Does a cheap Hawaii honeymoon actually exist?

mrsbanany · July 2014

I was reading an article recently that said Oahu was a fairly inexpensive travel destination. We are getting married next August and have been putting away money for a honeymoon since we got engaged. Our budget is about $4000 for the entire honeymoon (flights and possible car rental included), is it possible to travel to Hawaii on that budget? We were working with a travel agent and she recommended DR and Mexico, both of which are very nice but when we think about it each one lacks something that one of us really wants, Hawaii does not. We are also flying out of Boston so the flight would most likely be the biggest expense. Has anyone done Hawaii on a budget before and can offer any advice, hotels, restaurants or activities? Thanks in advance

Jells2dot0 · July 2014

Airfare will be the biggest hurdle, probably eating up ~$1500 of your budget. So, to make the best of it, consider looking into condos. They tend to run a little lower than a resort and they have kitchens, so you can prepare your own meals on occasion. You may also need to consider staying a few less nights (maybe 5 instead of 7).

Also, keep in mind costs when you get there. Food at the grocery store can run almost double and almost every hotel charges for parking.

freebread03 · July 2014

I can't speak to Hawaii specifically, but I'd suggest checking out private rentals through Air BnB or something similar. We're headed to a wedding in Charleston this coming weekend and I was blown away by hotel costs in downtown Charleston-while we can afford it, I just couldn't bite the bullet at almost $300 per night for 4 nights. Instead, we're doing Air BnB for $65/night for a private room in someone's house. We figure we won't be there very much since we have plans 2 of 4 nights we are in town, and will have a packed schedule.

love1229 · July 2014

I also agree that condo can be a big way to save. My family has rented condos using vrbo.com, including in Maui. Just check it out and make sure it's legitimate before you book!

Kaanapali is kind of resorty and touristy but affordable. Also, when you rent a condo, you will have a kitchen so you can cook some nights and save more money that way than going out for dinner every night. I believe we are going to Maui/Oahu for our honeymoon next year and that is our plan.

I believe Maui has a 13% sales tax, so it adds up quickly, but Hawaii can definitely be done on a budget. You just have to be creative and not plan on staying in Wailea at a 5 star hotel. There are a lot of free things to do in Maui (beaches, cute shops, etc), but you definitely need to plan on renting a car. Also, luaus are a must do - I went to the Old Lahaina Luau (I believe it's $100/pp) and it was fabulous. Highly recommend that one over others.

JoanE2012 · July 2014

Ditto Jells. Also, do you have airline miles you could redeem? Even if it was just for one ticket? We just booked Hawaii and redeemed airline miles, so the main flights were free.....that helped us tremendously.

daria24 · July 2014

You are looking at about $3k just for flights, hotel/condo, and car rental + gas. So it all depends on how happy you will be with $1000 to spend on food + fun. It can be done, but personally I would not have enjoyed Hawaii as much if I was stressed about staying on a strict budget. Car rentals are actually one of the cheapest things in Hawaii, gas however will make you faint. There is a pretty good public transportation system on Oahu, but it works best if you are staying in Waikiki/ or the business district of Honolulu. A lot of the condo rentals you will see are on the West Side (Makakilo, Kapolei, Ewa Beach, etc) and while there is a bus system out there, it might be a bit frustrating to rely on it.

On the positive side, the best things we did in Hawaii were free (or very low cost). The beaches are all free (though depending on the location, parking may not be). Rent a set of snorkel gear for the week-it's only about $25/30 pp, and most of the best snorkeling places are reachable from shore. You will see turtles, dolphins, and tons of fish without taking a special snorkeling excursion. The National Parks usually have just a small fee per car, or for pedestrians in some cases (Diamond Head is $1 on foot). And the parks are the best feature on every Hawaii island I have been to.

For food, it's tough. Always eat breakfast at your hotel/condo. Even when we stayed at the W we kept milk and cereal in the room because I just wasn't going to fork over $15-25pp for breakfast. Lunch is usually $10-15, there are lots of food trucks/food stalls/etc that sell some tasty things for a decent price. For dinner you can spend $15/plate all the way up to $100+. It all depends on where you want to eat.

als1982 · July 2014

I agree with Joan. I'm actually in Oahu right now, on a ticket redeemed with miles. Depending on how far away your wedding is, and if you can be responsible with credit, I'd apply for a United Mileage Plus card. I've heard right now they're offering 75,000 miles which is the best offer I've yet to hear of. If you can't get that, don't settle for less than 50,000. Do know that the free flights to Hawaii are limited and go quickly. We booked in November for our current July trip, and barely had any available options. Definitely do your research, I'd recommend checking out boardingarea.com and in particular, the Mommy Points blog.

OliveOilsMom · July 2014

We went to Hawaii on our honeymoon in July 2 years ago. We flew from Philly. Our flights which included flying to a 2nd island, was $3200 alone. We did just book a return trip to Hawaii and our flights are $2800 for January. So expect your flights to be higher during the summer. If you can delay your honeymoon for a few months, I have heard that October is one of the most affordable months to travel to Hawaii. I have also read that the Big Island is more affordable than the other ones.

I think $4k is doable, but you may not be able to do all that you may want to do. Can you delay your trip for a whole year and have a kick ass first anniversary trip?

CMGragain · July 2014

Try Norwegian's Hawaii cruise. You get to see many islands, and your food, entertainment, and room is pre-paid. If you have two weeks, you can sail from California to Hawaii and back and save on airfare. The days at sea are relaxing and luxurious. We have done this with Princess and with Holland America. See my post on cruising tips to save money.

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=18087

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=38436

http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=22991

JoanE2012 · July 2014

OP - If you are a Costco member, also check out Costco Travel. We booked our package there and got hotel, interisland airfare and car rental. The prices were better than Expedia and usually had something extra, like a resort credit at some hotels or breakfast included each morning depending on the hotel.

If you don't have miles to redeem, I do think you'll need more than 4k though to make it an enjoyable and less stressful. Ditto @OliveOilsMom.....if you can't swing it for the honeymoon, keep saving nd go for your first year anniversary!!

CMGragain · July 2014

St. Lucia in the Caribbean is the island most like Hawaii. Puerto Rico is also a good option, and you don't need passports.

CMGragain · July 2014

Another budget friendly thing about cruising is that, while you pay your cruise fare and airfare up front, your ship charges, excursions, tips and bar bills aren't paid until the end of your cruise, when they are charged to your credit card. The bill actually comes one month later.

mlg78 · July 2014

CMGragain said:

Another budget friendly thing about cruising is that, while you pay your cruise fare and airfare up front, your ship charges, excursions, tips and bar bills aren't paid until the end of your cruise, when they are charged to your credit card. The bill actually comes one month later.

Plus you get to pay for your cruise leading up to it. I travel with Royal Caribbean and full payment isn't due until 75 days beforehand. I make payments every month (typically my mileage reimbursement check from work and if my husband is paid any overtime)...it makes it far more budget friendly.

delujm0 · July 2014

A cruise may not be a bad idea to keep you in budget. And i'd agree with PPs that looking into the slower times of the year would probably help. We went to Hawaii two years ago (in May) from NC and the flights cost $1200 EACH. Now $100 of that was an intra-Hawaii flight because we went to Oahu and Kauai. but still. It's probable that Boston has better rates than Charlotte, but the difference is probably not significant. My mom came on the same trip and paid only slightly less than us out of NYC.

We have a time share that we were able to use, so that cut down on costs a bit, and we went grocery shopping and ate breakfast and lunch in the room every day. One of the people we traveled with is in the military, so he actually did our grocery shopping on base there, which made our food cheaper than it would have been otherwise. Food is very expensive there. if you can be flexible and find flights for under $1k each, you can probably keep it under $4k for the week if you really do some legwork before you go. But we weren't looking to cut costs, and it easily cost us $4k as a couple, even though our hotel cost us $0. So it won't be easy.

I second the suggestion of St. Lucia from a previous poster...we were there in December, and my H kept saying over and over that it really reminded him of Kauai. The benefits there are that the flights would be cheaper and not as long from the east coast, and there are a lot of all-inclusive resorts there which can be a pretty good deal if you catch a good promotion. Definitely don't sign up for day trips from the resort though, they're overpriced - do all of that from home before hand with the individual tour operators. I'll be honest though...we only went there for 4 nights and it cost us about $3k as a couple...so i'm not confident you could even do that for $4k. We were at an AI though; you could easily rent a condo there and do some of your own cooking to save some money.

kaos16 · July 2014

When we went to Hawaii last February it was actually cheaper than our honeymoon to Cancun. We found direct flights out of New York for $400 each person, roundtrip. Maybe you can speak to your travel agent and see if that is a lifely trend that we reoccur.

OliveOilsMom · July 2014

@kaos16 What airline flew you to Hawaii roundtrip for $400 PP? I went to Maui 12 years ago and even then the roundtrip airfare was close to $800 and that was in February with a layover. Direct flights usually cost more nowadays.

kaos16 · July 2014

Hawaiian Airlines. JFK to Honolulu. A few weeks after we went they were down under $400 for a bit. Crazy, right? It's worth a look though!

JoanE2012 · July 2014

Hawaiian Airlines is currently running a special NYC-Hawaii for $761 including taxes/fees. I remember about 3 years ago a flash sale (pretty sure it was United) for around $280 ROUND TRIP! I regret not booking that.

Miclan88 · July 2014

Flights are gonna eat up most of your budget. we paid $1800 from NJ to the Big Island for our honeymoon. DHs's parents were kind enough to let us use their timeshare which really saved us. I would highly suggest renting a condo to cut costs so you can cook your own meals & do laundry. We bought a Costco membership and bought a few meat items which we got several dinners/lunches out of. We also got a bottle of alcohol and juice to make our own cocktails. Saved us a ton of money on eating out and it was also nice to relax at the condo after a long day. Also we got a discount on our rental car from Costco and they had the cheapest gas by far on the island, so worth the $50 membership! It paid for itself in this trip alone. There are a lot of things you can do for free or cheap. If you have your own snorkel stuff there are some amazing locations, if you don't renting was pretty cheap. Most national parks (beaches, volcanoes) were like $5 per car load. Yes there are expensive restaurants, but there are also very reasonably priced ones, just have to do your homework. We island hopped to Oahu for 1 night. I found Waikiki pretty expensive in comparison to the BI and taxi fares were outrageous. I was glad we experienced 2 islands but I MUCH preferred the BI. That also cost us over $200 in flights so I would pick 1 island to cut costs. I feel the big island has the most to offer. Also if you attend a timeshare presentation they give you really good discounts on excursions. Unfortunately we couldn't because we did meet the age criteria. I think its definitely doable to do Hawaii on a budget though

itsmestacey123 · August 2014

All of the PP have done a great job of giving you lots of ideas (my family lives in HI and I travel there frequently) but I just wanted to throw out one more money saving idea.

Use www.discounthawaiicarrental.com to book your rental car. They negotiate rates with the major companies and they are WAY lower than booking with each company directly. I am going to Kauai for part of my honeymoon and got a car for $90 total for 4 days. You reserve the car in advance (don't even have to put down a credit card number) and then pay for it when you pick up.

Aloha!

lleblanc33 · August 2014

We did the Pride of America cruise in Hawaii a couple years ago and I would highly recommend!! A great bang for your buck. I would not recommend cruising from CA if you can avoid it- if you are anything like us all those days at sea will drive you NUTS! We no longer choose cruises that have additional days at sea when possible. The best part- you are going all that way and you get to see MORE of the islands.

ladybird29 · August 2014

If you can wait, I recommend going in the summer. We went a few years ago in July and it was half the cost of what it would have been in the winter. I'm not an island/beach person, but that changed after going to Oahu. Another tip is to stay on the North Shore rather than in Honolulu. IMO, it's more serene, less touristy, and definitely less expensive. Car rentals are pretty cheap, but the food was INSANELY expensive! Good Luck!

plainjane0415 · August 2014

The airfare will still be high even going in the summer :-/ FI and I went a few years back to Maui, we went in May, and just our flight was over $2K, and we changed planes 3 times because that was the only way to get it the cheapest. And as far as staying 5 days as opposed to 7, if you're from the east coast like me, it's hard to get adjusted to the time difference if you only stay 5 days. Just some things to consider.

Does a cheap Hawaii honeymoon actually exist?

Re: Does a cheap Hawaii honeymoon actually exist?

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