Mary Lou's Tours

[CruzinKristin]

I have been unsuccessful with  trying to book a tour with Mary Lou online.  I  finally gave up and sent an email asking about dates.  Below is the automated response I received.  Condolences to the family.

 

Aloha and thank you for contacting us.

 

This is an automated response.

 

We apologize for any inconvenience, but at this time, due to the sudden and unexpected passing of Ken Smet, Marylou’s Big Island Guided Tours is temporarily unavailable.

 

No new tours are being accepted.

Tours through March are being cancelled at this time.  You will receive a separate correspondence if you have a tour with us in March.

All other existing tours booked on the calendar will be contacted in the event it needs to be cancelled.

 

We appreciate your understanding and patience at this difficult time for Marylou and the ohana(family).

 

For anyone that knows Ken and Marylou, or a return guest that would like to send their condolences, please feel free to use the address below:

 

Smet Ohana

68-1845 Waikoloa Rd.

Suite 106-127

Waikoloa, HI 96738

Edited February 23, 2019 by CruzinKristin
left out a word

[Beachiekeen]

Oh no, thank you for sharing! My deepest condolences to Mary Lou and the family. 

[sahresko]

We had tours booked with her for March.   Her daughter in-law sent the cancellation notice to us and provided the following recommendations.  I am busy researching and rebooking as we leave in less than 2 weeks.

 

Gil and Tina with 'Aina Tours
8O8-315-3O97

http://ainatours.com

 

Josh and Jill with Mauka Makai Adventures:
808-640-7557 or 808-937-7917

http://maukamakaiadventures.com

 

Scott, owner/operator of Apau Tours
808-747-4296

https://www.apauhawaiitours.com

[Beachiekeen]

Mauka Makai gets great reviews and I have seen it recommended here. That’s who we will use probably if we need a tour.

[Rmtjulie]

I have also been trying to contact MaryLou regarding a tour we have booked for May 3/19. I have emailed multiple times to see if it will be running or cancelled but have received no response.  We leave in two weeks now and I would like to have a back up plan. 

Hopefully I hear back soon. We are cruising the celebrity eclipse 

[sahresko]

We had also booked with MaryLou (for March) but later receive an email from her daughter in-law that MaryLou's husband had suddenly (and unexpectedly passed) and all March  tours were cancelled.   They did provide recommendations for others tours and we were pleased with our tours.     This is part of the email we received and at the end is her daughter in-law's contact info so you may try reaching out to her. 

 

We apologize for any inconvenience, but due to the unexpected passing of Ken Smet, Marylou is unable to take your tour. She is in mourning. We are removing all tours through March from her calendar.

We hope you understand the very challenging circumstances she and the family are dealing with.

We have a few recommendations you can try; reputable companies that give great tours. Some are also husband and wife teams, and may have room for you on their calendar:

 

Gil and Tina with 'Aina Tours
8O8-315-3O97
http://ainatours.com

Josh and Jill with Mauka Makai Adventures:
808-640-7557 or 808-937-7917
http://maukamakaiadventures.com

Scott, owner/operator of Apau Tours
808-747-4296
https://www.apauhawaiitours.com

Junior, owner/operator Holoholo Taxi Tours
808-936-0149

Should you need anything further, please feel free to contact me at the following:

808-989-6907

 

[Rmtjulie]

Thanks,

I noticed all tours were cancelled for April also. 

[JBSteelerfan]

11 hours ago, Rmtjulie said:

I have also been trying to contact MaryLou regarding a tour we have booked for May 3/19. I have emailed multiple times to see if it will be running or cancelled but have received no response.  We leave in two weeks now and I would like to have a back up plan. 

Hopefully I hear back soon. We are cruising the celebrity eclipse 

 

Please let us know if/when you hear back and if your tour is still on.  We have 1 booked the following week and same situation.  Thanks!

[lr657]

16 hours ago, Rmtjulie said:

I have also been trying to contact MaryLou regarding a tour we have booked for May 3/19. I have emailed multiple times to see if it will be running or cancelled but have received no response.  We leave in two weeks now and I would like to have a back up plan. 

Hopefully I hear back soon. We are cruising the celebrity eclipse 

 

4 hours ago, JBSteelerfan said:

 

Please let us know if/when you hear back and if your tour is still on.  We have 1 booked the following week and same situation.  Thanks!

Yes, please let us know if you receive a response from Marylou's as we also have a tour booked the week after yours.

 

I did email Marylou's Tours on March 30th to confirm whether our tour was going to occur. I received this response on April 2nd. I realize the family is going through some very tough times at the moment, but was hoping that by now they would be able to make a decision regarding their May tours. 

 

Below is my response on April 2nd:

 

MARYLOU’S AUTO RESPONDER

 

Aloha and thank you for contacting us.

This is an automated response.

 

We apologize for any inconvenience, but at this time, due to the unexpected passing of Ken Smet, Marylou’s Big Island Guided Tours is temporarily unavailable.

 

 No new tours are being accepted at this time.

 

Tours through April are cancelled.  You should have received a separate correspondence if you had a tour with us in April.

 

All other existing tours booked on the calendar will be contacted in the event it needs to be cancelled. We are just taking it month by month.

 

 We appreciate your understanding and patience at this difficult time for Marylou and the ohana(family).

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by lr657

[Rmtjulie]

On 4/13/2019 at 10:11 AM, lr657 said:

 

Yes, please let us know if you receive a response from Marylou's as we also have a tour booked the week after yours.

 

I did email Marylou's Tours on March 30th to confirm whether our tour was going to occur. I received this response on April 2nd. I realize the family is going through some very tough times at the moment, but was hoping that by now they would be able to make a decision regarding their May tours. 

We just made the decision to cancel the tour and requested a full refund.

After receiving no response to two different emails we started looking into other tours, because we leave in under two weeks most of them are now full. I have no problem with the tour being cancelled but sufficient notice would be nice so we can make other arrangements. We decided to switch gears and book the Waipio Valley in the Hamakua District.

Cheers and all the best with your tour

On 4/13/2019 at 10:11 AM, lr657 said:

 

 

[lr657]

1 hour ago, Rmtjulie said:

We just made the decision to cancel the tour and requested a full refund.

After receiving no response to two different emails we started looking into other tours, because we leave in under two weeks most of them are now full. I have no problem with the tour being cancelled but sufficient notice would be nice so we can make other arrangements. We decided to switch gears and book the Waipio Valley in the Hamakua District.

Cheers and all the best with your tour

 

 

We plan to wait until then end of this week and then cancel also. We've heard wonderful things about Marylou's tours and were really looking forward to it, but we leave in 17 days and will need to finalize our plans by that time. 

[lr657]

We were booked on Marylou's tours for both Hilo on May 8th and Kona on May 9th. We just received a cancellation email for both tours this morning. We had already booked a "Plan B" tour for Hilo, which we are now glad we did. We're now working on a decision on what to do in Kailua-Kona.

[Rmtjulie]

We ended up canceling before we found out if they were going to cancel the tour. I had started to call around and many of the tour companies were already fully booked so we needed to make a decision. In the end we found a tour that suited our needs. We are looking forward to visiting Hawaii next week. 

Cheers!

ps we have a snorkel tour booked out of Kona with the company “Into the blue” to swim with wild dolphins, you should check it out...all the best

Edited April 22, 2019 by Rmtjulie

[lr657]

12 hours ago, Rmtjulie said:

We ended up canceling before we found out if they were going to cancel the tour. I had started to call around and many of the tour companies were already fully booked so we needed to make a decision. In the end we found a tour that suited our needs. We are looking forward to visiting Hawaii next week. 

Cheers!

ps we have a snorkel tour booked out of Kona with the company “Into the blue” to swim with wild dolphins, you should check it out...all the best

 

We had already booked another tour for Hilo as a "Plan B" since we were pretty much expecting the tours to be cancelled. Thank you for the info for Kona. I'm going to take a look at that tour.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

 

[cat shepard]

@sahresko

@Rmtjulie

 

and

@lr657

 

I just received my cancellation notice. Would you each share what you did in Hilo with me? And which company you used? And whether it was a custom tour? And if you do not mind, what you paid for it? 

 

I know prices can change by season, but I am just trying to get an idea. I will share the info with my roll call members, so we will all benefit from your help.

 

Thank you!

 

Ann

[lr657]

2 hours ago, cat shepard said:

@sahresko

@Rmtjulie

 

and

@lr657

 

I just received my cancellation notice. Would you each share what you did in Hilo with me? And which company you used? And whether it was a custom tour? And if you do not mind, what you paid for it? 

 

I know prices can change by season, but I am just trying to get an idea. I will share the info with my roll call members, so we will all benefit from your help.

 

Thank you!

 

Ann

 

We booked the Volcano National Park tour with Robert's Hawaii. It was similar in price to Marylou's tour. We are currently cruising and  were in Hilo today. We are very pleased with the Robert's Hawaii tour. We were able to see a lot of Volcano National Park in addition to a few other stops.

[sahresko]

We had booked with another company for a private tour but they cancelled the day of due to illness.  We found Malahini Tours (malahine.tours@gmail.com) outside the ship and they took us on for $70/person.  W had a great tour.  It was a small van but they also have a 15 passenger van.  We went to Rainbow falls, black sand beaches, fissure 8 and fissure 2 (where the lava flowed in 2018), and Mauna Loa Macademia nut factory.  We did not go to Volcano National Park because they said it wasn’t worth the $75 admission with so much of it closed.  However, others we talked to said it was worth it …so if you want to go there, make sure you pick a group that is going!    For Kona, we used Mauka Makai Adventure  and many had also used them for Hilo and were very coplimentary of their tours.

[cat shepard]

@sahresko 

 

@lr657

 

thank you both so much!

 

i found a couple of sites that list the best things to do in Hilo, if we prioritize our list, that should help make our decision.

 

Ann

 

 

[eyegirl]

Hi all

I used Ricky's tour when I was in Hilo...it was  reasonable and terrific!

https://www.rickystourshawaii.com/

 

Hope this helps...