Atlantis Submarines Waikiki

Loved the submarine & the guides.
However, the staff needs to control the volume better by asking guests to maintain indoor voices… or start an adult only tour. The amount of screaming children and horrible parents who didn’t even try to calm their children on the tour ruined the whole experience for me. I would gladly pay double for a NO CHILDREN tour.
I am not talking about children ooh & awwing or screams of joy, but rather full on screeching screams and crying in a enclosed space from not one, but three children from the same group of guests.

It was a neat experience, but wouldn’t do it again. We hardly saw anything… a couple little fish, that’s it. Don’t expect coral or plants or dolphins or tropical fish. It might be a nice family activity for people/​kids who can’t swim but want to experience ocean life.

Really enjoyed taking this tour. Friendly service and provides a view of Hawaii like nobody else can deliver! A must check out

No. Not at Waikiki. Period. I have nothing but respect for the idea of the company called «Atlantis», and I read all about how the founder created the company, but the racket they have going at Waikiki beach is a stain on their professionalism and dignity. There’s no wildlife off the coast of Waikiki. Take a good close look at the pictures from the sub tour for Waikiki, then look at any pictures from other locations. At Waikiki there’s no coral, no reef, no fish. As you descend down and look at the bleak sandy floor, they start reciting their mantra of how they bought all these horrendously expensive decommissioned planes, boats, etc, made them environmentally safe, for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then, sunk them, so they would have something to attract a few paltry fish, so you could see something besides bleak dead sand at 100 feet below the surface of the ocean. I am not lying when I say: if they had not done that, you would see zero fish. Seriously.
I could post a picture of my son gazing out the porthole, looking for a fish – any fish, but… why bother. (we saw a few, but it was minutes between spottings, sometimes)
The mere fact they could spend THAT much money to do that, when it has nothing to do with a larger, real environmental effort to build a real reef system off the coast of Waikiki (which is fake shipped-​in sand, anyway), tells you just how much money they make taking people on tours from one of the most visited beach resorts on earth.
Save your money and do Atlantis from any other location. ASK first. Make sure it has a real reef and real sea life.

Fun for the entire family. I recommend taking the larger submarine. It has more room. Family of four on 4^th of July ran me $ 315. They offer various discounts as well if you’re staying at the Hilton or Hale Koa (where we stayed). The trip is about 2 hours. You take a ferry out to the drop zone and hop in your sub. It’s a definite money maker. They take photos for you and sell stuff on the boat. The views alone on the ferry are beautiful.
This was my third time riding the sub. Had to let the kids experience it too. My boy was 1 his first time and my daughter wasn’t around yet. They loved the ride. Plenty of sea life and some artificial reefs. The staff is knowledgeable and very nice. Every seat is a good seat. The sub ride is about an hour.
If you buy your tix the same day make sure to check out the report of the water. If the waters are choppy it’s a little murky below.
Get your sea legs under you and go enjoy the ride.

Crew was very nice and informative. Boat ride out to the sub was amazing. Great way to see the island. We even got to see a whale as we went out. The sub was roomy and windows large. We paid extra for the premium sub. The sub ride itself was ok. Saw some sea turtles and a lot of fish. Nice especially if people don’t snorkel.

When I booked the tour I verified my phone number was included. The registration reciept has my phone number. They cancelled the ride due to weather. After driving from the other side of the island and planning my whole day around this the lady just said «we didn’t have your phone number.» Obviosly a lie because my number is right there on the reciept for check in. This place is very poorly ran and from the looks of things this appears to be common. My advice is call the day you are supposed to go and just verify they are running that day. This should help you not to waste a day of travel. Only a few days here and this company helped to waste one. If there are other adventures your thinking about I would avoid this place all together.

My wife and I both love the water and decided to take a submarine tour with Atlantis during our Hawaiian vacation and are we glad we did! I went over to their kiosk at the Hilton Waikiki resort and inquired about a trip later in the day. Not only were they happy to accomodate us but upgraded us to the premium package for no additional cost.
The boat ride out was quick and comfortable and the submarine was spacious and the crew knowledgable. We rode for the standard trip but since we were the last ride of the day, the stayed dow a few extra minutes and we got to see some great sealife.
All in all, it was a great experience that i plan on foing again in the future!

Awesome experience — saw many different fishes, sea turtles, and even a whale. I don’t swim so this is a great alternative to snorkeling. –2 stars because it looks man made. I wish we saw some sharks or something.

This was not worth the money or time. Basically I spent money to see the bottom of the ocean and a few fish. I was able to see more when I went snorkeling. There are so many other things to do in Hawaii that I wouldn’t waste my time with this experience. I took my 6 year old niece and she was just as bored as me.

I have been on the Atlantis Submarine twice in a span of 12 years. I have always enjoyed the ride. Once we checked it, we got on a yacht to the ocean near Waikiki beach. The submarine comes out and we boarded. Once inside, it took us to a world that we had never see before. A world of fishes, turtles and wreaks. It was ‘super cool’ for our 7 year old who saw ship wrecks, plane wrecks and a variety of ocean animals including a turtle. The windows were big and the sitting was comfortable. It was overall a great experience and I would always highly recommend to everyone.

Used a special promo offered through their website for free child admission.
Booked 2 trips, one for us, one for my parents. The other one was booked via Hilton where we were staying. The lady kindly booked both at the same time, honoring the online promo which was supposed to be online only.
We had a toddler with us who was 2 yrs old and therefore not tall enough to ride (36″). They took care of the bookings for us to ensure we had staggered times, and could swap the toddler from one party to the other while out at sea to ensure both parties could enjoy the submarine and not have to worry about the kids.
Had a blast. Tour guide was very informative. They have headsets that offer Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. We saw turtles (fish obviously) and even a shark!
Highly recommended.

Only submarine tour on island. But they offer more activities than just submarine tours.
Take the dinner cruise, catch a submarine tour or go whale watching. Great to learn about efforts to preserve the ocean and create new reefs for fish.
You may get to see turtles, tons of fish, stingrays, sharks, and the occasional scuba people diving.
Recommend if you are on island as its not everyday you can go to a depth of 100 feet in water and see marine life. I heard the Maui location has even more fish than Oahu.

This is he worst submarine right I have seen in my life. Get the premium or basic ticket, pay 250 to look at rocks and small fishes for 45 minutes. This place sucks.

A great way to spent a few hours in Waikiki! We saw a vast array of fish, eel, turtles and rays. Well worth the adventure price. For those afraid of going in the water, this is your ticket!
I am claustrophobic and was fine on board the sub, there is quite a bit of room and the sub is air conditioned too.

Knowledgable guides. Kept us safe and taught us a lot as we saw lots of sea life and historical items on the bottom Good experience for the whole family to see what’s nenes the and not need scuba gear

Unfortunately a big waste of money in my opinion. There were four of us and the cost was nearly $ 500 for two adults and two kids to do this «adventure». It was extremely boring. If you go… Sit on the LEFT side of the sub. We were on the RIGHT side which ended up being the WRONG side as we didn’t see much of anything. All the stuff was on the left side. The staff was very nice. Ship and sub were very clean. Experience not worth the cost unfortunately. Two thumbs way down. Sorry Atlantis!

This is a particularly good activity for those who’ve never gone scuba diving. The crew members are kind and professional; they provided good narration.
The boat ride to the submarine is interesting as well. You can see surfing schools and other boats. We saw a themed pirate ship, which I’m sure the younger audience enjoyed.
Luckily, the submarine is so steady all seasickness evaporates. You’re in a neat blue little world, touring the ocean floor. It was a good day for the sea life, as we saw plenty of fish and other creatures. We even saw a turtle!
I can’t compare the premium tour to the none, but I can say that the viewing window on the premium tour was quite sufficient for our needs.

The submarine is a great experience for those who can’t swim or don’t snorkel/​scuba dive. As I’ve been snorkeling on the island before, I thought it was fun but a bit underwhelming.
A large part of the reason why we decided on this excursion is because my mom can’t swim and doesn’t snorkel. It’s a great way for her to see some of the sea life that Oahu has to offer without worrying about drowning. We saw a variety of fish and even a sea turtle! We also saw some dolphins on our boat to the submarine.
I say skip if you’re a seasoned snorkler or scuba diver. Do it if you have small children or older participants who aren’t into the more active activities.

I was pleasantly surprised by this activity. I thought it would be cheesy as most tourist traps are. However, it was VERY well done with great staff. They even provide oil to help with sea sickness, something I’ve NEVER seen in all the Hawaii excursions I’ve been on. The boat ride was nice and the submarine was cool. I get that people don’t like it because #1 you never know what marine life you’ll actually see and 2) the sunken ships, airplane, etc are not natural, however it’s still super cool to be underwater in a comfortable environment with an EXCELLENT guide explaining it all. I also highly recommend the premium tour for just a bit more. I did get kind of seasick but I’m just extremely sensitive and always get seasick so that was no surprise. Overall, it was a cool experience and I would highly recommend it!

Alohaaaaa! Isn’t it cool being submerge under water 100 ish depth?! I think Yasss! You don’t get wet and there’s AC too! You’ll see sunken ship, cool marine life and might come across the Humpback whale if it’s your lucky day!
There are extra large submarine known as the Premium tour and large sub aka Standard. Both has the same tour 45 mins under water.
Atlantis Adv also offer whale watch happening right now until April 2015. There are breakfast and lunch available. If you don’t see whales on that day then you get to go for another round.
Then there’s the Navatek Dinner cruises. You can choose the upper deck the «Romantic zone» with your better half, lobster & steak or either can choose the lower deck buffet style! You can also take pics on the upper deck. I think this would be an amazing experience! Looks fun!
Atlantis Adventures offers an unforgettable experience the only real sub on Oahu.

After seeing some of the negative reviews, I just had to write one (I am a scuba diver btw, and the review by Ashley M is completely spot on). First, artificial reefs are great. They bring the fish to the area since now the smaller fish have a place to hide. There’s nothing wrong with those. Atlantis makes no secret up front that the reefs are artificial. Second, the underwater world is its own entity. You can’t go to the zoo and expect the lions to always be outside doing something. Fish are the same way. Right after a storm you won’t see as much, and they won’t always be out having fun. Fortunately today was a gorgeous day and there were A TON of fish out all over the reefs with visibility about 60 feet.
In any case, my son (6) and I took the premium sub tour. If you do that, do not book it through any sort of hotel/​resort you are staying at, book it directly through Atlantis. We booked it through the Hilton and it wasn’t until today we realized how much we had overpaid. That has nothing to do with Atlantis though. The staff was great, the 10 minute boat ride was fun, and the narrator on the sub tour (about 45 minutes) was knowledgable and fun to listen to. Having the seat backs was nice for when I didn’t feel like leaning forward. The viewports were really big — my son and I shared one without issue. I thought the underwater time was perfect, I would not have wanted it any longer.
I’m not entirely sure what people expected to happen on an underwater trip like this, but if you’re looking for movie-​type shark fights or something, you might as well not go on this since that’s not reality.

This review is for the larger premium sub in Waikiki.
So My wife had at best mild interest in doing the sub. For me on the other hand… It’s on my to do list. I mean other than joining the navy or becoming part of an ocean research program where else can you experience a submarine???
So what about these negative reviews? It’s completely understandable. If anything The Atlantis crew make this extraordinary experience a little too ordinary. If you are not at all familiar with scuba then it will seem like there is not a whole lot to see, and you will have no clue how special it is to be down over 100ft. The fact is unless you are at a reef, there is not much to see, any scuba diver will tell you this. And this tour has some time staring out at a blue window with a barren sand bottom as the sub takes you between each wreck or artificial reef. I was totally absorbed in the wonder of it and how big the ocean felt during those times with my nose pressed to the window.
A few facts for you
1. Max recreational recommended dive depth for a padi certified diver with an open water certification is 98ft. And that’s if you are experienced.
2. As a diver coming up from that depth must do so following a process or risks serious injury or worse.
Passengers on the sub board and get to experience this depth with no fuss. And many think it’s a waste of money and boring. :)
So there you go. I enjoyed it a lot, it’s not something I would do again, but am glad I did it. You will see interesting stuff, you will be in an extraordinary vehicle visiting an environment that not many people see. Embrace the wonder and enjoy the ride and I think you will get a lot out of it.
A final note, there is no exhilaration to this, it’s very much a gentle and interesting journey. What you see will depend on what the ocean and fish are doing. We got lucky and saw a shark, a barracuda a turtle and a lot of fish.
To bring this back full circle my Wife enjoyed the experience, but didn’t feel it was worth the cost. :) I on the other hand felt it was worth every penny.
Hope this helps.

So I read all the reviews post ticket purchase and was poised for a complete rip off. I got a call from Atlantis about 30 mins before check saying that due to bad visibility and high surf our trip was cancelled. They would however be another trip an hour later.
I asked if the viz would be clear enough in that time and I was told yes it will be fine. I was definitely skeptical as the ocean doesn’t just ‘clear’ up.
Went to the next boarding, greeted by friendly staff aboard the discovery, boarded without incident, all very pleasant. Got to our sub and boarded, nice ac greeted us and we took our seats. Visibility was about 80 – 100 feet and amazing, schools of mackerel could be seen from our seat. Upon close inspection you could see the bottom at 80ft below.
So far so good, as a professional scuba diver myself I was hugely against this trip but it was a gift so I went with it. Normally for that sort of money I would have got wet and gone to 110feet myself.
I digress, narrator for trip was very informative and friendly, pointed out things to see on both sides of our sub. Clarity was amazing and so many fish!!! Huge schools of trevally and butterfly fish, parrot fish, moray eels, goatfish the list goes on! I was quite impressed, also see all the artificial reefs was cool too and seeing wrecks is always fun.
Overall, yes it’s expensive… It’s a unique experience for sure though and you get a nice view of Waikiki and diamond head thrown in. 4 stars for price, otherwise 5.

Once again, I do not understand why the reviews are lower here. Located at the Hilton Pier in Waikiki, Atlantis Submarines provided exactly what snorkeling could not provide me, probably only what scuba could provide for a fraction of the cost.
My first suggestion, do not bother getting there early. It will not help your chances of receiving a good seat. Once you are on the transport, sit towards the center of the boat. You can watch the submarine surface from your seat without getting attacked by all the tourists leaning over you to take pictures. Next suggestion: do not waste your time on the premium sub. You will be leaning over towards the glass the entire time and do not need a seat back. If you want a good seat, make sure you are the first on the sub or the last. Children are loud and if you want to hear what the guy is saying without a headset for foreign languages, you won’t hear him in the middle of the sub.
You will enjoy the fish, the turtles and all the man made reefs you wouldn’t normally find. Do not expect to see sharks and the little mermaid, but do expect to experience the ocean like very few do.

Okay where do I start.. First off everybody, do not eat before u get on the boat because u may get sick and vomit by the time u arrive inside the submarine like the lady behind me. Totally ruined the whole sub ride. They need to keep sum cleaner or deodorizer knowing this is so common.
The tour was okay. kinda cramped and couldn’t see the fish that well but it’s not that bad. Not worth the 200.00 we spent tho. Just wasn’t worth it. Wanted to like this but no.

This is kind of an amusement park ride meets the real life ocean. It is pricey, but we got discounted tickets with a Military discount. I’m not sure I would pay full price for the experience.
If you’re going to go, you might as well shell out the extra bucks for the nicer submarines. They cost more, but they’re more comfortable. The older ones have uncomfortable, wooden benches and seem like a claustrophobic’s nightmare.
If you buy your tickets online, you get $ 10 off per ticket.
The tour and experience is a lot of fun. It’s pretty gimmicky, however, because all of the «reef» is all man-​made and supposed to attract sea life. You have a sunken plane (which they also used in LOST), and a lot of man-​made structures made by art students.
If you get past this part, which kind of makes you feel a little bit cheated, then you do see some pretty cool things. We saw a giant tortoise, and tons and tons of fish.
Our guide was very, very funny and also very knowledgeable. He did a good job at getting the crowd involved and keeping everyone entertained. And for those that do not speak English, there are headsets available in a variety of different languages.
If anything else, I definitely learned a lot about native Hawaiian sea life, more about the culture, and saw some pretty fish!

A lot better than the Finding Nemo ride at Disneyland for sure. I don’t even know why I was comparing Atlantis to that. Actually I was able to get on Atlantis Submarines months before while recently I tried the Finding Nemo Ride. Nowhere as close.
It was pretty cool going into a submarine. Our tour guide was funny, and I enjoyed my time underwater. There were several cool fish that we saw and even a shark!
The boat ride there was equally nice because you could enjoy the super blue waters of Hawaii and you were able to see Diamond Head from the sea.
Another bonus is that they give military discounts. But you’ll have to buy your tickets at Outdoor Recreation ahead of time.
Book the bigger boat!