunch stop.
And every time we stopped, we were rushed to get out, look around five minutes and then get back on the bus.
Also, when we booked the tour, it said no hotel pickup available. We had to meet at the cruise port. While walking over from the hotel, we received a txt from somebody confirming that they could come to our the hotel in 15 minutes 8:45am. Great we thought!
We walked back and waited at the front door. Two other groups also showed up waiting. 9am rolled around and I got a call from the tour driver trying to figure out where we were? I told him three times, "We are Double Tree hotel on Banyan Dr. We just got a txt 15 minutes ago and confirmed the pickup spot" But the guy I was talking to didn't understand. He kept asking, "Where? At the Banyan hotel? Where's that? Seeming completely confused! I don't know how much simpler I could have said, "We are standing right out in front of the DoubleTree. At the front door by valet There's another group of people here waiting, too. I just got a text a half hour ago confirming to meet you at the front door of the DoubleTree at 8:45am" The other group was wondering where he was, because they were told to meet there, too. They were getting really impatient somI got their name and told him "Fernandez " group was also there waiting. He still didn't seem to know where the DoubleTree was. Or why any of us were there waiting? Eventually the bus showed up 25 minutes late and we were on our way to a rushed tour of volcano park.