Santa Catalina Island Company

Ocean Runner Tour with Jim was a blast. They warned us that the conditions were choppy but I think it added to the adventure! If you like to get a little wet and ride the swells on an inflatable, you will love this tour. We went out around the island and viewed sea lions, seals, flying fish and a bald eagles nest. We had my 6 year old grand daughter and she loved it also. They also provide blankets which came in handy.

We took the Scenic Tour. It was gorgeous and Becky was just so much fun. Informative and funny. Would go all over again!

We took the East End Adventure tour and it was excellent. Our tour guide, Bear, was hilarious and knowledgable.
It was about a two-​hour guided tour on an open-​air Hummer (seats 10 total including the driver). Along the way you get a great lesson on Catalina (people, plants, animals etc…). You go up about 1500 ft above sea level and up and down narrow roads. There are plenty of picture opportunities (great views). We stopped for pictures and Bear offered to take group pictures for everyone. Very fun and educational tour. For kids, the Hummer ride was the highlight (it gets very bumpy and dusty). Although we didn’t see any any animals, besides birds (on this tour), it was still worth it.
Ask for Bear to be your tour guide. He is awesome.

Took the Catalina Scenic Tour on Saturday, May 14, 2016. The tour may have been okay if not for our cranky old tour guide. Upon getting seated, she made two girls who showed up on time and had their seats together, move on the bus so the very last family with two small kids could sit together. As they say, it’s not what you say but HOW you say it. She never asked these two young ladies if they wouldn’t mind moving so the late family could sit together, she just barked at them to move. Then, when everyone was seated our Drill Instructor informed everyone to turn off their phones. Again, not WHAT you say… of course you should silence your phone in this situation. But it wasn’t a request, but a demand. After that command, we were informed in no uncertain terms that no one is to speak while she is speaking. One warning, next time you will be expelled from the bus! So we were all in a «happy and relaxed» mood when we started on the tour, afraid to speak or move. Once on the tour, she was difficult to understand, going though the motions mainly throughout the tour. She did interject here rehearsed «joke» here and there but it was in the same monotone voice she used throughout the trip. There were also several scoldings along the way because some people actually talked to each other when Becky clearly had told them NOT TO TALK! He voice changed and she was easily understood when she elected to be «Sheriff» of Catalina Island and reprimand some tourist who happened to be traveling up the hill we were descending. We were traveling down a one way stretch of road. The criminal tourist in the golf cart were ascending the hill the wrong way. Granted, in some stretches of these roads this could be a little dangerous, but that warning was not given to these tourist, instead «Sheriff Becky» decided to stop the bus and wait until the criminals turned around and traveled down the hill in front of us. They started to descend the hill in reverse INFINITELY more dangerous then ascending the wrong way. All the while, on the loud speaker, the Sheriff was harassing these wayward travelers.
So, now that THAT is over, maybe we can enjoy our tour. No, the Sheriff then told us all a story of how she kicked out some college girls from her rental property because they were up too late and not working to save money for college. Really? Do I need to know that? Anyway, suffice to say while the 50 minute tour may have been much better with another driver, I will never know.
Somewhere along the way, Sheriff Becky told us she had retired and the Catalina Island Company asked her to come back. So, what the heck 79 is not to old to drive a bus along the switchbacks of the Catalina Hills. Agreed, her driving skills seems to be good, but her attitude, not so much. Time to retire again or see if the Sheriff wants to form a posse to catch dumb tourist. Nothing personal Becky, bless you and your energy and spunk, but tour guide is not your calling.

The Ocean Runner Tour was perfect! Our guide Ray was terrific. We found several pods of dolphins playing in the ocean. It was amazing. Ray was knowledgeable without being cheesy (some of the guides tell the same cheesy jokes over and over). He knew right where to find the ocean life. This tour did not disappoint us. I would do it over and over again! (5 stars for this activity).
The Glass bottom boat tour was a great experience, and classic Catalina so it’s basically a must do. The undersea expedition is also great for observing sea life, and something I recommend.
The Zip line was a great experience, and Deven and Denzel our guides were really good. My friend was trying to check things off of her bucket list, so this was a must do, and I would say that it was worth it.
Of the land tours, the Inland Expedition was my favorite (Tony was a good guide), but there was a lot of Catalina history on the Avalon Scenic tour, so that was a nice way to start off our stay. The Skyline Drive tour goes up to the airport, which is nice, but a little long and not quite as enjoyable as the others.
The Behind the Scenes tour of the Casino was a favorite for my friend, and it comes with free admission to the small museum in the Casino. It’s a good one for history buffs.
We purchased a tour-​activity package, which is why we did so many tours. Overall it was good, but it was definitely oversold. We had three tours cancel (one only 20 minutes beforehand) and were constantly trying to reshuffle. Our hotel front desk was helpful with this (thank you Juan) but it was a pain. Although the website and pamphlets indicated more of the tours/​activities were available, a bunch of them are either not available during the week, or are seasonal and they won’t say when the seasons are, so even though the salesperson told us they were in season, turns out they were not. The rock climbing wall, flying fish tour, Isthmus cruise, and Summit Night adventure, and Snuba & Sea Trek, were all unavailable.
Also, although I booked a pretty inclusive package with this company, they are definitely missing some key information that would make navigating the experience smoother. A little more communication in strategic areas would make a big difference.

Just got off the skyline drive tour. We had a great time, family friendly beautiful views and animals. We saw 2 bison and a deer. The airport was really cool and the cookies and bison jerky are delicious. But maybe the best thing was the tour guude was light and funny. She gave us interesting facts about the island, and kept us entertained when there wasn’t much to see. You could tell she enjoys her job, that always makes a tour better. Thank you Cindy Lowe I don’t usually like tours but it was really funny

My review is for the Avalon Scenic Tour: EXCELLENT TOUR. Sit on the left side of the bus for the best views!!! Great photo opportunities and our tour guide Cindy Lowe was amazing!!!
Both informative and entertaining!!! I highly recommend this tour! We came on Carnival cruise ship and it was a great affordable excursion!

Wanted to find out what the beautiful Avalon Museum was all about and bought tickets on a whim… roughly $ 12 a person. The theater and ballroom were actually pretty cool to see. Our tour guide Rebecca kept things moving at a good pace and was pretty entertaining. Nice visit for about an hour.

On our Triplets’ 5^th birthday, we went for the semi submarine ride! We come face-​to-​face with abundant marine life by cruising five feet under water in a spacious, climate-​controlled cabin. All of us have our own seat and port hole and we’re free to roam about the cabin, and even out in the sun — up on the submarine!
We saw an incredible array of undersea dwellers: bright orange garibaldi, spotted calico bass, urchins, corals, just to name a few. This is more than a tour; it’s an undersea adventure!
More videos at:
— YouTube (WinnieTriplets)
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My husband and I visited Catalina for the first time and we were very pleased with all three tours that we took. The Casino Tour was beautiful. The guide was very knowledgable. She even sang us the Avalon song to demonstrate the acoustics. The Undersea Expedition on the Seawolf was great! I didn’t expect to see that many fish! Before we took the excursion we were looking into the water, excited to see the few fish in the rocks! All I can say is WOW. When they fed the fish the frenzy at my window was fantastic!
The last tour we did was the Avalon Scenic Drive. Becky was our guide and she was a delight! She had the whole bus laughing and having fun. We will definitely be back to visit Avalon.

Cindy Lowe, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and funny with a beautiful voice! Highly recommend this jeep tour, she seemed very passionate about her job. Includes beautiful scenery of the mountains and beach. Reminds me a lot of Hawaii.

I took the skyline tour with Tony on Thursday 3÷24÷16 He was absolutely great & the tour was very informative, great views, the only reason that i gave 4 instead of 5 stars is because when I booked the tour online, it showed people getting out of the bus, maybe at a stop, and taking pictures so I assumed that’s what would happen. But we were not allowed to get out until we got to the airport. Other than that, it was GREAT!

My husband and I took the scenic island tour. It was affordable at $ 19 each far better than cruise ship pricing which was double that. Approximately 40 minute tour. Tour guide, Steven explained the history and answered all questions efficiently. He was friendly and knowledgeable. Clean bus with open air windows. Nice way to see the island. Will be back in March with the kids and will take the tour again.

We did the 4 hour Canyon Humvee tour today with Steven as our guide. What a blast! One of the best tours we have ever done. Yeah, we saw Bison… 52 in one herd. Plus, one right next to us!!!
The island is beautiful, and although a little cold, would highly recommend. Steven was a great guide and told us all about the island and its history… Great driver too! If you come to Catalina without doing this — you are really missing out!

We took my son for his 21^st birthday to Catalina island and it turned out to be a fantastic trip. We did the inland expedition in a h1 hummer with Steve as our guide. The tour was beautiful, very informative, thanks to our guide who knew everything there is to know about Catalina island Island and more, and it was very fun. Never thought Catalina island was such a beautiful treasure. So if you’re a native southern Californian and you’ve never been to Catalina island, please make the effort to go and do it. You’ll be in for a treat. My son and the whole family had a great time. Great trip choice for a family or group regardless of age. We will be back in the summer for the zip line and water activities!

This past weekend, I booked an extra special Catalina trip for my sister’s Bachelorette weekend. A majority of our time was AMAZING, but one excursion left me frustrated, hence the two stars.
Eco Zipline Tour was INCREDIBLE! I definitely recommend it! Our guides were wonderful and booming with energy, I can’t stop saying great things about the Zipline :)
Now, the semi-​submarine was fun, and Lover’s Cove was full of beautiful fish, but something the host said REALLY disturbed me. (I can’t recall his name, but he was a younger man, and our excursion was this past Saturday at 3:00pm) One of the guests said they saw a Sheephead Fish, which the host told us is born female and does through a transformation into a male so they can reproduce. Cool, right? Don’t need to add anything else to it. But, unfortunately the young man continued… «Yeah, some people say it’s the Bruce Jenner fish, but this fish changes from female to male not male to female like him/​her». No one laughed… He tried to keep going with the joke, and frankly he’s lucky I didn’t react the way I really wanted to.
When I go onto an excursion, I don’t want to hear some hot-​button topic jokes that may be harmful and hurtful to others. This excursion is about seeing marine life in their natural habitat and learning about them. Making a joke about someone’s life is not funny, and also misgendering the individual and using a name they no longer go by is HIGHLY disrespectful. Being in a position where you are speaking to a crowd of different people you don’t know, it’s important to be as culturally sensitive as possible which this young man was NOT. You can showcase your fun personality by still being a smart, customer-​service driven individual. It’s imperative that this person learns to respect all people while on the clock, and move forward with fish facts that are actually fish facts.

We did the hummer tour, OMG. This tour was the best. Our tour guide name Meriam and she was AWESOME. Once we got to the first gate. She took off (off roading) super fast. We were all screaming as we went super fast looking over the cliffs. It was so much fun. We stopped multiple view points to take some pictures.
We tried looking for Buffalos, but we didn’t see any. This was probably the low point of this tour. After all, these Buffalos are wild and it wasn’t like this tour pinned them up so we can see them. So needless to say, morales were low.
But overall, it was so much fun. We would definitely want to do this again in the near future.

This company pretty much as a monopoly on the island because most tours go through them. We did the Casino Behind the Scenes tour and learned a lot about the history of the island and the Casino. We definitely enjoyed our tour!
We highly suggest you do a casino tour because it is a major landmark on the island. Next time we will do their other tours when we have more time!

Me and my girl had a such blast at the East End Tour yesterday.
The whole thing was like a private tour since we were the only ones that was on the 3:45pm appointment. I was kind of worried since it was the last ride of the day and it was only two of us and thought the guide would just rush through the ride.
BOY WAS I WRONG!
Our awesome guid Cindy first brought us ice cold water bottles for both of us which was a must during the 2 hour trip. And she made sure to stop at every section to explain everything about the island. Stop at the middle of the trail and let us seat on the driver seat to take photos as well.
The scenic was amazing and Cindy’s professional tourism just made it that much better!
If you are coming to Catalina this is a must! Make sure to find out when she’s driving!
Would definitely do this again!

Review for the Zip Line Eco Tour.
I don’t even know where to start, this was the best experience ever!!! I have never been ziplining, so my husband agreed to take me when our cruise ship stopped at Catalina Island. Our tour guides were Jake and Sam B. and they were so awesome! They were friendly and had a lot of experience, they were also really nice and funny. They gave us a lot of history of the island and the reason why it’s called the ECO TOUR. They made sure everyone was comfortable the entire way. They did all these safety checks at each point so I felt very secure (I was a bit nervous to start so this eased my comfort level). They even let us hydrate with water. They were so great and I would recommend to anyone!