USS Arizona Memorial Tour: Waikiki Pickup, Boat Ride and Visitor Center

Included for $51

Your money buys round-trip transport by van or bus from select Waikiki hotels, a briefing at the Pearl Harbor Visitors' Center in English, time at the free War and Attack exhibits, skip-the-ticket-line access and the boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial. A live English guide rides along and an English audio guide is also included. Booking is flexible: cancel free up to 24 hours before departure for a full refund, or reserve now and pay later.

The listing does not mention gratuities.

What You May Pay on the Day

The tour itself has no mandatory extras. The realistic costs sit outside it. There is nowhere to buy food on the itinerary because the listing bans food and drinks, though the park has a small snack shop and water fountains where you can refill a bottle.

Bag storage near the visitor center entrance charges a fee for all sizes including luggage, run by the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, but the simplest fix is to follow the bag rule and carry nothing. On the price side, this is the floor of the market: the figures show the E Noa Salute to Pearl Harbor tour at $59, the Star of Honolulu coach at $59.23 and the small-group option at $100, so the $51 buys the same two sites for less, with fewer services around them.

If $51 Feels Too Thin

Cheaper still, you can do this day without a tour at all. The visitor center and grounds are free, the Arizona program is free and reserved through Recreation.gov for a $1 fee per ticket, and TheBus Route 42 from Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki runs toward Pearl Harbor. The guide to the bus to Pearl Harbor from Waikiki walks through it.

The tour earns its price on convenience and a pre-bought boat seat, not on access.

Pickup in Waikiki

Your selected time opens a pickup window: the 6:30 AM tour collects between 6:30 and 7:30 AM, the 8:30 AM tour between 7:30 and 9:30 AM, and the 10:30 AM tour between 10:30 and 11:30 AM. The vehicle is a van or bus and it will only call at select Waikiki hotels, so check the list before booking. An early alarm is part of the deal on the first departure, and the window is a full hour wide.

Set your things out the night before and keep your phone in your pocket, because bags stay behind.

The Drive to Pearl Harbor

Waikiki to the visitor center is about a 45-minute drive through Honolulu traffic. The Pearl Harbor Visitor Center opens seven days a week from 7 am to 5 pm and is closed only on Thanksgiving Day, December 25 and January 1, so all three tour times land inside its hours. The first Arizona program of the day starts at 8 am and the last boat departs at 3:30 pm.

Briefing and Exhibits at the Visitors' Center

The live guide gives a briefing here, then you have time for the two exhibits, War and Attack. The visitor center, museums and grounds are free to enter with no reservation needed. This is the guided part of the day.

After the briefing reviewers say the guide drops you with brief instructions, so treat the exhibits and grounds as self-guided time. If you want background first, the page on the attack on Pearl Harbor covers how 353 aircraft struck the fleet in two waves on December 7, 1941, killing 2,403 Americans.

The Boat Ride and the USS Arizona Memorial

The program runs daily every 15 minutes from 8 am to 12 noon and from 1 pm to 3:30 pm, with a lunch break between 12 noon and 1 pm. Each Navy boat carries 145 people. The whole program takes about 45 minutes: a safety orientation, the ride out, your time on the memorial and the trip back.

You get 10 to 15 minutes on the memorial itself, a 184-foot structure spanning the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. The Shrine Room wall of Vermont marble carries the names of the 1,177 crewmen who died on the Arizona, and the remains of many of them are still inside the hull. High winds can suspend the boat rides, a Navy decision, until conditions ease.

Return to Waikiki

After the memorial you rejoin the vehicle for the transfer back to your Waikiki hotel. The operator states no return time, and total duration is 4 to 5 hours including travel, The listing names no stops on the way back.

You Want a Real Guide

The live guide briefs you at the Visitors' Center and then lets you loose. One reviewer expected more of a guided tour and found everything priced separately. If you want narration through downtown Honolulu as well as Pearl Harbor, the Star of Honolulu deluxe coach tour runs a professional driver-guide on a 5-hour Arizona and city route for $59.23, with 8 and 9-hour options that add the Missouri, and the Aviation Museum on the 9-hour option.

You Hate Crowds

Group size is not stated and the vehicle is a shared van or bus, and the Navy boat itself holds 145 people. For a smaller group with pre-ordered Arizona tickets, the small-group Arizona Memorial tour caps at 22 guests and also adds Punchbowl, the Iolani Palace grounds and the King Kamehameha statue for $100 in 4 hours.

You Carry a Bag of Any Kind

The rule is strict: no bags or purses, only a phone and what fits in your pockets. This mirrors the park rule, which bars containers exceeding 1.25 by 2.25 by 5.5 inches. Medical bags must be declared to security and screened with extra time.

If you arrive with luggage from an airport or cruise transfer, sort storage first and read the Pearl Harbor bag policy guide.

You Need Guaranteed Memorial Access

The listing sells pre-purchased tickets but never promises a seat on a specific sailing, and wind can stop the Navy boats. No tour can guarantee a landing on the memorial. If it is the whole point of your trip, keep your schedule flexible and read the Pearl Harbor tickets guide.

You Are Outside Waikiki or Need a Wheelchair Vehicle

Pickup outside Waikiki is excluded and Ko Olina is not available at all. Not every vehicle can take wheelchairs and scooters, so call the operator right after booking to arrange it. The park itself is ADA compliant with flat paths and Navy boats have wheelchair locks, so the site is workable, the transfer is the constraint.

A private option is the private Pearl Harbor and city tour.

You Want More Than One Site

Four hours buys exactly two sites. If you want the Missouri, the USS Bowfin or the Aviation Museum, look at the Best of Pearl Harbor full-day tour, which covers four sites in 10 hours with all admissions.

Doing It Yourself

The visitor center and grounds are free, and the USS Arizona Memorial program itself is free, reserved only through Recreation.gov with a $1 non-refundable fee per ticket. Reservations are released daily at 3 pm Hawaii time in two windows, 24 hours ahead and 8 weeks ahead, and they sell out quickly in peak seasons. One booking covers up to 10 tickets per day, and infants need a ticket too.

From Waikiki the drive is about 45 minutes and visitor center parking costs $7 per day by credit card, or take TheBus Route 42 from Kuhio Avenue toward Ewa Beach. Note the westbound Arizona Memorial stop is closed for routes 20 and 42, so riders should use the Kamehameha Highway/Kalaloa Street stop. For the full picture see the bus to Pearl Harbor from Waikiki guide.

Adding Downtown Honolulu

This tour may leave part of your day free. Punchbowl, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, sits in an extinct crater and honors the fallen of the Pacific campaigns. Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on US soil, offers guided tours in the historic district near the King Kamehameha statue.

The Punchbowl Cemetery and Iolani Palace guides cover both.

Adding the Ford Island Sites

The Battleship Missouri and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum sit across the Ford Island bridge, which is for military personnel only, so civilian visitors reach them on the shuttle from the visitor center. The USS Bowfin submarine sits next to the visitor center itself. Expect ID checks on the shuttle, where foreign visitors should carry a passport.

If you want all of it in one escorted day instead, the Best of Pearl Harbor full-day tour does four sites in 10 hours.