Honeymoon in Hawaii - need advise

So DH and I are finally planning our honeymoon... we couldn't go on one just after the wedding because I didn't have any more vacation time.

We're looking to spend a week in Hawaii in early September. We originally planned to spend a day or two in Honolulu to visit Pearl Harbor. I'm a histroy buff and DH is really into military history. Then we planned to spend the rest of the week in Kauai vegging on the beach, enjoying the food, a bit of hiking to waterfalls, with lots of artistic picture-taking opportunities.

It's turing out to be pretty expensive to do this, with a package deal of airfare and hotel at approx $3000. (shaking my fist at the friggin airline industry) A friend of ours recommended we just spend the whole week on Maui. He said it has sightseeing stuff that Oahu has, plus the tranquility and beauty of Kauai. Is this true? It's cheaper to do this too, like almost $1000 cheaper.

I'm in need of some opinions here. Neither DH or I have ever been to Hawaii, so we're really planning our trip based on personal recommendations.

Thanks so much!

maui is a nice mix of nite life and peace and quiet

the 2 times i've been to maui, i've only stayed at the westin in ka'anapali (sp??).. in that area, there's alos the hyatt which has a cool luau..

the other gajillion times i've been, it's only been to oahu.

call my travel agent & pick his brain - he's hooked me up over the years and has been everywhere - he'll give you an uncensored opinion

Phillip Powell of Uniglobe Executive Travel
(818) 361-1300 or (800) 676-3932
phillip@uniglobexec.com.



kauai may be more $$$ b/c there are limited hotels, cars to rent etc...

we're spending one week in oahu and one week in kona in primetime season in august for 15 days and ours came to a bit over $4K, which includes:

1. air on united (coach class - i'm trying to upgrade for that flight but we'll see)
2. hyatt regency in oahu
3. marriott waikoloa resort in kona, big island
4. inter-island flight from oahu to big island
5. car service from honolulu airport to hotel
6. car rental in kona

we book everything with him - oh and alot of the airlines are now charging a fuel surcharge for each passenger - we got hit with that gem a few weeks ago.. on united, we're paying $40 each for the fuel...


i would do a few days in honolulu - see pearl harbor - it's really moving.

enoa tours is excellent!! the buses are the right size - not the big ass tour buses, and the guides are very animated! roberts hawaii is ok - but i dont like the buses - they're too big which means too many people in your group - i'm just not into that...

www.enoa.com

they offer a pearl harbor-uss missouri combo tour - warning - you have to be out inf ront waiting for them to pick you up like 7am--- since hi is 3 hours behind, this shouldnt be a prob since it's already 10am cali time and your body knows it... wear comfy shoes!

i lovee the seclusion of the w hotel - it's waaaaaaay down the stret from "hotel row" but is not close to any shopping, dining etc - but you can always cab it - it's not $$$$... the kahala is even further away, but it's gorgeous and the service is spot on!! be prepard for the bill$$ ;)

for less expensive accomodations, i've stayed at the sheraton princess kailani on kalakaua avenue - it's literally across the street from beach and next to the market and macy's

i also like the sheraton on kalakaua... i odnt know if starwood still has the "stay at one, play at all" thing, but if you staay at a starwood hotel, you can go to any other starwood property and charge your meals and drinks to your room!!

this year, we are staying at the hyatt regency (again) on kalakaua...
http://waikiki.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp?src=google_propertyspecific_hhc_2008&s_kwcid=hyatt%20regency%20waikiki|1350590528

oh one more thing...

our cost may be a bit higher b/c we bought insurance and had to change our itinerary a couple times... but still a good deal imo...

FI and I went to Maui last year and we stayed in Kihei which is more cost effective (cheaper =) than Kannapali and is within driving distance to all the nice beaches in Kannapali. We stayed at the Maui Bayan a 1bdrm 2 bathroom condo with a kitchen and living room and it was a really nice place. I definitely enjoyed Maui more than Oahu because it was slower paced, not too packed with tourists and the beaches were plenty and very beautiful. Check out the book Maui Revealed if you decide to go. It's a great informative guide.

HTH!

I went to Oahu last August for about 5 days. there were plenty to do there (2 hiking trails, bunch of underwater activities, GREAT food... etc). We stayed at a hotel in Waikiki and just walked or took the bus ($20 for a 4-day unlimited pass) all around the island.
Shared room with 3 other girls. 4 nights + airfare from LA = 580ish.

MUST-TRY foods:
Alan Wong's (best fusion restaurant I've ever seen)
Giavanni's Shrimp truck (northern part of Oahu)

Yes, get a "Revealed" book from your local bookstore- they have one for every island, we get one every time we go! Very helpful :)

I have been to both Maui and Ohau, "most" people like Maui more, but I personally didn't. I enjoyed Ohua, although we didn't stay in Waikiki. Yes, its a tad more touristy, but we found so much to do and still got our romantic privacy. It really all depends where you go and what you like.
If you have never been to Hawaii in general, you'll be happy either way :)

- HMM :)

We went on our honeymoon to maui and even though we had been there several times it was no less amazing. We stayed at the Grand Wailea Resort in south Maui. We have stayed mainly in Kannapali before as our friends have a condo there. The hotel was amazing, the beach was great and the service was impeccable. If your honeymoon is to be the vacation to end all vacations this was it for us. We did tons of activities and we also got to relax. Its an expensive island and we did one of those timeshare things to get a reduced rate on the activities. Although its 90 mins of your time it took more than $300 off our activities. Our hotel is really expensive but I have heard if you look around on the internet there are some amazing deals. We used hilton miles for the entire stay so we didn't have that cost. Our friends are going soon and found it for more than half off the regular price. I would also recommend the marriot in waliea it looked really nice very modern and the prices are better. I liked the four season next door and of course the fairmont but they seemed stuffy to us and they certainly didn't have the water activities our hotel had.

One our way home we were talking about how soon we could go back. Good luck!!

Thanks so much everyone for the advise. We're going to do some more online surfing and see what kind of deals we can find. Neither of us likes dealing with tourist crowds, but we may have to suffer through them a little. ;-)

I'll definately pick up a couple of those "Revealed" books to help.

Keep the recommendations coming! ;-)

Definitely get the Revealed book(s). We just got back from our honeymoon in Kauai and it was a lifesaver. I have also been to Oahu and Maui and I must say, I loved Kauai, but I kinda wish DHs first Hawaii experience had been Maui. Kauai is more laid back than the other islands and everything closes early (by 9pm). In some respects that is nice, but we are night owls so there were times it was frustrating. It was also frustrating because our flight there was delayed so our first night's dinner was a frozen pizza we put in the oven (we were in a timeshare). If Maui is less expensive, I would suggest doing Maui and save up to go to Kauai on an anniversary. If you are able to I would still sugggest also doing the stop over on Oahu, seeing the Arizona is a must.

I love Maui and try to go every two years. DH's family is from there and we have a blast. You should get some good deals because you aren't going during the busy season. We usually stay in Kaanapali or Napili. It's really nice there. I don't know where to find it, but you can usually find the island hop deals to go from one to another especialy if you want to see Pearl Harbor, which I also rec.