Pearl Harbor and Punchbowl Tour: Arizona Memorial and Honolulu in 6 Hours

Included in the $58

The Includes list gives you the driver and guide, hotel pickup and drop-off from the 12 select Waikiki locations, the Navy-operated boat tour to the Arizona Memorial, bottled water and local treats. Gratuities are listed as optional. Reserve now and pay later lets you hold a seat without paying on the day.

One caution from the listing itself. The Highlights text promises bottled water, local treats and a meal, but the Includes list marks food and drink as not included, and at least one reviewer says the water and treat never appeared. Plan to buy your own food.

• Driver and live English-speaking guide
• Hotel pickup and drop-off from select Waikiki hotels
• Navy-operated boat tour to the USS Arizona Memorial
• Bottled water and local treats
• Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure

Not Included, and What You Might Pay on the Day

Food and drink are explicitly excluded. Gratuities are optional. The no-bags rule at the Arizona Memorial and Visitor Center means purses, backpacks and any concealing bags cannot be carried in, and the listing warns against leaving valuables on the bus, so leave them at your hotel. Nothing in the listing states a storage fee for this tour, so treat that as an extra you may face.

The table below lines up each line of the listing against what it costs you.

Waikiki Pickup to Pearl Harbor

A coach collects you at one of the 12 Waikiki stops and drives to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, where the itinerary allows 55 minutes. The visitor center and its grounds are free to enter and open from 7 am to 5 pm. The visit is short for a site the National Park Service ranks among the top three most visited in Hawaii.

The attack itself came just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, when 353 aircraft in two waves struck the base. 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 wounded.

The Arizona Memorial Program

You ride the Navy launch across the harbor to the memorial, which sits over the sunken USS Arizona. The National Park Service program runs about 45 minutes, with 10 to 15 minutes on the memorial itself, and each boat carries 145 people. The Shrine Room wall bears the names of the ship's 1,177 dead, and the remains of many of them are still inside the hull.

The listing does not describe a guide on the memorial. The Navy and Park Service run the program.

• Programs run every 15 minutes from 8 am to 3:30 pm, with a lunch break between noon and 1 pm
• The ticket time is the boat departure time, late arrivals go to standby
• Shirt and shoes are required, swimsuits are not allowed

Punchbowl and the Downtown Drive

After Pearl Harbor the coach climbs to Punchbowl, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, set in an extinct crater. The cemetery opened to the public in 1949 and the Honolulu Memorial there carries the names of thousands of American war dead from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. You drive through the Courts of the Missing rather than walking them.

The last stretch is a narrated drive past Iolani Palace, completed in 1882 and the only royal palace on US soil, Kawaiahao Church, the Mission Houses Museum and the King Kamehameha Statue. None of these are entered. You see them from the window, then the coach returns you to a Waikiki drop-off point.

The Honest Limits, and What to do About Them

The listing states no group size, so expect a larger group than the up to 22 guests on the Small-Group Arizona Memorial Tour. If you want a smaller vehicle and pre-ordered Arizona tickets, that $100 tour is the closer match.

Five of the eight listed sights are drive-bys or a drive-through. Iolani Palace, Kawaiahao Church, the Mission Houses and the King Kamehameha Statue are seen from the bus. If standing in front of these landmarks matters to you, the Pearl Harbor and Honolulu City Tour at $69 covers a similar route with a stop pattern of its own.

The listing does not describe a guide on the memorial, which the National Park Service and the Navy run. The Arizona ticket is not guaranteed. High winds can suspend the Navy boats, a decision the Park Service confirms, and operations can change without notice.

The bag rule bites here as on every Pearl Harbor visit. No purses, backpacks or concealing bags at the Visitor Center or memorial, and small cameras and pocket items only. The listing warns against leaving valuables on the bus. Bring a passport or ID card, wear a shirt and shoes, and skip the swimsuit. Minimum age and wheelchair access are not stated, so contact the operator before booking if either matters.

Timing is tight. Reviewers say the 55 minutes at the Visitor Center and the stated stops leave little slack. If you want a slower pace, the E Noa Salute to Pearl Harbor Tour is a 5-hour alternative with a strong review record, or go without a tour entirely.

Doing It Without a Tour

The visitor center and grounds are free, no reservation needed. The Arizona Memorial program is free too, but it is reserved only through Recreation.gov, which charges a $1 non-refundable fee per ticket. Reservations open daily at 3 pm Hawaii time in two windows, 24 hours and 8 weeks ahead, and sell out fast in peak season. Programs run every 15 minutes from 8 am to 3:30 pm.

TheBus routes 20 and 42 serve the memorial from Waikiki, and the cash fare is $3.00 each way. Driving means a parking fee at the visitor center. Check the page on the bus to Pearl Harbor from Waikiki for the stop details, and read the Pearl Harbor bag policy before you pack, since the size limits are strict.

What to Add Before or After

Punchbowl deserves more than a drive-through. Walking the cemetery and the Honolulu Memorial costs nothing and takes as long as you give it. The Punchbowl Cemetery guide covers access and hours.

Iolani Palace is the stand-out add-on. Docent-led tours run about 60 to 90 minutes, Tuesday through Saturday, booked online only, with admission at $34 for adults and less for teens and children. See the Iolani Palace page for the details. The Ford Island sites, the Battleship Missouri, the Aviation Museum and the USS Bowfin at the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, are the other big adds, and the tours on the homepage that cover them are listed among Pearl Harbor tours from Honolulu.