Really Cheap Helecopter Tour!

[tomluvsaida]

I called Safari Helicopters. They do have one more thing going for them - they have a free pick-up service bringing us from and back to the ship. Their best price on-line is $155.20 + $18.79 (tax or fuel, i forget which) = $173.99 per person.

[tomluvsaida]

I just called Heli USA. Their $89 "tour" is a 15 min. tour of Oahu offered only at night. I for one never buy anything with this kind of bait and switch sales tactic. I cut her off and hung up. I just called back and got a price for a one hour tour on Kauai on Nov. 5th at $224 per person!

[lambs2]

Being I'm from oahu and have recently returned from my NCL cruise, I have recently been on an air tour with Air Ventures. It is any airplane company at $99 per person for a one-hour flight - it was truly an awesome adventure and views were spectacular! This airplane's whole door is a window made for aerial flightseeing; just like the helicopters. Owner/Pilot is a commerial pilot (over 20 years) and a native of the island. I was very impressed with his knowledge and the love of the island. Tips: For any air tour, when I did my research, you do need a 50-60 minutes of air tour to see the whole island of Kauai. At the price of $89 per person on HeliUsa for Kauai is unheard of (unless it's linked with a timeshare presentation)...make sure you check it's for Kauai and not Oahu and make sure you check the length of time for tour. These are tips that I have found out the hard way. Here's the website to check out: www.airventureshawaii.com. Good luck in your planning!

 

We took our Kauai flight with Billy too! We actually ended up paying $129. each plus sales tax because DH booked our flight through Boss Frog and they got their cut. Somehow we did not find the Airventures website in all our searching last spring. We also got picked up and dropped back off right by the ship for no extra charge. Beautiful clear day! Amazing! We actually originally booked our flight for mid May as we were taking our Hawaiian cruise on the Pride of Aloha out of SanFrancisco. When NCLA had to cancel that cruise with only a couple days to spare, we had to scramble to rearrange all our flights and plans for our new cruise starting June 3 on the Pride of America. Fortunately we were able to just change the date of our flight with Billy. They were very easy to work with and we highly recommend this flight!

[tomluvsaida]

OK. I just received the DVD from Safari Helicopters and I feel even more assured of a strong recommendation for them. Instead of getting a “best of” video for the flight with your “wave to the camera” insert at the front, you get the real footage of your flight with your entire party saying aloha to the camera and loading into the chopper. Even though the weather wasn’t perfect, the DVD showed exactly what we saw with multiple camera angles that seemed to change with the narration of our pilot. It’s fun to hear the same music we heard and the dialog between each other and the pilot. A full hour DVD that I think will be even more fun to watch in the years to follow. I don’t think a helicopter ride in Houston would be the same…

 

Thanks! Safari it is! I've already booked it!!!:D

[tomluvsaida]

Thanks everyone for all your comments and recomendations. After reading all your posts and also looking at the web sites we decided to go with Safari. Their price isn't the cheapest but it's reasonable. Their helicopters, sound and communication system seem to be top notch. I love the DVD idea! That sounds great!!!! Another thing that wasn't mentioned is that they have free ground transportation to and from the ship (POH) we will be on. We are really looking forward to it!!!!!:)

[2cruiseagain]

Thanks everyone for all your comments and recomendations. After reading all your posts and also looking at the web sites we decided to go with Safari. Their price isn't the cheapest but it's reasonable. Their helicopters, sound and communication system seem to be top notch. I love the DVD idea! That sounds great!!!! Another thing that wasn't mentioned is that they have free ground transportation to and from the ship (POH) we will be on. We are really looking forward to it!!!!!:)

 

I hope you are happy with the results. As you might know, we only contacted Safari at the last minute when our booked flight with Island, was canceled. We were lucky enough to see another CC'er that we met through these boards and on embarkation day, and were able to get the phone number from his flight (Safari) while still on the pier and book the flight for 2 hours later with them. It felt so good to be able to provide a solution for my family after a big disappointment of not going on a Helicopter flight. We had been holding this over the kids all week with the "if you don't behave, we won't do the helicopter" ploy.

 

Way to go CC with valuable information and contacts!

[DMRick]

We are going with Jack Harter and found an on line price of $169 at

 

http://www.hawaiidiscountactivities.com/reservationrequest/activitylistings.asp?catkey=109&subcat=False&vendorid=&actkey=1102&page_size=8&current_page=1&island=4

 

That's the total price. I know some of them charge more if you use charge, fuel costs or taxes, but this was the total. It's a longer ride than some, so per minute it works out good. The reveal books recommend him. I'm really nervous about being on the helicopter, and wonder what am I doing???

[Lady Anna & Sir Troy]

Just pulling this back to the top since their is another thread about this as well. I do not see the $169 price, but the $199 price for Jack Harter. Did it go up or is this the wrong site?

 

Thanks!!

 

Anna :)