Hawaii Itinery Questions

bethm6012

We want to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon in November.  We live in Atlanta so it is a pretty long trip we want to visit as much as possible without feeling like we are running all the time we want to enjoy ourselves as well.  We have never been before and probably wont go back for many years due to the price.

We arent the most outdoorsy couple.  I cant decide if we are spending to much time on the big island and should try and split 3 days there and 3 in Kaui.  We are trying to stay in the 5 - 6K budget for hotel/lodging/car/flights and then I am thinking 2K for our food/spending/activites budget.  I have gotton several quotes so far and they are in my range but I am not sure if the extra stuff and views are worth it. I have enough sky miles for one round trip flight so it will just be FI's flight and the interisland air for the both of us.

Wedding - 11/6/10

Fly to Maui on 11/9, stay at the sheraton for 6 nights or stay 3 nights and stay at the Grand Wailea for 3 nights.  The Wailea is $600 more in a terrace view room vs and ocean front at the Sheraton, is it worth it?  I really like that hotel.  We plan to visit road to hana, hak. mtn, lahania luau.  We will have a convertible car.  Also considering the hyatt and westin all the pricing is similar.

Fly to the Kona on 11/15, stay 5 or 6 nights at the Sheraton or the Fairmont Orchard, the Orchard is $300 more, is it worth it? Are there beaches at the hotels?  We plan on visiting volcano national park and doing a helicopter ride.  I would like to zip line but I have to talk FI into it.  We will have a convertible car.

Fly to Oahu on 11/20  or 11/21 and stay at the outrigger reef for 2 nights.  The travel agents told me I didnt need a car here that it was to much of a hassle just to get transfers, is this true?  We want to go the pearl harbor, north shore.

We defiantly want to do a sunset sail and go to the spa and have couples massages.  I would also like to be able to have a private dinner on the beach and find a photographer to take some pictures of us, we never have pictures of us together.  What else should we do?

Where is the cheapest places to get massages?  I would like to go snorking, but FI cant swim so he can only go so far and gets freaked out.  He is also insisting on ocean view or ocean front for all of our rooms do we need this? 

Thanks for the help and recommendations

livelaughlove88

I live in ATL and we want to go to Hawaii too!  If you're not outdoorsy I would suggest Maui and Oahu, they're the ones with the most things to do as far as tours and museums.  We want to spend a lot of time in Kauai because it is so nature-y.  Our travel agent suggested we spend at least a week if not 10 days to be able to see everything, because if you think about it the first day is shot because you'll be exhausted from travelling.  We have a limited to non-existant budget, so we are doing a honeymoon registry.  If you're not familiar with that, you can go through a travel agency and set it up just like a traditional gift registry.  Guests can purchase nights in your hotel for you, miles of airfare, meals, activities, etc. The agency I used lets you choose where you're going and it creates a premade registry that you can edit, so that makes it easier to figure out what to do.

And no, you do not need the ocean front room, it's an unnecessary extra expense for someone on a budget.

king26

We stayed at the other Outrigger on Oahu and loved it.  You definitely don't need a car, you can walk to many places.  We took a tour of Pearl Harbor which was very interesting, but otherwise we walked everywhere.  Loved the Outrigger.
  In Maui we did the Old Lahaina Luau and really enjoyed it.  I'd recommend not eating much beforehand because there is a TON of food and drinks to be had.  It was great.  We also did the road to Hana-my advise is make sure you go on a sunny day and leave yourself enough time.  Have dinner at mama's fish house on the way back!  That's what we did-best meal we had in hawaii.
  We did not have an oceanview room in Oahu and it was fine.  We weren't there as long and the balconies at the outrigger were fairly small so we didn't think it would be worth it.  In Maui we did have an ocean view and a HUGE balcony that we liked to eat out on, so it was very worth it.  Depends on your tastes-but totally not necessary to get the view.

kaesha

I'm in the spend more time on one island camp. You'll get to actually do more. And I don't like moving around hotels every three days - I like unpacking and knowing that I don't have to waste time repacking for a while!

If you like exploring the islands, I would really recommend not getting a convertable. Most rental companies will make you sign an agreement that you don't do certain highways/roads in anything that isn't a four wheeler.

Okay Maui: The Sheraton and the Grand Wailea are on two different parts of the island - so I'd take that more into consideration that the view. The Sheraton is on Black Rock, has great snorkeling and is close to Lahaina. It's also incredibly busy and has lots of families there. The Grand Wailea is in South Maui - it's much quieter, near Big Beach (which is where I did my TTD shoot - pics in married bio) and has a killer spa. The price is definitely a downside, but you really don't need an ocean view room here. They're all amazing.

Big Island - take a look at the resort pics on:

http://wizardpub.com/bigisland/bigresort.html

You can see if they're on beaches or not. You've picked resorts on opposite ends of the island again! The Fairmont is on the Kohala Coast - which has a whole lot less in the way of towns - it's a bit of a drive into Kona - while the Sheraton is on the southern end of Kona. So, you need to think about what you want in terms of accessibility to restaurants (the ones on the Kohala Coast are a bit more expensive) and weather. Kona tends to get vog in the afternoon, while the Kohala area tends to get more rain and is cooler. Also, the Sheraton doesn't have a swimmable beach. I really, REALLY recommend you take your husband snorkeling at one of the beaches on the Big Island - Kahalu'u Beach Park - it's sheltered by a natural breakwater and relatively shallow (not that you should be standing on the coral. Please don't do that. You'll kill it.) Rent a life preserver along with some snorkel gear! That'll allow him to relax. Also, you can do a snorkel tour with Four Winds of the Captain Cook Monument area - they also provide life jackets. My non-swimmer mother loved the tour and wasn't afraid at all (which was really a feat in and of itself).

Oahu - nope, you don't need a car if you're staying in Waikiki.

fallbride1109

We did a couples massage at our hotel (the Ritz) and it was incredible, but the girls here say one of the best spas on the island is the Grand Wailea.  Wailea was the one part of the island we didn't visit.  Our massage was $400 but we got champagne and had access to the spa whirlpool and meditation rooms all day.

The only other thing I can say is we looked into the private dinner thing on the beach and it was $1K (we didn't do it).  I had also considered a TTD shoot on Maui but nixed the idea--a girl on my local board did a shoot with her husband in Oahu and it turned out so great and I really wished we had done it.  If you have the budget, go for it.

We did the sunset sail, Road to Hana, etc. and we also went in November.  I have a review and pics in my bio.  We had a suite but no ocean view--I would have loved both.  It's a hard choice but if cost is an issue, you'll see the ocean everywhere and you really don't need it.  Maybe just splurge and get the ocean view at the cheapest hotel.

littlemisssara

Congratulations!

Our wedding is 11/7 and I believe we leave for Maui on 11/9 as well.

We're not really big on outdoorsy stuff - but there are things we would like to see out doors to feel like we've really experienced Hawaii. I've never been, but FI has.
We don't have a set itinerary - many thanks to the Marrieds we know. We're planning on going on a hike, snorkeling, luau, etc.. but we're just not planning anything until we get there so we can decide as the days go what we want to do.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend booking your HM through Costco Vacations.

For about 1000$ over the price of airfare, we got:
2 plane tickets
6 Nights at the Hyatt Regency with an Ocean View
Rental Car
150$ Resort spending
No Resort fees
bottomless sodas while we're there
2-for-1 to a luau
2-for-1 to Cirque Polynesia
Daily breakfast for two