Pleasant Holidays

We booked a USS Arizona Memorial /​USS Missouri combination tour and arrived for a 9:45 tour. We were informed that because of high winds the Navy canceled the remaining tours to the Arizona Memorial. This was very disappointing, but out of our control. The remainder of our tour did finish.
We called Pleasant Holidays and they were able reschedule another tour for the Arizona Memorial the next morning.
A 20 person van arrived and took our 3 person group as well as another 4 person family directly to Pearl Harbor. Our driver got us early tickets and we were able to complete the tour and return to our hotel before noon.
Both families we we extremely pleased with the service provided to complete our experience.
We were treated very pleasantly and highly recommend them.

As far as I know, Pleasant Holidays does two things: sell vacation packages (airfare, hotel, car, etc) and host a breakfast in Honolulu where they try to sell you other activities. You’ll see reviews for both here on the same Unilocal listing. This review is for their vacation package sales.
I purchased a Hawaiian vacation package that included airfare, nice hotels, and a rental car for Oahu and Maui. It was about $ 1000 cheaper than booking these things separately and the Pleasant Holidays package also came with free breakfasts, Mai Tais, and credits at the hotels. Since it was such a good deal and since I had to call them and read them my credit card info over the phone (no easy book and pay online), I was a little worried that Pleasant Holidays was some fly-​by-​night outfit that just took my money, and I would get to the airport and they would have no record of my ticket. I’m happy to say that’s not the case and we had a great trip, all booked through Pleasant Holidays. I will definitely check them out for my future Hawaiian getaways.

The breakfast orientation on our first full day in Honolulu was well organized. They had us meet at the Hard Rock Café at 7:30 AM probably so we could book some tours with them that day. However, we have been to Hawaii many times and always had good thoughts about their vacation packages being reasonably priced and all inclusive.
We went through our travel agent, Galaxy Travel and our agent got the package from Pleasant Holidays which included hotel, airfare and car rental. We were happy with the hotel and airfare, however the car rental company was the pits but that is in a separate review. The breakfast buffet was good which included everything but fruit. It was a beautiful location and when we arrived we took a photo at the Hard Rock Café which we paid $ 20 for. Then when we were led to our seats, Hawaiian performers from the Polynesian Cultural Center were performing on stage. What a pleasant surprise and the speaker, Jackie was very thorough in explaining everything about the tours and they kept the presentation to an hour.
If you are new to the islands, it will be worth your while to consider some of the tours they present for Oahu.

This is our first time on Oahu and we are excited to get the anniversary started. Food, fun and then start all over! :-) Happy Anniversary doll (Debbie) ⁰¹⁄₁₅

Let me start by saying yes, the breakfast is a waste of time unless it is your first time to a new destination and you want to learn more about the available tours there.
But Pleasant Holidays gets 5 stars from me because they are an outstanding travel company. I have been using them for over 20 years, and they consistently beat any package price from anyone else. I have done the comparison, even looking into booking everything myself and they have the very best value!
The customer service is also outstanding, and our travel always goes perfectly without a hitch. I very highly recommend them if you want an easy vacation at a good price.

Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays — BUST
The best savings I could have had were my 4 wasted hours back.
The Experience
This began with a pick up at way too early of an hour to be on vacation. Taken to a mall, I was hurriedly INSISTED to remove my purse and other personal items to take a picture with fake lei that had to be returned immediately. **more to come on this**
I was taken to a place where, the only way they would take us back, was if I went to Hilo Hattie’s. I call this quid-​pro-​quo. «We will give return you to where we picked you up from, but only after you come with us first.» When I respectfully declined, they could not even advise how to get walk back to my hotel. Fortunately it wasn’t too far, and I found our way.
As I was leaving, I was pressured into buying a cheap picture of me in the fake lei. At this point I had said «No Thank You» so many times, I felt like a broken record. Of course this was followed up with a, «But don’t you want to remember your wonderful time in Honolulu?» I said abruptly, «STOP!» and continued on my way.
Again, I would have had the same transportation results. Additionally, my time was wasted on a over-​pressure-​sales administration with cheap food, at too early of an hour.
If I go back to Hawaii, I do not want to deal with «Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays» again. There was NOTHING pleasant about it.
The Summary
* «Full Breakfast.» That «full breakfast» was disgusting: Powdered eggs, ham tossed on top of all the food that might have been Vegetarian/​Muslim/​Jewish friendly, greasy croissant, and cheap coffee — with scarce condiments, and corn sweetened juice.
* «Save Money.» IF there was a savings, it was $ 2 – 3 per purchase.
* «Transportation.» The reality is any company independently booked with already provides transportation.
* «Save Time» Everything could have been booked online in the same amount of time with the same transportation results. Additionally, their times and locations to catch the transportation were often incorrect. For example, on my first tour, they went by winter hours and not summer hours which made me an hour early; then they had me stand in the wrong location.
* «Booking Convenience.» Incorrect Times and Pickups at Landings were not clear are not a form of booking convenience. At times I felt like a Honolulu Hooker standing on the wrong corner waiting for my ride.
The WORST thing they did: We told the woman who was booking for us that the thing we wanted most was the luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The receipt we got didn’t say what was booked, but she booked the Roast Beef dinner instead! We didn’t find out until the driver of the bus said, «How many people’s ticket says, ‘luau’ on it?» Ours did not. The driver said he would try to change it but he later said he could not. It took the tour guide, A STUDENT at the PCC who WAS able to change it for us. This was the main thing we wanted to do. AND WE MADE THIS CLEAR TO THE REPRESENTATIVE OF Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays.
Pleasant Holidays LLC
2270 Kalakaua Avenue Suite 1700
Honolulu HI 96 815

I searched the web for days and Pleasant Holidays had by far the best vacation package offer for a 5-​night Honolulu flight, hotel, & car. We still ended up almost on the beach for close to $ 200 cheaper than anyone else. Also a co-​worker has been using Pleasant Holidays for the last 15 years and he swears by their prices and customer service.
Patrick R., you are an idiot and a waste of oxygen and internet bandwidth. I have no affiliation with Pleasant Holidays but your rant makes absolutely no sense. You state immediately that Pleasant Holidays delivered everything they promised at a reasonable price. Yet you give them 1 out of 5 stars for an OPTIONAL and FREE breakfast that you had absolutely no obligation to attend. Of course nothing is truly free in life so you probably had your hopes a little too high from the beginning. Also, anybody that wakes up at 7AM for a free breakfast after just landing in paradise should probably question their own sanity before aiming their frustrations at anybody else. The presenting hosts were probably irritable and too direct for your questionable manhood because WHO WAKES UP AT 7AM for a measly free meal when they have just spent $ 2k on a dream vacation? Finally, your constipation revelation was highly unnecessary, completely irrelevant, and clearly your fault for waking up your fiancé at 7AM for a free breakfast to help your cheap (donkey) recoup $ 25 on the only week of happiness she is likely to experience as long as she’s affiliated with you. What you’ve just written is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this page is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Note: As far as flight/​hotel we got we were promised at a reasonable price what follows is my review of everything else…
I am writing three days in to my first trip to Hawaii EVER. I actually proposed to my girlfriend yesterday (Valentine’s Day) on top of Diamond Head. I am having an amazing time and LOVE this place…
So far everything has been PERFECT…
EXCEPT FOR THE MISERABLE HOUR I SPENT AT PLEASANT HOLIDAY’S «FREE BREAKFAST»…
To quote the Deacon from ‘The Wire’: «Nuthin’ costs more than free…»
They offer a shuttle so you don’t have to walk ONE WHOLE BLOCK. This is because the average age of our group was about 80 years old. Being that we’re all in our 30’s we walked (ok I’m 40, so what?!?)
The ‘free breakfast’ was what looked like a McDonald’s hashbrown, a slice of ham, pineapple, an airline quality croissant, and what I believe was scrambled eggs… No substitutions, no seconds.
It got worse after the food…
A lady then talked for 45 minutes straight TELLING and I wanna stress TELLING us that there will be: no talking, no questions, no cel phones, and NO GETTING UP FOR ANY REASON. Unless you haven’t turned your vouchers. In which case GET UP NOW AND TURN IN YOUR VOUCHERS (I’m assuming this how they get reimbursed for the ‘meal’)
She then tells us this is the height of tourist season (February?!?) and that EVERYTHING is sold out and that the only way to get ANY TOUR to ANYTHING in the whole friggin’ state (not just Oahu) is through this company. When the presentation is (mercifully) over people come to your table and pretty much bully you into buying tour packages and of course (everyone all together now) TIME SHARES!!!
It really looked like their bread and butter is bullying senior citizens. It was pretty sad…
I can’t tell you how it ends, cuz we got up left. I can tell you this whole thing started at 7:30 AM and by 8:45 they were still going strong. The presentation was on the top floor of shopping mall that was not opened for business and the escalators down were CLOSED. Making it pretty tough to leave (especially if you are elderly)…
I should also add that we won a bogus ‘door prize’ for an all day hiking tour that our group was clearly the only one even remotely capable of doing. We got one (1) free admission for a 50+ dollar a person tour, that in order to redeem three of us would’ve had to pay…
Some guy who looked like a WWII vet won the ‘free’ Pearl Harbor tour…
There is not one thing they offer that you cannot buy for yourself (and probably cheaper). The food sucked. And I REALLY resented the way we were talked to. I’m on vacation, not the first day of catholic school…
And to top it all off ever since that breakfast my fiancé is constipated!!!
I’m off now for more adventures in this amazing island paradise…
PLEASANT HOLIDAYS YOU SUCK!!!

For quite some time now, my boo’s been wanting to go to Hawaii since one of her friends is in the Peace Corps there. I’ve been avoiding it like the plague because I knew it would cost an arm and a leg to go there. Plus, the idea of overpaying to go to a really touristy spot really isn’t my thing.
When one of her friends sent her an email offer that they got through travelzoo, I looked at it with skepticism. I thought it would be a ripoff, and too good to be true.
I after more poking and prodding, I took another look at the Pleasant Holidays deal they were offering. Plane tickets, hotel room, and car for a low price? So doing the math, I’m thinking I can get myself a great deal by going through priceline, and buying my own tickets… boy was I wrong. The deal Pleasant Holidays got me was the same as the tickets I would have paid if I bought the tickets through United myself, only the room and car was pretty much free.
We went ahead and booked the cheapest deal at the Sheraton Princess K. in downtown Waikiki. The trip would be a few months down the road. I didn’t get a car because of the $ 25 per day parking fee. A few months later, I was thinking that we could get around using public transit. My boo kept nicely telling me (without nagging) that we needed a car, and everyone else recommends a car. For months I’ve been putting off planning this trip. So when the week right before our arrival, I look and read about Hawaii… oh crap, you really do need a car. So I email PH and they told me to give them a call, and they’ll include a car for free, we just pay the $ 23 for taxes. I looked up rental prices for a convertible, and they were like a $ 150 per DAY, so I asked them how much would they charge if I got the upgrade, and they said they could get it for $ 137 total. That’s a great deal.
I would advise anyone going through them though to be wary of the barrage of advertisements for events and tours. You can get most of these for free or cheaper if you are doing it yourself. The morning after your arrival, you are invited to a free breakfast and island orientation. The orientation is pretty informative about the islands and Hawaiian history, but I feel like it was kind of a hard sale for the various events, like the polynesian cultural center, and other watersports activities. Apparently they think that for every activity, you need to have a guided tour, and that only they will get you a great deal.
Overall, to sum up the trip:
hotel and airfare — $ 1200
convertible upgrade — $ 137
spending precious time with my boo — priceless.