2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

Hi lovely newlyweds!

FH and I just started browsing Hawaii and I have searched and read through a lot on here already.

We are thinking 3 islands, Big Island, Maui and Kauai. Originally we wanted Oahu, but the more we hear of the activities and whatnot I think we are okay skipping it.

Did anyone visit any of these islands on their HM and have reviews? of hotels?

On the Big Island we are looking at Kona Village or the Fairmont.

Kauai maybe the Hyatt?

Maui we are open right now.

Any help or insight would be so appreciated!

Thank you!

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

DH and I did not honeymoon in Hawaii, but we went there for a week in 2009 and we're going back in one month - can't wait!!!

Last time, we went to Oahu - we LOVED it. We did shark diving, went to the North Shore (Pipeline beach) where all of the surfers go, Hanuama Bay, horseback riding at Kualoa Ranch (where they filmed Lost, Jurassic Park, etc.), we shopped in downtown Waikiki Beach, hiked up Diamond Head. It was a fantastic trip. The only thing we didn't get to do (which I can't believe we didn't get to!!!) was go see Pearl Harbor.

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki and we thought it was an A+ resort, so when we go in a month (March 2011) to the Big Island, we are staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. We are renting a car again so we can explore all of the island, see the Volcano national park, take surfing lessons, helicopter tour, etc.

From what I gather, Maui and Kauai are more low key, a great escape to a peaceful place - perfect for a honeymoon! - but might not have as many activities to do as the Big Island. All in all, we loved Hawaii, which is why we're going back. We'd love to see all the island eventually, but we love a little adventure, so we're first hitting up the island where we can maximize our opportunities to do 'stuff' lol

HTH and have a great honeymoon!

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

Here is an email I sent about our HM in Hawaii .. it was incredible!!!



Mamas Fish House is AMAZINGGGG!!!! Best restaurant we went to on Maui! Make absolute sure you guys make it there - and order their signature dish - it's a macadamia nut crusted stuffed Mahi Mahi - its stuffed with crab or lobster (can't remember) IT'S INCREDIBLE!!!!! Also - get dessert - we had some weird name of a pie - cant remember what it was called but it was amazing.

On Maui we stayed at the Grand Wailea. The resort is beautiful. If you stay there ask for room 9012 - its right on the corner and the room is awesome!! Trust me ;)

We rented a Jeep and went to Lahaina one day. We ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Not the chain - even though they have their name. Its right on the beach and its awesome - get their bloody mary - its perfect! Go there for breakfast - their breakfast is SO good. Lahaina has a bunch of awesome shopping and its just a cool area to walk around :)

Definitely do the Road to Hana. On the way there you will pass a little town. Go into one of the places that has the signs saying that they pack lunches for the Road to Hana. You'll see a lot of places like this. I cant remember the name of the place we went to but it was a first name. Like Edwards or something? They pack a cooler with sandwiches, chips, cookies. Driving it was a bit scary at times because its soooo narrow in some spots and its all cliffs so BE CAREFUL!! But yeah - definitely worth checking out. When you're driving there make sure to stop and park at the State Park (takes about 3 hours to get there). We walked the trails and had lunch by the waterfalls. You can even go swimming by the falls! Its GORGEOUS.

One night we went to Cafe O'lei in Kihei. That was okay - good not great - there's better places to go. Go to Nick's at the Fairmont. We didnt make it there but I heard great things!!

That's really it for Maui - otherwise we just stayed at the resort. We stayed at the Grand Wailea. One bad thing our resort had a cloud over it the whole time which blew. But as soon as you drove a bit away - it was bright and sunny. Weird.

Maui was very commercial. We LOVEDDDD Kauai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Kauai stay on Poipu beach - its the sunnier/drier side of the island from what I hear. Our weather was perfect every day! Check out the Koa Kea in Kauai. Its a smaller boutique luxury hotel. They treat you like royalty. The hotel is gorgeous. The service cannot be beat. They have a restaurant called Red Salt - SO good. Right next door is a restaurant called Plantation Garden - also very good and pretty :) Down the road they have a mall-like area. Roys is there - eat there if you havent been to a Roys. Also - across from Roys is another place. I cannot remember the name of it but definitely go there and DEFINITELY have the Hula Pie - TRUST ME!!!! Its amazing.

We rented a Jeep here too. We went to the Waimea Canyons. Go there - the views are incredible. We got lunch and brought it with us. We got out at all the lookouts and had lunch. At one of the stops there was a stand where they were selling fresh and dried fruit. If you like coconut - make sure you get the shredded dried coconut - SO GOOD!!!!

Also - make 100% sure you do a boat tour around the Na Poli Coast. This was the highlight of our trip! We did a sunset dinner cruise. It was so sick! We saw dolphins jumping out of the water, sea turtles, flying fish, goats on the cliffs. Felt like we were watching Planet Earth DVD's!!! AMAZING!!!!!

If you have any questions - please ask!

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

DH & I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We went to the following islands: Oahu, Kauai & The Big Island.

I am going to briefly explain DH & I because I think that will better help you with your final decision of if Hawaii is good for you or not. DH & I just celebrated our 10 year dating anniversary in March. I am 26 years old & he is 27. We have NEVER EVER been on an actual vacation. My parents have a house Upstate, NY so that’s where we have always gone on vacation. We personally feel that vacationing regularly is a waste of our money.

We did not even discuss honeymoon locations, we just knew from day 1 that we would be going to Hawaii. Unlike all things wedding, which I dragged my feet quite a bit on booking anything; we didn’t even look at halls until after we were engaged for 9 months. I wanted to book Hawaii as soon as the flight information came out. My DH on the other hand was not so egger to book since he was paying for the honeymoon. I started doing lots of research & watched flight prices for months. At the end of January 2010 (3 months before our wedding), my DH started to panic about Hawaii. So we set a date to sit & look at all the information & finally book everything. To my surprise the flights where even cheaper.

Okay, so the first thing to do with Hawaii, is decide which Island(s) you want to go to. I spoke to friends who had gone to Hawaii to get an idea of where to go, I found Hawaiiactivities.com & gohawaii.com. We used gohawaii.com to see the activities available on the islands & then we used hawaiiactivites.com to see prices for everything. We ended up picking Oahu, Kauai & Hilo (The Big Island) because they offer the most of what we like. Next, DH determined how many days we would spend on each island based on the amount of activities each offered us to do.
The next thing we did was go to kayak.com. Since we are going to different islands, we would need inter-island flights & that website helps you to book all flights at one time, which helps save some money.

This was our flight itinerary (so you can get an idea):
Saturday, April 24 leaving Newark at 1:30PM & arriving in Honolulu/Oahu at 6:10PM.
Tuesday, April 27 leaving Honolulu/Oahu at 8:50AM & arriving in Kauai at 9:27AM.
Friday, April 30 leaving Kauai at 4:16PM arriving in Honolulu/Oahu at 4:46PM & connecting at 5:16PM to go to Hilo/Big Island & arriving their at 6:07PM.
Wednesday, May 5 leaving Hilo at 4:12PM arriving in Honolulu at 5:01PM & connecting at 7:50PM to come back to Newark. arriving on Thursday, May 6 at 11:30AM.

For both of us all the flights came out to $2,132.78, we felt that was a fair price.
Next we moved onto hotels, I asked around for recommendations but in the end we used Orbitz as a search to see which hotels offered the best deals for us.

Our hotels look like this:
Oahu - 3nights - staying at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort, it is $484. Activity: Pearl Harbor
Kauai - 3nights - staying at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort, it is 3K., We rented a car on this island.
The Big Island, Hilo - 5nights - staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, it is $1,434. We rented a car on this island because our flight lands on the East Side of the island & our hotel is all the way on the West Side. Activities: Volcano Tour & Mauna Kea Summit Adventure (sun set & star gazing)

In Oahu & Hilo we did not pick the most expensive rooms & we also did not pick the cheapest rooms. In Kauai we splurged (spending $1,000 a night may be a bit more then splurging) but DH & I used Kauai as our real honeymoon relaxation.
We will be staying the most in Hilo because we feel it offers the most activities for us.

Oahu - 3nights (Saturday, April 24-Tuesday, April 27) - stayed at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort. We stayed in a mountain view room, which looked right at Diamond Head, however when out on our balcony, if you looked to the right, you where able to see the ocean as well. We did not rent a car on this island because this area is very similar to being in Manhattan. Everything is easily accessible by either walking or taking The Bus. We used www.robertshawaii.com to get from the airport to our hotel. They have a deal that if you pay $30 when you arrive it includes pick-up ride back to the airport. The first night there we did a little walking around & ate at Da Big Kahuna Restaurant (www.dbkwaikiki.com). The food was very good & neither of us got sick which is always a plus. The first full day there we started with breakfast at Dennys (DH & I had never eaten at one & it was actually pretty good) then we went to the Honolulu Zoo which was a short walk away. We had a great time; despite me getting really bad sun burn we then headed to the beach for an hour or so. We both really loved this beach. There is not a lot of beach area but the water was amazing. That night we ate at Ciao Mein which is located in the Hyatt Regency. It’s a fusion of Italian & Chinese food. I really enjoyed the dinner. DH on the other hand did not. He is a very picky eater & this was not his style at all. The next morning we had a tour booked to see Pearl Harbor. I booked at www.pearlharboroahu.com. We went on the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Missouri Battleship, and Honolulu City Tour (tour 8B). This included pick-up at our hotel. Our tour guide was great, very friendly & informative. The Arizona Memorial was very moving, but DH & I both really enjoyed going onto the battleship. That night DH was craving Japanese Hibachi so we did a quick google search & found Tanaka of Tokyo (www.tanakaoftokyo.com). The food & presentation were both amazing. We had a great dinner. After dinner DH had to buy some socks because he didn’t pack enough so we went to Macys. I was so excited about going to Macys in Hawaii. Tuesday morning we woke up at 5:30AM to make our 8AM flight to Kauai.

Kauai - 3nights (Tuesday, April 27-Friday, April 30) - stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort. (www.kauai.hyatt.com) this was hands down the best hotel we have ever stayed in. (DH says it will be the best hotel we will ever stay in) this was our “honeymoon” island. We booked a beautiful suite (cost was $1K per night) that had a magnificent ocean view. We rented a car on this island. Upon first arriving we unpacked & then went to eat at Ilima Terrace. The lunch was amazing. We started out by having the Chicken Quesadilla & then for my main lunch I had the Grilled Seafood Salad & DH had the Angus Burger. (Another day for lunch I had the Jumbo Firecracker Shrimp & DH had the Angus Burger again.) We also ate at Ilima Terrace for breakfast buffet every morning. Since we had been up so early that morning for our flight we decided to just walk around the outside of the hotel & on the beach. It was truly amazing. We went to wal-mart to pick up some more sunscreen since DH & I where going threw it like crazy. That night we ate at Dondero’s Italian restaurant. At first I was a little reluctant to eat there because DH is such a fuzzy eater but he assured me he would find something to eat. We started out with 2 appetizers; one was Fonduta Alla Valdostana, which was bread in cheese, & it was delicious. The other appetizer was Linguini Con Le Vongole, which is linguini with Clam Sauce, which is my absolute favorite & it was truly amazing, tasted just like my dad’s. For the main course I had Ossobuco, which is veal & DH had Pesce Spada Al Salmoriglio, which is grilled swordfish. The food was amazing. If you are in Kauai you have to eat at Dondero’s. The next day DH wanted to go to Waimea Canyon. We started our journey relatively early in the morning. It was a pretty long drive up the canyon & we stopped at lookout points along the way. The road was very curvy & I was extremely nauseas the whole way, but the view was spectacular. When we finally reached the top, DH wanted to do some hiking, which is something I hate but I gave it a shot. When we arrived back to the hotel that night we decided to enjoy the salt water lagoon for a little while & then we had dinner at Tidepools. We started with Poke, Poke, Poke appetizer, which is Ahi Tuna, Spicy Octopus & Lobster, DH only liked the tuna & I only liked the lobster. I was very worried that this was going to be a horrible meal. Then dinner came out. I had the surf & turf (filet mignon with shrimp & scallops) & DH had Hawaiian Opah. Both entrees where amazing. Three months later & I am still thinking about how delicious that meal was. For dessert we had the Molten Chocolate Cake, I cannot put into words how amazing it was. The next morning we decided to go snorkeling at Poipu Beach (www.poipubeach.org). We rented snorkel equipment & bought some fish food & the fish where a plenty. It was really amazing to see. I was a little nervous because DH loved feeding the fish & he was surrounded by them; he even got bit by one. That evening we went to the Grand Hyatt Kauai Luau. We picked this Luau because it was held at our hotel. The show was great & the food was only okay, not really 100% to our liking but hey we were in Hawaii & had to go to a Luau. The next morning we had appointments at Anara Spa (www.kauai.hyatt.com/hyatt/pure/spas/). We were debating going for a couple of days because it was going to be expensive, but DH insisted that we go. We started with the couple Anara Message for 50 minutes & then we got the Coco Mango Pedicure & Manicure together. It was an amazing experience. That night we headed back to the airport & on our way we stopped to see Kipu & Wailua Waterfalls. They were both amazing & we really didn’t want to leave Kauai.

The Big Island, Kona - 5nights (Friday, April 30-Wednesday, May 5) - stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. (www.hiltonwaikoloavillage.com) we also rented a car on this island. When we first booked our flights & hotels we realized that we would be flying into Hilo & staying in Kona which are 70 miles away from each other & the only way you can get from the East Side of the island to the West Side was by driving over the top of the island. We decided to leave what we booked alone & just make the journey. We landed in Hilo at 6PM. By time we got our luggage, the rent a car, a snack for the rode, we didn’t get on the way until 7PM. It was getting dark & was raining on & off & DH was driving on the side of a mountain at times that would just drop off into the water. I forgot to mention that we had to drive 70 miles & the speed limit was between 35 & 45mph. I was a little nervous & at this point we where both starving. We arrived at the hotel at 9pm, after some yelling because it was dark & I couldn’t see the map. The first thing we learned about the hotel was that it is massive. It is so big that there is a tram & a boat that takes you from one end of the hotel to the other. We were so tired by time we got to our room that we ordered room service. It was by far the worst meal that we had the entire time in Hawaii. Before going to sleep that night we both agreed that if breakfast was just as bad we were finding another hotel. We got a much needed good night sleep & went to breakfast at Waters Edge. We ordered off the menu & really enjoyed the breakfast. That first day there we decided to stay at the hotel & see what it offered. We went to Dolphin Quest & swam with the dolphins for 45 minutes which was amazing. After that we went into the pool for a little while & then got ready for dinner. We went to Imari Japanese restaurant for Teppanyaki, that is where they cook in front of you. We started off with sushi & it was the BEST sushi we have EVER eaten (cannot remember what type we had). DH had the filet mignon & I had the New York Steak & Scallops. Dinner was amazing. The next day we decided to go to Pololu Valley Black Sand Beach (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/hawaii/html/beaches/pololu_valley_beach.html). After the hour drive we had to hike down to the beach. It was a long & strenuous hike but so worth it once you reached the bottom. The beach was amazing. The next day we had booked the Vavoom Volcano Tour (http://vavoomhawaii.blogspot.com/), unfortunately the women who turns it was stuck home with a sick daughter so she was kind enough to tell us where to go so we could see the volcanoes on our own. We got to see the steam vents & what was left after old volcanos on the sides of the road in Volcano National Park. We also walked the lava tube & stopped at various overlook spots. We then drove Crater Rim Drive & got to see where the lava flows cooled over the roadway. This was great!! After a long day of driving DH took over and we went to see the still active volcano. Since this area is on privately owned property (yes people still live among the lava flows) we were told that you are not allowed out on the cooled lava (we learned the next day that we actually are allowed on the cooled lava). We met a guy who still lives right near the current lava flow & we bought a CD of pictures from him because we couldn’t get any good ones ourselves. That night back at the hotel we ate dinner at Kamuela Provision Company, we ate there the night before too. We had the Chilled Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail appetizer & for dinner we enjoyed the Filet Mignon & Lamb Chops. Both nights, the food was delicious. On our last full day in Hawaii we went to another black sand beach. This time it was Punalu’u Beach (http://www.letsgo-hawaii.com/beaches/punaluu.html), which is a natural breeding ground for green sea turtles. This was the worst weather day on our entire honeymoon. It was raining on & off all day & the vog was very bad. (Vog is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases and particles emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight.) After that we had to race time to get back to our hotel because we had the Mauna Kea Summit Adventure booked for the night (www.maunakea.com). This was truly an amazing experience. We got to see the sun set while standing above the clouds & then we went to star gazing. An extremely romantic way to end our honeymoon. Our last & final day in Hawaii was on Wednesday, May 5. Our flight was leaving Hilo at 6PM so we had to head back on our 70 mile journey.

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

Maui - The Ritz Carlton at Kapalua and The Grand Wailea in Wailea

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

Dh and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. My review has info about the hotels and excursions we did.

Quickly, in Maui we stayed at the Hyatt. It was really nice and the food at the 2 resturants was amazing! When we were there in Sept. they were building one more restaurant so it should be open by the time you go.

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

I just want to start with a HUGE thank you! I will be reading everything tonight at home!

You girls truly rock!

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

I don;t have too much to add except that Maui is super relaxing and serene, with wonderful restaurants and beautiful beaches. The Four Seasons in Maui is unbeatable, and if not the Four Season I recommend the Grand Wailea or the Fairmont Kea Lani, all in Wailea.

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

I LOVED the Hyatt in Kauai. It was PERFECT. When are you getting married? I would say do the Hyatt in Maui too but I wouldn't book there unless kids are in school. When its the summer months, kids are swarming that hotel. It was a very unpleasurable honeymoon getting splashed and having my drinks spilled. I heard the Ritz Carlton is nice in Maui as well.

Re: 2011 crashing with honeymoon question!

WOW..All FH and I can say is WOW. You girls exceeded anything we imagined! Everyone was so informative. We jotted down a lot and hope to work with our travel agent to get us everywhere we want be!

Thank you girls!