because
 

If you have to ask "why Hawaii?" it means you just don't know...what other island can you visit that has 7 of the 8 climate zones, (rain forest through desert on maui)....or aloha spirit, which is like southern hospitality in many ways....no poisonous bugs or snakes or plants....nobody begging for tips just because your american....you can wander the town streets and not worry too much about getting mugged....american food and drinks everywhere (not just at some resort)...american police and hospitals if nessesary. lots of tourist stuff to do: (pearl harbor, volcanos, beaches, surfing, luaus, awesome snorkeling with 10 times as many species as found in the Caribbean, night life in waikiki, proud cultural heritage and not shy about sharing it, great temperatures all year round (not stinking hot like mexico).
It is the romantic stereotype of island paradise. Like the grand canyon words and pictures don't describe it well, you have to go and see yourself!!

OP starwoods has a book 4 get 5th night free which will stretch your points for hotel...they range from princess kiulani (sp?) at the low end to the royal hawaiian at the high end....sheraton and moana being mid range on the beach....we stayed at ourigger reef on the beach in March (during the tsunami), I believe they are partners with IHG group as far as points go, very upscale with a great beachfront location. the last day and a half before leaving we booked the princess kiulani with AA miles. It actually was cheaper than using starwoods points and offered us oceanview high floor catagory for around 12k AA miles a night plus $20 resort fee which also includes parking. It was an awesome room in the newer tower with views all the way down the beach...it is across the street from the beach but not a far walk at all, not that we use waikiki beach much (we usually go to lanakai beach up north during the day and come back to waikiki for dinner and nightlife)....using points for rental car on the island of Hawaii was not so good with AA as the points didnt cover taxes and fees which sneakily added $70 to the costs......I found better rates by paying cash when on Oahu, and wound up paying more to park for 8 nights in waikiki than I paid for the rental itself.
GLHF

2012 Travel Advice
 

hey thanks for the advice all. i need to add some complexity to my 2012 travel.

i just found out that i have another trip to st maarten SXM in august of 2012.

is there a way i could be maximizing my points or taking advantage of bonuses efficiently for these 2 locations in a close span? i have a full year to plan at this point. a few points i've come to conclusions about after the earlier posts:

1. i will be signing up my SO & i for the 75k citi visa offer for FC fares to/from hawaii with a stop over either in LAX/LAS/SFO.

2. for hotel, i decided to build up points on SPG for redemption at either moana surfrider / the royal hawaiian in waikiki.

what would you guys suggest for st maarten travel? i'm coming from JFK/LGA with a SO and 1 yr old child. i figure 1st class wouldn't require an additional seat, but if i book coach (which i'm ok with) we would reserve 3 seats.

i have 200k+ amex MR, 50 DL miles, 80k thank you.

any suggestions for flight/hotel from NYC to SXM would be appreciated.

Mods, if you could change my title to - 2012 Travel Advice (NYC - HNL + NYC - SXM) i would appreciate it! thank you all.;)

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"1. i will be signing up my SO & i for the 75k citi visa offer for FC fares to/from hawaii with a stop over either in LAX/LAS/SFO.

what would you guys suggest for st maarten travel? i'm coming from JFK/LGA with a SO and 1 yr old child. i figure 1st class wouldn't require an additional seat, but if i book coach (which i'm ok with) we would reserve 3 seats.

i have 200k+ amex MR, 50 DL miles, 80k thank you.

any suggestions for flight/hotel from NYC to SXM would be appreciated."

First, the bad news: when you redeem AA miles from the mainland to Hawaii, you are not entitled to stop over at LAX, SFO, LAS, or anyplace else; only connections are permitted.

Now the good news: if you use BA miles to fly AA on the flight back from Hawaii, you might very well be able to add on a JFK-SXM leg on AA for no additional mileage. BA charges the same mileage rate for HNL-SXM, as it does for HNL-NYC: 17.5K miles in Coach; 35K miles in Business (which only gets you Coach on the two-class flights to/from HNL); or 52.5K miles in First (each way). Since BA permits free, en-route stopovers on award travel, you might be able to do HNL-LAX (stopover) - NYC (stopover) - SXM on one award. (The only uncertainty is whether BA would permit you to route via NYC on such an award, or would instead require you to route via MIA. But a call to the BAEC Service Center should clarify that.) Note that flights to SXM offer Business and Coach only; no First Class. If you can deal with flying Coach for the HNL-LAX segment, you could get LAX-JFK in Business, and JFK-SXM in Business, and just pay 35K BA miles per person for the whole HNL-SXM award.

So maybe use AA miles for the outbound to HNL, BA miles for HNL-LAX-JFK-SXM (if BA will allow that routing), and either AA or BA miles for the return from SXM to NYC.

One caveat: BA's program is changing this November, and redemption rates might be going up for Hawaii awards. If you can lock in a HNL-SXM award with BA miles before the change, that might be a good idea.

And of course, you should not transfer your MR points to any airline until you are sure that award seats are available for the routes and dates you need.

Well - my life didn't change when we went to Hawaii (spent 3 weeks there). But it was really nice. Our favorite island was the Big Island (I imagine Kauai would have been nicer had we not visited a few years after Hurricane Iniki - when it was still kind of a mess).

To the OP - it is very hard to get "low level" reward tickets to Hawaii on just about any airline - especially in the front of the plane. So I would start trying to book as soon as reward tickets become available on your airline of choice - or plan on paying for "high level" reward tickets.

And if I had a one year old - I'd probably go for 3 economy tickets in a row of 3 seats with the kid in the middle instead of 2 front of the plane seats with the kid on my lap. Robyn