Reviews

Ok, so Blue Hawaiian Might not be the cheapest of the helicoptor tours. But there are somethings you can go cheap on (i.e., fast food, generic laundry detergent, basic cable), and some things where you should choose quality even at a higher price (child car seats, your wedding photographer, a swimsuit that actually fits). For me, a helicopter ride is one of those things. If I am going to take my dear family into a primitive mountain valley buffeted by winds, on a helicopter, you bet I'm going to pay for the best. Blue Hawaiian has a really high safety rating, with the newest planes. In addition to beins safer because they're newer, their newer planes have larger wraparound windows so everyone has a better viewing experience. I've taken 2 Maui tours with them (in 2001, and again in 2008), and though both times were a blast, I really enjoyed the second trip where we actually landed on the slopes of Haleakela and enjoyed some champagne and photo ops (what's the point of a vacation without photo ops LOL).

I proposed to my spouse on the Maui Spectacular 90 min tour - what an amazing day! The staff and pilot was in on it (I had booked it as a special request) and I proposed when we stopped for 20 min on a hill on Maui with an amazing view. We celebrated with champage (which they always serve on this tour) It was breathtaking. I highly recommend spending some extra $ for a ride of a lifetime, especially for such a special occasion. LOVED IT!

My wife and I just returned from a Maui vacation. We did the West Maui/Molokai tour. It was fantastic. The mountains, sea cliffs, and waterfalls are amazing. Our pilot was great. The only problem was his microphone was having some issues so there was a lot of static, but that was minor compared to the great experience. Definitely don't go to Maui without doing a Blue Hawaiian helicopter tour.

This was my husband and I's first time to Maui and I wanted to make sure we did memorable activities. Our Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tour is definitely something we'll always remember- it was AWESOME! My husband and I both conquered our fears- we'd never been in a helicopter, plus I'm a fearful (airplane) flyer (I hate hate hate turbulence) and my husband is afraid of heights. We went through with the helicopter tour anyway and it was fantastic. At check-in, they weigh you again just to make sure you didn't lie when making your initial reservations. They are discreet about it though and don't say your weight to anyone. So be truthful about your weight! Our pilot was Glenda and we did the Complete Island tour of Maui. We chose the A-Star helicopter, which is the standard helicopter. The 'better' helicopter is the Eco-Star and is about 20% more $$$ than tours on the A-Stars. Since we'd never been on a helicopter, we figured we'd be just as impressed with the standard one. Once I got over the initial feeling of being in a helicopter, I really started to enjoy the tour. We hit really bad turbulence (we were like a feather in a wind storm), but Glenda flew higher to get out of the winds. After that, it was a very smooth flight. It was so amazing to see the sights from a different angle. Also, there are some places on Maui you can't get to by car or by foot (like some of the big waterfalls in the dense rainforest areas) and it was really beautiful to see how lush and green some parts of the island can be (the parts that get rain). I'd read a Trip Advisor review on Maui helicopters tours and agree with what that author had said- go on a helicopter tour earlier in your trip so you can visually get an idea of the layout of the island. It helped me tie the two views together- the view from the helicopter and then the ground-view level. I'd also read other reviews about how Blue Hawaiian is more expensive. I reserved our tour online and both of our 65-minute tours were $509. Yes, expensive but seriously- completely worth it. A definite MUST for a first-time Maui visitor. I don't think we'd do another Maui helicopter tour if we get back to Maui, but if we visit any of the other islands, a helicopter tour is definitely in our plans. As far as the Blue Hawaiian Helicopter company, they are very professional and I felt completely safe. They are one of the two helicopter companies that offer two-way radios so you can talk to the pilot and also to other people in your helicopter (I read this fact in the "Maui Revealed" tour book). They have a sign-in book and and area with little envelopes for you to leave a tip for your pilot. They weren't pushy about it and we didn't feel any pressure to leave a tip. Granted, we loved our pilot Glenda, but felt our $509 was more than fair for our trip. We initially were going into our ride with plans on getting the $25 DVD of our trip, but after watching a little bit of our trip, the quality wasn't that great and we passed on it. I was worried about the quality of pictures I'd be able to get from the helicopter, but was able to get some really good shots. You have to turn the flash off obviously. Something else I wasn't expecting was they would only let you take a camera and sunglasses on the helicopter. All purses, backpacks, camera bags and hats had to either stay in your car, or you could leave them in wire baskets out in the open in their lobby. Plus, the parking lot has the "lock your car, not responsible for theft, etc" signs posted. The only two things that disappointed me about my Blue Hawaiian Helicopter experience: 1) they charge for parking at the Heliport. Seriously? We're there an hour and a half and had to pay $2. Then the parking attendant was irritated we only had a $20. There's plenty of parking, so I'm not sure why they need to charge. $2 is nothing compared to the $509 we just dropped on the tours, but it's the principle of it I guess (for me anyway). 2) Patti (I think that was her name) was working the check-in counter and wasn't friendly (we went on 9.19.09). We felt like just another customer to her and could tell she didn't find anything special about her job. No personality. No "How are you doing today?" No "Any first-time flyers?". Just robotic and lifeless. I think they need someone with more of an outgoing personality. Overall, we LOVED our helicopter tour from Blue Hawaiian and would enthusiastically recommend it!

We scheduled a trip before leaving for our honeymoon (saved some cash) and loved it so much was booked another tour for a few days later. Learned a ton about Hawaii, able to speak to the pilot, good DVD to buy after the flight, very safe and professional. Never been on a helicopter before and it was a breeze!!

Highly recommend this trip. We booked the 90 minute Maui Spectacular, which was to cover the circle of Maui including the Haleakala crater. The weather was too overcast and cloudy on the day of our flight, so the flight path was changed to take us to West Maui and Molokai instead, which was breathtaking. So much of what you see is untouched by humans, no hiking, no roads, and is only accessible via air. The trip includes a landing stop in a Cattle Ranch, for some Pineapple Champagne :). Excellent memories.

we had a great helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian! customer service was great and the trip was very smooth. i was speachless, i didnt want to look away! saw so many beautiful sights! highly recommended

This was our second time flying with Blue Hawaiian ( 5 years ago we flew with them on the big island) and if we make it back to Hawaii again we will fly with them again. We took the Maui Spectacular tour which has a stop on one of the ranches with a view out to Molikini with a glass of champagne they they bring along. As its basically set up as a romantic event there were only 4 of us instead of the usual 6 on the Eco Star, my wife and I got lucky again and both got the front seats next to the pilot. If you want to use them book early and book the Eco Star....it is worth the extra. All in all it was a totally spectacular tour that I would gladly breccommend to anyone thinking about a Helicopter tour of the Island.

My husband and I decided to go on the West Maui and Molokai tour and paid extra to go in the Eco-Star helicopter. The company is very easy to find and is back at the airport. You are seated in the helicopter based on the computer's calculations of the best weight/balance ratio after you are weighed in. Lighter people are put in the front of the helicopter with the pilot. My husband and I were in the front and the views from the front were fantastic. To fly up over West Maui and over to Molokai and see the most beautiful sea cliffs and waterfalls was just spectacular. Our pilot took us right up to the waterfalls and made sure he turned the helicopter left and right so that everyone got a chance to take good photos. Plus we were able to go through and around a rainbow and the colours were just so beautiful and vivid and the way the pilot flew the helicopter, it gave us the illusion that the rainbow turned into a sphere/orb and we were surrounded by colours. The staff are professional and the helicopters are in good condition and at no point were we worried about any safety issues. Just a great company to fly with. One tip though - wear dark coloured clothing because light (especially white) coloured clothing reflects badly on the windows and ruins your and everyone else's photos.

Went to sign up for the west Maui flight, got the grand tour in the EcoStar for the same price because they wanted to fill seats (I guess). Same day sign-up and flight. It was fantastic! Almost 2 hours, saw the whole island, whales, volcano, rain forest, waterfalls, etc. Pilot was very knowledgable, Mike I think. I've flown in helicopters a lot in the Army, I was impressed with this company. Two way communications with pilot and all passengers made questions easy. This tour includes landing and wine in the middle of the island. I highly recommend it.

We went on the Blue Hawaii's EcoStar flight from Maui to Molokai. It was an hour trip started at 12;00PM and it was the best way to see the islands! We saw water falls and mountain ridges from the sky that we couldn't have seen. The pilot was an excellent guide. She was explaining the islands and pointing out sites as we flew by. The flight was pricy (probably pricer than other companies), but I think it was worth it. We even bought the DVD of our actual flight. It was worth it! Now I want to go on the flight to Volcano now... ok, next trip!

We enjoyed our one hour helicopter tour from Hilo. At this time, helicopter is the ONLY way to see any lava, so if that is something you want to see, this is the way to go. The lava is not as spectacular as it has been in the past, but the view of the caldera is amazing, and the only way to truly see inside the caldera is to get above it in a helicopter. In addition to flying over the lava (which was flowing, like a red stream, across the landscape), the helicopter ride also gives you a unique perspective on the land. And our pilot took us by some waterfalls, and out over the ocean, where we were able to observe 3 humpback whales, from above—an amazing sight, that, alone, would have made this trip well worthwhile.

I'm a first time helio flyer. This was a trip to remember. The views were fantastic. Pilot was knowledgeable, friendly and very experienced. Staff was curtious at every moment. Ride was smooth with occasional bumps due to wind sheer, but other then that, had a blast. The waterfall's were amazing and the stop on the ranch on the hill gave a jaw dropping site. The rainforest was spectacular, so dense but beutiful. Saw old lava flows, black sand beaches, even the road to lana from the air. Pilot flew over land and sea and made sure everyone got a view of the special sites. We did not get a chance to look at the crater due to the weather, but that did't bother me a bit. Better safe then sorry. After checking the reviews of the other company's i've chosen Blue Hawaiian, and i don't regret it one bit. Thank you Blue Hawaiian for a wonderful experiance. One recommendation: I highly recommend 2 stop flights to the big island to see the active lava flow. I know you do charters but they are very expensive and most people won't do that. Recommend cost of 600.00 / person for the ultimate ride from maui to the helio port on the big island and then route to the views of the active volcano. I would of def of done both this maui experience and the big island if it was available.

We've flown with Blue Hawaiian before and so on this trip to Maui it was an easy choice that did not disappoint us. We did the "round the island" trip which gave us a fantastic overview of Maui and helped us to put locations and places we later planned to visit in perspective. We were upgraded to an EcoStar which is the best as far as viewing ability is concerned. As in the past, the pilot was excellent and the flight was smooth showing us sights there simply is no other way to see. Thanks, Blue Hawaiian, for getting our trip off to a great start!

We used Blue Hawaiian for our Kaua'i helicopter tour, and it was great. The company emphasized safety and fun from the start. They assign your seat according the weight to ensure good weight distribution on the flight, which we thought was a plus (not a negative as some posted)...glad to see they were thinking of safety. Everyone views a safety video and gets life preserver packs to wear before going onboard. The flight itself was very nice; the pilot navigated the sites beautifully with narration on everything we were seeing, and answered all questions. The sites were incredible. The aircraft seemed very new and it was comfortable. Overall: highly recommended if doing a helicopter tour on Kaua'i.