CRAZ8

We’ve been to Hawaii a number of times, and although we kind of like it, we’ve never really loved Hawaii like a lot of people do. There is one major island we’d never spent any time on - Oahu - and this trip was to give Honolulu and Oahu a chance at making us love Hawaii.

Honolulu has all the shopping and other facilities that you get in a city, yet close by you can get out of town and see fabulous scenery and small towns.

I think Mrs CRAZ8 and I have found the island for us.

The next six posts document our short trip

• SEA - HNL on Alaska Air 851 First Class
• The Royal Hawaiian Hotel
• Waikiki Impressions
• Hiking Diamond Head
• Where To Eat?
• HNL - SEA on Alaska Air 880 First Class

This trip report is also available on our new blog at SucksToBeUs

CRAZ8

Alaska Flight 851
Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL)
Thursday, Nov 13, 9:55am-2:05pm, Flight Time: 6:10
Boeing 737-800 - No power
Seats 1D & 1F


With our Trusted Traveller numbers on the booking, and the TSA PRECHECK stamped on our boarding passes, we left for the airport with 2 hours until takeoff. With no traffic and a short line for baggage drop off, we were quickly on our way to the N gates. Alaska likes to start boarding 45 minutes before take off, so there wasn’t really time to visit the Board Room on this trip.

Mrs CRAZ8 likes the bulkhead row, as she puts her feet up on the wall to get some extra recline. I’m a bit taller, and this just isn’t comfy, but the front of the cabin does get the better food choice, so that works in my favor.

Unlike continental USA flights, Alaska flights to Hawaii have some extra perks. The first is the PDB of either POG or a POG Mimosa - POG being Passion/Orange/Guava juice. Adding bubbles to it makes it a nice refreshing beverage and a good way to start a vacation.

We closed up and pushed back on time and were on our way.

Next up was some coffee with Baileys - our standard daytime vacation drink - and out came the iPad to watch my TIVO’d shows. The Mrs got one of the onboard devices and watched movies for the trip.

About an hour into the flight, the food service started up. The menus were at the seats when we boarded, so we had time to make a choice. I don’t like shrimp at all, so it was short rib for me.





The salad was really nice - the garlic chips and the goat cheese really made this work.



If I’m nitpicking, the spare rib meat was a little under seasoned, but the potato and vegetables were fantastic. This might have been the best tasting meal I’ve had on a plane.



After clearing everything away, and some more wine being served, about 20 minutes later the desert was served. This was very nice too.



Towards the end of the flight, a bowl of warm nuts was delivered, with the other thing Alaska does for flights to Hawaii - the Mai Tai! Now, the Mai Tai is a pre-mixed bottle, but it wasn’t the worst I had on this trip. I believe they serve this in coach too - everyone gets a complimentary Mai Tai.



Soon after we flew past Diamond Head and landed at HNL. The signage to baggage claim seems to be temporary - it was small and easy to miss, but we eventually got our bags and called up an Uber to the hotel.

worldtraveller73

Great start.

On my last short BLI-LAS flight in F, there were no printed menus or wine cards. It's nice to see that Alaska steps it up for the medium haul flights.

mkjr

nice. great looking salad.

Both my dad and I have always loved Oahu and Waikiki. Sadly, having moved from YVR to YYZ made it hard to get back there with my parents - and despite the fact that my other family members wanted to go to maui and honestly, if i am flying from YYZ, i'll go south from YYZ.

CRAZ8

The Caribbean is easy from the East coast, and Hawaii is easy from the West coast. Once the flights are more than 6 hours, and involve multiple changes, the day becomes long, or red-eyes are needed. And then it's not a vacation anymore!

CRAZ8

Driving through Waikiki, past the Sheraton, and into the Royal Hawaiian property, it’s immediately obvious that this is a different type of Honolulu property. The landscaping in front of the hotel is green and open and has several very large trees. It’s like a private park in the center of the Waikiki chaos.



The doorman took our bags and gave us leis - flowers for Mrs, nuts for me. We headed inside to the short checkin line. There’s no SPG line here, just a single line with four checkin desks. Lemon water is available to the side, but is no longer offered to guests personally. The checkin process taking a bit of time, and when it was our turn we found out that they were having some computer problems. Customers all get coupons for a Mai Tai each, our checkin agent gave us some extra for the inconvenience.

I’d booked a Tower Ocean Front room though American Express’ Fine Hotels and Resorts program. This program provides a one tier upgrade on checkin if available. We were upgraded from a lower floor Tower room to a higher floor Corner Tower room - for this hotel, that’s two tiers. The Corner room is the same size as all the other regular Tower rooms, but has a lanai that wraps around the corner of the building, giving enough room to add a lounger to the pair of chairs and table that all lanais had.

In addition, the Fine Hotels and Resorts program gave us free breakfast in the Surf Lanai restaurant, and the checkin agent gave us coupons for this benefit. There was also a $100 Food and Beverage or Spa credit that would be taken off at checkout - sadly, alcohol, tax and tips were not eligible for this credit. Fine Hotels and Resorts also had a 4 nights for the price of 3 rate that we re-booked at the last minute to take advantage of.

As a Starwoods Preferred Guest - Gold member, we would get either a drink, or amenity, or 250 SPG points. Since the hotel gives everyone some banana bread (and the recipe to take home), and free Mai Tais, they just gave me the 250 points that Gold members are entitled to.

All Discounts and Benefits
Between American Express and the Starwood Preferred Guest promotions we managed to get a lot of extra value from this hotel stay.

Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts:

• 4 nights for the price of 3
• $100 food credit
• Free breakfast for 2 people for 5 nights
• Upgraded room

Hotel - everyone gets these:

• Free Mai Tai coupons
• Banana bread and recipe delivered to room

SPG Gold (from Amex Platinum):

• 250 points - bonus SPG points for Gold members
• 2279 points - 50% extra SPG points on base
• 4558 points - 2 points per $1 base SPG points

SPG More For You promotion:

• 4558 points - Double SPG base points for two night stay
• 4558 points - Triple SPG base points for weekend stay

Total discounts were worth about $950. Upgrades were worth about another $500, and we received over 16,000 SPG points for a five day stay.

The Room
Our Corner Tower room is a decent size, with an Ok bathroom with a shower/tub combo that isn’t my favorite thing. The railing on the lanai badly needs to be repainted - there’s a lot of flaking and bare wood. There are plenty of outlets on the end of the credenza, so they’re easy to get to, as well as plentiful. Even though there are likely to be two people in the room, they only supplied a single robe - in the very fashionable Royal Hawaiian Pink that everything is colored with.



Our room was in the part of the tower closest to the Outrigger hotel next door - which is very close. When the beach gets quiet, you can hear the staff next door dump the glass for recycling into their dumpster, and in the mornings, they have trucks that need to back up quite a long way. We left our lanai door open one evening to hear the surf all night, and were woken with the noise of business early the next morning. Other rooms in the tower probably have less of a problem depending on their location in the building.

The Food
The Fine Hotels and Resorts amenities include the full breakfast, and we received the coupons for this at checkin. These coupons are named and dated. You hand these to the host and they get the correct menus and take you to your table. “The Correct Menus”? Yup - our menus had no prices, and a smaller set of options than the menus that did have prices. I think there’s probably a few different levels of paid breakfast, based on the different piles of menus the staff had at hand.

Our menus had three sections to choose from:

1. Coffee or Tea
2. Fruit juice or fresh fruit
3. Hot entree - oatmeal / waffles / pancakes / eggs

The options we had were all good. Kona coffee, fresh squeezed juice and omelettes were all good. Toast is also offered, and gluten free toast is available. Toast comes with butter, and jams and marmalade was on the table.

The Mai Tai Bar
The bar is a nice place to hang out, right next to Waikiki beach with a good selection of cocktails and various food options. There are three different Mai Tais on the menu - or rather, available. The free Mai Tai you get a coupon for is smaller than the two that are actually for sale. My favorite was the Royal Mai Tai, but all the drinks here were inconsistent - you’d get the same drink twice in a row, and they’d be very different, depending on who made it.

The bar has live music some evenings, and unlike a number of other bars we visited, the music was at a volume that allowed conversation to continue. I hate loud music in bars, but the Mai Tai bar seems to have this setup correctly.

On Monday evenings, the Royal Hawaiian Luau takes place on the lawn right next to the bar. If you don’t want the food, sitting in the bar is a good place to get the luau entertainment for the price of a few drinks.

The bar has cabanas available, but these need a minimum spend of $300, and for two people, this is quite a stretch. If there’s 6-8 of you, and you’re going to share a few bottles of bubbly, then this becomes something that can be useful. A number of such groups used the cabanas during our stay.

Last year, we visited Maui. The cocktails our hotel in Wailea served us were much poorer quality, and all of them were $15. Cocktails here started at about $10 and went up from there. This is actually a reasonable price for a well made cocktail on a beach.

Hotel Grounds and Pool
A number of reviews of the Royal Hawaiian will indicate that the pool is very small. And it is. Think of it as a very large hot tub, and you’ll be prepared for the size. During our stay the hotel wasn’t full, so getting seats around the pool wasn’t a big problem. It helps that the shared pool with the Sheraton next door is more kid friendly, so there weren’t a lot of children in the small pool.

The Royal Hawaiian also has chairs with umbrellas on the beach. These facilities cost money, and you pay for the whole day. We didn’t use these, as we didn’t spend a huge amount of time lounging around, and certainly not for a day.

In addition to the pool and bar, there are lots of seating areas around the property. Near the lobby are some comfy sofas, and on the other side of the elevators are some chairs and rocking chairs. Right next to the pool and the tower elevators is a seating area with two sofas. Mrs CRAZ8 declared this the best seating area in the hotel, as we lounged next to the pool, but on a comfy sofa, for an hour or two reading our books.



Overall
We really enjoyed the Royal Hawaiian hotel. We spent some time in the lobby of the Sheraton next door doing some shopping, and that place is a zoo in comparison to the Royal Hawaiian. There’s a lot of history in this property, and a lot of space that gives you a sense of something special. If you like old school properties, you will love the Royal Hawaiian. This property is a real oasis of peace in the middle of the mayhem that is Waikiki.

Bretteee

I stayed at the Royal Hawaiian in 1982 and I loved it. We had American Airlines coupons; 1 night you pay you get one free.

These came with all air awards in those days.

They say the Helekulani is the nicest.

Mrtrash757

nice tr! always good to see AS on here.

CRAZ8

Living in Seattle, AS is the main way out of town. It helps that I really like them too. It's always a surprise how bad US airlines are when we need to use them - although CO was Ok the last time we used them before the merger (the staff were unhappy with that one!)

I had a good rate there too, but it's a bigger hotel, and we liked the history of the Royal Hawaiian. Mrs CRAZ8 got some movies on Netflix that featured the hotel in the 60s to help us get in the mood!

We also wanted to be on the full beach. If you're going to a beach resort, then the beach is an important feature!

mattc2

I always had the impression that you had to book on the SPG website to receive gold/plat member benefits. I guess you still got it without issues booking through Amex PTS?

stevescott1983

I've flown AC, WJ, UA and AS to Hawaii out of YVR (and Canada3000 if anyone remembers that charter). Will definitely chose AS again!

Took my wife in F last year and she was so happy about the Mai Tai, but then disappointed that everyone got it, not just F....lol.

CRAZ8

Yup - you need to call in to add your numbers to your Amex profile, but they send them on with the booking and you get full benefits from them. Something to do with Amex being a travel agent, not a reseller, or something. Either way, it works, you just need to let Amex know.

I think the Y class pax get a smaller cup, and they don't get the POG Mimosa PDB!

Hawaii is probably the best service that AS provides, which helps the pain of paying the extra cash to get to the middle of the Pacific.

CRAZ8

As this was our first time in Waikiki, we had only movies and TV shows to guide our expectations.



Shopping
Wow - there is lots of shopping here. The Ala Moana center - which we only drove by - is being extended to make it the largest outdoor mall in the world. Right now, it’s only number two!

In Waikiki itself there are number of high-end boutique shops in various small malls and on the streets. The streets feel like a very nice mall, but with traffic to avoid as well as other pedestrians.

Anyone want a Ferrari?


There are trolleys all over this part of town. One of them runs the shopping loop, taking about an hour to get you to all the best shopping in the area. With a day pass, you could easily shop everywhere in town and spend the whole day doing it.

There are also a number of chain restaurants - PF Changs, the Cheesecake Factory (always has a line), California Pizza Kitchen - as well as a number of local brands - the Honolulu Cookie Company stores are everywhere. You will not go hungry in Waikiki. We found prices to be reasonable for the food and location, with Roys being the standout in both quality and value for money (although it’s not cheap, our best meal was probably at Roys)

One fly in the ointment is the small number of persistent time-share sales people on the street. They try to start a conversation with you - where are your from? - And then move in to offer you something to go to their full sales pitch. And then they look like sad puppies when you say no and keep walking. Just don’t engage with them is the best advice. They can be persistent.

Other Tourists
Waikiki is very busy. We were not visiting during the peak season, but even so there are a lot of tourists here. Many of the tourists are from Japan, and there is an amount of infrastructure to support them. We saw one travel tour shop that had not a single sign in english - and the place was packed with Japanese tourists booking tours. There are also a number of Japanese specific trolleys, with the signage and commentary only in that language.

Waikiki Sunset Crowd


Honolulu Traffic
One of the things people tell you about Honolulu is that the traffic is absolutely terrible. Indeed, there is a lot of traffic, but not more than any other big city. Sure, this isn’t the pastoral farmland of the big island, but if you’ve been to a city, you know what to expect. We had one cab driver apologize for the traffic, but there was only a single traffic light that we didn’t make it through on the first green on that trip. We did have some bad traffic out near Pearl City, but they’d closed half the freeway for roadworks, so that’s about what you’d expect.

Overall
I am now a big fan of Waikiki, Honolulu and Oahu. Waikiki in particular was a place I thought I might hate, or at least not enjoy as much, but it does have a touristy charm that I kind of like.

farbster

I think the interesting thing about the hotel is that it was conceived as a destination by the owners of a cruise line. They built the hotel so cruisers would have a place to go once they got to Hawaii.

CRAZ8

One of the many hikes on Oahu is the Diamond Head Summit Trail. Here you can walk from the floor of the crater that is the Diamond Head volcano to the highest point on the edge of the crater, the part that you can see from almost anywhere in Honolulu.

The gate to the tunnel to the park is open from 6am to 6pm, and to beat the heat of the day, it’s best to go fairly early. We aren’t really early morning people, but with the timezone change from the west coast, we aimed to be at the park at 8am, and back to the hotel in time for breakfast.

It’s a very short drive from Waikiki to Diamond Head, in fact, a number of people walk the entire route - it’s about a seven mile round trip, including through a nice park in Waikiki and past the Honolulu zoo. We arrived about 8am, paid the $5 toll for a single car, and found a parking space in the half full lot. After a quick bathroom stop, we’re on the way with two bottles of water and our sun hats.



The guide books say this is a two hour hike. Mrs CRAZ8 wanted to use this as a workout, since we tend to skip those when on vacation, so she started pretty quickly up the path. I kept stopping to take photos, until she poked me with a pointy stick she found on the path to get my heart rate up and quit the lallygagging. It took us about 20-30 minutes to hoof it all the way to the top, going up inside the abandoned military post at the very top. We came down the less dark and dingy way, using the newer outside path.

The views from the top are huge - but it was a bit hazy today, so the pictures maybe not as good as they could be.





On the way down, there were clearly more people heading up than we’d seen previously, and this was confirmed when we got back to the car, and the lot was mostly full by about 9am - on a Monday morning! Make sure you do this early.

There is a food truck in the parking lot - selling shave ice, burgers, and presumably bottled water. We used two small bottles on our hike, we could have made it without any, but it was;t very hot on this day.

On the way out we noticed a number of cabs waiting next to the toll booth. I guess it’s not an expensive cab ride to and from the crater floor. Public transport goes right past the outside of the crater too, so there’s many ways to get to this trail that won’t break the bank.

This was a nice way to start the day with something active that didn’t take a lot of time. Even families with small children were making it up the trail. I would do this again any time I’m in Honolulu.

http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/park...cfm?park_id=15