I was quite cautious about being a passenger in such a small plane, but this was the only option that would work with the itinerary. Yes, it is expensive, but the 45-60 minute flight is much quicker than the 3-6 hr ferry options. Check in was quite smooth. You park in the lot, and give them your car keys (I guess in case they need to move your car? It's also $8/day for parking). Your luggage gets weighed as there's a 45 lb limit per passenger (and no individual bag can weigh more than 45 lb). Thankfully they don't weigh the passengers, instead they just eyeball you and might tell you if you need to sit in a certain seat to balance the plane. The whole process was a breeze. The flight out was very smooth, while the flight back was a bit rough. It was raining pretty hard with a chance of thunderstorms, but as the weather improved, my flight wasn't delayed. There was a screen at the outside of the Rock Harbor visitor center with updates, but you can also ask the NPS ranger who has more detailed information too. The company tries their best to make sure you aren't delayed, including adding extra flights if there's a backlog. If you have the cash, definitely splurge on the seaplane as you get a cool view of the island, and you have the chance to sit in the co-pilot seat too! read more

DO NOT TAKE THE SEAPLANES!!! I explored the seaplane option as I've heard the waters can be rough and I wanted to save some time. HUGE MISTAKE. They also have terrible reviews on Google. I submitted my first request to their website on May 7th, they responded May 12th that "On 7/6 the latest available flight is 1pm." even though 1pm isn't an option in the dropdown, so I replied on May 16th that yes okay I'll book that time, again on May 21st, and then May 26th asking what to do. They replied "please resubmit. We discarded your request because you didn't respond from 5/12 to 5/16." ARE YOU KIDDING ME. That is so unhelpful. So I sent a screenshot showing how that isn't an option on the form and what time to select instead when I resubmit, and he replied "It's not in the menu but is one that we provide most days. Let us know if you want it." Like obviously I want it??? I've told you 3 times I want it??? So I resubmitted May 30th with the new incorrect time since both the times I wanted weren't listed, and didn't hear back until June 18th: "The requested flights are sold out." Well in the meantime I had to schedule the rest of my trip so I scheduled the Voyageur II boat from one part of the island to another, which now I cannot take, and because they took so long to reply I'm outside the cancellation window and have to eat the late cancellation costs. I called them and there is nothing they can do. They provided alternative options which is the inverse trip of what I wanted, which would require me to change my vacation dates and I still wouldn't make the boat that I have booked so I would have to eat that cancellation cost either way. They've sabotaged my entire trip that I've spent months meticulously planning out. Now if I want to go I have to rework my entire itinerary with only a week left to plan this, and hope that other routes to the island are available. Either way, I will not get to see the island as much as I had wanted, and I will have to eat the costs of the boat I reserved, all because of Jon and Kirsten at IsleRoyaleSeaplanes. I called the Voyageur company as well to explore alternative options, and they said they are not surprised to hear about my experience, and have seen this happen before. It is very well known that Isle Royale Seaplanes has horrible customer service and cancels on customers outside of weather reasons. read more

Isle Royale Seaplanes - Aerial Tours Near Me - Hubbell, Michigan

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The trip to Isle Royale was great. This was our last public mode of transport to the island and it was so worth it. Highly recommend this service to the island. read more

Such a great experience! Our group wanted to do a day trip to Isle Royale and we booked a round trip flight and really enjoyed it. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The flight provided a great view of the island and a unique experience we won't forget! We would definitely recommend taking the flight to anyone looking to visit the island! read more

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Can't begin to describe my experience with them. I had a complicated itinerary because of travel availability with my job, my partner's job, airline flight cancelations to Houghton Airport and Isle Royale Seaplans' own availability. I had to rebook after the first attempt due to a canceled flight out of Chicago. Lexi was so helpful in making sure my proposal would happen. It was especially touching when she introduced herself after we landed and newly engaged. Both she and Jon were super helpful and I'll always appreciate it them helping to give my fiancé the best day ever (he always wanted to go to Isle Royale but never did). Abby and Billy, our pilots, were phenomenal. Cant wait for our next trip. My only critique is the price is inaccessible for many Yoopers who have never been to such a wonderful place. Would love for them to get some support from the gov to have more people visit. read more

Don't use the seaplanes or book carefully. Of course, safety is a priority and we safely arrived at Isle Royale and back to Grand Marais. We had a stop in Windigo both directions and then Rock Harbor. On the way back, both takeoffs the engine was not turning over despite multiple attempts. SCARY. We arrived safely but there is more. When I booked this, I specifically asked about weather delays and options. I was told "you can just hop a ferry back". I asked if I needed to reserve space on the ferry early or if they had seats pre-reserved. "You don't have to do that. They run all the time and they are never sold out.". So of course, we had a storm. It figures. Sadly, that company had provided misinformation (not like they own the ferries, but then don't give out bad info). Ferries to Grand Marais only run 3 days a week, leave before the flights (so don't necessarily know if the flight is cancelled) and they do sell out. So we were stuck on the island for more than 48 hours at a cost of $800, missing work, flights, etc. The ferries run to Michigan more often but still not every day. Key point: the flights are not going to/from the same place the ferries run. So if you have a weather delay, get on a ferry, please know you will spend money to get a taxi/Uber/Lyft to take you to the other location. Grand Portage (ferry) to Grand Marais is about a $100 taxi ride if you can get one. In addition, the office staff and one pilot were quite rude. They gave no email or text updates. The website has no delay info. If you call, they still won't tell you anything and just say "check the monitors". Sadly, the monitors are not near where you can stay dry! They don't update the monitors hourly despite their claim. Even the park rangers and lodge staff said that is not commonly done. Unfortunately, you can't really take a hike in the drizzle since they could have you on a plane within an hour (the flights are quite short and they insist they will take off as soon as possible). So we literally sat in a room for hours both days waiting for someone to tell us if the flights were delayed. The pilot told the other 2 passengers who were on a nearby dock that "I was leaving if you were not here in 20 seconds" despite seeing them walk the 50 yards to the correct dock in Windigo! The park rangers and lodge staff are marvelous and sympathized. We were able to get a room both nights though one family said they had to pay for an upgrade to $420/night. Of course, Isle Royale Seaplanes does not reimburse that. So get travel insurance you're thinking? Be careful. The office staff at Isle Royale Seaplanes does not list the names of all people on a reservation even when politely asked which makes getting fully reimbursed more challenging. Lastly, I contacted the director to suggest they not give misinformation on the ferries, not promise hourly updates, list all passengers on the proof-of-travel-delay letter and consider upgrading their website to provide the weather delay info so we could stay dry and not bother them with phone calls. He told me "you don't know anything about this business". NEVER EVER use this company. Scary engine trouble, poor customer service, and if you have a weather delay, well, good luck. read more

I will just say that we are very disappointed in the owner of this company. We made plans for a trip to Isle Royale at the beginning of the year and have been so excited. On our drive up to the UP recently we got a call from the ferry service about a fire on the island that had just started during the night. They were offering a full refund of their services even though they were still running. We decided to continue driving and figure things out when we knew more since we had another day before departure. The rest of our group was coming from Iowa and after looking at closures cancelled and they all got their money back from the ferry (they were taking ferry both ways and we were doing one way in ferry and one way in seaplane). The trails that were closed were everything we had planned and the next day they still were. At that time what we had planned for so long was not an option. We had to make a decision because if we didn't go we had to make other plans. I even went to the seaplane office to try and discuss. Rose was very kind and understanding but had to talk to the owner when he was done flying. She called me later and said he wasn't doing any refunds because they were still flying. The owner wouldn't even offer a partial refund of our one way flight back or a credit for next year. It wasn't like we didn't want to go...heck we were even in town. There was a natural disaster beyond our control and it affected our whole trip. I am very disappointed in this company and will never use them. Like I said the workers I spoke to were very friendly and understanding but apparently the owner didn't care. Not only were we now out $500 but we had to make new plans that would cost additional due to a natural disaster not because we wanted to cancel. Poor customer service in my opinion and greedy. read more

Horrible experience, I cannot stress enough to look for other options as booking with these guys is not worth ruining your planned trip... Horrible customer service and multiple plane mechanical issues. Lets be clear... Their policy is that if your flight time is missed/delayed for any reason (mostly fog delay) your flight is essentially canceled and they will try to squeeze you in between their other scheduled flights at their leisure. You are NOT next in line to fly out once they are able to resume. I understand their logic for this and fundamentally disagree with this policy as we made a 9 hr drive and were essentially told we were s*** out of luck. We were supposed to depart Sat @ 10am and ended up getting pushed to Tuesday due to the weather delays on sat morning and a plane having mechanical issues. We were on the hook waiting all day sat until they finally told us at 10pm that we would have to wait until Tuesday at 2pm. This completely ruined our planned 8 day through hike from Rock to Windigo as they told us our only option was Windigo to Windigo for the 5 days that were left... Upon trying to depart the island the following Saturday @ 11am we loaded up and sure enough the seaplane would not start. We were stuck there a few hours not knowing if we would spend hours or days. Luckily they squeezed us in on another flight @ 4:30 but I know others were not so lucky. Plain & simple, this company operates a maximum capacity with little room to account for weather or mechanical issues. They could care less if they have to refund you for your missed trip, but its not just about the ticket price. We lost our experience, our time, and were treated with extremely poor customer service as they don't have the resources/time to speak with you. The stress in dealing with this company is not worth it. This company does not care about you. Zero effort was made on their part to offer anything other then sorry your flights canceled do you want you money back or go in three days? They are currently the only game in town due to Covid and they have all of the negotiating power to do what they want because there is no other option. On the plus side... we took off & landed in a decent amount of wind and I was fully confident in Thomas as a pilot. read more

Won't bore you with our experience with United but Isle Royale Seaplanes saved our trip! They stayed in touch and were able to accommodate a flight change. Jon, the owner, picked us up from the Hancock airport to help us make our flight. They retrieved our lost luggage from airport and got it to us on the island the following day which allowed us to hike and enjoy the national park. Office staff (so sorry, I accidentally threw away her name before reviewing) was especially wonderful! Seaplane flight both ways was smooth and beautiful - we got to ride the Cessna out and the Beaver back. Well worth the extra money to save on the boat ride time and potential seasickness. Thanks again! (Jun 9, 13) read more