Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

Did any ladies go to Hawaii?
I'm looking to book my Honeymoon and would love advise on: Honolulu, Kauai and Maui.

Re: Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

I went to Hawai'i in 2006 - here is my review:

We did a cruise through Norwegian Cruise Line. In my opinion, NCL is great, especially for large families, or couples who don't really want to be bothered by other people. I've been on many NCL cruises, and I've loved them all. A couple of things to look out for: you have to make reservations for dinner each night, especially if you want to eat in the specialty restaurants (e.g. steakhouse, italian, etc.). Also, if you want to just hang out by the pool, you have to get outside really early to get a lounge chair (especially on an At-Sea day). But that's not an issue specific to NCL. NCL has on its ships a 'diner-like' place which is very fun, open 24 hours. The one on the ship was 50's-Elvis themed, very cute.

We went on Norwegian's Pride of America. A few things to know about Hawai'i in general. Honolulu is a city - it's like going to San Diego. Touristy, peddlers on the street, office buildings, nothing like how you would picture 'Hawai'i.' We stayed two nights in Waikiki before we got on the ship. We stayed at the Marriott at Waikiki Beach. While it was very nice (and pretty expensive), the hotel itself was definitely was crowded (and we were there in January 2006). I've heard Turtle Bay is more secluded, so I would say go there. I don't remember if the beach was really crowded in Waikiki, but I don't remember it being overcrowded - if that helps you at all

At the Honolulu airport, you get 'leid' with a lei (but everything comes with a price!). My sister's luggage was destroyed, and they are so laid back that they offered her the contents of her bag in a plastic bag and a luggage strap. We were a bit dumbfounded, but didn't want our uptight NY-ness to ruin our Hawaiian vacation. If you're in Waikiki/Honolulu at all, check out Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was a great burger-joint place.

Once you get to the other islands, you'll start to see that fairytale place everyone talks about. We got on the ship and it was absolutely amazing b/c we were in the Penthouse Suite. Not that you have to be in that kind of room to have fun, but it definitely made it better - plasma TV, king-sized bed, butler service, etc. You name it, and it was there!

Excursions I recommend: We did the Pearl Harbor excursion which was AMAZING. If you're at all a history buff, definitely worth the trip. We also did the Blue Hawaiian helicopter tour over the volcanoes in Kona. This was a bit scary for me b/c I'm not much of the flying type (the flight to Hawaii from NY was enough for me!). But it really was a once in a lifetime experience. I will say that Blue Hawaiian has an impeccable track record for safety that most of the other companies don't have - i think we paid like $200-300 pp for this excursion - but how many people can say they flew over an active volcano?! Not many.

Kauai'i was my favorite port - it's exactly what you picture 'Hawai'i' to look like. Very laid back, beautiful, dirt roads, gigantic palm trees. We stopped at the Crab Shack (i think it was called) where you basically eat a crab sandwich in a hotdog bun. Then got Halo Halo (their version of sorbet/ice cream) at a local place nearby. We stopped at Waimea Canyon, which is a lookout point where we took beautiful pictures.

We also did an authentic luau I think in Hilo - not exactly sure what it was called - I don't remember sorry! It prided itself on being the 'oldest' luau in hawaii so try searching for that.

On the last day of our trip, we did an excursion from the boat that basically was a busride through Honolulu w/ a tour and then you got to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center for an authentic luau and fun day. This was probably the most fun part of the trip. We got to do some really fun things there and learn about the Hawaiian culture. This worked well for us b/c the bus stored our luggage for the day and then drove us to the airport b/c our flight wasn't until 10pm that night.

Hope you're enjoying your planning!

Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

Hey! Hawaii was amazinnggg Id be happy to help! The hyatt is beautiful, esp in Kauai.. You def need to eat at Keoki's-their Hula Pie is to die for!! hahah here are some actvities I would totally recommend:

Kauai-Zip and Dip tour-its ziplining and soooo much fun..the tour guides were so great...its on Princeville Ranch

also do Snuba-ing..its like scuba diving/snorkeling mixed..so fun

Maui-Def do the Haleakala bike tour...you have to get up wayyy early...but you get to see the sunset on top of a volcano, and then bike ride down. amazing.

Also do the Road to Hana-its wayyy long, you get the option of doing it yourself or going on a tour bus-def do the tour bus-you will miss out on a lot...you can see black sand beaches!!

If you go on hawaiiactivities.com you will see on the left hand side all the activities you can do...all the above mentioned are all on this site and are so easy to book!!

Let me know if u need any more info :)

btw: LisaK just came back from Hawaii and is selling a Hawaii book-look into that as well! HTH!

Re: Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

We went to Hawaii on our honeymoon and it was amazing! We went to Oahu and Maui. Stayed there for 12 days. Defenitely worth the money we spent to go there. There is so much to do! It's just a beautiful place to be. I say to look into it more. It's worth it!

Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

DH and I went to all three islands for our Honeymoon. I bumped my wedding review for a co-worker last week to read more... All 3 islands are so different and offer different things. We were there 13 days..and spent half in Maui...which was our favorite island.

We took a catamaran cruise with Holo Holo Charters and it was amazing. I would highly recommend.

We ziplined in Maui with Skyline Eco Adventures and they were a lot of fun... almost did the one in Kauai but the weather wasn't ideal.

We took a tour bus for the Road to Hana...would highly recommend...roads are very narrow and you may miss something. Worth it.
Have Fun! HTH

Re: Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

hawaii is amazing!!! i did maui kauai and ohau...maui there is alot to do..the hyatt in kauai is def the place you would want to stay...in ohau we were in waikeiki which was very crowd...very city like but alot of shopping...i also am selling the hawaii guide if your interested

Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

we just got back from 10 nights in hawaii...we did four on oahu and six on maui...honestly maui is GORGEOUS but we liked oahu better, maybe because we like instant gratification and everything was at our fingertips because it really is like a cleaner, smaller, friendlier version of NYC with less skyscrapers and better weather and a beach. maui was beautiful but it took too long to get anywhere and we were disppointed with our resort, which was a westin. on oahu we stayed at the outrigger reef on the beach, and it was phenomenal. we went to the aquarium and zoo, hiked diamondhead crater (which i recommend, the view was beautiful), went to the international marketplace, and of course pearl harbor which is very sad and very historic...one regret is that we did not have an extra day to rent a car, go tour the north shore and visit the polynesian cultural center, or at least take a circle island tour. please make sure you do that if you visit oahu. on maui we did the road to hana but we drove ourselves, and i think thats better than a tour because we were on our own timetable. we tried to do the sunrise at haleakala but i had a panic attack at 8000 feet and couldnt drive any further, and it was really ruined for us, so if you go i would definitely do the bike tour because someone else drives you up there. we should have done that, and its my biggest regret about hawaii. we rented a jeep so when we did the road to hana, we were able to do a complete circle around the island past hana on a pretty desolate and bumpy road, which was definitely interesting but i cant imagine doing it in a lower car. we also saw the 7 sacred pools at oheo gulch but ran out of daylight, another regret. there is a resident of hawaii who wrote these awesome books, i think his name is andrew doughty, and the one i picked up was maui revealed, which told us every single interesting and fascinating thing to do on maui from a residents point of view, and we found so many little nooks and crannies on maui to explore that arent universally known. i think he also wrote about the other islands, because i think i saw an oahu revealed book in the bookstore, so definitely look into that and i think it will really help you plan your trip. i wish i had bought those books BEFORE the trip to plan for it. any questions, please feel free to ask, and good luck!

Re: Hawaii Honeymoon Help (2013 Crasher)

I just got back from Hawaii on Saturday and it is beyond amazing!! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency on Maui and the Grand Hyatt on Kauai. If you're looking to save some money, you can open a Hyatt credit card. Upon doing so you receive two free nights at any Hyatt hotel - we used them in Kauai because it was more expensive. The hotels are amazing. Let me know if you want more information