Roberts Hawaii in Kauai

Planning my tours for our Sept, 2017 cruise to Hawaii. We are a group of 8 and I have been unable to find a private tour in Kauai that will take us to Waimea Canyon and Fern Grotto. Has anyone taken a tour there with Roberts Hawaii? Price is pretty good but we are not big fans of large bus tours. I have read that Roberts uses mini buses but maybe that was due to the number of people that signed up for the tour. Any information about Roberts tours would be helpful or if anyone knows of a private tour company that can accommodate 8 of us, that would be even better. Cruisecritic members have so much knowledge, I thank you in advance for your help.:)

We have been looking at Robert's too. Any advice??

We used Roberts several years ago and enjoyed the experience.

Since then we've used rental cars and vans.

Call Roberts and ask what your options would be re vehicle size.

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We used Roberts for that exact excursion in spring of '15, and recommend it. Just keep in mind that you will likely be on a 40 passenger bus, as we were.

I don't believe that Roberts had an option for a small vehicle tour, at that time.

...VTX-Al

The best option, and the least expensive, is to shuttle from the cruise ship over to the car rental site at the airport 5 minutes away and rent a vehicle, dividing the cost by 8. Car rentals are very cheap compared to the per person fee on a tour, and you can then site see when and where you want, on your own schedule. You won't see any more on the tour than you will from your own car. The driving is very easy.

On our last Hawaii trip, one of our roll call group had a tour booked to the canyon. We had our own rental car. There was apparently an accident on one of the roads into the park or some other problem, and the road was blocked at the entry off the highway. The nice policeman told us to backtrack a few miles and take the second entry road into the canyon. We did, and had a nice time in the canyon. I later saw the person on the tour post that when they hit the roadblock, the tour simply returned them to the ship:confused:. Perhaps the driver was looking for an excuse to cut the day short? The second road is well marked, and they had to have been aware of it, so I am mystified that the tour did this. Our cruise mates were very disappointed not to see Waimea Canyon.

Just an FYI--If you are going to rent cars or vans, make your reservations as early as you can. As you get closer, the rates go down as well as the selection. They have also run out of cars. A lot of people rent from https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/cruiseshipreservation.shtml

Just an FYI--If you are going to rent cars or vans, make your reservations as early as you can. As you get closer, the rates go down as well as the selection. They have also run out of cars. A lot of people rent from https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/cruiseshipreservation.shtml

Yes, we have used the DHCS. They offer second driver at no fees, no money upfront, you pay at the counter of the rental company. No reason not to book early, as you can cancel and rebook as many times as needed with no penalty in order to take advantage of price drops.

Waiting until last minute in hopes of getting a better rate seems risky. As inventory drops, the companies may very well raise rates, supply and demand you know. Better to lock in a good rate early, and then rebook if a better rate appears later.

Thanks to everyone for all your great information. We have decided to book Roberts Kauai tour but they won't even open for booking for quite a few months. Still would prefer a private tour but with no luck with that, Roberts will be fine. I did read that the vehicle used for the tour could be a regular bus or a minibus, depending on the number of people who book.

We did both of those tours and was in the mini-bus both times. I don't think we had more than eight of us in our group.

There's no way I would want to make the drive to the canyon in a rental car. I was stressed out - and I was the passenger. The views from the mini-bus were great.

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