We toured Kauai via Blue Hawaiian for my husband's 65th bday and it was a wonderful experience! The views were breathtaking and there were so many waterfalls! Na Pali was beautiful and the pilot was pleasant & informative! It is truly worth the money taking this tour. We live here & plan to tour the other islands via Blue Hawaiian, too!
The Blue Hawaiian Tour office is easy to locate in the Harbor Mall where there is lots of parking and they provide a van shuttle to the airfield. The orientation is held at the office, a brief video on safety and a locker where you can secure your valuables. No purses or paraphernalia allowed in the helicopter. It's OK to hang on to your camera :) The actual flight was fabulous with more close-up views of waterfalls and cliffs than I could have ever imagined. Our pilot was Dean from Missouri and he was not only knowledgeable and informative and humorous BUT he also possess the rare and valuable trait of knowing when to be quiet and let you just soak up the beauty and splendor that you are witnessing!! The office staff and ground-crew were courteous and helpful. I lost an earring when I was taking off the head set and figured it was gone forever. The fellow from the ground-crew located it and returned it to me with a smile. A word of advice, ladies.... Just take off your earrings for the trip! Now here's the other part of this story. The Blue Hawaiian company does an actual video of your tour. The camera pops in and out of various views, cabin interior, front, port & starboard. This makes for a unique and personalized DVD that you can purchase for $25. The flight videos are played on monitors back in the office and you can see what your trip was like. The video from our trip was rather static-y and the color was washed out. It was a huge disappointment but I purchased it anyway as I figured it was probably the monitor as I saw a different flight trip on the opposite wall and theirs was perfect. When I got back to Massachusetts and popped the DVD into the player I realized it wasn't the monitor, it was the actual movie. I e-mailed the company and they responded promptly with an offer of a full refund or a commercial video that covers all of the islands. I told them that I had already purchased that DVD as well. What I really wanted was a copy of someone else's trip with Dean as I figured his tour path and patter would be pretty much the same. Not only did they NOT treat me like a lunatic (which is pretty much what I expected for such a weird request). They tried to find a Dean trip without static and eventually sent me a totally different trip with a different pilot's narration. I am sure now that once aware of the microphone problem they have taken care of it!! What I learned from this experience is that Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Company cares about their customers and wants them to be completely satisfied in the air and on the ground. I also learned that not all tours are the same and I intend to take a Blue Hawaiian tour every time I am on Kauai because each trip is a unique experience. Pilot, music, weather and time of day all play a part in what you see and how you see it. The time and money spent on a Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tour is worth every penny! Do yourself a favor and include it as a "must" on your next Kaua'i itinerary!
This was by far the best shore excursion we planned on our entire Hawaiian vacation. The helicopters are spacious, big enough to hold 6-7 people plus the pilot. Everything is provided with regards to safety. This was the first time I'd ever flown in a helicopter and the ride was amazing. You get so close to the mountains that you feel overwhelmed by their majesy. Appropriate music is played in the background as the pilot narrates and points out places of interest. Several highlights for me were Jurassic Park and Fantasy Island waterfalls, the Waimea Canyon and the infamous Na Pali coast. Our trip was video taped, including shots of the inside of the cabin. It was a bit rainy so there were some spots on the outside camera. There were also pink lines through the video but Blue Hawaii discounted the price of the video as compensation. The video images unforetunately did not show everything you could see because the camera was fixed. This is really the best way to see the island because there are so many secluded spots of beauty that you will never see on a tour bus. My one complaint would be the glare and reflections that showed up in my photos.
We were travelling to Kauai as part of our wedding trip and friends had purchased this trip for us.The folks at the office and the flight staff are professionals all the way! The trip was smooth and very scenic! We had the Aloha spirit all the way through! We booked through AAA for this trip and for a first experience well worth it!
If you don't have the time or ability to hike the Napali coast, it' s worth it to spend about $200 to go up in the air so you can see the breath taking scenery. Ride is about one hour long.
This trip was clearly the highlight of our vacation. As you cannot access most of Kauai by car, a helicopter tour is a great way to see its highlights like the Napali coast, the "Jurassic Park Falls" or Waimea Canyon. You will recognize many sweet spots from movies and TV. The highlight of the helicopter tour was flying into the crater of an extinct volcano. There, several hundred feet of vertical, but nevertheless overgrown rocks encompass you from three sides - with the helicopter only being 10-20 yards away from the walls. And have I mentioned that there are waterfalls on the walls? Words cannot do justice to this experience. 240 $ for one hour may seem expensive, but it was worth every penny.
We're not really very adventurous but we decided to see the other 70% of the island not visible by car or foot or boat while here on this visit. So we did it by air in a helicopter. Even with our skepticism, we have to give two thumbs up to pretty much all aspects of the experience. This is not for the faint of wallet however. It's pricey! About $155 per person plus $42 per person for a fuel charge, so all in about $200. It's also not for the faint of stomach. We played it conservatively and took Dramamine beforehand and we are glad we did. There were more than a few times when the old stomach was queasy as it hit wind currents and trade windes. We experienced amazing sites that we wouldn't have ever gotten any other way on the island. We flew over and into valleys full of waterfalls, over the Waimea Canyon, around and literally into the Napali Coast. Truly amazing views and feeling as we did this!! Awesome is too light a word! We experienced all of these views while listening to some cool island sounds and decent and knowledgable commentary over or noise canceling headphones. Definitely glad we had our camera. Wish we had brough the telephoto lense though. The glare was pretty strong off of the wind shields. They don't open the doors but there is glass in front, on the sides and even above on the ceiling, good for viewing and taking photos. We suggest you put a good filter on the end of the lense. This should help a bit. The craft we were in was called an Eco Star 8 seater (including the pilot). There are 7 seaters also. There are also A-Stars with 6 seats (I think). It would have been great to be able to chose our seats but they work to weight-balance the craft, so how much you weigh relative to others determines your seat. I am about 180 so me and the other guy that was about my size were in the middle (he in the front, me in the back). I suppose I could have been the lucky one and been in his seat up front (for the better, unobstructed views) but things were OK from my vantage point even with the less desirable seating. The trip was about 50-55 minues. We took the first trip out for the day (8:00 am / 7:15 am check-in) as we heard this tends to have better light, lower wind gusts, and since we wanted "ride the wave" of the experience for the day. For me, I was ready to be done when it was over and I wasn't completely "wowed" by the experience and so I rode no wave. Just the queasy wave until about mid-day. I must emphasize again, there there were a few times within the Napali Coast that my mouth was literally wide open and I was blown away by flying into the ridges of the coast line. We were literally engulfed by the sides of the coast, looking at the waterfalls and "moss" (really trees and bushes to give you a sense of scale!) on the sides of the mountains. A few final notes. Check in is 45 minutes before takeoff. This time is for paying the fuel charge, watching the safety presentation and getting your flotation device. They then bus you over to the airport to pick up your ride. All was very organized and we felt safe the entire time. Our captain was knowledgable, curteous and a great pilot. Choose these guys for the professionalism, safety record and Eco-star helicopters (which are quieter and better balanced).
You must do this while on Kauai. You can not see many of the spectacular sites unless you are in a helicopter. The company was professional, the pilot great and the DVD was reasonable at only $25. One of our group of five got motion sick but that was not due to the company or pilot, just from the motion. Going into the volcano was unbelievable. You William see too many waterfalls to count and you won't get a better view of Waimea canyon or Napali coast.
What a great way to see this beautiful island. At first the thought of a less than one hour ride sounded like it was not a lot for the money involved. But after going on the ride we agreed it was worth every penny of the price. Our friendly, informed and very competent pilot/guide made it an enjoyable ride from take off to touch down. We covered the entire island in 50 minutes. At no time did we feel rushed. Breath taking view after breath taking view took place. We took the advise of others and did this excursion on the morning of our first full day on the island. We are glad we did!!! it helped us plan other days. Also don't worry if it rains the night before that only means more waterfalls!!! All told, if your pocket book can take it this ride is the thing to do!!!!
Pilot Steve did a fantastic job of showing and talking about the beautiful island of Kauai. He was informational and I felt totally comfortable in his piloting skills. Would recommend Blue Hawaiian Helicopters to anyone visiting the island of Kauai.
This was the best thing we did on our trip to Hawaii!! There's no other way to see the entire island, and the Napali Coast. Our pilot took us over Waimea Canyon and we saw a double rainbow! Waterfalls, beaches, lush fields...all of it was incredible and a memory we will all cherish for a lifetime! Four of us went (me, husband, kids 12 & 10), they kept us all together, everyone had a good seat. I am very motion-sick prone, and felt it just a bit at the end. I was impressed with their great service and safety record. Dont' leave Kauai without doing this!!
I read all the helicopter reviews in both the Ultimate Guide Kauai and Lonely Planet. Based on that and getting a AAA discount, we picked Blue Hawaiian. Very professional, very nice pilot, saw amazing things. Highly recommended.
We debated a while over spending the money to take a helicopter ride and finally decided to book the shore excursion in Kauai from Norweigean's Shore Excursions. We had to submit our weights to the shore excursion desk after we embarked on the cruise and then when we were at the check in for the tour at the Blue Hawaiian office they had us step on a scale so I am not sure why they had to have us turn in our weights ahead of time. We were picked up promptly from the pier and driven a short ways to a shopping plaza where the tour had a home base office. Here we checked in for the tour, stepped on a scale, gave up all of our extra bags to be locked up while we were gone and watched a briefing video on standard procedures for buckling and opening doors on the helicoptes. We were given life vests that strapped around our waist and then boarded another van that would take us to the airport. We waited under a canopy at the helipads for the helicopters to return from their current tours. We were each given the name of our pilot and a number for our seating arrangement. When the helicopter landed the crew unloaded the current passengers, snapped some pictures for everyone, called out the next group to stand on their assigned numbers and then loaded us into the helicopter. Looking at the safety harness the instructions from the video quickly leave your mind so it was good that the crew strapped you in and got each passenger settled into place. Our pilot was Jimmy and he has been flying on Kauai for 8 years and he was an awesome pilot. The flight was so smooth and he could turn the aircraft on a dime. He gave a wonderful dialogue on what we were seeing, flying over, what had been filmed here, some history and just so many facts. The views were just spectacular. I loved every minute of it. The Na'Pali Coast was just stunning. The 50 minutes we were in the air was just amazing. I absolutely loved it and I can't wait to take another helicopter ride. If you really want to see the island you need to see it from the air! We returned to the base operations for the tour and retrieved our personal belongings. We were given an opportunity to purchase a video of our tour that was filmed while we were flying, including all of the music and commentary that was part of the tour. It would have been nice to be included for the price you pay initially for the tour but watching it again it was well worth the extra to buy this unique souvenir.
Went on the 60 minute tour of the island of Kauai this week while on vacation. The staff was great, safety conscious and the pilot was knowledgable and friendly. Amazing views only to be seen via helicopter. My only complaint was I am 6'4" and was seated in the middle and my head touched the roof if I sat upright (even slouched) which made for an uncomfortable ride and a stiff neck afterwards. The front and side seats had about 6-8 inches more head room.
Jimmy was our pilot, but all the folks at Blue Hawaiian took great care of us. Very professional and safe. Jimmy has been living in Kauai and flying for a while so had lots to share about the land and locals. He did a great job of making sure those on each sides got a view of the sights. They make a DVD of your actual flight so you can have that along with the music (great music which fits the sight at the time) and discussion during your flight. That's $25 and you can add on their Blu ray version of the rides on all the islands for another few bucks. What a deal. While the flight is only about 30 mins, allow about 2 hours for safety briefing, transport to and from the airport (they brief you at their office in the strip center south of the airport - AC and restrooms/food available there), and the viewing of the DVD footage so you know if you want to buy. There was a guy flying with our group that needed a wheelchair and they did a great job accommodating. Even have special equipment to make the transfer easy at the helicopter.