JClarkKent2003

Hi all,
so my buddy called me up and wants to go to hawaii and I'm down on cash, I can afford like $700-800 round trip to go and stay in hawaii, where should I look for a deal?

Airlines doesn't matter, I'm flying from Houston, TX (either IAH Bush or Hobby), willing to drive to san antonio or dallas if can get cheaper flight.

Goal is to get to Hawaii the cheapest way possible, i SUCK at finding deals so i'm looking for a little advice where to look FIRST.

Dates:

He has is on vacation/break from 6/23 through 7/5, so leaving and returning any day between then we are pretty flexible, the most nights we can spend on the beach the better of course, lol..... i think that's 12 days he has off, we optimally want to spend like 5-7 days i think is enough to cover the basics, skydiving, scubadiving, parasalling, learn to surf, get a tan, pick up some honeys, you know all that good stuffz!!

leaving 6-23-2008 through 7-05-2008 returning

Any advice is mucho appreciated, i'm going to be on for a few hours tonight trying to find where i can get a sweet deal.

The biggest concern is airfare, once we are there we'll split the hotel/rental car bill.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

flyerwife

Maybe this will help you, as I see fares from San Antonio and Houston:

http://airfare.travelzoo.com/north-a...e&sef=&rating=

In all honesty, I would feel very safe in betting that there is no way you are going to be able to do Hawaii on the budget you have identified, unless that is just your airfare budget. Hawaii can be done less expensively but to think you can do a week for under $1000 including air, hotel, car and skydiving/snorkel/parasailing/surf lessons....AND I assume you are going to want to eat while you are there.....well, frankly, I don't think it can be done.

You really need more of a budget to go to Hawaii. Sorry. But I hope my link helps. Good luck.

<<edited to add: AAArgh! Those fares are ONE WAY and do NOT appear to include taxes. Forget it; your friend needs to pick a cheaper destination or plan better.>>

brarrr

I've done oahu and maui for <500 each.. search for flights w/ kayak... stay at a hostel (there are 3-4 in waikiki and run 20-40/night depending). you can also camp for <5/night and be close to good surfing. probably best to rent a car and camp or it'll be hard to get around. bus is super cheap though, but inconvenient. skydiving you're looking at ~175 if get a deal - usually more and/or it's low altitude. snorkeling/surfboard rentals vary in price but usually 15/day for snorkel and 25/day for a board... there's a great shop in waikiki that is well off the strip and they're surfers, not tourist caterers, so lots of good info there...

jswadley

On the Big Island there's a camping ground at the Volcano national park that has cabins for something like $30-50 a nite. They're bunk beds, but it does the trick.

lin821

(Bolding mine)

First, welcome to FT!

I don't have any specific advice as how your Hawaii trip can be done within your budget. I do have some general ideas in terms of trip planning though.

1. As you are aware, your desired timeframe is falling into the 4th of July weekend. Generally speaking, fares won't be cheap during holidays and long weekends, unless you plan waaay ahead.

2. As far as I know, passengers may get some edges on the airfares if booking before 21 days from departure. The rates go up a notch for the 14-21 days range. Another notch if between 7-14 days. Anything less than 7 days, you will see a drastic increase. Now we are talking about leaving in less than 10 days if you do find a flight leaving on 6/23/08. I would say that is really gambling.

3. Having Hawaii as the vacation spot surely sounds nice. No wonder Hawaii is a hot spot for lots of folks. A popular destination usually won't come cheap, especially Hawaii. You may even be lucky as this point to find two economy tickets from HOU to Hawaii (and very unlikely to be cheap). A very slim chance you will find the last minute deal and strike the gold mine with a Hawaii deal.

Sorry that your buddy dumped his Hawaii idea on you so last minute. But as others had mentioned, if you are short on cash and do want to hang out with your buddy in late June, you probably should change your plan.

Hawaii can wait till your next well-planned vacation!

JClarkKent2003

first, thank you all for your help and comments, that will be useful planning our next vacation.

Agreed, it's TOO last minute, I was just a little hopeful there was some "last minute" airfare.

Everything else I can take care of.

I was hoping $800-1000 each would take care of the airfare/car rental(split in half)/hotel or hostel.

Of course the surfing/snorkling/skydiviing would be classified under my "fun" category and have it's own budget, lol, duh!!!! lol hehe....

Yea, so the airfare is the real killer. What WEBSITES are REAL DEAL BARGIN / STEALS to look for airfare. So far i've only used expedia/cheaptickets/orbitz/travelocity/southwest.com

What Season is the CHEAPEST anyone has ever got a ticket to hawaii (excluding using miles points) and where did they get the ticket?

Again, thanks for that info on the hostels and camping, camping I am definitely down for, my buddy is more high maintenance and requires a bed and shower every morning, lol.

Another good question, is what ISLAND to go to? lol. Hawaii is ALOT of islands I saw, there was over like 15 airports in hawaii, i was like wow! Was only expecting like 4 maybe 5 big ones.


PS: Anyone come across any good "STEAL" deals in the past 12 months to a nice vacation spot (either a beach with so clear/clean water you can see 100 feet down, or a ski resort).

I guess what i'm saying is i'm a bargain hunter ONLY, I'm a VERY avid user of SlickDeals.net for shopping EVERYDAY, but just now starting to think about "slick AIRFARE deals".

I saw some post about spirit airlines and how cheap they were, 2 months ago they had a special Dallas/fortworth, texas to new york, new york for $138 ROUNDTRIP (pre taxes, so like $30-40 more for taxes i think). I passed on it since I couldn't get away, and now spirit airlines is not in texas anymore (cancelled dallas routes).

I'm going to keep looking around and reading, try to get aquainted with this website the way i am with slickdeals, hehe...

hopefully try to learn "travel money saving tricks" from you folks! hostel is a good one i completely forgot about, i thought they only had those in third world countries,lol, always think of the horror movie when i think of hostel!

EmailKid

Actually, just got back from Hawaii Sunday, though only stayed on my own dime the last night there. From a suggestion in this very forum (hint: search Waikiki hotels in Budget Travel) used Craigslist, and must say it was, ehm, interesting Still, work got away from me so I booked a Friday night stay at 2 p.m. while awaiting an hour delayed go! Airlines flight to Lihue.

Didn't see much of that island, as I picked up the rental car, drove to client's place, rushed like madman to get everything done before my (also delayed) Hawaiian flight back to Honolulu.

Then again, had plenty of time on Oahu, and almost a full day on the Big Island spending only a few hours on work related matters.

Oh, the best deals can be found right here on FT in Mileage Run Forum, but of course those deals come and go (and sometimes go really fast ), but that's where I found my LAX-HKG $550 all-in fare for last Thanksgiving. Given the price of oil, those deals will be harder to come by, though UA just added a bunch flights to Hawaii, so they may offer a sale, but with what tickets cost today even a sale won't be cheap.

EmailKid

halothane

You just missed great fares on United to HNL out of IAH that came out last month. They were out for a few days. It was $290 for travel in Nov-Feb 09. As far as hotels are concerned, you might want to check into some of the boutique hotels such as the Aqua brands. You can sometimes find a decent rate at The Doubletree as well. There are several hostels in Waikiki as well that tend to have good reviews.


What is the cheapest ticket I've gotten? I paid $208 all in to go back in March.

cblaisd

You'll want to keep a very close eye on the VNP site: http://www.nps.gov/havo/closed_areas.htm While the cabins are open right now, that could change momentarily. And the SO2 coming from the Halemaumau plume is pretty bad.

Do you or your friend have any military connections? If so, you might look at the simplest cabins at Kilauea Military Camp in Volcano.

Finally, to the op, a lot of airport/which island/what to do/where to eat cheap etc. kind of questions and answers can be found in the Hawaii forum here on FT.

flyerwife

Sorry we burst your Hawaii bubble, But I'm sure with some research and planning, you WILL get there eventually and you will have a great time.

I subscribe to the Top 20 at www.travelzoo.com and every Wednesday they send out an email with great upcoming deals. Hawaii is very often featured on there. You have to be ready to book fast, and you usually need to pay in full at booking. So it's probably a good idea to build up a little cash now so that you can jump on the deals when they come along. They go quickly.

Also, Shermans Travel offers similar good deals each week. You can subscribe at their site as well.

(Maybe one of those sites will be helpful now for a deal with your buddy in a week or two. Lots of Vegas deals right now.)

Nothing wrong with Priceline for Hawaiian hotels. Do some research and you'll know whether you need a 4 star or can settle for a 2 star.

Research the islands as well. Each one is different. I chose Maui for the first trip for my kids; we didn't want to be moving from island to island on that first trip and felt that Maui was the most 'all-encompassing' island. Since then we've split the trips between Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island. Only you can decide which island suits your needs. Kauai is great for the outdoorsman; as it seems like you are active, that might work well for you. Unfortunately Kauai usually requires an island-hop flight, which means more money. Hotels are traditionally more expensive there (and less deals).

We've gotten some great fares out of NY in mid-late November. But as the airline climate changes, fares are less predictable. The good thing about Hawaii is that the weather is fantastic most any time of year (85 during the day, 72 at night).

It's worth the wait.

spleenstomper

All beaches in Hawaii are considered "public" and many allow tent camping (on Maui and Kauai especially... not Waikiki) for I think 5 or 10 dollars a night, for no more than 7 days.

If you are willing to do that... I'd say forget a hotel, buy a tent at walmart when you get there (and a broom... you will notice brooms outside all the tents) and camp on the beach.

Hey, you asked for CHEAPEST.

For Oahu, they have "The Bus" which is pretty straight forward and about a dollar each leg of the bus ride. Or you can google "hawaii discount car rental" and use those codes.... Thrifty was pretty reliable. Oh, not all islands have reliable bus service.... so don't expect to take the bus all the time depending on where you are.

Which island? Air-fare.... you're probably going to find the cheapest to Oahu and maybe Maui (though I doubt Maui).

spleenstomper

OOPs, you said your friend in high maintenance and won't want to camp (and it might be awkward bringing the honeys back to a tent... lol..)

As for the islands: here are my impressions:

The Big Island: lots of volcano activity right now. http://www.nps.gov/havo But the whole volcano is so awesome and strange and cool. (if you are a nature geek like I am). Really, it is not to be missed, especially if you won't have an opportunity to stand on an active volcano anytime soon. On the other hand, because the volcano is active, there have been many closures, etc, in the last several months and it is very unpredictable. Seeing lava flow into the ocean at night is magnificent.

Oahu: I think best all around island. It's crowded and has tall buildings (some islands have a rule where a building can be no taller than a coconut tree), it's the most commercial of the islands. Has the North Shore for surfing, which is probably not a good idea for beginners. You can learn to surf on Waikiki. On this island, you may not even need a car... or could rent a car for the days you need it instead of a week. There is so much to do in waikiki and you could either walk or take the bus.

Maui: To me, I have mixed feelings about Maui. I think it is somewhat over-rated. But, snorking at Molikini Crater is very cool (though rushed and crowded because all the tours go there at the same times). It's beautiful though.

Kauai: The best island, but one of the hardest to get to. Waimea Canyon... and the snorkling is kick-... at Lawai Beach. We did the ATV rides... so much fun!

Which island to go to is such a hard question: they all have so much to offer and are relatively different. If we went back and took the kids, we'd probably stay on Oahu and maybe hit the Big Island for them to see the volcano.

If Dh and I went by ourselves, we'd probably hit Maui and Kauai (and you can take day trips from Maui to Lawai and I think Molokai).

The "off season" is likely Nov through Feb. (there really is no off season in Hawaii).

I'd likely try Priceline for the hotels. I remember reading people getting the Omni in Maui for 45.00 a night. But I also think there was a clunker hotel that some people got and were disappointed with.

kaukau

Please de-list Hawai'i from the Budget Travel forum until these sky-high airfares come back down to earth!

Hawai'i has been temporarily re-located to the Luxury Travel forum.

gardener

Cheapest fare I ever got to HNL was $129 RT all in in 2006. But I think it was a mistake fare. And I had to get to ATL from PHL.

There is a hostel behind the Waikiki Marriott that is about $20 a night. It looked OK if you don't mind hostels.

RustyC

I think on Oahu the west side is the popular place for pitching a tent at the beach (so popular a lot of homeless do it). Hawaii has generally been bad for deals in the last year or two. More recently, the demise of Aloha and ATA has taken a lot of seats away, which means less seats, less competition and higher fares, but maybe slightly better luck with hotels once there.