Hawaii Honeymoon Review - very thorough!!
Got back from our amazing hawaii honeymoon a few weeks ago and finally got a minute to sit down and write a review...it's very detailed because one of my BMs is going there next year and wanted to know everything so i just attached all i told her....hope this helps! First section is general info and then i broke it down by islands we went to....
General Info:
Booking activities – Don’t be worried about booking activities early in the morning. You’ll be on a different time schedule so there will be no problem waking up early. We had to wake up at 5am (to be there on time) for the shark tour and we were wide awake! It felt like 11am to us(6 hour time difference). We also were in bed every night really early! The first night we went to bed at 7:45pm!!! And the latest we ever stayed up was at the end of our two weeks we went to bed at 10pm.
Also about booking activities – call your hotel and ask to speak to the concierge/activity desk and ask for suggestions. The Grand Hyatt was amazing with this. I called them in early July and they emailed me companies they recommended as well as a restaurant list. The Maui hotel also helped make reservations for activities as well. Ask about the 2 for 1 coupon. There are certain activities you really need to book ahead of time and others you can wait. (I’ll put a * after the activity if I suggest booking ahead of time, which we did)
Also there are safes in each hotel room so you can keep your valuables in there each day, which is really nice.
Car Rentals – before you go to Hawaii call up your car insurance companies and see if what you pay covers any car rental cause that would save you a lot of money. Every car rental company tries to convince you that you’ll lose your key and all this other stuff but if your car insurance at home covers you that means you save a bunch of money which we did.
Note about your flight back to NY – there are very few of these at each airport so make sure to definitely get there 2 hours before because you will most likely stand on a really long line to check-in(boo).
Definitely bring a lot of suntan lotion! You will go through so much, even my husband who refuses to wear it usually wore it all the time. It’s cheaper to buy it here than over there. Also bring bug spray! On hikes you will definitely need it and a lot of activities as well. It’s easy to keep that and suntan lotion in your rental car at all times in case.
Water shoes – this is a must. We bought these new water sneakers from Bass outlets up in Waterloo and it was our best investment of our entire trip! The sneakers would dry really quickly and it was perfect for hikes! They would get super muddy but help you with the hiking section and then you could wear them in the ocean for snorkeling or swimming and clean them right off. So many places we went in the water you needed water shoes so it was nice to have these. They also look nicer than those dorky water shoes I think. Lots of people went up to us and asked us about them, since they look like regular sneakers.
Packing – seriously, I WAY over packed! I used about ¼ of what I brought. You basically need bathing suits, which you’ll wear almost everyday, and cover-ups for them. Bring clothes you can dirty for hiking and activities. At night I would dress up just to make it feel special as most ladies did. Bring a long sleeve shirt (helicopter ride and sunrise tour) and a sweatshirt(sunrise tour). The important thing to remember is the less you bring, the more room you have to shop and bring stuff home! Bring in your carry-on bag a bathing suit, cover-up, an extra pair of dry clothes (in case your luggage is lost). If one of your suitcases is over weight, just move things to the other luggage or your carry on. Bring headphones definitely for the flight because you’ll get to listen to whatever movie they play(even if it ***** you still might want them).
US Airways:
Mixed feelings with them. The good thing was we weren’t delayed at all (for all four flights which is shocking). One of my BMs used a different airline and they got a bottle of champagne when the flight attendants found out it was their honeymoon. We let everyone know and we got nothing (although we went when it was mainly all honeymoon couples and they went when it was mainly families on vacation). No food on the meals but I think that might be a domestic flight thing.
Note about InterIsland flights – we used Aloha Airlines but either way it’s open seating. That means there are no assigned seats, it’s first come first seat. Everyone lines up really early so they can get seats together and get a good view when they land. Very quick flights. Also don’t go swimming earlier that day, because then your hair will be all wet and you’ll have to sit in wet clothes on the flight(if you cant change and dry off because you had to check-out).
Overall, we had an amazing 2 weeks. We didn’t feel like it was too long, we didn’t want it to end. Especially when you have to travel so far it’s nice to relax for so long. If we did it over again though we would’ve spent probably a straight week in Kauai and instead of Maui, we would’ve gone to the Big Island of Hawaii. The reason for this is the activities we were interested in doing were more at that island versus Maui. Oahu is mixed. Brian still would’ve done it because of Pearl Harbor where I could’ve skipped that, though I loved the shark swim. Our suggestion is to read the “Hawaii Revealed” books activity sections and see what activities interest you(go to Barnes and Noble to see the other two island books we didn’t get). On the Big Island you can go to the Volcano Park and hike around which we thought sounded awesome. Also there are tons of black sand beaches there as well. We watched a lot of travel channel shows and the things we liked just happened to be on the Big Island. There is a really cool kayak river tour there as well which we would’ve done. Also there is a night swim with mona rays, swimming with dolphins, and some other fun activities.
Oahu
Hotel: Outrigger Waikiki On the Beach
We really liked it! It’s supposed to only be the equivalent of a Holiday Inn over here but we thought it was even better than that. We were upgraded to a partial ocean view room and it was really nice. The free bottle of champagne they gave us was awful (but that’s how it was at each of the hotels, you are forewarned). The pool was nothing special but the hotel was right on Waikiki beach which was great and it was a perfect part of the beach as well. The location was perfect and the restaurants all looked good. You can see Diamond Head and it’s a beautiful view all around. We had a small balcony which was also really nice to sit out on at night(I fell asleep out there one night)
Car Rental: Enterprise
Highly recommend it! We ended up needing a car to do the shark swim so we called them (instead of going through Sue) to see what the price was. We had a coupon for 20% off daily price of a one day rental and they were great cause we didn’t have to guarantee that we were going to rent the car til that day (which was great cause the shark swim could only happen if the weather was good so we could check the weather report first). We told them it was our honeymoon and they upgraded us as well to a Sebring convertible which was pretty cool? Also they have two locations – one within walking distance from our hotel and one at the airport. We picked it up near our hotel and didn’t know where we were going to drop it off (cause we were cutting it close with getting back from the shark swim and getting our ride to the airport that we had scheduled through Sue), and they were really nice and said we could decide on our drive back. (if you do this make sure on the phone when you make your reservation to ask how much it would be to drop it off at a different location and tell the branch when you get there, otherwise they’ll charge you more) We ended up being able to drop it off back there and walked back to our hotel just in time to get picked up for the airport.
Restaurant:
Duke’s Canoe Club (Bar and Restaurant)
Located on the bottom floor of the hotel, which opened right onto the pool deck. It was my favorite restaurant of the entire trip! We first had drinks there and sat in the bar section, they had live Hawaiian music which was really nice for Happy Hour. Then we had dinner there (in the restaurant section). They had a huge salad bar which was really nice and came with all the meals. I highly recommend the Teriyaki steak, this was by far the best steak all over Hawaii. They have a Duke’s in Kauai as well, I wish we had gone there but we didn’t (we wanted to try new places). Brian had fish which he thought was good but he tried my steak and wished he had ordered that cause it was so good. The nice thing is you can charge the food to your room (though that’s not such a great thing as we later found out cause we just kept adding and adding it up at a later hotel).
Matteo’s (Italian)
We went here because we had a coupon from the Entertainment Book for buy one entrée get one free. It was good, nothing special. If you go though I recommend making a reservation. We went without and though they were able to take us right away we didn’t get these really romantic booths. We had seen they had set up all this nice stuff at the booths for couples who had made reservations. You don’t feel like you’re in Hawaii though.
Things to Do:
Enoa Tours – Pearl Harbor/Circle Island Tour*
We’d say it was not worth it. If we did it over, we would take the money we spent on the tour and just rent a car for the entire time we were on Oahu. If you do take it though sit on the left side of the shuttle (the side behind the driver, they had the better views).
North Shore Shark Adventures* – www.sharktourshawaii.com & www.hawaiisharkadventures.com 808-228-5900
Awesome!!! Tours start as early as 7am and got til about 3pm. Only you and your husband(!) will be in the shark cage, and then if anyone else is on the boat with you they’ll go separate. Bring an underwater camera with you. It’s two hours total. They provide you with snorkel gear. Directions on website are wrong though, we had to ask some people and found it, so just leave extra travel time. *in the Oahu Maps magazine you can pick up at car rentals there was a coupon for it but we didn’t see it til we left Oahu, whoops
Pearl Harbor – USSArizona Memorial
Brian liked it, I found it just okay. If you like history and Pearl Harbor is important to you then just go on your own, not through a tour. Get there early so you can get it done quickly, our tour got us there around 7:15 and we were in the third group.
Though we didn’t do it, we’d suggest going to the Battleship Missouri and Bowfin. They cost some money but there are coupons around, when you check into your hotel see if they have discount books in the lobby(the Outrigger does) or the Entertainment book has coupons for it as well.
Diamond Head – heard that it’s better to do early in the morning since it gets hot and it’s harder to hike. Brian was disappointed we didn’t have time to do it but we both we had done.
Dole Plantation – on our tour we stopped here. If you want some pineapple ice cream then stop there. We took some funny pictures there though.
North Shore – it was fun to watch the surfers. If you watch LOST, between Hale’iwa and Waimea Bay is the beach they film the beach scenes on. Sharks cove is good for snorkeling, we got out and stopped and watched and it looked like fun(no worries, no sharks there). Sunset beach was pretty, but nothing special.
East Coast – in Waikane we stopped for lunch at a little tiny place called “Orchards of Waiahole”. The burgers were good and shrimp was good as well(Brian thought so). Pali Lookout was a beautiful view. We wished we could’ve taken one of the roads they built through the mountains, supposedly driving up it gives an amazing view as well. Wished we had time to stop at the Kaneohe Sand Bar on the east coast, heard it is supposed to be beautiful!
SouthEast Coast – Hanauma Bay has the best snorkeling on Oahu. We got out there to look around on our tour and it looked awesome and our tourguide suggested it to everyone who had time.
Other activities we looked into:
Bottom Fishing Tours – Midnight Shark Fishing
808-955-3474/808-955-FISH
10pm-1am; pick up and drop off at hotel
$125/pp (Entertainment book had coupon for 30% off)
General Info:
Booking activities – Don’t be worried about booking activities early in the morning. You’ll be on a different time schedule so there will be no problem waking up early. We had to wake up at 5am (to be there on time) for the shark tour and we were wide awake! It felt like 11am to us(6 hour time difference). We also were in bed every night really early! The first night we went to bed at 7:45pm!!! And the latest we ever stayed up was at the end of our two weeks we went to bed at 10pm.
Also about booking activities – call your hotel and ask to speak to the concierge/activity desk and ask for suggestions. The Grand Hyatt was amazing with this. I called them in early July and they emailed me companies they recommended as well as a restaurant list. The Maui hotel also helped make reservations for activities as well. Ask about the 2 for 1 coupon. There are certain activities you really need to book ahead of time and others you can wait. (I’ll put a * after the activity if I suggest booking ahead of time, which we did)
Also there are safes in each hotel room so you can keep your valuables in there each day, which is really nice.
Car Rentals – before you go to Hawaii call up your car insurance companies and see if what you pay covers any car rental cause that would save you a lot of money. Every car rental company tries to convince you that you’ll lose your key and all this other stuff but if your car insurance at home covers you that means you save a bunch of money which we did.
Note about your flight back to NY – there are very few of these at each airport so make sure to definitely get there 2 hours before because you will most likely stand on a really long line to check-in(boo).
Definitely bring a lot of suntan lotion! You will go through so much, even my husband who refuses to wear it usually wore it all the time. It’s cheaper to buy it here than over there. Also bring bug spray! On hikes you will definitely need it and a lot of activities as well. It’s easy to keep that and suntan lotion in your rental car at all times in case.
Water shoes – this is a must. We bought these new water sneakers from Bass outlets up in Waterloo and it was our best investment of our entire trip! The sneakers would dry really quickly and it was perfect for hikes! They would get super muddy but help you with the hiking section and then you could wear them in the ocean for snorkeling or swimming and clean them right off. So many places we went in the water you needed water shoes so it was nice to have these. They also look nicer than those dorky water shoes I think. Lots of people went up to us and asked us about them, since they look like regular sneakers.
Packing – seriously, I WAY over packed! I used about ¼ of what I brought. You basically need bathing suits, which you’ll wear almost everyday, and cover-ups for them. Bring clothes you can dirty for hiking and activities. At night I would dress up just to make it feel special as most ladies did. Bring a long sleeve shirt (helicopter ride and sunrise tour) and a sweatshirt(sunrise tour). The important thing to remember is the less you bring, the more room you have to shop and bring stuff home! Bring in your carry-on bag a bathing suit, cover-up, an extra pair of dry clothes (in case your luggage is lost). If one of your suitcases is over weight, just move things to the other luggage or your carry on. Bring headphones definitely for the flight because you’ll get to listen to whatever movie they play(even if it ***** you still might want them).
US Airways:
Mixed feelings with them. The good thing was we weren’t delayed at all (for all four flights which is shocking). One of my BMs used a different airline and they got a bottle of champagne when the flight attendants found out it was their honeymoon. We let everyone know and we got nothing (although we went when it was mainly all honeymoon couples and they went when it was mainly families on vacation). No food on the meals but I think that might be a domestic flight thing.
Note about InterIsland flights – we used Aloha Airlines but either way it’s open seating. That means there are no assigned seats, it’s first come first seat. Everyone lines up really early so they can get seats together and get a good view when they land. Very quick flights. Also don’t go swimming earlier that day, because then your hair will be all wet and you’ll have to sit in wet clothes on the flight(if you cant change and dry off because you had to check-out).
Overall, we had an amazing 2 weeks. We didn’t feel like it was too long, we didn’t want it to end. Especially when you have to travel so far it’s nice to relax for so long. If we did it over again though we would’ve spent probably a straight week in Kauai and instead of Maui, we would’ve gone to the Big Island of Hawaii. The reason for this is the activities we were interested in doing were more at that island versus Maui. Oahu is mixed. Brian still would’ve done it because of Pearl Harbor where I could’ve skipped that, though I loved the shark swim. Our suggestion is to read the “Hawaii Revealed” books activity sections and see what activities interest you(go to Barnes and Noble to see the other two island books we didn’t get). On the Big Island you can go to the Volcano Park and hike around which we thought sounded awesome. Also there are tons of black sand beaches there as well. We watched a lot of travel channel shows and the things we liked just happened to be on the Big Island. There is a really cool kayak river tour there as well which we would’ve done. Also there is a night swim with mona rays, swimming with dolphins, and some other fun activities.
Oahu
Hotel: Outrigger Waikiki On the Beach
We really liked it! It’s supposed to only be the equivalent of a Holiday Inn over here but we thought it was even better than that. We were upgraded to a partial ocean view room and it was really nice. The free bottle of champagne they gave us was awful (but that’s how it was at each of the hotels, you are forewarned). The pool was nothing special but the hotel was right on Waikiki beach which was great and it was a perfect part of the beach as well. The location was perfect and the restaurants all looked good. You can see Diamond Head and it’s a beautiful view all around. We had a small balcony which was also really nice to sit out on at night(I fell asleep out there one night)
Car Rental: Enterprise
Highly recommend it! We ended up needing a car to do the shark swim so we called them (instead of going through Sue) to see what the price was. We had a coupon for 20% off daily price of a one day rental and they were great cause we didn’t have to guarantee that we were going to rent the car til that day (which was great cause the shark swim could only happen if the weather was good so we could check the weather report first). We told them it was our honeymoon and they upgraded us as well to a Sebring convertible which was pretty cool? Also they have two locations – one within walking distance from our hotel and one at the airport. We picked it up near our hotel and didn’t know where we were going to drop it off (cause we were cutting it close with getting back from the shark swim and getting our ride to the airport that we had scheduled through Sue), and they were really nice and said we could decide on our drive back. (if you do this make sure on the phone when you make your reservation to ask how much it would be to drop it off at a different location and tell the branch when you get there, otherwise they’ll charge you more) We ended up being able to drop it off back there and walked back to our hotel just in time to get picked up for the airport.
Restaurant:
Duke’s Canoe Club (Bar and Restaurant)
Located on the bottom floor of the hotel, which opened right onto the pool deck. It was my favorite restaurant of the entire trip! We first had drinks there and sat in the bar section, they had live Hawaiian music which was really nice for Happy Hour. Then we had dinner there (in the restaurant section). They had a huge salad bar which was really nice and came with all the meals. I highly recommend the Teriyaki steak, this was by far the best steak all over Hawaii. They have a Duke’s in Kauai as well, I wish we had gone there but we didn’t (we wanted to try new places). Brian had fish which he thought was good but he tried my steak and wished he had ordered that cause it was so good. The nice thing is you can charge the food to your room (though that’s not such a great thing as we later found out cause we just kept adding and adding it up at a later hotel).
Matteo’s (Italian)
We went here because we had a coupon from the Entertainment Book for buy one entrée get one free. It was good, nothing special. If you go though I recommend making a reservation. We went without and though they were able to take us right away we didn’t get these really romantic booths. We had seen they had set up all this nice stuff at the booths for couples who had made reservations. You don’t feel like you’re in Hawaii though.
Things to Do:
Enoa Tours – Pearl Harbor/Circle Island Tour*
We’d say it was not worth it. If we did it over, we would take the money we spent on the tour and just rent a car for the entire time we were on Oahu. If you do take it though sit on the left side of the shuttle (the side behind the driver, they had the better views).
North Shore Shark Adventures* – www.sharktourshawaii.com & www.hawaiisharkadventures.com 808-228-5900
Awesome!!! Tours start as early as 7am and got til about 3pm. Only you and your husband(!) will be in the shark cage, and then if anyone else is on the boat with you they’ll go separate. Bring an underwater camera with you. It’s two hours total. They provide you with snorkel gear. Directions on website are wrong though, we had to ask some people and found it, so just leave extra travel time. *in the Oahu Maps magazine you can pick up at car rentals there was a coupon for it but we didn’t see it til we left Oahu, whoops
Pearl Harbor – USSArizona Memorial
Brian liked it, I found it just okay. If you like history and Pearl Harbor is important to you then just go on your own, not through a tour. Get there early so you can get it done quickly, our tour got us there around 7:15 and we were in the third group.
Though we didn’t do it, we’d suggest going to the Battleship Missouri and Bowfin. They cost some money but there are coupons around, when you check into your hotel see if they have discount books in the lobby(the Outrigger does) or the Entertainment book has coupons for it as well.
Diamond Head – heard that it’s better to do early in the morning since it gets hot and it’s harder to hike. Brian was disappointed we didn’t have time to do it but we both we had done.
Dole Plantation – on our tour we stopped here. If you want some pineapple ice cream then stop there. We took some funny pictures there though.
North Shore – it was fun to watch the surfers. If you watch LOST, between Hale’iwa and Waimea Bay is the beach they film the beach scenes on. Sharks cove is good for snorkeling, we got out and stopped and watched and it looked like fun(no worries, no sharks there). Sunset beach was pretty, but nothing special.
East Coast – in Waikane we stopped for lunch at a little tiny place called “Orchards of Waiahole”. The burgers were good and shrimp was good as well(Brian thought so). Pali Lookout was a beautiful view. We wished we could’ve taken one of the roads they built through the mountains, supposedly driving up it gives an amazing view as well. Wished we had time to stop at the Kaneohe Sand Bar on the east coast, heard it is supposed to be beautiful!
SouthEast Coast – Hanauma Bay has the best snorkeling on Oahu. We got out there to look around on our tour and it looked awesome and our tourguide suggested it to everyone who had time.
Other activities we looked into:
Bottom Fishing Tours – Midnight Shark Fishing
808-955-3474/808-955-FISH
10pm-1am; pick up and drop off at hotel
$125/pp (Entertainment book had coupon for 30% off)
