First Family Hawaii Trip!
 

Hello fellow FTers


This will be my first family trip that i planned out and will be all paid for me; because my parents did one heck of a job making me into who i am today.

I managed to get an awesome hotel deal $10 a night and was wondering if i can get advice what to do in Honolulu as a family. Best way or discounts for activities such as snorkeling? whale watching? <- (my mom wants to do that) golf <- (my dad) and etc.

Budget i would like it to be around $500 (but im thinking thats going to be really hard so +200 - +300 at max)

For rental car i found out that Enterprise is doing $9.99 a day promotion just for the weekend so i thought about jumping on that.

This is my itinerary

May 3-6 honolulu
May 7-9 maui
May 10-11 honolulu

Please let me know! and thank you in advance.

I'm taking my two kids next week as I was fortunate enough to get in on the DL F class mistake right after Xmas. I was not fortunate enough to get in on the Ala Moana Hotel Deal (either time LOL) which is what I presume you are referring too

Our trip is just six days so I decided to stay in HNL. If I were you, I would have done the HNL part in one swoop but thats water under the bridge.. just curious, how did you get the Ala Moana for two nights, isn't there a 3 night min or did they let you split it up?

I'm budgeting $300 (hoping it avg's to ~$250) per day excluding hotel (on points), airfare (paid for already $515 a/i for three in F) and car (which I haven't done yet, i"ll have to look at your enterprise deal). Just one event a day could run much of that. We will get b/f in the hotel, eat lunch at places like Jimmy Buffets (kids love that place) and probably try to find a steak house (suitable for kids, i.e., not high end) three times at least.

I'm not sure that you can do it on that budget. Well you can but how much can you do?

Discounts, there are others here that can tell you better than I, but I usually price things out the first day and go from there. We will snorkel, surf (probably 3X), go to the north shore and Pearl Harbor.. then we will be out of time. If I can squeeze it in, maybe take the Minnow out for a 3-hour tour :D

You have to have a car while on Maui, so make sure to reserve that ASAP, and then watch for prices to drop.

There is lots to do in Waikiki that doesn't cost much. Sit on the beach, take surfing lessons, take catamaran rides out along the coast, walk down to the zoo, hike up Diamond Head (do it in the morning so it is cool). Visit Chinatown in Honolulu.

On Oahu, you can take buses around the island if you want, it is not a bad way to see things. Stop at Shark's Cove for snorkeling on the North Shore. Stop at Kua'Aina Burger in Haleiwa for lunch, and have a shave ice at Matsumoto's in Haleiwa for desert.

Remember that parking in Waikiki is $20-25/day.

You really should try to see Pearl Harbor if you have never been there before.

Picnics on the beach are one way to save a little money. You can get cheap eats at a grocery store or even at the ubiquitous ABC stores.

Personally, I would not split up your trip to Oahu.... you will waste time returning a car... checking out... and flying between islands.

I would do Oahu and then Maui if those are your island choices. As always, I will say you are missing true Hawaii if you do not do the Big Island! :)

Get your car now... I am not even sure you will get that Enterprise rate in Hawaii.

I think the budget is unrealistic... as Doc said, you will use up much just for parking.

BTW.. what $10 hotel did you get? :)

What he said

I have to guess that she got in on that Ala Moana fiasco where they first tried to run this tax break deal and their website couldn't come close to handling it so two weeks later they re-ran the deal on some other site where you just filled out some basic info and if you were one of the first 200 people, they called you to set up dates.

Incredible hotel rate. Makes me wonder if its a dive.. but $10 c'mon. Is it a camp site?

I would check Costco.com website to see how the rental vehicles match up. You'll need to be Costco Member. HawaiiDiscountCarRentals.com IIRC is a good website as well.

i got the Ala Moana tax relief. felt like i won the lotto

The Enterprise rate does work for Hawaii (I booked one yesterday) but the location is not convenient if OP is looking to pick it up on arrival. It is at 1130 N. Nimitz Hwy so quite far from the airport and they do not offer airport pick up service on the $9.99 rate. If s/he wants to just get it for a couple of days, not as soon as they arrive, the other location that participates in the $9.99 weekend rate isn't too far from the Ala Moana Hotel (walkable) so that is definitely an option. But also agree with Doc, the parking pretty much kills this as a good deal.

that is good to know, the days I need to get a car, I can walk down and pick one up.. cool

what do you need to know to get the rate? I.e., is there a code

Just go to enterprise.com and there is a banner on the right side of the home page, click on it and it takes you to an explanation of the $9.99 rate and then follow the prompts. It will show you the 2 locations (out of the 4 they have in HNL) it is valid for. I played around with it and found you can add one extra day (so return on Tuesday, rather than Monday) and the 4th day is charged at $24.99 per day. I can do better so I changed it back to the Monday return. It won't let you add any more than that one extra day at $24.99.

Parking remains the same regardless of rental. Its the race down to the bottom for rates, or find accommodations that provide inexpensive or free parking.

thanks

Just curious, what did you use to find a better rate than the $24.99?

I go to HNL every month or so (I have a place there that I spend a lot of time in) and always get a car. Although I am thinking of buying one this trip, been looking for a deal. :p.

My best rates always seem to come through Autoslash. I generally make a res on a rental company website using the Costco code plus a one day free or $$ off coupon code (I find the Costco code to be consistently the best in HNL, and this is after many hours of plugging in every code I can find, including some of the 'taboo' corp codes - for every rental - I have no life :D). I have no particular loyalty to company as I belong to all the FR programs. Then I track it with AutoSlash and they invariably shave a ton off whatever I have found, and keep doing so right up to the day I arrive sometimes. My next trip on May 1, for example, I couldn't find lower than about $170 all in for a week, and i worked on it for hours. It is down now to $125 all in thanks to AutoSlash. Probably will go lower too, as it always seems to end up at right around $100 all in for a week. Priceline can't even do as well and I need the flexibility as I change dates a lot. And it is booked right through the rental company so it is miles/points earning (I always get credited, never have to retro claim) and you can enter your FR number as you get the rental companies confirmation code.

I have had some luck lately with discounthawaiicarrental.com but still, AutoSlash beat it after I tracked it with them. I generally can get it down to around $12-$15-ish per day, all inclusive. $24.99 per day base rate is way beyond my limit.

If you know all this, then sorry for the redundancy. Feel free to PM me, Horse, if you need any help or advice. Your posts have helped me more than a few times on here and I am happy to return the favor.

One of the only companies that is still offering whale watching in Maui in May 2014 is the Pacific Whale Foundation. They are still guaranteeing whale sightings (or you can go again) until May 15, 2014. If you book on-line at their website, you can save money. Also, the early morning trips are cheaper and the water is usually smoother.

I got in on the DL deal a few months ago and will be spending 6 days on Oahu in May. The one activity we splurged on is Pearl Harbor. My kids are very excited about that.

We are looking to spend minimally on all other activities (hotel is on points and still looking into best rental car prices). We will spend some time snorkeling at Hanauma Bay which looks to be a very inexpensive activity. We are also going to drive up to North Shore and explore the beaches and hiking trails that lead to waterfalls or swimming holes that will hold the interest of my boys.

We are also going to look into getting a few of those foam boogie boards for hours of fun at the beach.

I am pretty certain I can keep activity spending at a minimum. My worry is the cost of food.