Catamaran Tours- recs?

[mxkris]

Was the water really choppy/rough going out and in? I get extreme motion sickness but can take meds. (Always take a bunch at WDW). I really want to do a catamaran but that's my biggest concern!

 

[skylynx]

We had booked Ko Olina Adventures but they called us two days prior to our sail to say they had to cancel because they had to do maintenance on the boat. We tried to book the Aulani guest-only dolphin sail and snorkel, but the person on the phone at the Aulani excursion desk said there were only three people booked at the time and they needed six to go, so there was a fair chance it wouldn't happen. She did offer instead the non-Aulani only dolphin sail and snorkel in the morning which was less money to begin with and we got an additional $25 off the excursion for being DVC members. It was fantastic. We were really happy to get the round trip shuttle ride included as there was a Christmas parade going on up by the harbor and we would have had NO chance of parking anywhere nearby if we had driven ourselves. There were only about 15 of us on the boat which was incredible. We'd gone on a similar catamaran snorkel cruise off St. Thomas on a Disney Cruise and the boat was PACKED. It took so long to get everyone in the water for the snorkel some people were already trying to come back up the stairs before the rest of us had even gotten off the boat. Ended up with only about 10 minutes in the water. Disappointing. This cruise, however, was superb. We had a simple breakfast with fruit and muffins, saw spinners, snorkeled at a great location for about a half hour, then had a nice deli-style lunch. Because there were so few of us, the crew didn't bother with the two drink tickets limit and it was open bar the whole time with craft beer on draft and cocktails. Can not say enough good things about Hawaii Nautical!

 

[K9 Keno]

2

 

[BradleyCB]

Resurrecting this old thread. Two questions we are considering, and we need your help! First, would you recommend Ocean Joy Cruises or Ko Olina Ocean Adventures? Second, and a complete novice question, but is there a difference in the type of fish and animals you would expect to see if you go in the morning versus the afternoon?

We will be at Aulani this June. Thank you for your help!