Hilo Helicoptor tour

[woodley]

I am looking to book a helicoptor tour in Hilo. We want a safe and reliable company. Can anyone give me a reccomendation for one you have used and enjoyed or warnings of which ones I should avoid. Also for anyone who has taken a tour is there time afterwards to rent a car? How much money do you save by booking independantly and avoiding the shore excursions from the ship? Any information will be great.:)

[Paulmj]

We took a helicopter tour from Hilo 3-4 years ago. It was fine. I don't recall the name of the operator. There are many helicopter companies at the airport. I think I recall that at the time there were at least eight. There was a long line of helicopters on the ramp, and they were all coming and going. All these operators are government regulated, and as commercial operators must comply with the same FAA regulations for the services they perform. They all fly pretty much the same equipment, and travel the same route to the volcano and back.

 

Someone will tell you that a service they used was wonderful, or a friend of a friend said it was terrible. This is a very competitive business, and if someone was offering a sub-standard experience, they wouldn't be around very long.

 

The shore excursions offered by the cruise lines are generally 10% more expensive than booking the same exact tour on your own. In considering a helicopter service, I don't think it matters whether the cruise line has vetted the operator or not. On other kinds of tours, regardless of where you are, I don't think one should ignore the experience of the people on that mountain road in Chile a couple of weeks ago. Any bus driver can fall asleep at the wheel whether or not the tour operator was sanctioned by the cruise line. There are no guarantees of anything, but if you go with the ship's excursions, even if you're marginally safer it's a good thing I suppose.

 

There are many advantages to "going private" but cost should not be one of them. Itinerary, size of the vehicle, number of hours out, intimacy, etc. These are among the reasons why many people should look at alternatives to what the cruise line offers.