My wife and I are going to Hawaii December 9th-13th, Sunday-Thursday and could use some advice. We are booked at the Westin Resort & Spa Maui and will get our flights through United Mileage. We are planning a helicopter ride over Kilauea, a whale watching tour and a Luau. Any advice on which companies would be best for each? We have some prospects already but Fodors talk was such a HUGE help with my Thailand honeymoon I couldn't help but come back!

Thanks in advance, Casey & Tina

Kilauea is the volcano on The Big Island at Volcanoes National Park. The only trip there from Maui is a fixed wing aircraft, I belive. It's quite a long way for a helicopter.

We went to the Old Lahaina Luau and really enjoyed it. Feast at Lele gets good reviews also. Book in advance before your trip; they sell out pretty quickly. We did our whale watching through the Pacific Whale Foundation and enjoyed it. Are you really going to take a helicopter from Maui over to BI? I didn't know they offered that. Let us know how it goes. On Maui, we also enjoyed doing the road to Hana, snorkeling at Molokini, and watching the sunrise at Haleakala.

Maybe they are taking a flight from Maui to Hilo, then taking a Helicopter ride from there.

Or maybe they are mistaking Kilauea for Haleakala.