Hawaii
We had a great time, enjoyed the view, but felt restricted. The President was on the island, so our air space was limited. It was kind of a bummer, but our pilot, Jim, really tried to make the best of the situation. He was great!
Thank you very much for your understanding. We go through this every year at Christmas time when the President is on Oahu. We'll all be delighted when Mr. Obama returns as a regular citizen on vacation. It's our busiest time of year and we're forced to fly a less-than-ideal route due to security. \Oh well, just one more year and we'll be free. Thanks for flying with us.
Using the Passport is a great way to visit all four areas at your own pace. Spend an entire day taking your time to truly appreciate each site without a tour company rushing you along to "stay on schedule "! The audio tour is included so you will learn everything that a tour guide can tell you. Simply rent a car, take a cab or take The Bus to get there and enjoy your day. You should plan on being there early as the center gets extremely busier as the day goes along.
I booked the tour online a day before. It was a last minute plan. I wanted to see if my booking went through. I called their number. They already knew that I was calling. They put me on hold for a few minutes and it was done. I would highly recommend this tour company.
This website allowed us to get into all the activities and ensured we had tickets when we were able to get them through recreation.gov before they were sold out. Was grateful that we could be there on such a day as the 74th anniversary and not be taken on price.
The whole experience was excellent from time I got picked up until drop off back at my Hotel. Our pilot was knowledgeable and a great guide for all of Oahu highlights. I am not great with heights but I would have no problems in doing this tour again or recommending it to others.
Royal Star motorcoach provided top notch transportation and Patrick, our driver and guide, provided superior service. The motorcoach was impeccably clean and modern and Patrick was friendly, funny, and completely knowledgeable about everything Hawaiian that all of us asked him. I particularly liked that Patrick kept track of us at all times and was at all rendezvous sites at Pearl Harbor on time. It was great to know that he was looking out for us and took a personal interest in all of us. Patrick is a wonderful ambassador of your company and of your motorcoach and guide services. By the way, I'm not related to Patrick, but I am a former motorcoach bus captain myself for several years in Virginia. Patrick is a man worth keeping happy; you do not want to lose this gem to a competitor! We were very glad we found VELTRA online for our Pearl Harbor and Honolulu transportation and tour on 11/27/2015.
We were picked up less than a block away from our Waikiki Hotel for an early morning 6:30am tour with a guarantee to return us back to the hotel no later than 2:00 pm. As we had a scheduled 3:00pm pick-up for transportation to the cruise ship pier from our Hotel, the time schedule was critical. The drive showed up right on time in a luxury Tour Bus. We completed the Pearl harbor tour which included the USS Missouri, the USS Arizona, and the city tour and got us back to our hotel with time to spare. Great Service. Would highly recommend.
On our first day we got rained out so we booked for the next day. So glad we did! Saw a rainbow arch across the sky line along with so many water falls.
Tour guide/driver was very good. He presented interesting and important facts about what we were going to see and hear. Kept the group organized as far as time factors. Provided interesting facts about the islands.
Tony our bus driver was exceptional. He was informative of the Island. We were picked up at the Hiton Hawaiian and proceeded to Punch Bowl Cemetery. That was a beautiful resting place for the fallen. We then drove to Pearl Harbor and Tony walked in the Park with us, gave us are tickets and pointed out where we were to go and what time. Tony was very hands on with our group and very caring of our journey into Pearl Harbor.
After our visit to the Memorial of which I cried, actually it was very overwhelming to be there and fully felt a piece of history unfolding. Quite an experience, a must see if you go to Honolulu. We then had time to explore the gift shops and proceeded back to the bus, which Tony was waiting on us with mints and a hand towel to wash our hands. Tony is something else. We then started to our way back to the hotel drop off location.
Please don't use anyone but this group, the whole experience was OUTSTANDING.
Maholo,
Julie & Scott Brady from NC
There are so many attractions at Pearl Harbor from the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Bowfin, USS Missouri, Pacific Aviation Museum and USS Oklahoma Memorials. We recommend spending 6-8 hours to do the entire passport. We also recommend purchasing the docent tour led by volunteers at the Pacific Aviation Museum. Everyone respected all of the memorials and it was a great place to pay respects to those lost in a Pacific tragedy.
Had a great time! We enjoyed ourselves on the tour :)...
A once in a lifetime experience.. From the pickup at our hotel to the drop back after the tour, it was all well organised and professional..the view from the helicopter, and our pilots narration was excellent!! We absolutely loved it!! Superb!!
This is what we came to see in Hawaii. It did not disappoint. The audio head set is a must. It kept us on time. It was a stormy rainy day - all day which didn't really matter it was very somber.
My only regret was that I didn't bring my lae that I received at the airport. You can throw flowers at the Arizona.
Was so exciting n great had an awesome piolt doug he was a great driver n was funny knew alot about the island was a nice smooth ride n not scary at all will fly again with doug
The guide was helpful and quite friendly. Love the trip in total.
What a site to see, I loved every bit of this activity.
Great tour...Pearl Harbor is a must see when visiting Oahu!!
The helicopter ride took about 30mins which is really not enough to see Honolulu and around. The pilot was great but he only flew over certain areas once so only people at certain side could see and take pictures. I was expecting him to turn around 360 so everybody can take pictures. Great views of Waikiki, Honolulu, Diamond Head.
It was pouring rain when Patrick picked us up at the hotel. he was able to shuffle some of the tour around and quite literally worked magic so that when we got to the Arizona the sun came out. He was very knowledgeable and his humor made a very somber trip fun and interesting. Would definitely take another tour with him. the bus was Royal Star if that helps others.
Blue Hawaiian made it a truly perfect addition to our holiday with their professionalism, knowledgeable staff and top-service. The little extras made the difference such as the ability to buy the video immediately after the flight for a very reasonable $40. A great first-time helicopter experience for us and hopefully not the last one!
There was so much to see with a tour of the Arizona memorial, the museum and then mighty mo. The tour company was amazing with transportation and organization. I would book it again!
I've lived in Hawaii for about 8 years and I thought I've seen everything. Just getting to ride a helicopter was already an amazing experience. Getting to ride it over Hawaii made it even better. I felt like a tourist seeing Hawaii for the first time. I'm also a big fan of Jurasic World and I kinda freaked when I found out they used Blue Hawaii Helicopter for the movie. I would recomend this tour to anyone; even locals.
If you never do any thing else, take this trip.
You will never forget this trip of your life.
Just plain awesome!
It was a great experience to visit this absolute interesting exhibition.
Excellent! This is the best way to tour Pearl Harbor. Our tour guide was excellent, the timing allowed for everything was perfect.
Found the trip on the internet, called the office and booked the 5 hour morning trip over the phone. Recieved a conformation number over the phone and an email with all of the details. A few days before my trip recieved a reminder email and a link to print out my voucher. The day of the trip, Mett the bus a the pick time and point. The bus was a luxurious tour bus with a restroom. The driver Patrick was very professional and very pleasent. As we start traveling through the city Patrick pointed out several different thing. He was very knowledgeable about the city of Honolulu. When we arrived at Pearl Harbor he lead us up to the gate and explained how the tour was to be conducted. He handed are tickets showed everybody where to meet and at what time. After the movie and boat ride to the Arizona we had an extra 1 1/2 hours to see the rest of the site. The tour was definitely worth the money, there was no standing in line to get tickets or having to find transportation to Pearl Harbor and back. Would recommend it to everyone.
What a nice tour! We took the Royal Star Hawaii Deluxe Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial and Historical City Tour.
This is a great tour because, regardless of what you read anywhere else, there is an advantage to getting a tour operator to take you. I was curious about how easy it would be to get tickets on your own, so I went over to the ticket counter and asked what the next available time would be (already having the ticket that our guide, Larry, gave us). It was 3 hours later than the ticket Larry got us! We saved 3 hours, allowing us the 2nd half of the day to go do other things!
Our tour guide, Larry, who is very knowledgeable, shared many interesting facts and insights about the area. As for the Pearl Harbor portion of the trip, he gave us helpful instructions in advance, walked us in as a group, went to get our tickets for us, and then gave us instructions on what to see and do. He was even available for us while we toured the visitors center and museum. When we came back to the bus, he even had a mint and handy wipe for each of us to freshen up!
We also went to National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and to Downtown Honolulu to see the famous statue of King Kamehameha, again many interesting facts delivered by Larry.
Conclusion: quality tour, saved 3+ hours of our day. Easy pickup and drop off near major Hotels.
The tour was great and very informative. Our guide Larry gave us tips on how to be most productive in our Pearl Harbor tour so we won't waste time and also so that we can get the most out of our pictures.
The Pearl Harbor Passport was a good value. The tour guides were informative and helpful. All the sites were very interesting, and there was always someone to answer questions. I particularly enjoyed the old film footage at the Pacific Aviation museum.