I was recently asked for my thoughts on the Go Oahu Card. This activity discount card allows you entrance to 30 Oahu attractions over a specific number of days. They advertise that you can “save up to 40% or more compared to buying regular tickets.” Since I’ve never used the cards, I thought I’d use one of my lifelines and ask the audience. 😉 Have you purchased one of these cards or considered purchasing one? What did you think of it? Did you save money? Please add your opinion in the comments.
Though I’ve not used one of these cards, I do have a couple of thoughts to share:
- To get your money’s worth and/or save, you need to plan to use the bigger ticket items like the car rental, luau, and snorkeling excursions, etc.
- Some of attractions covered by the card have nominal entrance fees. For example, Byodo-In Temple only charges $3 per person and you really don’t need more than 30 minutes to visit. Another example is that the Audio Tour of the USS Arizona Memorial only cost about $5 (it may have increased to $7.50) per person.
An alternative to the Go Oahu Card is the Hawaii Entertainment Book that offers coupons for luaus, activities, dining, etc.
Have you used a Go Oahu Card on your Oahu vacations? Did you feel like you got a good value from the card? Please share your experience in the comments.
Sheila Beal
9 comments
My sister and her husband got it for their visit to Oahu and they were very happy with it. After getting the cards, they kind of planned their days around what the card had to offer. It seemed to work out well for them. I think they did quite a few things that they wouldn’t have done otherwise.
I think having something like the “Go Hawaii Card” or “The Hawaii Entertainment Book” helps. Heck – Get both!
I believe that both will pay for themselves as long as you are an active type of person who doesn’t want to spend all day at the hotel.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for sharing your sister’s experience with the Go Oahu Card. I think that’s the ticket – you’ve got to plan to get the most out of it otherwise you won’t get your money’s worth out of it.
I thought about getting the go card, but ended up getting the entertainment book for $15 and free shipping. At such a cheap price, just about any of the coupons will redeem its value and I won’t feel forced into doing something just to get my money’s worth. Either way, I’d definitely recommend looking around on the websites for the go card or the entertainment book and seeing whether which one fits your interests.
Cheers!
ALS – yes the Entertainment Books are also a great way to get discounts on luaus, dining, and I have even seen helicopter tours discounts in those coupon books before. We have a great discussion about the Hawaii Entertainment Book here: https://govisithawaii.com/2008/04/12/hawaii-entertainment-coupon-books-worth-the-price/
I purchased a 3 day Go card for Oahu this past week. I was very excited to hopefully be able to go to all the wonderful places advertised. I was able to go to the Luau, Diamond Head, Hanama bay and that was it. I made reservations for Manoa Falls and the catamaran. They made reservations and then cancelled them the day we were to go. I rescheduled with them and they called again 30 minutes before we were to leave on the outings. I asked when they might have an opening and they said they were booked solid. The booking people were very rude and then the Go Card people offered no help. I am in the process of writing to the attorney general in Hawaii and I don’t expect an outcome in my favor but I want to warn other folks about “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck it is a duck” (not a good thing)
Jeanne B – I would be very disappointed in the cancellations, too. Did you get a response by from the Hawaii attorney general?
I have bought and used the go oahu card twice now. The first time was a five day card and most recently I bought the seven day card. I believe this card in invaluable to a person travelling to oahu. If you buy either the 3, 5, or 7 day card you get an extra bonus activity you can pick from,which is really cool. This time myself and my boyfriend paid about 510.00 for two 7 day cards, after our 10 day trip to the island I calculated what we would have spent on all the stuff we did. The total between the two of us was a staggering $1200, that means the cards paid for themselves. We were able to plan our days and fit in about 3 activities a day depending on what it was.
In short I highly recommend these cards to anyone who wants to save money on their travels. They are very easy to use and you never have problems using them. On a side note I’ve also bought a sightseeing card for London England which works the same way as the go oahu card and it saved me so much money as well. Please take a cab chance on the cards if the activities interest you; you won’t be disappointed.
Oh one more thing on most of the activities listed it says that you have to make reservations, even though it says that don’t always believe it, most of these tours will accommodate you with the exceptions on the catamaran and luau`s.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the Go Oahu cards. Sounds like you and your boyfriend got a great value!
Great tip about the reservations not necessarily being needed, though I’m sure to be safe, it’s best to get a reservation whenever possible.
My partner and I will be in O’ahu in Feb next year. I am weighing up my options in terms of discounts and if I get the Go Oahu Card I’ll definitely be back here to let you know of my experience – just a thought, based on my own research of the activities and the comments above, I think the card works for those who are able to plan their trips based on what the card has to offer.
I think it’s important to do your due diligence in terms of booking/availability etc and perhaps Go Oahu has no control over whether something is booked out or not (I may be wrong) but I did see in their FAQs that all activities that require a reservation have an “R” symbol next to them. It probably wouldn’t hurt to contact the place where you have to make a reservation (prior to buying a card) to see whether they have spaces available for a particular day, make a reservation and then purchase the card (really hoping you don’t have to pay upfront when you make a reservation, I don’t know how that works in the US)
Hopefully Go Oahu has changed since 2010 and no one has to experience what Jeanne had to though! Just thought I’d share my idea in the hopes it was helpful to others in my position.