Nancy03

Before anyone jumps down my throat for being too organized. This is just a plan not a "Must Do" schedule. Weather, Energy Level, "Spur of the moment" ideas, will all make this a ever changing plan.

If you see something that we have on the list that you have an experience with good or bad that you'd like to share - I'd welcome your comments.

If you notice that we are missing something great while we are in a vicinity and think we should make a detour to experience something - please comment.

Thanks:

DAY 1 Fly from Tampa to Kauai
Check in at Hyatt / Rent convertible
Lite dinner/drinks/sunset at Tidepools at Hyatt

DAY 2 6:30 am - Visit to Canyon (Up early due to time change)
10 am - Helicopter Ride with Inter Island out of Port Allen
Stop by Glass Beach
Afternoon - RELAX at Hyatt Pool
Sunset dinner at Beach House (stop by Spouting Horn)

DAY 3 Marriage license
Mid-day drive to Princeville
Lunch at Princeville
Check in at Secret Beach Hideaway
Wedding at 5PM at Secret Beach Hideaway bluff
Limo to Princeville Resort for Sunset Beach Photos
Private dinner at Princeville
Back to Secret Beach Hideaway

DAY 4 RELAX most of day
1:30 to 3 pm surf lesson w/Learn to Surf
Eat meals at Cottege

DAY 5 Explore & RELAX @ Northshore beaches
Shave Ice at Wishing Well
Watch sunset at Ke'e Beach
Dinner at Neidi's

DAY 6 Morning - Hike Klalau Trail
Take Picnic Lunch
Afternoon - RELAX at cottage
Dinner at our Cottage

DAY 7 Captain Sundown Napali Trip 8 - 2pm
Afternoon - RELAX at cottage
Dinner at Zelos

DAY 8 Fly to Hilo 1pm - Rent 4WD
Check in to Volcano Rainforest Retreat
Dinner Kilauea Lodge

DAY 9 Explore Volcano National Park
Walk to Lava at night if accessable
Dinner?

DAY 10 11 am Drive to Kona Village - Southern way (I think)
A few stops along the way
Check into Kona Village
Dinner Kona Village Luau

DAY 11 Morning - 3 hour Kayak/Snorkel trip to Cook's Monument
Rest of Day RELAX at Kona Village

DAY 12 Morning - RELAX at Kona Village
Afternoon - Trip to Mauna Kea to Observatory and Stargazing
(only 2 days to new moon - sky will be dark)

DAY 13 Fly to Maui (charter w/ Hawaii Taxi)
Rent Convertible
Drive over Northwest side
Lunch at Mama's
Explore I'AO Park
Check into Four Seasons
Dinner - Ferraro's?, Tommy Bahama's??.

DAY 14 All Day - RELAX in Wailea
Warren and Annabele Show

DAY 15 Sunrise at Haleakala if we're up to it
(Drive - no bikes so we can hike a little)
Lunch at the Halliemaile General Store
Dinner ? Sushi?

DAY 16 All Day - RELAX in Wailea
Couples Massage - late afternnon
Dinner - Sarento's, Nick's????

DAY 17 Trilogy Sunset Trip to Lanai
Friday Art Night in Lihana

DAY 18 Morning - RELAX
1 pm - Fly to Molokai (Hawaii Taxi)
Rent Convertible
Check In at Lodge at Molokai
RELAX
Dinner at Lodge

DAY 19 Morning - RELAX
Lunch at Bungalow down at Beach (Sunday Brunch)
Take little Snack - Find Desert Beach and RELAX

DAY 20 Take tour of Kalaupapa Peninsula
Afternoon - RELAX
Dinner at Lodge

DAY 21 Morning - RELAX
2 pm fly to Oahu / Rent Convertible
Check in to Halekulani
RELAX/Lite Dinner at House without Keys

DAY 22 Morning - RELAX
Noon - get ticket for Pearl Harbor
Eat Lunch close
Tour Pearl Harbor
Dinner - Mandarin Oriental - Cabanas Seaside Grill

DAY 23 Morning - Hike Diamond Head
RELAX at Hotel
Check out at 4 pm
Shop for Souveniers
Dinner?
10:30 pm Fly home

crazy4Hawaii

OH...Heaven...OH...Bliss! You have researched well and it shows. I see nothing wrong with making plans and then allowing some flexibility, just as you have done. The road to Hana will be there when you go back to Maui, as you certainly will someday. I am going to make a copy of your itinerary, and then it will be fun to compare it to your trip report. I'll bet you get to do most of it and still feel that you've relaxed - because you planned it that way! If you want to see Rusty have a stroke, show him one of my Disneyworld "master plans"! I am having to play like I have NO itinerary for our trip to Maui and Kauai this summer because my family has threatened mutiny. So it will be like, "Hey, guys - Let's saunter on up to that li'l ole blowhole and see what's happening..." You better believe I'll be making some fine dining reservations, though - Sarento's and Nick's, here I come!

Kal

WOW! All of this AND "honeymoon nuki-nuki"???

You have a sister? :-"

I've always heard you should get to Glass Beach early in the a.m. so you can get "first washins'". The word "early" and "Kal" are seldom used in the same sentence when it comes to Kauai. Unless it's the "Early bird special"?

Good luck! We're hitting the Big Two Five this Nov.
Kauai is a great place to celebrate anniversaries, too. Even tho there's nothing to do, no night life...yadda yadda...

Kal O

Nancy03

Kal: Nuki, Nuki? What's that? JUST KIDDING. I left plenty of time for that!

I started my research over a year ago and instead of leaving things out I just hed to keep telling my fiance we had to add another day to our trip. As you might have noticed there is no shop time on my list because I hate to spend time in stores on vacation. If we find a "must have" it will be by chance. Expcept that last day in Honolulu -when we won't have to cart the stuff from Island to Island.

Now I have to get planning my Luau "reception" for when we return home. It's all fun!!!

Kal

Hahahaha...some of my friends suffer from that dreaded Hawaiian disease "lakanooki".

My bet is that your plans will go by the wayside after the 2nd day.

As for shopping, just please don't tell me you'll be picking up "stuff" (I don't know how to spell souvenirs) for friends and family back home.
Your Wedding and H'moon time is YOUR time and if they don't understand, well there has to be a Hawaiian term for that too!

Mucho mahalos,
Kal

crazy4Hawaii

Isn't Kal a dream? I'm betting you don't abandon your itinerary until at least day 5. Anybody want to keep a betting book for us? Our ten year old makes sure we experience plently of lakinuki (sp?) - especially on vacation - and we're sneeking up on year number 21. Hey, doesn't GW have a children's program? Itinerary, goodbye!

Kal

yeah...I'm a regular nightmare! >

Nancy03

Kal: You and JohnD have the "coolest" smiley faces. You must have 300 different expressions. Always amusing.

Anyway, between my fiance and me we have 7 kids but only one young enough to live with us after our honeymoon. We took a trip to Europe 2 summers ago and had a similar type itinerary.

You'll all have to wait and see how close we get to staying on track with the plan. I'll post a detailed trip report when we get home. Other's reports have been so help or just plain interesting. I'll leave out the nuki, nuki itinerary though - unless Kal let's me in on how he input those smiley faces. I'm sure he has just the perfect one to express it.

Suzie

I wanna go!!!!! It sounds great. You've left plenty of time for mai tais and vegging.
We have gone on both Captain Sundown and the Triology. Both are terrific. Tidepools is very nice but there won't be a view of the sunset. Ask to get one of those private tables on the outskirts of the reastaurant. They are practically in the pond and very romantic. We had a really great meal at the Beach House and we had a really nice table. We got there early and a table came up in the bar so we had drinks there. When they came to seat us they took one look at the table we had and asked if we would rather have dinner there since it was a better view than the table they had for us in the restuarant part. Our bar waitress was wonderful and very fun. Have a great vcation/wedding/honeymoon.

iamq

Nicely done! What a way to start a marriage! Good job on including so much "RELAX" time! That's my favorite "activity" in Hawaii.

cruisin_tigger

I'm so jealous! Love Kauai! Hyatt is awesome, good choice with Tidepools. Noticed you mentioned sushi further in your itinerary - just an fyi, Stevenson's Library at the Hyatt, a very cool bar, had sushi when we were there. There is also a bar in the Princeville called the Living Room which also had sushi. Great atmosphere there too.

Enjoy your trip!

Knowing

Kauai is wonderful and you will discover that the Hyatt is the perfect hotel. Tidepools is very romantic, but your first day you may be very tired, so eat early. In fact, I would e-mail ahead and ask for an early seating. We were there in February and that was exactly what we did. I know that there are people that like the Beach House, but it was our only disappointing meal. We were sorry that we had not gone back to Brick Oven pizza again. Neidi's will be the perfect end to your day of relaxation. You have a great plan going on!

Nancy03

I was thinking about making reservations for Tidepools early that first day but I thought after our first class flights we'd be stuffed with the food they give you on the plane. Although it might be different than when we flew international first class. They were constantly feeding us on that flight.

I am not expecting much from Beach House from the reviews I have read recently. I'm hoping they will have improved again by Sept. I'll keep checking here - if things still seem bad, maybe we'll head to Roy's although we have one here in Tampa that we frequent and I'd prefer a sunset.

makai1

Aloha Nancy,

Fun, fun, fun... many congrats!

If you have an extra hour or two on O'ahu, head over to Chinatown... lovely place to walk around... buy each other fresh leis... any variety you could imagine at a fraction of the cost you'll find elsewhere...

Oh, and go to http://www.fodors.com/forums/smileys/ for the icons .

I'm also curious to see a tr upon your return... how long the itinerary stays alive is now a burning question on this forum!

Happy honeymooning...

Nancy03

MAKAI1 Thanks for the tip

MRODRIGO

From one organized girl to another, great job on your planning! I've lived on Oahu for three years and have only visited Maui and the Big Island. We're planning a trip to Kauai this June, though, so I am currently doing research on that as well. As far as Maui goes, I would suggest one night in Hotel Hana Maui...specially on a wedding trip. The drive really does take longer than you might think, specially if you stop often.Ohe'o Gulch/ Seven Sacred Pools, which is at least 30 minutes past Hana is best explored first thing in the morning, before 10 am. This way, you can have a leisurely drive to Hana the day before (stop at Black Sand Beach and Hamoa Beach), enjoy the serenity of Hotel Hana at night, start early for O'heo Gulch and you can even hike the Pipiwai Trail above the pools (about 2 miles each way)if you're feeling energetic. Otherwise, a horseback ride back at hana ranch will be great, too. Spago's, Nick's, Haliimaile and Mama's Fish House are all good dining bets.

The Big island should be fun. I just hope you get lucky and won't have to hike too far to see the lava flow in the Big Island. If you do go and see it at night, make sure you eat early before you go as there aren't that many dining choices on that side of the island and they all tend to close rather early.

As far as Oahu, Halekulani is a great hotel and any of their restaurants are good (Orchid's, La Mer and House without a key--the last one being the most casual). My only concern is the Pearl Harbor portion of your trip. Tickets sometimes go fast. Your best bet is to get there as early as you can and save the relaxing for later in the afternoon. Or if you're feeling up to a short drive after the Pearl Harbor tour, you might consider driving past Waikiki and Diamond Head to see more of the beautiful eastern side of the island. Stop at Hanauma Bay for awesome snorkeling. The beach is really pretty and great for just lying around too. If you do drive past Hanauma Bay, stop by the Blowhole and Makapuu Beach for great views. Even if you only go as far as Makapuu beach and head back towards Waikiki, you'll see a whole different side of Oahu from just staying in Waikiki. Dinner at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental is romantic at Hoku's and a perfect way to end a Hawaiian trip. I haven't been to Cabana's so I can't compare.

Good Luck with your trip! I think you have the right idea...plan as much as you can but also be flexible. What's the point of going on vacation when you end up being too busy checking your list of must do's to relax and enjoy all the wonderful things that Hawaii has to offer? Aloha!

Nancy03

MRODRIGO: Thanks for your suggestions and ideas. Especially the restuarants. We aren't going to do the drive to Hana this time. On a 5 night stay on Maui, we would lose our 5th night free if we didn't spend it at the 4S and it takes too much out of our time on Maui.

For Pearl Harbour - I am hoping it will be less crowd in Late September and a few people have posted that at noon they walked right up and picked up their visit time. If this doesnt work the first day, then we'll do the early thing the next day. They usually run out of time around 1 pm, so I'm going to take my chances at this time of year. I'll check with the hotel when we get there.

I'm really getting anxious to take this trip...........

Thanks for everyone's help.