Tried paddle boarding for the first time. Johnny P. at the Marriott Ocean Club Resort Surf Academy was knowledgeable, fun and encouraging. Highly recommend this activity for young and old. We had a wonderful tour of the reef areas, saw large turtles, & rode some small waves. I mastered the technique well enough to head out on my own later in the week. Looking forward to paddling again soon!

Johnny took my 8 year old son surfing for the first time. He made it enjoyable and easy... and my son is a total wave rider now. I HIGHLY recommend Royal Hawaiian and ask for Johnny. -Brandon from Sacramento

Took a group lesson with Johnny P this afternoon (11/25/11) and had an absolute blast!! He was a great coach and teacher - very positive, kept us safe and always positive in his comments and encouragement. I had never surfed before and wish now I hadn't waited so long to try it out. It's the most fun thing I've done on this vacation, and I will do it again for sure!! Everyone at the surf school is very nice - an overall fantastic experience! I got the picture package too and they got some great photos of me riding some waves so I can prove to everyone in Kansas that I actually surfed in Hawaii!!!

Johnny P. was so much fun and so encouraging! Highly recommend him as a surf instructor.

We took a semi private lesson. My small 260lb frame, my wife and my 11 year old son all took a lesson for our first surf experience. All the staff were welcoming and friendly. Our instructor was Mark and he was fantastic (we think he was the best). The lesson was good and we all had a good time. We all got up and did well. It was money well spent and made great memories. Speaking of memories Wes brings them home with his photography. He takes a bunch of excellent photos and burns them to a disc for a price. The price may seem high at first but the memories are forever, buy the disc!

We are on our first ever trip to Hawaii. We thought a surf lesson would be fun as a family. We went out on a Monday and it was perfect. Dreyson was our instructor. He was awesome with our 10 and 7 yr old girls. He was also great for us parents. Both girls road waves all the way in and well it was the trip of a lifetime. I can't wait to come back just so we can surf with royal Hawaiian surf academy again. The picture CD at the end was awesome too. It is a must do if you have a hankering to try to surf. Don't go anywhere else this is the place to go for sure.

My wife and I paid for group lesson SUP stand up paddle boarding. Fortunately for us we were the only ones there.. offseason pays. So we got personalized service for group prices. The instructor was patient, super friendly, and we really enjoyed ourselves. I didn't love the shallowness and the coral where we learned, but it is much cheaper with this company than most.

We visited the Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy and had Johnny P as our instructor. He was an amazing teacher. It was my first time surfing and my husband had been before. Johnny was very informative and fun! We will definitely return the next time we are in Maui.

We surfed with Josh and Tori on a Saturday afternoon! They were fun and never made you feel stupid! I got up on every wave they set me on and made it to the beach on most of them and I am not particularly athletic! The men in the group had a little harder time but they all still rode more than one wave. The 3 girls in our group were rocking it! We seemed to have more success than other schools in the water and I even saw one of the other schools instructors yell at one of his clients for not paddling right. Josh and Tori were patient and funny! They were very knowledgeable and made you feel safe! We had a blast! Oh yeah and bring a little cash for tipping for the great service it was well worth it!

My wife and I took lessons with Johnny P. He was an amazing instructor, very knowledgeable and helpful plus he was a ton of fun and very friendly. He definately made both my wife and my first time surfing one we will remember for the rest of our lives. Thanks Johnny and Royal Hawaiian surf academy you guys rock.

My husband (70 yrs old) and myself (55) took a surfing lesson wtih the Royal Hawaiian surf Academy at the Maui Marriotts Ocean Club in Kannapali. Johnny P was a phenomenal instructor as he took us to a location that was virtually private. He was informative in the dry land training giving us the info we needed to get up and enjoy the waves. He picked great waves for us and made the experience incredible. Although my husband is older and I am a short chunky women, he never once gave us the impression that he wasn't happy to be there and that we would not be successful. We had taken one previous lesson 3 years ago at the Lahaina location of the same academy which was great....but today was amazing. Johnny P made our day. We highly recommend this to other adults and even if you think you are a little old for it,,,it is possible with a good instructor. We are athletic but I am sure that Johnny can get anyone up. If not Johnny, I am sure that you would get another good instructor at the academy...we just think that Johnny is the Best !

My husband and I were interested in an activity that would be fun for our 22 year old son and our 10 year old son....this was IT!! We had a blast with Steve. He made learning the art of surfing fun....with a little comedy thrown in. Next time we're in Maui...we're heading back to RHSA.

We signed up our 4 year old and 6 year old for surf lessons at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club location. 5 star service and 2 thumbs up. We signed up one day in advance for the 10:30 session. They called us to cancel saying it was too windy for our kids. I thought that it was great that they did not force us to do it. We went the next day and the weather was perfect! Johnny P. was great w/ the kids and worked his tail off paddling them out and standing them up for a good 90 mins. If you want to let your kids go surfing and you want a great instructor this is the place to do it! $250 for 2 kids 90 mins total w/ one instructor (johnny p.) $40 for 2 picture cds (the pics were great!) optional, but we got 50+ great pics smiles on the boys faces and a positive first time surfing experience...priceless!

Marcelo is pro surfer who taught our family - parents in their 40's and 7 yr old kid - all at once. Outstanding & pateint!

I booked a 2-hour standard surfing lesson with these guys and my wife came with me as a spectator. My instructor, Steve Baker, was a bona fide surf dude. He was friendly, jokey, nice to my wife and the other spectators (got them beach chairs) and most importantly was a good teacher! There were four other people (who all knew each other) in the group. He got us kitted out and then walked us to the nearby beach park where we spent a fair amount of time getting familiar with our surfboards, how to stand on them, lie on them, move on them, etc. After the briefing we headed into the water and took turns to surf waves with Steve giving us tips and an initial push. This did mean that quite often I would be waiting around in the water, not doing anything, which was a shame - but it seemed to be the general surfing etiquette that the other companies also followed. Surfing is hard! I found it frustratingly difficult but each time I tried a wave, Steve gave me tips based on how I did the last time. By the end of the lesson I had managed to stand up a bunch of times including one wave which I surfed for ages and was quite proud of :-) I can't say I was hooked for life but it was nice to have tried it and I was very pleased with Steve and Royal Hawaiian. One last thing - the photographer, Derek, took some pictures of everyone in the group and showed them to each person after the lesson. I thought his photos were fantastic, and at $20, a bargain compared to most "official" trip photos t

We stayed at the Marriott Ocean Club in Kaanapali, and I had a 930am surf reservation just outside our door on the beach, with Royal Hawaiian surf instructor Kea. I was so nervous about paddling out to the waves, but he made our instruction so fun I quickly got over my worries. Kea was a very knowledgable, lifetime surfer, instructor. He gave simple instructions, positive feedback, and kept it light and fun. Each wave he let us try a little bigger challenge as we got more comfortable, and kept us safe and fun. We saw 2 hump back whales while we were waiting for waves too! They were awesome. It was the highlight of my trip. Thanks Kea! Michele from Washington

Great set of waves, caught and led by a great instructor boys!

My husband and I took a group lesson on our honeymoon. If u are wanting a good surf lesson, this is the place to go in Maui. Our instructor was Steve Baker. We think he is the best, but if u aren't as lucky as us to get him, I am sure all the instructors are great there. I really enjoyed this lesson as I knew absolutely nothing about surfing, and I got up on my first try. Steve is a very informative coach, but skips a few steps that other places probably cover such as swimming, etc. This method was just what we needed as if he cover all the very basics we would have not surfed as long as we did. I also agreed in skipping those steps as if we didn't know how to swim we really shouldn't be wanting to surf. I am pretty athletic, and I was struggling with keeping my fingers closed when paddling, therefore I was really paddling and going no where and Steve could tell I was getting frusterated with myself but he joked around with me and would ask me why I thought I was having difficultly. This is the exact way I needed to be approached so I didn't get frustrated and quit. Although we were in a group lesson, it did not feel that way at all when we were out in the water. We also liked that RHSA had a photographer that accompanied our group and took pictures of our lesson. The photographer was quick in transferring the pics to a CD after purchase and it was all done in RHSA office while we were finishing changing clothes. Thanks Steve n RHSA for making this experience fun and memora