fritzmt

Burned up an ALON2 on a six-night stay there 18-24 March 08. Was a great trip--the best ever, unanimously according to my family.
- Departed from OAK at 1015am on ATA and switched over to Aloha in Honolulu for our flight to the Big Island. Used United Miles on Aloha Air at only 5k per person for round-trip interisland transport. Arrived at KOA via HNL about 2pm and immediately headed down to Wal-Mart/Costco for some shopping. My wife--the genius--purchased a large collapsible cooler that she packed in our luggage and we filled it with meat, cheese, milk, lunchables for the kids and other tasty chilled goodies. That, in concert with the case of high-qual beer and the case of soda made good provisions for our planned stay. After a quick dinner at Denny's we headed over to HWV for the stay.
After parking at the lobby to drop off family and baggage, I went in to check-in. As a Diamond, I was upgraded to a large, 6th floor ocean view room in the Ocean tower which had a pull-out twin bed sofa for one kid and a rollaway (quite nice, actually) for the other. The desk clerk explained the lounge access for me (breakfast, snack and evening reception) and I was on my way to park the car in the self-parking lot. (By the way, we did end up having to pay for parking--no freebies per previous posts). We snickered to ourselves as the bellhops checked our cases of beer and soda as luggage and hauled them off to our room. No shame in bringing food, apparently, as we saw more styrofoam coolers on bagge carts there than we expected.
- Day 1: Hung out at the hotel today. Breakfast was outstanding: fresh fruit (pineapple--of course; melon), pastries (sweets and croissants), cereals, bagels/breads, juice, milk and coffee. Headed to the pools--had a ball! While wife enjoyed a pre-arranged spa appointment (booked earlier via email), I and the kids went back to the room for lunch via our provisions. We were happy to see a nice welcome plate of fruit and a note from the manager thanking us for being a Diamond member and staying with them. The grapes, orange, apple and starfruit went into the fridge for later days. Headed back out to the pools and waited for my wife to join us all prettied up just in time for us to head to our planned luau that evening (Island Breeze Luau down on the waterfront at the King Kamehameha hotel--a craphole hotel--but a great luau!).
- Day 2: Cleaned out the bath-products tray and left $5 in its place, then we all headed out for Mauna Kea Beach at the crack of dawn. After a stop by the lounge for our free breakfast, we were at the gates for Manua Kea Beach by 0815 and got pass #29 of 30--only 30 cars allowed in a day at this OUTSTANDING beach. Truly a jewel of a place! Spent all day there--ate lunch on the stuff we provisioned on arrival day--then headed back to the hotel just in time for the evening reception at the lounge. Suprised to find Buffalo Wings and Egg-Rolls rotating with Stuffed Jalepenos in the hot trays. After indulging on those, along with more fruit, great cheeses, crackers and lunch-meats--we were too stuffed to pursue our planned expensive dinner in the resort. Instead decided to swim a bit then hit the sack early--we were tired!
- Day 3: Breakfast at the lounge, then out to the lagoon to swim with the sea turtles. Great snorkeling and lounging (secured a cabana chair for free) and soaked up the morning sun. My loving wife graciously reprieved me for an hour so I headed over to the spa for a workout. After a quick workout, I hurried back to the locker room for an awesome 5-head shower, relax in the steam room followed by a short dip in the whirlpool. Met my family back in the room for another provision-based lunch then we headed out to make the 1:30 appointment at DolphinQuest for the kids. My 9-year old and 5-year old had truly the time of their lives and we got great pictures. A lifetime memorable experience well-worth the expense (about $400 total). We picked up some on-sale DolphinQuest kids sun/swim shirts (which paid off in spades over the rest of the week as I enjoyed my peeling sunburn while the kids avoided the pain). That night we took the tram ($1 per person) over to the Queens Shops for a cheap meal of noodles/burger king/pizza at the food court. Another spectacular day.
- Day 4: Island day. Out the door early following breakfast at the lounge and headed over to Kahaka Falls on the other side of the island. After stopping constantly for majestic views, enjoyed our short rainforest hike snapping pictures and headed over to the Volcano Park. Stopped for lunch in Hilo at McDonalds and hit the park early afternoon. Toured the rim, the steam vents and the Thurston Lava Tube (everything was erupting!) and then headed over to Punalu'u beach for the black sand by 3:30pm. Enjoyed swimming/snorkeling with the turtles at Punalu'u beach and then hit the road. Ended up eating at the Shaka Restaraunt (quite an experience--not a great one, but doable considering the lack of choices around) and got back to the hotel LATE after enjoying the winding roades of the island to get back. A Long day, but full of great memories and experiences.
- Day 5: Group unanimously decided to go back to Mauna Kea beach as our favorite activity. It was Easter Sunday, so we expected no crowds...were dead wrong. Arrived at 0800 and were #30 of 30 that day...what a close call. Spent ALL day there--snorkeled and swam. Burned and built sand castles. Ate what was left of our food and actually went out for dinner this night at Roys, after running back by the room for showers. An expensive meal--but worth it considering we hadn't really spent any serious $$ on food since we got there. Great time. Milled around in the shopping center for an hour afterwards to burn off some dinner and enjoy the evening breeze and pretentious shops.
- Day 6--Woke up, packed and then had breakfast at the lounge. Bellhops came to get baggage while we meandered back down to the lobby for checkout. Hit KOA earlier than planned (10am for a 130pm flight to HNL for 3 more days on an award stay at the HHV) so caught an earlier than planned flight on Aloha so we could enjoy more time on the other island. Easy check-in and service. Car rental with Alamo through Costco discount was under $200 for the week and flawless with a good upgrade.
NOTES:
1) We didn't get charged for anything in the room--no coffee, etc. There was a note about the "package" that is discussed earlier in these threads. We didn't use their coffee (there was plenty in the lounge) so inquired at the desk to see what would happen if we didn't sign up for the "package" at $5/day. The answer was--nothing. That said, they made good on their word and charged us absolutely nothing except parking during our stay.
2) We charged DolphinQuest, parking and any other incidentals (a drink here and there, the kids shirts, etc) to the room so I could get HHonors points and credit for the stay. Worked great!
3) Lounge access was more than expected--and better. Ended up being enough that we unexpectedly filled up too much during the evening receptions negating the need for a huge (and expensive) dinner on property.
4) Spa is a MUST! Go, if only to hang out. If you're a Diamond--it's free access and use--definitely worth it!
5) Trams/boats are fun and relaxing but SLOW (as reported). Just plan accordingly and you'll have no problems. We actually loved using the boats (sometimes faster) and only ended up hustling down the long walkway once to make it in time for our DolphinQuest reservation (which you DEFINITELY want to be on time for!!).
6) I and my son stopped by the "Welcome Center" for our free gift on the last day of our stay. The visit took less than 5 minutes and we walked out with a key-chain and useful little bag, along with a tempting offer to revisit for $500 at a later time. My smart-wife talked me out of it, thankfully.
7) Leaving $5 on the tray each morning (along with a nice note from our daughter) netted us almost a suitcase full of their awesome (and expensive at $2.50 a bottle) bath products. I am on a military deployment right now and used some this morning. Nothing like being in a true craphole and using luxury bath products whose scent remind you of a beautiful trip to paradise. Worth the 5 bucks in my honest opinion....
8) DolphinQuest--while expensive--was truly worth it. My kids still have not stopped talking about it. We did end up buying one picture (which we kept safe and brought home to be scanned into our terabyte of digital pictures). Do make plans well in advance for this--reserve via telephone exactly the number of days in advance you are allowed to reserve. When you get there, though, keep an eye out for specials they might have posted on their counter. When we were there, they were offering a pretty oustanding deal on the "Twilight Adventure" that was pretty tempting to switch over to.
9) All in all, this was a great use of HHonors points as a Diamond member. Since my new job doesn't have me travelling as much, I imagine my Diamond status will be expiring sometime VERY soon. That said, I could not think of a better way to burn-out my membership. After 8 years as a Diamond member and wonderful HHonors stays all over the US (Waldorf=Astoria, Waldorf=Towers and a few others in Manhattan, Palmer House in Chicago, Doubletree in Niagra, Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, etc) the HHonors program has been my best friend over time. I will truly miss it when my Diamond status expires at the end of April. This entire trip consisting of a 2-night HHonors stay in Oakland pre-trip, 6-night HHonors stay at HWV, 2-night HHonors day at HHV, and a post-trip HHonors Stay in Oakland cleaned out my account nicely and left us all with WONDERFUL memories. Top it off with the use of United miles with Aloha (only a week before they went belly-up) for interisland flights and cheap tickets on ATA (only 2-weeks before they went belly-up) and we truly feel like a very fortunate family for such a wonderful trip. We hope the opportunity arises for us to do it again in the future!
**Thanks Hilton for helping our family make wonderful memories over the years. We'll miss Diamond status as we start our inevitable slide back down the HHonors tier ladder--but can't be more grateful for all that we've enjoyed. My constant travels and seemingly endless time away in my previous military position were more than made up for in the eyes of my family with the judicious use of our points over the years. You've got loyal customers for life regardless of our status. As well, thanks for all of the wonderful tips/tricks we've enjoyed via FlyerTalk and we look forward to a future filled with great travel based on our fellow FlyerTalker's recommendations!