Where should I begin? My daughter (7 years) and I have done banana boat previously and it was FUNNNN. With Aloha Watersports, it was an absolute waste of $$$$. Not only it was way more pricer, but it was worthless. Seems like they are just a bunch of kids running this show. What was supposed to be a fun/memorable experience for our family, one of their crew members turned into a traumatic experience for my 7-year-old.
Review on Banana boat ride: Their website falsely advertises, "2 rides for one" as a special. They take you to the parasailing ship in those banana boats and that's about it. The Banana boat ride is supposed to be at least 20 min. We did a Banana boat with captain 'Iceman'. He just drove to the ship and that's about it. On our way back, another captain was doing a banana boat for another group and it seemed like they were having fun. Looking at the other captain, Iceman did one trick where he turned fast and water splashed on us but that's about it.
Parasailing: We did it with Captain Tarzan. There were 6 people on the boat. Two groups: me and my daughter and then a group of 4 adults. My daughter and I were the first ones to ride. All he did was put us in the air, just in one place. When we returned, I asked him why he didn't move us at all. He said because of the weight my daughter's weight isn't enough for him to move it safely. Understandable. I asked him if we could go again with a grown-up from another group. Hearing this, the other person who was with Captain Tarzan got pissed and told me I have to pay again. I looked at his face and thought to myself Seriously!!! I have paid more than $200 for this. Anyway, I didn't say anything to this person. Nonetheless, Captain Tarzan made a call to I guess his crew on the shore and informed me that if one of the grown-ups from the other group agreed to go with us he would fly again. We were happy. Everyone from the other group was willing to go. The heaviest among all went with us though. Again making it tipping on his side. Bummer for us again. My only recommendation for Captain Tarzan is to pay a little more attention to the weight distribution concept. Since our first attempt was not great, he should have paid more attention to weight. There was another guy almost of my weight and that would have made it a better balance and better experience for us.
The second person with Captain Tarzan was so pissed that we are getting a second ride. First, this guy rudely told me that my daughter should be on the corner. I was thinking doesn't make sense, this whole thing would tip on the side. Anyways, Captain Tarzan told him that my daughter should be in the middle. He got mad and took her buckle off so rudely. The poor girl got scared and didn't even want it anymore. When we flew, I asked her what happened to her and why she didn't seem happy. She said, "Nothing" She just wanted it to end. I thought maybe she was tired. When we returned to the shore, I asked her if she was okay. She said, "Why was that boy so mad at her the second time. The way he held my arm and moved, I got scared". She doesn't want to do parasailing ever again. Didn't know that what I wanted to be a memorable moment would turn into a traumatic experience for my daughter.
In summary, Captain Iceman doesn't have the skillset needed to ensure that people get a fun/thrill banana boat ride.
Captain Tarzan is good but just couldn't provide us with a good experience because he didn't think about weight distribution.
Captain Tarzan's assistant [don't know his name] is rude and arrogant. He pays no respect to the customers or their experience and lacks the human decency to be kind to children. It wasn't like I was asking for a free ride. I paid $192.57 for reservation $ 5.40 for locker $50 for pictures. People do water sports for fun/thrill. If they had given us that experience the first time, I wouldn't have asked the captain to do it again. Or when booking, they should have told us that since it's just you and ur daughter; your weight wouldn't be optimal for the thrill ride. We can just fly and hold u guys in the air. read more