Hawaii HM

Ladies, for those of you that have already been or already booked your HM to Hawaii, please enlighten FH and I approx. how much money a week or two would cost us (soup to nuts)... not excessively spending but with moderate price meals and activities...

We haven't started going to travel agents yet but I was wondering if Hawaii is even something we could possibly pull off....

TIA!!!!

I hear Aruba is just like Hawaii but less expensive, any thoughts???!?!

I am going in two weeks to Hawaii for our HM. We got a pretty good deal on flights, for both of us roundtrip it was $1200. Then you have inter-island flights, those are really cheap though. Like $40 one way. The hotels are the expensive part. Depending if you do oceanview or garden view. We decided to do garden view in two hotels and then oceanview in Maui. Activites are also expensive, most are $100/per person. Then meals. So far we have spent $6,000 without any meals or activities. I'm hoping to stay around $7,500 soup to nuts for 11nights/12 days. And thats keeping things conservative.

Also, I've been to Aruba eight times. It is gorgeous and we always have a good time. But I have to be honest, I don't think it compares to Hawaii. It still is beautiful and you will have a great time. I recommend the Marriott or Hyatt. I forget which one, but one of them has a private beach, like you get on a boat and they take you there, so its really nice.

Good Luck!

We honeymooned in Bora Bora but we're heading to Hawaii in May.....12 nights should run you near $8 grand.

Aruba is beautiful but Hawaii is so much more in every way. If budget is an issue, go to Aruba and then plan to go to Hawaii for your first anniversary- you can do both after you've recovered from the wedding.

DH and I just got back from our 3 week HM in Hawaii. Some things are more expensive than here and some you don't really notice.

DH and I haven't added it up but I think lunch probably averaged $50 for the 2 of us every day and dinners varied a lot. There were some nights where we went out and had really expensive dinners and then there were some nights where we had relatively cheap ones.

All in all, we probably spent about $200-$250 a day on food. The hotels we stayed at offered a breakfast package so that was included.

Drinks are expensive but most places have happy hour and a drink of the day. Also there are lots of ways to save $$ while there (like going to the grocery store and getting your own drinks and snacks, etc.)

The most expensive thing we did: the helicopter ride over Kauai which I think was around $530 for the two of us.

A family friend said this with respect to the differences between islands:

'an island is an island ... if I blindfolded you and dropped you off on an island somewhere, you'd wake up and never know if you were in hawaii or aruba or fire island'

she's right ... but i still think hawaii is probably cooler than aruba (though i've never been to either)

FH and I are probably going to do a cruise in Hawaii ... cruises are not too expensive and the flights are fairly affordable too ... cruises are nice because you can see all islands AND food and some entertainment is included

The cruise we're looking at is from Vancouver Canada to Hawaii (all four islands). 12 days for about $1200 per person (for an un-ostructed balcony room).

One thing you may be interested in is that there is a direct flight from Newark NJ to Hawaii ... this is slightly more expensive but is nice because it saves you time (because of the layover in CA) and frustration (especially if you hate flying like i do)