CruzinKristin Posted February 23, 2019 #1 Share Posted February 23, 2019 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachiekeen Posted February 23, 2019 #2 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Oh no, thank you for sharing! My deepest condolences to Mary Lou and the family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahresko Posted February 24, 2019 #3 Share Posted February 24, 2019 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachiekeen Posted February 24, 2019 #4 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Mauka Makai gets great reviews and I have seen it recommended here. That’s who we will use probably if we need a tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rmtjulie Posted April 12, 2019 #5 Share Posted April 12, 2019 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahresko Posted April 13, 2019 #6 Share Posted April 13, 2019 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rmtjulie Posted April 13, 2019 #7 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Thanks, I noticed all tours were cancelled for April also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBSteelerfan Posted April 13, 2019 #8 Share Posted April 13, 2019 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lr657 Posted April 13, 2019 #9 Share Posted April 13, 2019 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rmtjulie Posted April 14, 2019 #10 Share Posted April 14, 2019 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: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lr657 Posted April 15, 2019 #11 Share Posted April 15, 2019 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lr657 Posted April 21, 2019 #12 Share Posted April 21, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rmtjulie Posted April 22, 2019 #13 Share Posted April 22, 2019 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lr657 Posted April 22, 2019 #14 Share Posted April 22, 2019 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat shepard Posted May 9, 2019 #15 Share Posted May 9, 2019 @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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lr657 Posted May 9, 2019 #16 Share Posted May 9, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahresko Posted May 9, 2019 #17 Share Posted May 9, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat shepard Posted May 9, 2019 #18 Share Posted May 9, 2019 @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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyegirl Posted May 20, 2019 #19 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Hi all I used Ricky's tour when I was in Hilo...it was reasonable and terrific! https://www.rickystourshawaii.com/ Hope this helps... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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