Reviews

Today, we took an Eco-Star with Coleen as our pilot. And let me say she was absolutely amazing. As a pilot, she is outstanding! I personally do not fly well, yet the entire ride was unbelievably smooth and was not a problem. As a tour guide, she was even better. Coleen is obviously passionate about what she does, for every detail of everything she narrated was just as interesting as the ride. The way that she includes everyone on the helicopter really makes you feel welcomed, especially for the younger people on board. With such a wonderful pilot, it is impossible to give this experience anything less than 5-stars. Truly an experience to remember!! On another note, I was lucky enough to have window side in the front. The scenery was beautiful and today the weather was near-perfect. Overall, the experience was better than I could have hoped!

Gregg was a very knowledgeable tour guide and provided good views to all sites. He was engaging and answered questions. Would definitely recommend this to others!

What an AWESOME ride! We took the volcano and waterfall, Circle of Fire helicopter tour, and it was breathtaking. Eric was a very fun, and entertaining pilot, but it sounds like all the pilots are going to make your tour enjoyable.

First of all " Two Thumbs up Coleen". Great pilot and tour guide, job well done. Our family enjoyed the tour very much. Smooth ride. Very informative and engaged with the group. Highly recommend getting the DVD or SD card.

Our helicopyer ride in a brand new EcoStar machine in Hilo was oreat. Our pilot , Tim, was very knowledgeable and took us over watetfalls and then up to Kilauea to see lava. The landscape looks like another world and can only be sern and appreciated from the air. We saw the red lava moving down the slope ever so slowly. He showed. us old lava flows and new ones too. All in all, money well spent.

It's hard to compare companies as we only did 1 helicopter ride and it was our first ever. Since everyone we spoke with up front recommended Hawaiian Blue and since many news networks and National Geographic work with them a well, we also went with them. The reception staff is not the friendliest by the rest of the staff is great. To void reflection in the cockpit they recommend to wear dark clothes (blue/black) and my wife had brought nothing like that to hawaii. They gave her immediately a clean blue loaner shirt. No regrets of taking the investment in this tour, in contrary we had the most amazing once in a lifetime experience on the Big Island Great Spectacular 2hr tour. Professional staff, very safety oriented, great and highly experienced pilot (Shane), gorgeous 'Ecostar' helicopter with great views in each direction and at the highlights (so many highlights) the pilot ensures that all sides of the helicopter had great views of the sights. He explained a lot and answers all questions fired at him. I easily get air/car/seasick so I took medication for that and had no issues. The helicopter maneuvers smoothly and the little noise is filtered greatly due to. Noise canceling headphones. We were extremely lucky with the clear and calmest weather we had! Also the other 4 tourists who flew with us stated it was their best experience ever as they all had done helicopter flights before. The interaction between pilot and the tourists is phenomenal and the personalized DVD is a must. Very well organized and safe trip - one we will never forget. We recommend to do this experience early on during you vacation as it might alter the plans for the rest of the week as suddenly you understand the island much better and new highlight will be added to your further on ground experiences. Big Island-spectacular it is!!!

We took the Circle of Fire and Waterfalls Tour, and absolutely LOVED it. The Computer balances and seats people according to weight, so you cannot choose your seats. Fortunately, both our grown sons had the front two seats with obviously the best view. They were next to the Pilot and were able to capture some incredible shots. We were also extremely lucky to have had clear and calm weather, too. The flowing lava, the hidden waterfalls, the coastline, and the scenery were all superb. Our pilot Ethan kept all the passengers engaged and comfortable. He explained all the sights as we passed by them, and even made few passes and circles around the important areas, so everyone could get good views and photos. We bought the SD card of our trip at the end. The three cameras of the Helicopter featured all of us and captured all the incredible sights. One recommendation is to wear dark clothing to avoid window glare and get good photos. They will tell you this anyway. Everyone from the ground crew to the pilot were helpful, polite, personable and professional. The seemed to go out of their way to make us all feel at ease. This was our first Helicopter Tour over an active volcano. We recommend that you save up for it and definitely try it. You will not go wrong.

To see the volcanoes on Big Island, a helicopter tour is a must, and this one didn't disappoint - amazing views! Our pilot (Coleen?) was very knowledgeable and like many guides working in Hawai'i, passionate about her job - a real plus to any such experience.

Booked a Circle of Fire helicopter tour through Blue Hawaiian. Their website was easy to negotiate and all the information was great. We paid for a seat and a half each because we are heavy, and it was worth it. Our pilot Brett was astounding in his welcoming and making us feel comfortable and in his knowledge. The guy seriously knows his stuff. We had headsets and microphones to be able to ask questions and talk to each other. We saw the devastation of the current lava flow towards Pahoa town and learned the history of the island. Mt. Kilauea was stunning and we were treated to a lava window where we saw the molten flow. He threw in some pretty waterfalls for fun and we left feeling that this helicopter tour was likely the highlight of our entire vacation. The benefit of paying for extra seats was being able to both have window seats and enjoy those incredible views. Amazing! Thank you Brett and Blue Hawaiian!!!

My 2nd time to the big island and this is a must.We booked this thru our cruise line and had an amazing time. We took the long tour and it was the trip of a lifetime. Spend the $ it's worth every second. You really get to enjoy more then the average person. Saw multiple rainbows and lava flows.

Pretty big let down. We did the circle of fire and waterfalls tour. You spend a lot of time flying to the volcano and not much time there. The waterfalls are more of an after thought or detour on the way back to the airport. You don't get close to them at all. Akaka falls was a much better view of waterfalls and thay only costs $5. They also have a soundtrack for the whole flight which is better than flat air but also a little cheesy as it switches between happy Hawaiian music and super dramatic "impending doom" music depending on where you were in the tour. The whole thing felt very Disney just not done as well as Disney. Like other people said if you get sat behind the pilot you get a crapshoot. He tried to make loops in both directions but I think the other side got a better view. Somehow the "balancing algorithm" put two tiny girls (no more than 40 pounds) against the window on the opposite side of the pilot. I don't see how a tiny girl would counter balance the weight of an adult but we didn't crash so I guess it worked. Overall we've seen much more exciting things in Hawaii. This was one of the things I was most excited about but I could go to hundreds of places on the island to see black lava. We saw some burning trees on our way up but I'm pretty sure the red glow was burning wood and not red hot lava. I suppose there is no other way to see the top of the volcano but it still wasn't super impressive...

You can't see these places without a helicopter and you can't appreciate the Big Island without a tour from this perspective. It's not a Caribbean Hotel-it's on an island of special topography and geology. It's unique to the U.S. and you get a great explanation and a thorough understanding with spectacular views from these pilots. Worth the cost!

We had done other trips over natural wonders by helicopter and this one rates very highly. The outfit at Hilo is located next to the baggage area at the terminal itself and is very professionally run with safety paramount.We did the Circle of Fire plus Waterfalls in the cheaper A star and have no complaints on the amount of vision we had from the helicopter. The pilot manoeuvres so that both sides get a view and there is plenty of opportunity for video and photos. If you can book ahead the website appears to offer discounts on bookings.

sadly I've done my review in the honolulu blue Hawaiian helicopter spot by mistake & don't want to write it out again (copy/paste not the best on an iPad) - summary - brilliant weather - clear views - circled the 2 active volcanoes & the current lava flow - everyone had great views - the trip was over an hour & it is the only chance you'll get to see any of the Orange stuff at the moment - professionally run & a whole lot of fun

My wife and I took a flight over Oahu today, Adam our pilot was perfect, the office and ground staff could not be anymore helpful. If yor travelling to Hawaii and you don't do this tour, your missing something amazing....Thank guys, we will be back with friends. Paul & Jody Curtis..Brisbane, Queenslad,Australia...Thank again