Honeymoon Discussions

Planning Hawaii Honeymoon..Help Please.

Girls we are getting married in October and due to the storm season in the Caribbean this time of year I really want to go to Hawaii. In doing my research I think Maui is the perfect place for us ( we want something romantic/relaxing) with some fun excertions etc. Can anyone help with some affrodable recomendations? I did not realize that Hawaii does not have any all inclusive packages and that can get very pricey ( food drinks etc)? We were thinking of maybe staying at the Sheraton in Maui but if anyone has any other recomendations that would be great! I did not realize how $$ Hawaii can be ! Thanks for all your help.
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Re: Planning Hawaii Honeymoon..Help Please.

  • If you want to save money, rent a condo. You can cook for yourself when you want (therefore saving money), they're usually cheaper and quieter than the resorts. Take a look through the [url=http://wizardpub.com/maui/mauaerials.html]Maui Revealed Book[/url]. I LOVE staying on the West Coast in the Kahana area - tons of condos are ocean front - like walk out your door and you're standing in the ocean. It's also a lot more quiet than the resorts - and I think it's super romantic to get away from the hustle and bustle.
  • PP is right- condos are definitely a more affordable way to go in Maui. There are some good deals for hotels though- Sheraton Maui often has package deals on Costco.com. Have you checked on expedia/orbitz/travelocity? FI & I went to Maui in July and we purchased airfare and hotel as a package deal through expedia. We stayed at the Westin Villas (which also has kitchenettes if you want to save some money) and we saved a TON of money in comparison to booking each part of the package separately. It was really nice to have a kitchenette in our room- we bought breakfast items and snacks at Safeway, a bottle of rum and some pineapple juice (for a drink on the patio instead of $9.25 at the bar.) It saved us a lot and it gave us some extra money to splurge on some nice dinners (like Merrimans- highly recommended!) Some other tips: rent your car through Priceline. If you wait until about 2 weeks before you leave, you're likely to get a great price. I think we paid about $20 a day for our convertible when the going rate was $43. You can always make a reservation with one of the rental companies beforehand (just in case) and cancel it without penalty. As for excursions, there's a lot you can do on Maui for little to no money. We drove around a LOT- you don't have to take any fancy snorkeling trips that cost money. There's great snorkeling in S. Maui at La Perouse Bay and Ahihi Cove. West Maui has fantastic snorkeling at Honolua Bay. Seeing Halekala sunrise was amazing and I believe it was only $10 to enter the Park. That also got us entry into the Park in just outside of Hana (with Oheo Gulch- the name is escaping me) when we drove the Road to Hana. RTH is also a "free" excursion. When we were on Maui, we paid for three activities. We did surfing lessons, which I believe were $59/person for a 2 hour lesson. We used Goofy Foot and loved them. Both FI and I stood up on multiple waves and had a blast. We also did a sunset champagne cruise with Scotch Mist II. It was $65/person for a 2 hour cruise, all you could drink champagne and chocolates. It was a really intimate trip- there were two other couples, us and the captains. We saw other boats going out with 50+ people on them, but Scotch Mist will go out with a minimum of 6 passengers. The max is 18. Lastly, we spent a lot ($110/person) for the Feast at Lele luau. Wouldn't do it again- it wasn't worth the money IMO, I'd do Old Lahaina next time. I'd be sure to check out TripAdvisor for reviews before you book any hotels/etc. Also, this website is connected to the Revealed books, which are a MUST-HAVE. http://wizardpub.com/main/home.html HTH! Have fun- Maui is fantastic and it doesn't have to be super expensive if you know how to cut costs!
    Photobucket Vacation Vacation
  • Check out some of the hotels that have club room options. We booked at the ritz carlton with a club level room. It includes 5 seatings in the club louge and they have breakfast, snacks, light lunch, dessert and alcohol beverages through out the dat. Hope that helps!
  • We stayed at the Aston Kaanapali Shores. Out condo was a 1 bedroom with a full kitchen, living rrom, bathroom and a good sized balcony. Average cost for this condo was about $150 p/night. It was located right on the ocean, across the street from a Star market, so it was very convenient. We bought drinks, booze and some snacks to save money. Buy a soft-sided cooler and take it with you everywhere you go. You can carry water, soda, beer all your drinks. We also bought sandwiches at the grocery store and brought them with us too. Not all excursions are super expensive like PP said. Make sure you rent a car....Just driving around the island of Maui was amazing to me. there are so many sights to be seen! We booked our entire trip through AAA, 2 weeks in Hawaii (Maui and the Big Island), airfare from the East Coast, car on both islands and inter-island flights for just under $5,000.
  • We're having our honeymoon at the Sheraton Maui too.  Their location looks like the best.  You're right though, lots of $$ for it.
  • We went to Hawaii for our anniversary last year and loved it. We were even thinking of going back for our honeymoon. We stayed on Maui and rented a car, kind of expensive but worth it. We drove the "Road to Hana" one of the most beautiful drives ever! There's stops along the way where you can hike to and swim in amazing waterfalls, visit a pink sand and black sand beach, and view tons amazing beautiful things. We stayed at the Royal Lahiana, which had it's own stretch of beach, not the most fancy, but was within our budget. Buying a ticket to the Luau was the best, it's pricey but unlimited drinks can go a long way...just tip the bartender and you're set; we got an upgrade to an oceanfront room, just behind the luau area, so we were able to stumble back easily. I also reccomend Moose Magilicutys for breakfast, they have great specials...be sure to pick up a coupon book from the airport or hotel lobby, 2 for 1 deals! We rented our own snorkel equipment for the week we were there and found some fun beaches to snorkel on our own, off of Kaanapali beach we swam with a sea turtle!! feel free to email me tvroybal at comcast dot net if you want me to blab some more.
  • Click on My Bio link below.  My Maui Honeymoon Review is located under the Vendor Reviews tab.  I reviewed all the restaurants we went to, rental car company, hotel, and excursions.
  • We decided to go to Maui because we wanted a "once in a lifetime" experience (we are from the East coast and it is a LONG flight).Booked Hyatt, but about a month before the HM I saw a deal for Sheraton Maui that was significantly less and offered breakfast and a car rental.What a great decision! Even though some people swear by the Hyatt or other hotels, we walked down the strip all the way to Hyatt (I was curious to see what I missed out on) and was happy to discover that the Sheraton has the best beach, beautiful pool, and seems more authentic "Hawaiian" IMO.Sheraton also has a fridge in the room - so you can store wine, beer, leftovers, snacks: that saved us a bit of money because the food/drinks at the hotel can be expensive.You HAVE to rent a car (get either a convertible or Jeep).You HAVE to get a copy of Maui Revealed.It is easy to have a great time in Maui for very little money, because the island's beauty is free (just the cost of gas) We drove up to Haleakala and watched the sunrise. Make sure to bring WARM clothes, or if you don't want to pack a winter coat, many people brought blankets/comforters from the hotel.We did the Road to Hana. You can get a box lunch and you spend the whole day exploring. (We actually drove ALL the way and it was really cool to see a side of the island not many people see)We drove the North Coast and hiked down to the blowhole.If you can control your urge to buy souvenirs, it was fun just walking around Lahaina.Food:Aloha Mixed Plate - inexpensive and highly rated, but honestly my husband and I weren't impressed, AT ALL.Cheeseburger in Paradise - a chain but it was good for a quick bite before we went to Warren and Annabelle's. (I thought the show was a good time but my husband wasn't impressed)Mama's Fish House - super expensive. we went for lunch on the way to the airport and we wouldn't do it any other way. it is a beautiful view, very romantic and it was a bittersweet ending to our vacation. lunch and dinner menu is almost identical (we asked to see the dinner menu) but lunch was less expensive. you should go, at least the first time you are in maui.We went to the Feast at Lele. It was expensive $110 pp, but Old Lahaina was sold out. Some of the food was good, but there were so many courses and a lot of it was wasted. The drinks keep coming and you can even pair different beer/wine with each course. If you decide to do a luau I would say spend the money on one of these 2 (don't spend $80-90 on a subpar experience) and book before you leave.We also did the Safari Boat cruise (one of the most expensive) but it went all around Lanai and my husband ranked it as one of his favorite experiences.Maui can be expensive but in our case we were able to bring some of the money we got during the wedding. Also, some of my close friends and family were generous enough to book some of the tours for us (my mom bought us a couples massage, and my sister bought us a fourth of July cruise on trilogy).Finally, there were often deals and promotions that saved us some money. Sheraton gave us a $50 gift card to eat at any restaurant in the hotel because we didn't have our towels/linens changed one day (a go green thing). We also took one afternoon and did the timeshare tour for Marriott vacation club. It was actually fun to play pretend and hear the spiel (they take you to the room and explain the program). It was only a 90 minute commitment and we got a $100 gift card to be used at a ton of restaurants/shops (there was literally over 50 classy places, we used it at mama's fish house). maybe it's not for you, but we didn't think it was too painful and it wasn't really high pressure because there was no way my DH and I would even consider shelling out so much $ at this point in our life.Good luck with your planning! Maui was a perfect honeymoon destination and even though I said it was "once in a lifetime" I'm already trying to find ways to get back there.
  • Oh....I forgot about the $10 to get into the parks.We did the sunrise, paid the $10 bucks and when we went back to the hotel we threw out the pass.Later in the week we had to pay AGAIN to get into another area of the park. Long story short - keep your pass the whole week.
  • i have a few links in my bio for activities
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    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • Well look for good deals online.
    Geetika
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