One of the best trips we have done - Very friendly team and we had so much fun. We recommend this to anyone. Don't forget to bring warm gear.

Memories were made! - The sunset was cool to see in that way and the tour guides were super knowledgeable and made the experience fantastic. The moonrise was also a sight to see and one I hope to never forget. Thank you Zac and Tay for teaching and educating with passion.

Thank you Jess, we had a great time! - So many beautiful sites to see all the way up! Of course, there was a gorgeous sunset and even though we had a full moon, we were able to see so many stars. It was honestly not what I was expecting, but Jessica really was a fantastic guide. She was not only extremely knowledgeable about sooooooo many things, she remembered everyone by name, was very attentive to make sure everyone was feeling alright throughout (and we did have someone in the group who was knit feeling very well). Our trip was sort of combined with another van driven by her husband, Robert. They were an amazing team setting out snacks, telescope, taking pictures for everyone…endless! Our trip was cancelled on Sunday because of weather, but we got lucky all around tonight.

Must do. - Tay was great. Very knowledgeable about Mauna Kea, Hawaiian culture, geology, and astrology. Not to mention, he was very friendly and entertaining. Would definitely recommend this tour to others.

Mauna Kea Summit - Viator style - Today we had breakfast and lunch onboard the ship and then took a tender to the pier around 2:00 pm. We were surprised to find that the pier area had tons of stores and restaurants all within easy walking distance. Right beside the pier was a Marriott Hotel so we arranged for an Uber to pick us up and drive us to the meeting place for our tour today, “Mauna Kea Summit Sunset and Stars” thru Viator. We could have walked it but it was a bit lengthy at our age. We were dropped off at the Bank of Kona which is in the same plaza as the Target store and a variety of commercial stores and some restaurants. We were picked up there by our van driver, Jaime, along with 4-5 other couples. We then were driven about an hour further to pick up 3-4 other couples at a hotel and then Jamie drove us about an hour further while answering questions and providing interesting about the area and about himself. I asked Jamie about all of the goats I saw on either side of the road, sometimes small herds of them. He said they were brought to the island by Captain Cook and other early explorers and since they have no natural predators they have continued to thrive and reproduce, totally unbothered by visitors and vehicles. He then turned us over to two 4x4 Mercedes vehicles driven by Robert and Jesse, husband and wife who met at college in California twenty years earlier. They drove us to the Ranger’s station where we spent about 30 minutes using the bathrooms and getting climatized to the altitude. We watched as the rangers interviewed anyone who wanted to go up to the Summit to assure that they were familiar with how to prepare for altitude sickness, to be sure they had not experienced it before and – if so – how did they adjust, and to be sure they were driving a vehicle that they could manage with all of the switchbacks since the drive is incredibly steep. As a tour group we drove around the line and started our adventure up the mountain. Robert and Jesse stopped off the main road partway up the mountain so that we could see a radio tower that is connected to several others that are all collecting and sharing data and while we were standing around listening to Robert explain the various rock formations we saw the tower move around slowly and the third time it moved it came all the way around so it was facing us, which I found pretty exciting. We loaded up in the vans and continued up and up and up. Watching out the van windows I saw the clouds above us and then beside us and then below us, making it clear how much ground we were truly covering. Finally we made it to the Summit and were able to step out and get our bearings. I immediately noticed that every time I took a step it felt as if I planted my feet but then my legs from the ankles up would feel wobbly. I told my husband how I was feeling and he confessed that he was not feeling all that well, so he asked Robert for some water and chocolate and right after that a few other couples also asked for some so he felt better that he was not the only person feeling the effects of the height. Soon the sun began to set and we watched for about 25 minutes as it set and the array of rich colors because to become more bold and vibrant right before our eyes. Viator provided us all with warm parkas and gloves which was very much appreciated since we joined the tour from our cruise ship so we obviously did not have room to carry bulky clothing like that in our luggage. Robert and Jesse soon gathered us up and began to drive down the steep road a way, stopping periodically to check on other drivers who were progressing slowly or had pulled over, to make sure they were not in any distress or to see if they needed immediate help. They were both very eager to make sure that everyone had a positive and safe experience, even if not with our group. They then took us to another road off of the main road where they set up a table with hot chocolate and lots of snacks (helpful since they had advised us to not have a heavy meal before the trip, so none of us had dinner). While Robert answered questions and checked on everyone Jesse set up her camera equipment and took pictures of each couple using a timed exposure on her camera so that we were able to get a few stars in the background, although not as many as we had expected to see in the darkness. The pictures were emailed to us a couple of days later and were part of our tour package. We finally packed up and Robert and Jesse drove us back to meet Jamie so he could return all of to our pick-up spots. By the time we had dropped off almost everyone there was just us and one other couple who were both returning to the ship. Jamie was kind enough to return us to the pier so we gave him an extra tip for his kindness. This was our fourth and final Viator tour on this vacation and each one was perfectly executed and so worth the price. We were so fortunate on this cruise that the ship started in Honolulu for two days and then moved to Hilo for two days and then finally to Kona for two days. This allowed us the first day to plan later tours in order to get a different experience.

Magnificant Sunset - Unforgettable experience. One of the most dramatic sunsets I had ever seen. Tour guides were great. W. This was the highlight of our trip to the Big Island. Where else can you be staying at sea level and at 79F and a couple hours later at 13K ft at 31 F with a 20 mph wind..

Incredible experience and wonderful tour guide! - Excellent tour! Jessica was an incredible tour guide, and the whole experience was simply fabulous. Highly recommend!

Bucket List Tour - Wonderful trip! Well organized with on-time local pick-up in Waikoloa, then transfer to comfortable Mercedes vans for the ride to the top of Mauna Kea. Beautiful sunset and then stargazing with very knowledgeable guides. The warm coats provided for the summit are the best!

Great stargazing with an okay start - The actual trip up the mountain with tour guide Tay was really good. He knew a lot, took his time to explain things and both sunset and stargazing were fantastic. It‘s definitely worth doing! What keeps this trip from getting five stars was the beginning of the trip: it was unclear that we‘d get picked up by a big bus and then be taken to a transfer point were we‘d hop into 4x4 busses. The bus driver didn‘t make that clear until 45 minutes into the bus drive, while generally being very quiet which one could mistake for in-politeness. Overall, that caused a bit of dissatisfaction among our tour group that could have easily been avoided.

Disappointing - The telescopes were neat to see but they really should have cancelled since there was barely any visibility due to the clouds. Didn’t get to see a sunset or really any stars.