Hawaii... im totally lost.

Myrsjs4401

Hey everyone, I am getting married May 2016! My Fiance and I really want to go to Hawaii but of course there is more than one island and I am not sure where I should be looking at all! We both of course want to relax in a beautiful place and everything but we also wanna have adventure such as zip lining and snorkeling etc. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions PLEASE let me know!!!  

We're also trying to do all inclusive so if you know any thing about that there that would help too!

 thanks everyone : )

als1982

What's your budget?

lachattefatale

*high five* Also getting married in May, also honeymooning in Hawaii. We're going to Oahu.

I found this page pretty helpful. This one has a quiz. I think it just comes down to what you want to do; I don't think there are any *bad* islands.

CMGragain

I always recommend the Norwegian cruise around Hawaii.  The ship will take you to all the main islands, and you get two days in Maui and in Oahu.  You don't have to plan or worry about food costs.  Food and on board entertainment are prepaid.  (See the sticky on cruises at the top of this board.)  There are NO all-inclusives in Hawaii.  None!   Cruises are most-inclusive. Alcohol is extra. The ship travels at night while you sleep.  You wake up at a new island, and you can always just head for the beach.
I have taken two Hawaiian cruises in the last five years.  We enjoyed them both. 

Here is one example:  http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=15171

There are also cruises that are round trip from L. A. (Princess) so they would save you airfare, but they take two weeks, and you don't get as many days in Hawaii.

You need a travel agent if this interests you.

OliveOilsMom

As CMG says, there are no all inclusives in Hawaii.  You can find snorkeling and zip lining on all 4 major islands.  What is your budget and how long do you plan to stay?  I have been to all 4 major islands and here is my run down of them:

Oahu: a big city with a beach.  Waikiki is crowded and busy.  H & I have no interest in going back to Oahu, since we have seen Pearl Harbor.  We may go back there when we have kids, so that we can take them to see Pearl Harbor.  But flying all that way to a city on the beach, is just not what I want when flying all that way.

Maui: touristy and less crowded than Oahu.  I liken this island to be a cross between Oahu and Kauai.  There is lots to do on Maui: sunrise/sunset at Haleakala crater, Road to Hana, snorkeling at Molikini and turtle town. 

Kaua: least developed island out of the main 4 islands.  There is still plenty to do, but there is no road that goes all the way around the island.  The Na Pali coast is breath taking and can only be seen by helicopter or boat.  Waimaya Canyon is full of Technicolor canyons views.  There are waterfalls everywhere! 

Big Island: volcanoes!  In January H & I went to BI for the first time and saw the volcanoes.  They were amazing!  We were only there a few days.  On our next return trip to Hawaii, we plan to do a full week there.  This island is more of a residential type area, but not as busy and crazy as Oahu is.

If you will only be going for a week, I recommend sticking to one island.  If you are doing a longer trip, then I would try to hit up 2 or 3 islands.  When we went in January, we did 4 nights on Maui, 3 nights in BI, and 7 nights in Kauai.  The first week we felt a bit "on the go" trying to do all the big things. Being in one place for 7 nights (especially the end of the trip) really helped us to catch our breath and relax until the end of our trip.

JoanE2012

OliveOilsMom did a great job with the summary of islands.  We've only been to Oahu and Maui.  Oahu just for 1 full day (to see Pearl Harbor and then hiked up Diamond Head) and the rest of our time on Maui.  DH and I didn't like Oahu at all.  Big city on a beach, didn't feel like we were in Hawaii at all.  Though I wouldn't dream of traveling to Hawaii and not seeing Pearl Harbor, so no regrets for the short stay....just won't go back again!

We loved Maui.  Next time we go we're going to visit the Big Island.  I recommend researching the islands to see what the islands offer and how it pairs with what you're looking for.

als1982

I've been to Oahu and Maui.  

In Oahu, we spent half the time near Waikiki and the other few days on the Ko Olina side.  On the Ko Olina side we stayed at what was then the JW Marriott, which was next to the Disney resort.  I really liked that area for just hanging out beach and poolside.  There's also a nice shopping area nearby with a grocery store and some other great shops.  One of the island's luau's was also within walking distance.  We didn't bother to rent a car in Oahu, and got around easily on foot or by cab.

In Maui, we stayed at the Andaz.  I've traveled a fair amount, and this was by far the most amazing hotel I've ever stayed out.  Just incredible.  I spent a ton more time on the beach, and my mom hiked Haleakala.  There was tons of great snorkeling here, and went out on a charter during which time we saw more than 20 sea turtles.

kimberly0315

We loved The Big Island and Maui.  We weren't such big fans of Oahu.  The Big Island is by far our favourite so far.  It is so diverse!  Maui was beautiful, just a bit more touristy.  My Aunt and Uncle went on the cruise and were not that impressed.  They liked that they saw a bit of each island, but didn't feel they got to explore the islands.  They wished they had done a couple of islands and really got a feel for those.  Oahu was just to touristy for us.

klk111415

Yeah, I don't recommend a cruise.  You will want to spend multiple days on  whichever island(s) you decide on and 2 nights is not enough to see all the islands have to offer.  A cruise is good if you want to quickly see all of the islands and maybe figure out which ones you want to revisit for more exploring.

daria24

I've been to Maui, BI, and Kauai. BI is my favorite, because there's just so many different types of experiences and places to explore, it's much more of an "adventure." Because it's so large, you have more of a variety of hotel options, at more price points. Driving around the island takes a long time, so you'll spend more time in the car getting to see all these amazing spots. My favorite beach in the world is on the BI.

Kauai is the most beautiful, it's the most laid back. I found the locals to be much nicer there. You can quickly drive and see the entire island (though keep in mind that about 60% is inaccessible). Because it's so small you won't have as many options for food and excursions as you will on the other islands, but the Naapali coast, both by boat and by foot is amazing. Kauai and the BI were pretty equal, price-wise, though you have more choices on the BI when it comes to hotels, restaurants, etc.

Maui was my least favorite. It's more developed and touristy, it doesn't feel as "natural" to me. It's also far more expensive than the other islands. But there's still parts of Maui that I loved. Haleakala and the Sliding Sands trail was my favorite, and snorkeling at the black rock in Kaanapali is fantastic for a place that is just right on the beach.

We snorkeled on each island, it's great on all the islands. Maui the best spot you can reach from the beach, on the BI you need to take a tour to go to the best spots but the water is the clearest on the BI, and I saw waaaaay more turtles on the BI compared to Maui.

kvruns

This was helpful as we are considering HI this fall. H has been several times and likes Kauai the best but I'm afraid there won't be enough to do. A family friend has a place on Oahu but you guys are scaring me about it a bit. Supposedly it is in a quiet area but I want it to feel like HI.

klk111415

On Oahu- I would explore the North Shore.  Definitely check out Kailua Beach Park.  It's much more peaceful and less crowded.  Some other beaches that are worth while are worth while are Waimea Bay Beach Park- if you're adventurous enough, jump off the cliffs into the ocean- really fun, kinda scary- but worth it.  That beach can get a little more crowded.  The dole plantation, although a tourist hot spot is kinda fun! The pineapple in Hawaii is the best I've ever had, and the Dole store has the Pineapple whip frozen yogurt (just like you would get in Disney World)  You can also mail home pineapples, and it's expensive... I think I might have sent 2 home for $80.  Hanauma bay offers great snorkeling. It's a protected reef and you will need biodegradable sunscreen. I rode a moped up Kalanianaole Highway with a friend and we made multiple stops along the way, including Hanauma bay.  You will find beautiful beaches and look out points along this road that are worth the stop, and renting a moped was a great way to see everything- but fair warning, people in Hawaii drive a little crazy (esp in honolulu) so make sure you know where you are going and drive safely. You could probably hike diamond head and hit up Hanauma bay all in the same day.  

Oahu offers "The Bus" which can get you around the whole Island (with a lot of stops) but it's cheap if you don't want to rent a car.  

You can still feel like you are in Hawaii on Oahu, but keep in mind, in Honolulu and even the outskirts, and you will see a lot of poverty.  It's still a beautiful place but you need to get away from the tourist spots to catch it's true beauty.  If you splurge for a resort during your honeymoon, do Turtle Bay Resort.  It was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  Beautiful resort.  

I was able to see most of Kauai in a weekend.  It has a lot of beautiful beaches, but the weather can be hit or miss depending on where you are on the island.  The south shore will have more sunny days.  We are only going for 2 nights and we found the resorts to be much more expensive, and there's a lot less diversity in your options.  We were happy that on the Big Island and Maui, we have a huge range of places from yurts/glamping, to privite houses (through VRBO), hostels (Not like the movie), luxury resorts, B&Bs and reasonably priced chain hotels like Best Western.   We are bouncing around the Big Island and Maui over the course of just over 2 weeks and have 7 different reservations just so we can see everything and experience it all.

lachattefatale

kvruns said:

This was helpful as we are considering HI this fall. H has been several times and likes Kauai the best but I'm afraid there won't be enough to do. A family friend has a place on Oahu but you guys are scaring me about it a bit. Supposedly it is in a quiet area but I want it to feel like HI.

I think it just depends what you're looking for. We decided on Oahu because we want to see Pearl Harbor and explore museums and restaurants in Honolulu as well as sitting on beaches and hiking and snorkeling. We find venue-hopping exhausting, so we're going to stay at one place in Waikiki the whole time, rent a car, and just explore the heck out of the one island.

kvruns

Thank you @klk111415 and @lachattefatale your descriptions are helpful! Our last 3 vacations have been all inclusives where we mostly just sit on the beach so I definitely want to "do" a bit more if we go to Hawaii.  The condo on Oahu is in Ko Olina (I think that is the name?) and if we did Kauai we would probably do a condo on the south shore in a complex H has stayed in before.

My mom is checking on the price for the Oahu condo (her cousin owns it and rents it on VRBO but will rent to family at discounted prices) so that might sway us, especially since her condo is gorgeous and the building/resort has a lot of ammenities

daria24

Ko Olina is a resort community west of Honolulu, so it's more like staying in a suburb. The beach there is good. But it's going to be much more like staying on a resort with tons of condos around, very manicured, etc. But you won't staying in the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. The traffic on that side of Oahu is atrocious, so I'd do your research about when is the best time to head to certain places so you can avoid sitting on the highway forever. 

There's a lot to do on Kauai, just maybe not as many low/no cost options. All the islands have things like zip lining, horse back riding, golf, atv tours, helicopter tours, etc. Kauai has the only navigable rivers, so you can kayak and tube there, which you can't do on any of the other islands (you can sea kayak but that's harder). Waimea canyon is also on Kauai, which is unique to go and explore. Kauai might take a little more research to find all the activities to do, but we were there for a full week and there's still a list of things we didn't get to do. 

southernbelle0915

I really liked Kaua'i and the Big Island. I'm not really a sit around the beach all day kind of person. There was a lot to do in both places. Gorgeous waterfall hikes and private beaches in Kaua'i and volcano hikes plus great snorkeling on the Big Island. 

If you're more of a sit on the beach type couple, try Maui. 

decembergrl2014

I second what CMG said. You could always do a cruise, which would be the most inexpensive. Excursions are not included, but you can pick and choose what you want to see and do.

H and I are taking a 7 day Hawaiian cruise in August for our honeymoon. Before the cruise we're spending 3 nights at a Marriott on the beach in Waikiki. Our travel agent got us a good deal.

If you and your FI have a travel agent, or friends that have gone, I would get their recommendations and price them out. That's what H and I did.

Good luck!

arrrghmatey

I'm a little late tot his one and you've already got some good input (I second the 'no cruise' advice if you are looking to do more adventure and activities--otherwise you're wasting days of your honeymoon on a ship.)

We are also honeymooning in Hawaii in November (4 nights on Big Island and 5 nights in Maui). We got a really good deal on multi-island packages to include nice hotels, airfare, and rental cars through CostcoTravel.com (must be a Costco member).

I also recommend getting your hands on the Hawaii Revealed guidebook series ("Maui Revealed", "Oahu Revealed", "Big Island Revealed", etc) by Andrew Doughty. FMIL and her husband travel to Hawaii a lot, and gave us the books for Maui and Big Island. They've been our bibles in planning our honeymoon. Lots of good info on activities, places to eat, hotels, secret snorkel spots, and a lot more. It saved us from booking some pretty lame luaus and helped me decide where I want to have my spa days

JoanE2012

arrrghmatey said:

I'm a little late tot his one and you've already got some good input (I second the 'no cruise' advice if you are looking to do more adventure and activities--otherwise you're wasting days of your honeymoon on a ship.)

We are also honeymooning in Hawaii in November (4 nights on Big Island and 5 nights in Maui). We got a really good deal on multi-island packages to include nice hotels, airfare, and rental cars through CostcoTravel.com (must be a Costco member).

I also recommend getting your hands on the Hawaii Revealed guidebook series ("Maui Revealed", "Oahu Revealed", "Big Island Revealed", etc) by Andrew Doughty. FMIL and her husband travel to Hawaii a lot, and gave us the books for Maui and Big Island. They've been our bibles in planning our honeymoon. Lots of good info on activities, places to eat, hotels, secret snorkel spots, and a lot more. It saved us from booking some pretty lame luaus and helped me decide where I want to have my spa days

We used Costco Travel for our Hawaii vacation last year and loved it - great deal, no problems.

CMGragain

arrrghmatey said:

I'm a little late tot his one and you've already got some good input (I second the 'no cruise' advice if you are looking to do more adventure and activities--otherwise you're wasting days of your honeymoon on a ship.)

We are also honeymooning in Hawaii in November (4 nights on Big Island and 5 nights in Maui). We got a really good deal on multi-island packages to include nice hotels, airfare, and rental cars through CostcoTravel.com (must be a Costco member).

I also recommend getting your hands on the Hawaii Revealed guidebook series ("Maui Revealed", "Oahu Revealed", "Big Island Revealed", etc) by Andrew Doughty. FMIL and her husband travel to Hawaii a lot, and gave us the books for Maui and Big Island. They've been our bibles in planning our honeymoon. Lots of good info on activities, places to eat, hotels, secret snorkel spots, and a lot more. It saved us from booking some pretty lame luaus and helped me decide where I want to have my spa days

The cruise I recommended does not have any sea days.  The ship travels between the islands at night, while you are sleeping.  You wake up at a new island.  You don't waste any time on board the ship.
This cruise does two full days in Maui, two days on the Big Island (Kona and Hilo) and one and a half days in Kauai.  It sails out of Honalulu and return there, so you can always spend extra time on Oahu before or after your cruise.

als1982

Another recommendation against a cruise.  I love cruises, but IMO not the best way to experience Hawaii.

JoanE2012

als1982 said:

Another recommendation against a cruise.  I love cruises, but IMO not the best way to experience Hawaii.

We like cruising, but I would never cruise Hawaii either.  I know a couple that pretty much travels exclusively on cruises, but they said the Hawaii cruise was their least favorite.  Unlike the Caribbean where you could just walk off and shop or hit the beach, they said some of their ports were more like industrial ports and you had to be shuttled to where you wanted to go.  They just didn't have the time on each island to appreciate the beauty and what it had to offer.

[Deleted User]

We are getting married in September 2016 and honeymooning to Hawaii as well! I've already met with a travel agent because I wanted to get a feel for pricing so I know how much money to put away over the next year. 

This will be a once in a lifetime trip for us, so I knew I wanted to see as much as possible. Because of this, we looked into the Norwegian cruise around the islands since it hits all the major islands. We ultimately decided not to go with it so we could have more time and freedom on the islands, and also because the cruise was going to be MUCH more expensive than if we did it on our own. Of course the cruise includes food and entertainment, but I was still coming out around $1500 more for the cruise when comparing prices that included a generous food budget, if we did it on our own. 

We've decided to go for 16 days, spending 3 days in Waikiki, 4 days in Maui, and 3 days in Kauai and then spending the rest of the time at Aulani resort in Ko'Olina (Oahu). We'll have a car so we can do some additional exploring on our own. We're coming from the east coast and looking at around $9000, not including spending money. Of course it can be done cheaper, but this includes some excursions as well as mid-higher end hotels and room views.

Happy planning!