BTW Joe,
You say you hated Ohau. I hated Waikiki, but liked the north shore. Did you spend time there?
When I said Oahu, I meant Waikiki. I liked the Kahala resort where we stayed for a buddy’s wedding. Never made it to the north shore. I hear good things about the new Disneyland resort, maybe we’ll make it there one day. My daughter is 5 so perfect age for that kind of thing. I dunno, my wife and I aren’t much beach resort people (we live 15 min from the beach and rarely go), we’re more mountain and lakes kinda people. But Maui was awesome.
Charles Head, the GM of the Kea Lani, does a great job and is a really nice guy. Before coming to the Kea Lani two years ago, he was the GM of the Fairmont St Andrews. Quite a change. And the service hotel-wide has improved markedly since his arrival. During the Christmas holiday craziness, it is not uncommon to see him at the end of the day helping the beach boys clean up after the hordes of littering guests. The guys who took your family on the outrigger are particular favorites of my family. We’ll be there in December for a few weeks, but will avoid eating at Ko and, especially, Nicks. I like the breakfast, which is comped if you are booked thru a Virtuoso travel agency. Agree about Monkey Pod. Nobody ate at Joe’s?
Jkim- Have you been to Kauai? Admittedly it does not have many resorts that are as ideal for young kids as Maui, and is not as resorty in general. However, if you are not so much “beach people” and more “mountain” you would really like the natural character of Kauai. Actually the Big island has a good share of lush jungle/mountain/volcano, it just requires driving from the main resort areas on the north/west.
Paul- How did your trip go?
Hey, I’m a beach person and Kauai is by far my favorite (as JG knows).
Visits
Maui - 4
Big Island - 3
Kauai - about 20
Love Kauai. Just wanted a change. Our daughter was asking to go to Hawaii for awhile and it fit into our schedule. Actually wanted to go to the BI, but flights didn’t work for us. Will eventually make it to the BI one day, and then probably done with Hawaii for awhile. We like going to different places.
Trip went great. Really love the ocean feel of Hawaii. Really liked the local feel of the North Shore of Oahu. Luckily we hooked up first day with North Shore Surf Girls for surfing lessons for my girls and they were not only great with the girls and lessons, but hooked us up with a bunch of local info on where to go, where to hang out and where to eat. Really liked the vibe there. Would love to come back in winter when the 20 footers are breaking.
Waikiki sucked. Hated it. Luckily only spent one night there.
Liked Maui a lot. Found service to be really nice, top to bottom. Snorkeling and water sports were great. Road to Hana was cool. Managed to find a pool under a waterfall where a tree was down across the trail, so we squirmed our way under it and had the whole place to ourselves, which was great. Other places like the black sand beach were a bit tourist-overloaded. Drove to top of crater for sunrise and were totally socked in. Only disappointment of trip. Liked the south shore more than the West Maui area. The Fairmont was spacious and well-run, with some good snorkeling right off their beach, too.
Definitely going back again to check out other islands.
<Trip went great. Really love the ocean feel of Hawaii. Really liked the local feel of the North Shore of Oahu. Luckily we hooked up first day with North Shore Surf Girls for surfing lessons for my girls and they were not only great with the girls and lessons, but hooked us up with a bunch of local info on where to go, where to hang out and where to eat. Really liked the vibe there. Would love to come back in winter when the 20 footers are breaking.>
Did you make it to Haliewa Joe’s? Great place to have a few mai tais before heading to the beach.
No, didn’t hit that place.
Not to be contrarian but I’m pleased that the tourists huddle in Waikiki for the night as I think it allows the rest of Oahu to keep some semblance of island personality. When we’re there we usually stay at my MIL’s place but occasionally its full and we stay at the Waikiki Sheraton on Kama’aina rates. Don’t mind it a bit as it’s a bed place and we’re out all day and night visiting family and trying new beaches or eats. To me each of the islands has particular attractions that often don’t overlap with each other. I love to visit them all but I’m always attracted to seek those areas where the old Hawai’i exists. If you have ever been to Kona just travel a short distance up the mountainside and you will get a taste of what I’m talking about…Aloha, Gary