Waikiki Trolley Tours in Honolulu, HI

Well, the driver was excellent! Very funny, nice and informative. And we got the ride for free (we're five!), perhaps because it was really poor weather or bca it was his last tour for the day or bca he was 30 min late according to schedule, and he hadn't got the time to serve us. BUT don't go in a rainstorm!! The trolley had completely open sides, and it was SO cold, and the wind and rain was crazy. We hadn't dressed for rain bca as typical it started very abrubtly. Also the route got changed so instead of doing the palace first, he drove up the mountains to the cemetary first - and we hadn't planned to go that far - especially in this weather. There was a nice view over Honolulu towards Diamond Head from the cemetary. If we had paid it would have been way too expensive bca of the looong route. But now we got to see quite a bit of Honolulu's back side, and we got to see that it really isn't just a beach/vacation paradise. It really is a big city. I rate it 3½

This was my second visit to Waikiki and I didn’t realise how convenient and easy it was to take the trolleys to explore the city. Stopping at major hotels and landmarks around the city and reasonably priced, we used them to visit Pearl Harbour(purple line), Diamond Head (green line) and also for shopping trips to Ala Moana(pink line). The drivers have great information and friendly and the maps are very easy to follow. You can pre buy your tickets or pay as you board the trolleys. They are fun and easy way to go exploring.

The drivers earned 5 stars, but the company and value deserve ZERO Stars 1. An all day pass with the local bus system is cheaper AND faster. 2. Their online purchase option is not really online. You still have to go to their main office (only one office) to get a paper ticket. 3. Their website is difficult to maneuver when a irritating floating "click me" add gets in the way of reading the options 4. The 24/7 phone line/text option is useless. I texted questions to them and I am still waiting for an answer...3 days later My advice....GET A BUS PASS

Prior to arriving in Honolulu on a Princess Cruise, I asked the shore excursion staff on-board if there were any issues getting a seat on this Waikiki trolley, since we've hopped off these hop-on, hop-off trolleys in other cities and could never re-board due to overcrowding. The Princess staff said there should be no problem. So we bought two passes for $90 then boarded the blue line which gives you a tour along the coast including Hanauma Bay where I thought I might hang out, even snorkel possibly before re-boarding another bus. Nope. The driver informed us that if we didn't re-board the bus after a photo stop it would be a $500 fine. Seemed a bit extreme, but okay. Stayed on the bus then the whole time and got off near Waikiki Beach to hang out there. Plans were to reboard the 'red bus' when it came by Waikiki as that was the only bus to return to the cruise ship terminal. By the end of the day, however, the red buses end their runs, while the double decker pink buses with lots of empty seats made multiple stops at Waikiki. After waiting an hour in the hot sun for the red bus to arrive at its appointed time, it didn't. We called Waikiki Trolley office and were told that the red buses had finished for the day. Where was the last one then? They said we could check its GPS location on our smart phone. What??? When we protested we had no clue how to do that, they gave us a 1-800 number instead. Bottom line, the red bus would be there in a few minutes. It did come but it was full. We tried to get on and stand but the driver implored us to take a city bus instead. So we lost $40 by not riding the red bus (if you only ride once, it's $25 per person), plus paying another $5.50 to take the city bus instead. And that's why I hate these trolleys. P.S. After hearing our plight, the people at Waikiki Trolley reached out to me and adjusted our bill accordingly. It was very much appreciated and actually quite unexpected in this world of diminishing customer service. Kudos to them for this and they now have a recommendation from me of their business.

Observations on using the Waikiki Trolley in early February: Two adults purchased the 7 day trolley pass via phone and saved 10% off the $75 cost before we left home but had to go to their central location to pick up our passes. No issues as we just hopped on a pink line trolley near our hotel, showed the driver the email confirmation, and arrived at their hub in about 10 minutes. The hub was a madhouse of people waiting for various trolley tours. We were able to get our passes right away and got reserved seats on a blue line trolley leaving in about 20 minutes. Leaving from the hub guarantees you a seat. You board based on the ticket number you receive. We were 48 and 49 of 60 some people. Blue line trolley (actually one of their double decker buses): a 2 ½ hour round trip along the coast mostly to the Sea Life Park. Great scenery. Several photo stops along the way. You can hop off at the Sea Life Park and take a later trolley back. No one did but a couple of people got on. Quick ride back stopping at two shopping centers. Open sided (no windows) trolley-don't know how they handle rain. Stacey was a great tour guide and talked/joked for about 90% of the tour. On another day we hopped on a pink line trolley to the central location and then took the red line historic tour. We road to Iolani Palace and spent 3 hours there and then caught another red line trolley to the Foster Botanical Gardens. Two hours there and we caught a red line trolley back to our hotel. Worked really well. Note that the Blue, Red and Green line trolley tour guides/drivers were all super friendly and cheerful. The couple of pink line drivers we encountered were either surly or unhappy and not very friendly. Trolley map booklet could use some upgrades to make the trolley times more readable. Their app worked fairly well and really is a download you should have if you use the trolley, as they usually miss the posted times due to heavy traffic delays. Purple line to Pearl Harbor. Pickup near IHOP/Hilton Hawaiian Village went fine. Driver gave good tour all the way to PH. We spent all day at PH, so return was the last trolley of the day. Pickup was 25 minutes late but the app showed us he was coming. Enough people wanted to get on so it was SRO on the trolley. Heavy traffic so it was really slow going. Not many more people could have fit on the trolley. The Green line to Diamond Head was also fine. Shorter length than Blue or Red lines. Could have used more trolleys on the red and purple lines.