Dudleydog73

We stayed for a week on a Travel Award (087) in May 2003 on our honeymoon and loved it! I think the award was for a standard (mountain view?) room but they allowed me to upgrade to an ocean view for $50/day which was worth it IMHO.

We were on the 6th floor overlooking the pool and the lagoons (I was only Gold at the time and the day we checked in a LARGE group of Marriott employees checked in. I think it was for their sales staff that met quotas, etc. etc so I did not get a real huge upgrade) but still a GREAT room.

I have to say with the hotel completely full, you could never tell by the noise. It was absolutely peaceful!

One thing nobody mentioned yet that I would recommend is to sign up for the shark/sting ray encounter! Swimming with the sting rays and having them suck food out of your hand while you pet them was something I will not forget.

--DD

JIMCHI

Mountain view rooms have really no views other than the golf course and some rather barren hills. Ocean view rooms generally have good ocean views, but are on lower floors and some may have views partially obstructed by tall palm trees. Deluxe ocean view rooms are on the higher floors of the tower building and also in the separate 4 floor ocean front building. Floors 1 and 2 of the ocean front building can have obstructed views due to trees and foilage.

This is a great, quiet resort. Have stayed there for many years. It's not a place for those looking for beach volleyball, etc.

wingsfan

I've stayed here and really didn't think it was remote to HNL - it's a pretty short drive and I seem to recall it was about 15 minutes into HNL. We still did all our dining in HNL (with the exception of a lunch at the hotel) but did not feel we were that far out at all. Perhaps Blain or someone who has recently stayed can weigh in on wether 15 minutes is accurate or if I'm remembering everything with rose colored glasses. But it really did not seem far at all and I personally wouldn't let that discourage you for such a premium property. The Marriott rep who booked our award stay here told is it was the nicest property on the island by far.

JIMCHI

It's not a 15 minute drive. It's 20 minutes west of HNL airport and almost 40-45 minutes west of Waikiki.

wingsfan

I guess it was my rose tinted glasses. But still, I'd recommend this hotel strongly over staying right in Waikiki - it's so touristy down there. We still ate all our meals down there but didn't mind getting out of dodge later in the eve. We would definitely return to the Ihilani on our next stay in HNL versus a Waikiki location.

DLBurns

This is GREAT information!!! We are going to be here 7 days in April and the info you folks have provided will help us enjoy our trip even further.
Basically we plan on doing a whole lot of nothing...this will be my wifes first trip to Hawaii and we will do some of the normal tourist stuff. We have a rental car and plan on eating early dinners in Waikiki then getting back to the hotel for a nice relaxing sunset on the lanai.
A friend grew up just up the coast from here and he warned me that the traffic from Waikiki coming back to Ko Olina is really bad between about 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, any of you encounter this?
Living in the bay area, 40 minutes into Waikiki to have dinner is just like a trip up to San Francisco for dinner. And I bet the drive is nicer than Hwy 101!!

aaupgrade

DLBurns,

The restaurants at the Hotel are actually quite nice if you choose to have dinner there. I have pruchased Dinner for Two certificates from the Marriott web site for $90. It is good for one appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert and unlimited nonalcoholic beverages for each diner. Tax and gratuity included. I bought 4 for my upcoming trip.

JIMCHI

Yes, the traffic is horrific from around 3 until 6pm. Ther drive is not particularly interesting or scenic. For one or two dinners, I would suggest going to the north shore and having dinner at Jameson's or Haliewa Joe's. That drive will take you througfh the pineapple fields, past the Dole Plantation and it's maze, and if you allow enough time, a great view of the "Bonzi Pipeline" with its incredible surf and daredevil surfers. Likewise, another dinner suggestion is Haliewa Joe's in Kanehoe. Ther drive will take you up over the mountains (very scenic if it's not raining) and down to the west shore of Oahu. I would suggest taking the Pali Highway going and H3 coming back. The restaurant is not on the beach but is located in a gorgeous park with great views of the mountains. Good food, reasonable price for Hawaii. There are a number of other good restaurants that are nowhere near $45 per person.

aaupgrade

I agree with JIMCHI you can find other restaurants for less than $45 per person. BTW, it's Haleiwa Joe's and here is a link to their web site. It is an Oahu tradition and I recommend it for lunch during a day trip to the North Shore. It is a ways to go for dinner. I have not been to their Kanehoe location.

What I recommended may provide a better option for anyone deciding to gourmet dine a night or two at the Hotel. I preceded my decision to do this by checking with the Hotel to insure they accepted the certificates - they do. And they FAXed me menus from their restaurants. Examples shown below:

At Azul, their signature restaurant, you could order the following and it would be included:

At Naupaka Terrace you could have surf and turf, or twin filets, but you could also have something simpler like the following and it would be included:

While I think the dinner for two certificates provide an excellent value, it may not be for everyone. I have a friend, who happens to live in Oahu, who would probably order no appetizer because she didn't know what they were, a salad but it can't have croutons on it, a steak well done, and maybe a dessert. Burger King is more her speed and it will run under $10 per person.

Also the hotel has theme nights at the Naupaka Terrace. Thursday is Prime Rib Buffet and Wednesday is Italian Buffet, $36 excluding tax and tip. Don’t waste the certificates on these as they run about the same.

JIMCHI

This is one of the few things that annoys me with this resort. It's quite remote, yet they offer no reasonably priced restaurant-- like a fancy coffee shop. For a family traveling with two kids, the food bill could easily exceed $200 a day if you ate all meals at the hotel.

DLBurns

This is a great example....I will definately order a couple of the $90.00 coupons to take with us. I do want to try some of the other nice places on the island and the referals for Roy's, Jameson and Haleiwa Joes are appreciated.
About how long a trip is it to the north shore and to the east shore from the hotel?
Thanks again

JIMCHI

Allow about an hour from the resort to the north shore. Of course, if you stop at the Dole Plantation you'll want to add more time. If you're going for lunch. have the concierge make sure those restaurants are open for lunch.

JIMCHI

We are currently staying at the Ihilani over spring break (four adults and two children).We've stayed here once or twice a year for about 11 years now. Life doesn't get any better than this. We have two rooms facing Paradise Cove, listening to the music from the Paradise Cove luau there and watched the spectaucular sunset from our huge verandas.Service is impeccible and rooms are all oversized (those in the main building especially). As always, you can be 10 feet or 100 feet from the nearest people on the huge lagoon, as you choose. I'm guessing less than 75 people at max today on the 1500' lagoon. Or, choose one of the other 4 lagoons.

We walked over to the Ko Olina Beach Club (timeshare) today as we have every day and during every visit. Beware-- there is considerable construction noise over there (on the second timeshare building and watersports area for the entire timeshare), especially around the pool and around rooms which are not DIRECT ocean front. I gather this noise will last for at least another 6 months. Some people aren't bothered by construction noise and if so the timeshare is a beautiful building. Be aware that many,many of the rooms don't have direct ocean views - they are the kind where you have to stretch your neck to see the ocean or the ocean is in the distance. We also found there is no substantial restuarant there yet. Breakfast offerings appeared to be limited to a "Marketplace" store with very limited take-out offerings and a guy outside who would make take-away omelettes. Lunch and dinner is offered at some kind of small outdoor beachfront "cafe".

Nothing has started yet on the new Ritz-Carlton.

Over the years we have stayed at many resorts on Oahu, Kauai, and Maui. The Ihilani is at the top our list (probably followed by the Hyatts on Kauai and Maui).

Please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if I can answer any specific questions.

brendamc

Glad someone's having fun while we're sitting here in drizzly SoCal! Do they still make your order ice from room service & has the food quality improved yet?

DLBurns

James I sent you an email with more specific questions. We will be there in April from the 9th -16th.
Really looking forward to it.
Dave