We decided to go for it and are beyond grateful to the entire professional staff at Sunshine. Gerald, our concierge, at the Fairmont Orchid highly recommended Sunshine helicopters to us in order for us to maximize our sightseeing of the Big Island. We had very little time to go out and see the whole Big Island. The front desk lady at the landing strip was a bit less friendly, but she helped us get a lost item back to our hotel so all was good. Service-wise the pilot Tim was great in giving us bits and pieces of info, and he made sure everyone on either side of the heli gets their shot (which apparently isn't a given from reading other reviews). The round shaped glass in front makes a huge visibility difference (it's the best seat next to the pilot's) so if that's important to you I'd recommend Sunshine. You could play the roulette and be in the front seat, but we decided not to take the risk. The main decider for us is that Sunshine have a "first-class" option where you're guaranteed front seat for $50-60 more, and Blue Hawaiian didn't. We took the "Eco-star" option which is the better EC-130 helis that have larger glass and therefore more visibility, and the cost between the two are pretty similar. Sunshine on the other hand is a bit farther from the Marriott, about 10-15 minutes of driving but they have a very friendly driver to pick us up, and the pad is at a small strip inside a private ranch. The latter is a bigger operation with more choppers in their fleet, and their pad is located right next to Marriott on the west coast. However after some research I can tell you the difference between this operator and Blue Hawaiian. Other people have said how awesome the trip was and so I won't repeat that.
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