My mom sent us to Maui as her wedding present, awesome!!! So here's my review. First, if you're used to the Caribbean/Florida with white beaches, warm water, drinks, and sunbathing, this is very different. I'm throwing this out there for people who might not know, the water is cold, the sand ranges from gritty to straight up rocks, and the beaches in front of the resorts say no alcohol!!! Of course that didn't stop us...Also there are tons of kids. That being said it is absolutely beautiful, most beautiful I've ever seen, with tons to do, but I wish I had packed a little differently. All I brought was bikinis, sundresses and nighties:)
So we stayed at Sheraton Black Rock based on many recommendations. The view was incredible. That being said, we hardly spent more than a few hours there all week other than sleeping, so definitely staying at a resort isn't necessary IMO. Anywhere you go in Maui practically, even driving to and from, you have a view. The food is so crazy expensive at the resorts but the local spots aren't too bad. Also, every beach in Hawaii is public, it's a law, as I found out the one day we tried to lay out at resort but there were tons of locals, ESPECIALLY teenagers. So the resort just gets you a view from bed and a pool.
Activities: if you don't like dinner theater, museums, tourist traps etc at home you won't like them here either, and there is soooo much to do, so don't feel like you have to do the touristy stuff. Honestly, the luau thing is lame, food not good, long, and cheesy. My hubby leaned over about halfway through to whisper in my ear, romantic right? He said is this almost over because if not I'll shoot myself. This is just my opinion of course, so I mean no offense to anyone. They have full houses every night and charge a pretty penny, so obviously people out there like it. I'm just saying, if you're like us you might prefer to do something else instead. The submarine rides are cool but you can see all the same stuff snorkeling, so if you snorkel skip the sub ride. The road to hana is touted as a tourist must do, but it takes a full day of your vacation and we didn't think it was worth it. It's an all day drive to see waterfalls and views. Skip the drive, get awesome waterfall views and then some from a short helicopter ride (we even saw whales!), and spend the day doing other stuff. Again just our opinion;) Top two activities were dinner at Mama's Fish House - reserve ahead to get a table with a view - and horseback riding at the Mendes Ranch. One last heads up, lots of activities revolve around sunset and you only have one per day so choose wisely. An activity listed as sunset such and such doesn't necessarily mean you get a view of the sunset...it can be difficult to see, hidden behind other islands, etc...we skipped the sunset cruise because Lahaina town near the resorts has tons of sunset view and waterfront restaurants so we pretty much hung out there everyday.
My biggest tip I wish I got, among many other tourists I overheard, is to have proper footwear. We were all out there in flip flops and you really need rafting sandals or at the very least water shoes for a lot of the areas. I had sneakers but wearing them into the waterfalls sucked lol! But it was better than when I tried to brave it barefoot.
There's so much to say so if there are any questions feel free, I've already posted too long for now!
Re: Honeymoon in Maui review
Who did you do the helicopter tour through? I'm never sure if I should book these things online or wait until we get there.
I did research on the Maui forum on tripadvisor a few months in advance, told my mom what we wanted, and she prebooked everything. It made it easy to have the itinerary with maps and all in advance of trip and she got a AAA discount. There's a travel agent Pleasant Holidays with a counter in the Royal Lahaina hotel next to the Sheraton. It looks like AAA brokered most of their stuff through them, we had to go there to pick our tickets up. So you can skip middleman and go through them, plus conveniently located near hotel. Also did you get breakfast included in your hotel package? If not good! There's a place called CJs close to hotel with yummy and cheap food, it's open for breakfast and lunch. The lady working desk at Sheraton gave us coupons, I'm sure if you ask you can get some. We ate portuguese sausage, eggs and pancakes for breakfast almost every day. Way better and cheaper than resort breakfast. For the helicopter ride we did Sunshine Helicopters. If you want to zipline, you can get a combo package, and since you have to drive away from resort to airport for both of those activities it saves you travel time. Most water-related stuff leaves out of the wharf in Lahaina town, which is down the beach from Sheraton and where we spent most of our time. So if you want to do anything like whale watching, dinner cruise, snorkeling, fishing etc you can probably just wait until you get there. We had a couple of free days on our itinerary and we had breakfast, hit Lahaina, compared boats and prices for different excursions and picked like that, it was easier than picking online. You just go right out to dock and everybody is lined up with boats and ticket booths. Then lunch in Lahaina at someplace fun with a beautiful view! Lots of choices but we liked Lahaina Fish Company, it has $2.50 Mai Tais during day. I'd skip the luau honestly. My hubby was disappointed because it wasn't like the luau in Revenge of the Nerds:) No drunks and debauchery at all! More like Brady Bunch. As far as booking ahead, besides the helicopter ride one thing to definitely book ahead is if you want dinner here, http://www.mamasfishhouse.com/...it came very highly reviewed on the Hawaii forum. Book in advance to get table with a view around sunset. It's beautiful (can't technically see sun it's behind mountain but the view and the changing sky is still gorgeous). The food is so fresh the menu changes everyday based on the catch, and it actually list the name of boat and fisherman on menu. So yummy!!! Expensive but it was a highlight of our trip. And if there is a sporting event during honeymoon that yall want to watch, Moose McGillicuddy's is where to go. It has great bar food, good happy hour prices, and it's a haven for vacationers looking for the game. One more thing I swear! Stinger Ray's at Maui airport has a drink called Macadamia Mania, it's pina colada but with a twist. If you're into that we thought it was our best drink of the whole trip. Oh I lied, one more, bring your own snorkel gear if you can, it's cheaper online for better quality than stuff you rent there, and you can snorkel right at hotel at the black rock.
With All the Trimmings
I loved the OLL, as did our wedding guests, but you definitely need to be into dancing! It's not about fire dancers, but more about celebrating a cultural heritage. To each their own though!
I completely agree with the Northwest coast drive! It's spectacular, and there's great places to stop off along the way, and lots of great hiking areas.
Alyson & Phil | Planning Bio | Married Bio!
Dates & Quinces Blog
With All the Trimmings
The package I'm looking at I can upgrade for it to include breakfast but might not now that you mentioned CJ's. It's not inlcuded when we're in Oahu either, but I find it hard to believe that I need to spend $50/day to have breakfast included in our rate! FI will LOVE Mama's Fish House so thanks for the tips! I absolutely cannot wait to go!
I would suggest splurging and having breakfast in your room just once. We ate ours on our terrace outside and listened to the ocean. It was wonderful!
With All the Trimmings
We stayed at the Ritz in Kapalua. Very few kids (although there were a few) and the beach is "private" in that it is only accessible through the Ritz-Carlton grounds. It is much smaller than the Kaanapali resort strip but it is also almost like having your own private beach. I much preferred this type of location for our HM. If there is any way you can fit it in your budget, it is so worth every penny.
With All the Trimmings
We even already have reservations at Mamas Fish House.
I was wondering about what to pack. You mentioned that you wished you packed differently. I figure we will have about the same weather in 3 weeks as you just did.
Would you suggest jeans? Shorts? Sweaters at night? Any help would be great!
I also plan to get water shoes!
Thanks!
Just to clarify a little, the Sheraton itself isn't the problem as far as privacy goes, it has very big grounds, it's just sharing the beach with the other resorts. If you get a room in building 6 (pay attention to what building you're booked in, some don't even really have a view), you'll have a private balcony. The building is on a cliff, without a beach view (unless you lean out), but oceanview and you can see two islands across the way, the only people who can see you would need to be on a boat and trying:) We watched whales and turtles from our balcony (room 6513), pretty awesome...http://www.sheraton-maui.com/acc.htm# shows the overview map of the property. Building 6 is on cliff where the camera says Moana Lounge (left of map)...so all those buildings are part of resort and front the "end" of the beach which is a rock. Check your building if you're booked here, it makes a difference as per privacy and view! Oh it's close, building 6 has a breezeway to the next building, then you elevator down to beach pool restaurants. It also has it's own parking separate from resort parking which made getting in and out a breeze.
