slippahs

Can your bags be interlined if the connection is greater than 4 hours? A connection greater than 4 hours doesn't meet the max. connection time, so any interline agreement would likely require you to pick up your luggage upon transferring through HNL. Please let me know if your experiences prove otherwise.

As to the OP: Congrats! I think Oahu is perfect for you based on your descriptions:
There are a bunch of great beaches that can give you the best of a lush urban city with the added nightlife and the pristine nice beaches that you long for.

However, that said, and I usually don't suggest this very often, do consider trying a second island on your visit. Perhaps breaking it down 3 and 3... or less weight on Oahu and more on a neighbor island? I think you'll find Maui/Kauai to be a great choice. All three are entirely different from one another--they all have different feels.

Again, congrats. Let us know more about your trip as you go along.

MJ33

Thanks to everyone for the great advice so far. My fiancee has been to Oahu once a few years ago, but only spent the time on Waikiki Beach. I've been reading some of the guidebooks (including the evil blue book!) and it does sound like there are some great places in Oahu away from Waikiki Beach that just don't get much attention. I realize that Oahu is the most visited Island, but are those increased numbers seen all over the island, or is it just mainly in Waikiki.

What we're expecting in October is to have the normal crowd of people in Waikiki and at Pearl Harbor, but that driving to Kailua, Lanikai, Makapu'u, or even Sunset Beach and Kawela on the North Shore for daytrips we might be able to find sparsely populated beaches on the weekdays. Am I kidding myself or is this normally the case? I love to drive, so I can't imagine anything better than getting up early (at least one morning!) and driving up the Windward Coast to get some seclusion for the day, yet being back in Waikiki to have all the wining and dining options at night.

I'm sure our plans will change many times over the next 4-6 months, but I'll keep everyone posted!

tlhanger

I like the idea of the Royal Hawaiian and then Poipu. You will get the best of both worlds. If you have a car in Oahu you can drive up to the North Shore and have a nice dinner at Jameson By The Sea in Haleiwa and watch the sun go down. Get a piece of pie there from Ted's Bakery-yummy.

rockdoc

Slippahs

We have done as I described three different times, the last being in the summer of 2005. We skipped Oahu when in Hawaii this past June. We have interlined the bags to UA each time (twice with AQ and once with HA). Agents never mentioned any potential problems (or time limits) and our bags arrived in Denver with us each time. Each time we did this, we had a good 10 hour layover in HNL.

Have the agreements changed since we last did this?

Fishbait

In October, you should have no problem finding quiet beaches. Normally, I would recommend that someone either visit two islands, or stay elsewhere for some of their Oahu stay, but you seem realistic in your expectations and say you like to drive. We do exactly the opposite on Oahu; we have a house on Sunset Beach, and do drives into Waikiki to eat at our favorite restaurants or (for example) to celebrate New Year's Eve or even to spend the night. If, by chance, you are interested in avoiding the crowd for a couple of days, I recommend perhaps you head to Turtle Bay Resort for a night or two. While it's low-key, it has some good restaurants, and could provide a nice homebase for a couple of your more secluded beach days without the flight to another island. That way you could linger over a nice bottle of wine or drinks after dinner, or maybe go to the Poly Cult Center without having to deal with the drive back and forth. I personally think 6 nights in Waikiki would drive me nuts, but my daughter would disagree with me. She could pool/shop/dine for weeks and never notice the other people! I think you would find the differences between Waikiki and the Windward/North Shores to be remarkable, and give you a more rounded view of Hawaii.

Also, be sure to check out the Starwood Preferred Guest Forum for more info on the Royal Hawaiian!

Robin

jerseygirl

Suggest to check out JW MArriott KoOlina hotel in Oahu. The hotel is very classy, great spa, golfing, the grounds are gorgeous, nice restaurants especially like the Japanese restaurant,free local hula dancers on Fridays at the pool and excellent service. It is a quiet area about 20 min from airport. Maybe go to KoOlina for a few days when you arrive then on to Honolulu and sight seeing when you have relaxed from the big day, long flight, etc

lihue1k

I have no gripe with the Ko'olina, however, the OP is advised to check the location - which is a looooong way from anything else on Oahu and definitely doesn't meet the implied central location criteria.

My Kaua'i bias is clear, but with such a short stay, I personally wouldn't waste the hours in the airport to make the hop to a neighbor island. Unfortunately - it's not the arrive 15 minutes before, walk to the plane expereience that it was pre 9/11.

Oahu has much to offer and can be a great primer for a future visit to the rest of the state. As for accomodations - I'll give two otherwise unmentioned suggestions: If you want to limit your stay to a couple nights at the Royal Hawaiian for budget reasons - try a few nights at the Parc Waikiki. The hotel is owned by the same folks who own the 5* Halekulani. Service is 85% as good at 25% of the price, I've seen specials in the low $120's here. If price is no object - I'd suggest the Halekulani itself over the Royal. Yes the royal is special, but Halekulani's history (if not it's buildings) extend just as far back. Prices can be similar but service at the HK will not be topped. Wherever you stay don't miss a casual dinner at House without a key - fabulous view and great island music each and every night!

Lihu'e1k

MJ33

We'll be heading there towards the end of October, and as we both love to snorkel and swim, I know we'll want to take in at least a few days (if not more) of snorkeling, swimming, and ocean kayaking. Are the waves on the North Shore (Sunset Beach, Turtle Beach, etc.) along with the area at Lanikai and Kailua still going to be swimmable at this time of the year, or are the waves going to be getting too high? I've heard that Poipu is pretty much okay all year which is why we were leaning towards there for the latter part of the trip. I think we'd both stay on Oahu for the duration if we knew we'd have easy access to some uncrowded swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking waters. Any advice? Thanks!

MJ

Fishbait

It's extremely hard to predict the waves, but seasonally the surf picks up in late October thru March on the North Shore. We have had Christmas Days where we were snorkeling directly on front of our house on Sunset (much to our surfing group's dismay), and same when the waves were washing right up to our seawall. Last time we were there in mid-November, it was extremely calm, calmer than our previous June trip. Last time were on Poipu in December 2003?, we didn't get to swim in the ocean even once, it was that rough and rainy the whole week (unusual but true)! But we have always found quieter places to snorkel and swim within 10-20 minutes drive, even when Waimea was breaking (and it has to be BIG to break at Waimea). I have seen people snorkeling at Shark's Cove, when Sunset was double-overhead a mile away. And we have done some great snorkeling in Laie (at Pounders) while our daughters surfed the outside. Hopefully, someone can give you more information on the Windward shore; we don't spend much time on that side, but driving through it usually looks calm to me.

Another suggestion (like you haven't heard enough already ) is Maui. Kaanapali has the "walk to everything" "bars on the beach" "snorkeling at Black Rock" that you seem to be looking for, with less crowd and city feel than Waikiki (my kids call it "little waikiki"). Wailea and Kihei are much more low-key, with nearly empty beaches nearby; much more of a "golfing" community in our eyes. It would be very tough to give Maui justice in only 2-3 days, but you could get a bit of a "taste" of it. You will find differing opinions from everyone; everyone has their favorites and one man's paradise is another's nightmare. Don't be afraid to keep asking questions, I am sure you will find the perfect honeymoon in no time.

Robin

ASULawFlyer

Something else you might want to consider, if you've decided to visit only O'ahu, is to stay a few nights in Waikiki to get your fill of night & city life, and then head over to the North Shore for a couple nights at the Turtle Bay Resort. It's about a 45 minute drive from Waikiki, but a totally different vibe - much more chill. You can also check out Waimea Falls while you're on that part of the island.

hlr207

Hi all! Over the last month or so I have read all about Maui on these pages. I am going there for my honeymoon June 11-20. We already have award tickets (thanks Coupon Connection!) and now need to decide where to stay. We were thinking 5 nights in a resort area (Lahaina, Kaanapali or Wailea, or...) and 4 nights in Hana for total relaxation. Even though it is our honeymoon, we are on a budget and can probably spend $350/night at the most. As for the resort area, we would like to be right on the beach or have a real short walk to the beach and if the beach was one with good snorkeling, that would be great too. Ideally it would be a place within walking distance of shops and restaurants. At this point, we would stay in a hotel or a condo. Wailea sounds amazing based on all the reviews here, but I think it is out of our budget, unfortunately. I am looking for any recent experiences in a resort area.

As for Hana, we are thinking of staying at the Hana Oceanfront Cottages (http://www.hanaoceanfrontcottages.com) based on its website and the absolutely glowing reviews of it on Trip Advisor. Any experiences there or at another place in Hana?

Then (if you're still with me), a few other questions:
(1) We plan on doing the bike ride down Haleakana Mountain. Should we do that when we are staying at a resort area or when Hana is our home base? It appears that it is closer to Hana, but I thought that maybe the organized tours would be more likely to pick us up in what I am calling the resort area.

(2) Is the $50 Costco membership worth it (i.e., just how expensive are the grocery stores)? If we stay in a condo and plan to cook for 10 days?

(3) Recent experiences with rental cars, either the national chains or local ones?

(4) Anything else you want to share? We did get Maui Revealed for Christmas and are working our way through that while we grill people at work and do Internet research too!

Thanks Flyertalkers!

kaukau

For the bike trip, I doubt they send the van to Hana to pick up/drop off.

Costco for one time only? Not worth it. Safeway and Foodland are fine.

Best wishes,

Aloha

crzywizdom

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=645595


Hi, I have found the maui revealed guide book invaluable...also

the above link gives you a lot of the same kind of info you may be looking for...best of luck...

Crzy

JerryFF

You might consider the area around Napili further north than Lahaina or Kaanapali. The beaches are just as nice and there are many properties that are excellent but less expensive than the big high rises in the Kaanapali area.

fpshark

Hello all,

Am planning our honeymoon for August 07 and we cant decide where to stay. We change our minds every day between these two places. We love the look of Kailua in Oahu (suckers for the pics of the water colour!) but we have also found a wonderful property in Maui near Wailea beach.

On another site it was mentioned about wading to an Island in Oahu and kayaking to another and they both sound wonderful. Also I know there is loads to do on Oahu - question is are the same expierences there on Maui - i.e. the beautiful tropical water, the kayaking exploring snokling near where we would be. Also waht about restaraunts/late cocktails in both places?

Thanks for any replies!

Paul