Originally Posted by Biggie Fries

I feel like Homer Simpson, but gosh, how did I forget the bacon in my review? It is the best bacon. Even my wife, who every day the rest of the year is "eat healthy," admitted that no matter what course she was on, she needed some of the bacon to go with it.

Originally Posted by zzrayzz

BACON!!!!!!!!! <3

On another note, I will be going here in 2 weeks staying in a POV suite (DSU + C&P) for 7 nights, and I am wondering what is the highest flr they have for a POV suite? My gf and I love taking photographs and hoping they can accomodate with a high flr. So my thinking is to ask for X flr (X being the highest) and then hopefully they are willing to work with me and place me on either (X-1) or (X-2) flr! haha

Originally Posted by zzrayzz

BACON!!!!!!!!! <3

On another note, I will be going here in 2 weeks staying in a POV suite (DSU + C&P) for 7 nights, and I am wondering what is the highest flr they have for a POV suite? My gf and I love taking photographs and hoping they can accomodate with a high flr. So my thinking is to ask for X flr (X being the highest) and then hopefully they are willing to work with me and place me on either (X-1) or (X-2) flr! haha

Originally Posted by ThreeA4Me

great posts lately in this thread!

1) Right now I'm booked in a simple garden room. Do Diamonds get bumped up to Deluxe Ocean View King or something similar?

2) If we decide NOT to rent a car and just cab it from the hotel, what would the cost be roughly? We would be on a three night stay and just stay on property. Is there something cheaper than a cab, a bus perhaps that gets us close?

3) Any idea what casual dinners would run for my daughter and I?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by ThreeA4Me

2) If we decide NOT to rent a car and just cab it from the hotel, what would the cost be roughly? We would be on a three night stay and just stay on property. Is there something cheaper than a cab, a bus perhaps that gets us close?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Biggie Fries

I hate taxis. I especially hate taxis when I haven't been somewhere before. So on arrival we went to the Roberts Hawaii booth and reserved a van ride. It was $42 for two, so $50 with tip. We had to wait 10-15 minutes for a van, then were the only folks in the ride to the hotel. You could do the same thing on the way back, and shave the cost a few bucks, but Roberts is used to driving around skittish tourists, and wanted to pick us up 3h40m before our flight! I said, let's cut that in half, and they said something ridiculous, like, "Then we would not be responsible if you miss your flight." As though they would do something for us if we did ... And is if flights to HNL weren't going out every 20 minutes or so. Anyhow, we had the hotel call a cab (Royal), which was there at the appointed hour, and which got us to the airport in 25 or 30 minutes. Cab was $52, $62 with tip.

Originally Posted by ThreeA4Me

3) Any idea what casual dinners would run for my daughter and I?

Originally Posted by ThreeA4Me

Thanks! Since we will stay on site, we will avoid the car rental and $30 valet and do the bus/cab for $110 or so

Originally Posted by League

Well, after a couple more days here, I can say that my thoughts on the service here have changed a little. Forgive the long post; I'm not good at being succinct! First, I did end up calling to the front desk to inquire if any better/bigger rooms were available for the remaining 4 nights, though I chose not to escalate to Geoff Gray. The front desk person was very friendly and asked if she could call me back so she'd have a chance to really look at their inventory. When she called back, she said she'd found a few full oceanview options, but they were on the lower levels, and that she would personally recommend sticking with a POV on the 4th floor vs a OV on the lower levels, so that's what we did. The website confirmed that no suites were available for sale, so that was fine. Apparently many people were unable to get to the hotel for their reservations (which I'd hoped would open up some rooms), but just as many people were stuck here, trying to get back to the mainland and had to extend their stays, so it all evened out.

All of that aside, there have been a couple of instances of great service. One night when we ordered room service, I'd mentioned to the person delivering our food that I hadn't seen any chocolate milk (for my kid) on offer at the Market or on the room service menu. He personally went and got us some custom-made (milk + a couple of pumps of syrup from the coffee bar) and brought it back to the room, free of charge.

Yesterday, we went to do laundry in the free laundry room. The washer malfunctioned and wouldn't release our clothes and wouldn't drain the water. This was a bit of an issue because our son's attachment item (a well-loved blanket... he's 4) was trapped inside the machine. Maintenance was called, and met my husband at the laundry room. He explained this particular model of washing machine was quite repair-prone. He managed to get the clean-but-sopping-wet clothes out of the machine and offered to go dry them in their industrial dryers, which, he claimed, could get them dry in just 10-15 minutes. It took only slightly longer than that, but our clean clothes were delivered, freshly folded, to our room.

Then, just tonight, my husband and I had plans for a kid-free night out at Mama's Fish House. We'd arranged for a nanny service and all seemed to be okay before we left, but not even 5 min down the road, the nanny called with news that our son had vomited and was complaining of ear pain. News to us, since he'd not said a word about any ear pain or nausea up til that point. We turned around, and asked the valet to keep our car close by (which they were happy to do), checked on our son and found that, yes, he was pretty ill. The hotel helped us locate a walk-in clinic less than 5 min away, and we took him there (where the service was really great - if ever ill in Wailea, go to the Wailea Urgent Care Center across from the Shops at Wailea - great people!)

While at the clinic, my son vomited profusely again and was given Zofran to help with the nausea and antibiotics for an ear infection. After he felt better, we headed back to the hotel. My husband stopped in the Market to look for something like saltines and gingerale. They had gingerale, but no crackers. In making conversation with the woman working there, she went to the back room and found some bland crackers that she bagged up for him for free.

Back in the room, we looked at the gingerale label and realized it may or may not actually contain any real ginger. So then I thought that, with all of the great cocktails here, the bar might have some real ginger syrup or at least real lemonade. I went down and told a couple of bartenders at the Lehua Lounge that my son was sick with an upset stomach, and I know it's an unusual request, but might they be able to offer something non-alcoholic and stomach-settling with ginger or lemon or ...? They were more than happy to help and did actually come up with a delicious concoction of house-infused ginger syrup, soda, bitters, and lemon. I asked to charge it to the room, but they insisted on it being complimentary with best wishes for my son to feel better. I was super impressed and touched.

SO. Yes, there have been a few slight hiccups here and there and I still find the room to be more form-over-function and a little less clean than I'd prefer (some of this is just down to size and being parents rather than a honeymooning couple, and some is legit, like water issues, stained upholstery, dirty floors, the slatted vanity, and super-shallow sink. ) BUT, the service is usually well-intentioned even when it falls short, and sometimes it's really excellent.

Originally Posted by thucanhho

[Can you recommend a babysitting service? We plan to be at the hotel in a few months. Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by ThreeA4Me

Thanks! Since we will stay on site, we will avoid the car rental and $30 valet and do the bus/cab for $110 or so

Originally Posted by hailstorm

The dishes at Ka'ana Kitchen vary greatly in price. If you make a concerted effort to select the cheaper items, maybe $100; otherwise budget between $150 and $200.

Mokapu Market is much more casual, but dinner could be done for maybe $60 or so?

Never went to Morimoto, but I'm sure that that's the most expensive option of all.



Anyone know about car rental options from the hotel? Worst case, I guess you could walk to the Grand Wailea.