I'm Back from Hawaii!
Ok guys I am back and exhausted! My body still thinks it is in a different time zone. I am all screwed up. Hawaii was great. I had been there once before (but in hs) and this trip was a million times more amazing. Here is my review (I still have to post my wedding review...waiting to get photographer pictures though.)
We started in Maui for 7 days. We stayed at the Grand Wailea. The hotel is huge and beautiful. Lots of lush gardens and great pools. The gardens are lush and give you the Hawaii feel. We got lost the first few days! During the week the hotel was pretty empty (I heard 41% capacity...this is slow season). They were doing minor renovations but you barely noticed. The weekend got more crowded which was kind of annoying because there were a lot more kids due to the waterslides in the pools. I think we were spoiled because during the week it was so empty. Never a problem to find a great beach chair and relax. You can always find a private chair or part of the pool to relax and not be bothered. They upgraded our room to an ocean view but DH asked. They did not do it on their own. I was totally embarrassed when he asked but it was worth it. We visited a bunch of hotels while we were in Maui and loved ours the best (although we really liked the Fairmont Keilani as well). The pools are so nice..waterfalls, waterslides, grottos, etc. Very happy with our choice. (PS People had compared it to a Vegas hotel which scared me before I left. It is huge but no way would I compare it to Vegas. It was much more elegant than Vegas...it didn't have that classy, yuppie feel like some hotels there...it had more of a Hawaiian feel to me!)
Then we went to Kauai for 3 days. In Kauai we stayed at the Hyatt Regency. It is great. The rooms were bigger and nicer in Grand Wailea but the hotel is so elegant and gorgeous. The pools are really nice. I absolutely loved the place.
Our biggest mistake was only going to Kauai for three days. We did this because everyone said there is more to do in Maui and not much in Kauai. There is so much to do in both! Kauai is much more tropical and lush and I wished we had more time to spend exploring the island and relaxing in our great hotel. We wished we did 4 and 6.
The weather was perfect. Only one day had a few clouds. Otherwise always blue skies. The day was 82-86F. At night it got cooler...low 70's. I didn't think the sun was too strong which everyone forwarned me it was. I never wore higher than SPF 4 (I am pretty fair skinned but I tan easily and went tanning a couple times before I left for a base tan) and towards the end I only wore it on my face and chest (the sensitive areas!). I have a nice tan but not too too dark which I was surprised!
The restaurants can be expensive in the resorts but when you go off you can find some deals. On average we spend about $100 per dinner (when we only had one drink with dinner) but went to a lot of nice restuarants and ate alot. A couple nights we went to local Thai or Vietnemese restaurants and they were a lot cheaper. I guess coming from NYC the prices didn't surprise me too much. My favorite restaurant was Spago (in the 4 Seasons-Maui) and Nicks Fishouse (Fairmont Keilani-Maui) and Donatello's (Hyatt Regency-Kauai). By the end we were soooo sick of fish and macadamia nuts!
We did lots of day trips. In Maui -we drove to Hana (not really worth the 3 hours each way), drove to the top of the volcano (so worth it!), snorkeling (great!-we swam with giant turtles), we visited Lahana for a Halloween parade. In Kauai, we drove pretty much as far as you can. It was so great! The views and scenery cannot be described. We also did the Helicopter tour of the Napoli coast. It was great. Saw all the places you see in the movies. (Take Dramamine if you get motion sickness - I normally don't and felt sick at times).
All in all it was a perfect honeymoon destination! I will post some pictures we have from our digital camera!
We started in Maui for 7 days. We stayed at the Grand Wailea. The hotel is huge and beautiful. Lots of lush gardens and great pools. The gardens are lush and give you the Hawaii feel. We got lost the first few days! During the week the hotel was pretty empty (I heard 41% capacity...this is slow season). They were doing minor renovations but you barely noticed. The weekend got more crowded which was kind of annoying because there were a lot more kids due to the waterslides in the pools. I think we were spoiled because during the week it was so empty. Never a problem to find a great beach chair and relax. You can always find a private chair or part of the pool to relax and not be bothered. They upgraded our room to an ocean view but DH asked. They did not do it on their own. I was totally embarrassed when he asked but it was worth it. We visited a bunch of hotels while we were in Maui and loved ours the best (although we really liked the Fairmont Keilani as well). The pools are so nice..waterfalls, waterslides, grottos, etc. Very happy with our choice. (PS People had compared it to a Vegas hotel which scared me before I left. It is huge but no way would I compare it to Vegas. It was much more elegant than Vegas...it didn't have that classy, yuppie feel like some hotels there...it had more of a Hawaiian feel to me!)
Then we went to Kauai for 3 days. In Kauai we stayed at the Hyatt Regency. It is great. The rooms were bigger and nicer in Grand Wailea but the hotel is so elegant and gorgeous. The pools are really nice. I absolutely loved the place.
Our biggest mistake was only going to Kauai for three days. We did this because everyone said there is more to do in Maui and not much in Kauai. There is so much to do in both! Kauai is much more tropical and lush and I wished we had more time to spend exploring the island and relaxing in our great hotel. We wished we did 4 and 6.
The weather was perfect. Only one day had a few clouds. Otherwise always blue skies. The day was 82-86F. At night it got cooler...low 70's. I didn't think the sun was too strong which everyone forwarned me it was. I never wore higher than SPF 4 (I am pretty fair skinned but I tan easily and went tanning a couple times before I left for a base tan) and towards the end I only wore it on my face and chest (the sensitive areas!). I have a nice tan but not too too dark which I was surprised!
The restaurants can be expensive in the resorts but when you go off you can find some deals. On average we spend about $100 per dinner (when we only had one drink with dinner) but went to a lot of nice restuarants and ate alot. A couple nights we went to local Thai or Vietnemese restaurants and they were a lot cheaper. I guess coming from NYC the prices didn't surprise me too much. My favorite restaurant was Spago (in the 4 Seasons-Maui) and Nicks Fishouse (Fairmont Keilani-Maui) and Donatello's (Hyatt Regency-Kauai). By the end we were soooo sick of fish and macadamia nuts!
We did lots of day trips. In Maui -we drove to Hana (not really worth the 3 hours each way), drove to the top of the volcano (so worth it!), snorkeling (great!-we swam with giant turtles), we visited Lahana for a Halloween parade. In Kauai, we drove pretty much as far as you can. It was so great! The views and scenery cannot be described. We also did the Helicopter tour of the Napoli coast. It was great. Saw all the places you see in the movies. (Take Dramamine if you get motion sickness - I normally don't and felt sick at times).
All in all it was a perfect honeymoon destination! I will post some pictures we have from our digital camera!
