Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Okay, I felt that Hawaii deserves a review of its own! Especially considering that so many posts on the BHB board are looking for recommendations for Hawaii....

We got married on 6/26, our reception ended at midnight, we went to the hotel and partied with our friends until who knows when, the car picked us up for the airport at 6:15am so we slept all of 30 minutes before we had to leave! This was a GREAT decision. Our flight was at 9am and we slept at least half of both flights. We had an hour layover in LA which was nice because it gave us a chance to stretch. Overall the flight wasnt bad and because we slept on the plane when we landed in Oahu I never felt the effects of the tiem change. We didnt make ANY plans until we got to Hawaii and honestly that worked out just fine! All hotels have an activity desk to help you out! THe only thing I can say that I wanted to go to that I didnt because we didnt make advanced reservations was Warren and Annabelles dinner show. Plus some of the stuff I thought I wanted to do, I changed my mind about once we got there!

We stayed in Oahu 3 nights and stayed at the Sheraton Waikiki. The only complaint is that not all the rooms have balconys. Other than that, the rooms were a nice size and the staff nice and helpful. Oh, and the pool always seemed to be closed! But the Sand Bar was a nice place to get a burger and a Chi Chi or Mai Tai! They are right on the beach and have some nice places to eat and get a drink!

The following day we took a shuttle to Hanauma Bay for snorkling! The line was pretty long which stunk and then you have to watch a video about the eco system before you can walk down to the bay. But the snorkling was wonderful. THe water is crystal clear, the fish practically come right up to you, infact one swam into our camera as we went to take a picture! There are just so many fish and they are gorgeous in color! It was my first time snorkling and I loved it, my DH has been snorkling and scuba diving many times and said this ws the best! That night we at at Tony Romas. THey have GREAT ribs! I am not much for Seafood and sushi but if you are there are some amazing restaurants everywhere on Oahu.

The following day we went to Pearl Harbor (Hint get the entertainment book we saved 25$ with it) WE really liked the Arizona memorial especially where the old parts of the USS arizona are still visible, and we went on the USS Bodwin (a sub) but we really liked the USS Missouri which is on Ford Island. Its just a HUGE ship! that you can either take a tour of or walk aroudn on your own. We walked on our own and were just in awe! Whats also cool is that this ship was part of Desert Storm so its more of a dipiction of what is used today.

That night we went on the Atlantis Dinner Cruise. It was really nice, but really cheesy! (again use the entertainment book its buy one get one saved 68$) Also if you do this splurge for the sit down dinner not the buffet. First with the buffet, you are not at a private table, if you do the sit down dinner, its just the two of you. Second its not like a multiple serving buffet, its a one shot thing. The food was good, and our server was nice but the bar got very backed up. The entertainment was cheesy, a woman singing with 2 hula girls....nothing special. But the sunset you see is worth the trip! Its a really smooth ride, the Altlantis has a free shuttle from Waikiki area hotels which can save you a few $$$$. If I had paid full price I might have been disappointed but for$68 for two I actually enjoyed it.

The following day we flew to Maui. Its a really easy 35 minute flight. But when we got to Maui our luggage wasnt there!! It was on the following flight about 20 minutes later! Apparently this happens often! Now if you are going to Oahu and Maui go to Oahu FIRST! We liked Oahu but after seeing Maui I wouldnt go back to Oahu! Oahu is a city but Maui is the postcard version of Hawaii!

We stayed at the Renissance in Wailea! It was really such a nice area! So secluded and quiet! The only problem with Wailea, its so secluded there is basically one road in and one out! So to get anywhere you are going to want to go you have to drive about 35 minutes to the airport area and start from there! But honestly Maui has like 3 major hwys, one on each section of the island and thats it!!! The best way to compare the hotel on Oahu to that in Wailea is that the Sheraton was a nice hotel whereas the Renissance was a beautiful resort! It had a gorgeous ocean view, all rooms have a balcony, the landscape is really nice with lots of koy fish ponds and gorgeous plants and palm trees, etc! They also had a beautiful pool that was open 24 hours! And the waitress service by the pool was really good there was almost always someone walking around! Also there were two really nice hot tubs that my DH loved! They were really relaxing but really too hot during the day! The sun just heats the water up way too much and the rocks surrounding the hot tubs are way too hot to walk on during the heat of the day. They are also right on the beach which is always a plus. All in all the hotel was great and my DH says next time we are staying there too!

We drove the whole road around West Maui stopping along the way. we went Parasailing in Kanapali which was really fun! Its nothing like I thought it would be! It was totally relaxing and it felt like we were flying! We went snorkled in Honolua Bay. Again crystal clear waters huge schools of fish! Just beautiful! We stopped at the Dragons teeth (YEAH MAUI REVEALED!!!) and at the Blowhole (I loved this!!!!) **note on any of the day trips make sure you keep your sneakers in the car. We wound up having to scale some rocks in our Tevas...It would have been much worse if we only had flip flops on! Both the Road to Hana and that of west maui are not to be driven by any one who is not a very secure driver! If you get nervous easily dont do it! Hawaii apparently isnt really keen on guard rails so many times you are driving on the really tight road with a cliff at your side and all you see is rocks and ocean very far down! Also many of the roads are the width of one car but do serve two way traffic so if you come head to head with another car one of you has to back up to an area that will alllow the other car to pass! My DH drove and we really enjoyed the trip!

The Road to Hana, if you do this dont plan ANYTHING else for the whole day! It took us 12 hours! From breakfast until we pulled up at the hotel! Also bring snacks and water in a cooler! Also know that you are going to be in somewhat of a tropical rain forest, so sudden showers or even downpouring are pretty common! At least when we went it was! But it was probably our favorite part! We took our maui revealed book and did some hiking off the street, saw some amazing waterfalls, swam in blue pond under a waterfall, visited a black sand beach and a red sand beach (although on the red sand beach its more a pebble consistancy). We drove completely around, didnt turn around as is often suggested. We had a Jeep so we figured lets go. IT wasnt that bad, but its bumpier then depicted in the Maui Revealed book. IThe whole thing was amazing, even saw quite a few cows along the way! THe only thing is that as it gets late, those roads can get a bit scary in the dark!

We were going to do the sunrise bike ride down Mt. Haleakala but due to comments about people being disappointed because it was overcast, and it was pretty overcast while we were there, we decided just to drive it! It was a nice drive and now I completely give credit to anyone who bikes it because it looked alittle neverwracking! (again no guard rails and high elevations). The crater was really a beautiful sight! and going up its pretty cool to be standing above the clouds!

We also went on a Sunset cocktail cruise on the Ali Nu'i which was really nice! THe water was really rough that evening but on the boat you barely felt it! Being on the boat for those 2+ hours and seeing the sunset was really nice! The boat wasnt overcrowded and the views were beautiful! THey served unlimited, beer, wine, champagn and mai tais. They had a lot of cocktial cruises in Oahu but I am glad that we did it on Maui this was a more classy version of what we saw in Oahu.

We spent about half of the fourth of July in Lahaina walking in the shops and watching fireworks. Its a really cute little town on the water and great for tourist shopping. The fire works were delayed, I never got the true story but it had something to do with a large power outage on the island.

Hawaii is defiantly the trip of a life time! I keep bugging my DH to decide when we are going again!!!! I just got my pics last night so I will post some of the nicer shots soon!!!

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Now that is a great review! After reading it though, i can't wait to see pics!! teasing is not fun

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Wow what a great review. I can't wait to go!!
Thanks!!

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Thanks for the review - we're going in November and I'm struggling with what things to do!!

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

I wish we had this before we went!

I would suggest doing the guided road to Hana tour - we loved it and didn't worry about the driving!

And we did the bike down Haleakala. If you're an adreniline junkie, it's very fun!

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Hawaii was great wasn't it!!!

What airline did you fly from JFK - I think you may have been on my flight!

Now we just have to pay all those credit card bills...

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Wow! Now that is a detailed review! I'm definently going to plan a trip soon!

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

I loved reading your review of Maui!! We are going to be staying at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club and I am so looking forward to it!! I'm glad you had such a great time!

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

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Posted by LIJuneBride

Hawaii was great wasn't it!!!

What airline did you fly from JFK - I think you may have been on my flight!

Now we just have to pay all those credit card bills...

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We were on American! I know there were at least 2 other Newlyweds on our flight...

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Yep we were on the 9AM American flight. I saw at least one other newlywed couple - you could tell because the bride still had her hair up.

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Thats funny, I didnt see her!
I told DH that you can tell a newlywed, the girls nails are in a french manicure and both her and her new husbands rings are really shiny (and generally the man cant stop playing with his ring!)

Re: Hawaii Review (very detailed)

Your DH sounds right on the money. I know I saw about three other newlywed couples, and they also went with us on the bus to be dropped off at hotels when we got there. We booked with Liberty Travel.