Hi There,
I've been making some notes on the hotels I've stayed at during my recent Christmas vacation point burn and thought I would share them. I did a three island tour on Maui, Hawai'i and Oahu.
The first stop was Maui and the Ritz Carlton Kapalua for 6 nights.
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Overall Rating (out of 5) - :-: :-: :-: :-:
^
Good Points
- Love the location it was remote but services were accessible a short cab ride down the road.
- In room fridge was empty and you could order stuff in bulk (e.g., 6 x 500 ml waters for $12) from room service.
- The resort has a little package store close to the Ritz where things can be purchased cheaper than at the Ritz "in room shopping" itself. Handy for stocking the fridge with water.
- Concierge staff was first rate and very helpful with setting up scuba trips, prearranged cab pickups, restaurant recommendations, etc.
- If you run in the early morning, there are bottles of water and towels available at the main entrance. There is a pretty good map that shows relative distances. Beware the hills they don't seem that long in the shuttle but when you're running up them....
- Beach was nice. The snorkelling is not that great but you can see some things if you go to the far right of the bay. There is a shower station and a snack bar on the beach. This is a shuttle that will get you back and forth to the hotel as it is about 200 m from the pool area in the courtyard to the beach but it is also a nice walk (down to the beach and up to the hotel).
- The fitness facility was well set up and had personal video monitors on the cardio equipment and free headsets available as well.
- Couples massage was very nice. It was in a small tent in the courtyard. I'd recommend this at night (we did ours at 7:00 pm) as the pool area is closeby and so there were no screaming kids running about, just the odd chatter from the hotel and the sounds of the birds in the trees.
- The bathrooms were well equiped. Our room had two sinks, a bathtub, shower enclosure and a small doored room for the toilet.
- Complementary flower lei's upon arrival for both myself and my wife.
- Complementary shuttle service about the Kapalua resort.
Bad Points
- Breakfast Buffet at the Terrace restaurant (in the hotel) is incredibly expensive at $26 per head (not including tip). Oatmeal is made to order as part of the continental buffet ($19 I believe) however, I didn't find out about this until I asked one day if oatmeal was available.
- Wife was a little distraught at the cockroach she found crawling around our bathroom at 2:00 am. Later in our stay, she found a lizard which she took a picture of and then helped leave our room rather quickly.
- My wife, being hearing impaired was disappointed that the TV did not have any closed captioning. She likes to watch a bit of TV before going to sleep. I was surprised that there was nothing the hotel could do in providing closed captioning boxes.
- Outside of the pool area, the hotel is rather plain architecturally. There is the central area for checking in and such but then two wings around the pool that hold the room and other amenities. Nothing outstanding.
- No guest laundry services. It would be nice to have one of these. I understand its the ritz and you're there to be pampered but paying laundry service pricing for day to day items can get expensive quickly. There is a coin op laundry about 2 lights down from the hotel in the bottom floor of the strip mall by the Outback Steakhouse. (Its about a $10 cab ride).
@:-)
Other things of Note:
- Sansei Restaurant on the resort grounds is awesome. Its a short hop on the resort shuttle from the Ritz. The panko crusted ahi in wasabi butter sauce was amazing. I ate there three nights in a row (not bad given I was only at the resort for 6).
- Breakfast at the resort itself is expensive. There are a couple alternatives. The Honolua store had a basic breakfast that is much cheaper or for a more upscale choice, catch the shuttle to the Plantation House at the Plantation golf course. I had a great breakfast for $15 including tip (ham and cheese omlette, breakfast potatoes, tea).
- Plantation course is great but I have to admit, I enjoyed the Bay and Valley courses just as much. I would probably play either of those courses again before I went back to the Plantation course. The views on all three courses were stunning with Plantation being probably the best of the three).
- The cab ride to and from the airport in Kahului was about $80 - $85 with tip.
- Lahaina Divers was a first rate organization to do a trip to Molokini. I would dive with them again.
- I was on a MR stay so I got a basic room. The room was garden/golf view but did not have a view of the ocean. If you are in the left wing of the hotel and on the left most side of it (as your looking at the main entrance) you will not have a view of the ocean. That being said, you will have a great view of the par 3 third hole of the Bay Course.
- Proshops for the 3 golf courses have about 50% common items and 50% unique. I found a great shirt at the Bay course that I really liked that was not available in any of the other shops. If you don't find exactly what you're looking for in one, check the others before settling for something else.
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Blain