Cajun Storm's Maui Trip Report
 

We went to Maui on May 27, June 2 recently. Here's my much delayed trip review. First of all I must say that Maui is still awesome to visit and I did not want to come home!

DAY 1 - THURSDAY:

We flew on American Airlines from DFW straight to Kahuluia, Maui. We had not done this previously (don't know if it wasn't cheaper or we didn't know there were direct flights or now). Anyhow going direct to Maui and skipping the interisland flights is the ONLY way to go. It was so wonderful to not have to go to the Honolulu airport and wait around forever to get in a cattle-herd line for the small plane (and not even get to sit together because we're not fast enough or don't have small children). We used air miles to upgrade to first class. First class on long flights is definitely worth it. Since September 11 they have taken away a lot of the best perks IMO though - no Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip cookies for example. And the food wasn't good to me at all. Luckily I ate all the nuts and most of the salad (that was ok except for the weird looking pieces of pork). My shrimp meals (one time was ginger-spiced and another time was just boiled) were both bland and tasteless. The coolest thing about our flight to Maui was that Woody Harrelson sat in the chair next to my husband (well, the aisle was between them)! This was my first personal experience with a celebrity - much less being on a plane ride for several hours with them. I won't go into details about him (unless you ask or send me an email). I did get to talk to him but it was only at baggage claim (I decided to let him have undisturbed rest on the plane). AND I got a picture with him too!

We rented from Hertz and that was a pretty easy experience. We walked out to an area where a shuttle picked a busload of us up and brought us to the Hertz lot. Thanks to my company I have a Hertz Gold card which was WAY COOL because I got dropped off in front of my car before they brought everyone else to the rental counter. ;)

It took one hour for us to drive from the airport to our hotel, Ritz Carlton, in Kapalua. Of course it took the most time to drive through Lahaina (in case you didn't know there always seems to be traffic through here). By the end of the trip my husband, Joe, was calling it Lahainous (because it was always took so much time to get through). We got to the Ritz and were tired so we did valet parking even though it was $15 per night. Check in was pretty quick at the front desk. But they told us they had a "high occupancy level" and could not give us an upgrade. This was a bummer since they had done it for us on our last visit! We go up to the room - it's nice but we're still upset because we had gotten an ocean-view suite on our last visit and it was huge! So now the room seemed small in comparison. Our balcony view was pretty nice though. It wasn't directly facing the ocean though - the building is sort of "slanted" so that we faced the ocean and the pool/golfing area from our room. I was glad because I could still hear the waves and see them lapping on the beach below. Other neat perks - bottles of water and about 7 chocolate truffles on a nice plate in the room for us. (We ate them all!)

We were hungry and it was almost 6pm by now so we headed down to Banyan Tree restaurant located at the Ritz for dinner. I love the atmosphere in this restaurant - very Hawaiian and open air. The breezes come through nicely and you have a good ocean view. At first I thought I was going to be disappointed with the meal because they didn't have 2 items that I LOVED on my previous visit (new chef now) but I was very impressed by the new food. Joe had some lobster, shrimp and clam dinner that he absolutely loved. I had the special which was Swordfish with mushrooms, maui onion and some sort of wine sauce. Very yummy! We are vanilla smoothie freaks so that's what we got for dessert.

DAY 2 - FRIDAY:

The next morning we were up by 5am. I tried to watch the sunrise on our lanai but clouds rolled in and it started raining! So much for that. We got dressed and went down to the breakfast buffet at The Terrace. It was excellent food and choices! I was very pleased. Some things we had were scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, guava juice, and various pastries with fresh whipped cream.

The days events were mostly shopping and laid back sort of stuff (not our first trip to Maui). We went to the Honolua store, Kapalua Bay shops, and Whaler's Village. Whaler's Village is a very cool outdoor shopping mall next to Ka'anapali Beach. There are a ton of cool souvenir type stores in addition to fancy stores and restaurants. We also went to the Maui Ocean Center - $19 per person. This place was pretty cool. We probably spent about an hour and 45 minutes here. Part of the exhibits are located outdoors so be sure to keep your sunglasses with you!

We got to Mama's Fish House around 1:40pm for 2pm reservations. The place was still packed with people! We were seated immediately but it wasn't one of the best seats near the window (those lucky dogs). We were given menus and then it seemed to take forever for anyone to come by and even order our drinks - like 20 minutes! I noticed lots of other tables had the same problem so I didn't feel singled out (although that didn't help being thirsty by that time). The waitress finally came around and apologized for her lateness. She took our orders and brought out the drinks (Passion Fruit Daiquiri for me) pretty quickly. The appetizer (yummy crabcakes) took a little while too. And the main course also took quite a long time after we had finished off the appetizer (Mahi Mahi stuffed with lobster and crab meat = pretty good but not spicy as I would have liked). We also tried the Passion Fruit Crème Brulee - little bit too sweet for us. Overall the meal was ok but not worth the money. 2 hours later we were done and walked to the beach area. This was the best part of the Mama's experience - the beach here is very beautiful!

We weren't tired so we decided to swing by the Iao Valley. This was a very cool, mountainous area. The park was very easy to get to and the trails were all paved and very short for checking out the Needle and streams. You could see a waterfall in the mountains very well too. I love those waterfalls! It probably took us an hour to check everything out at the Needle area.

We went back to the Ritz and had some snacks at the Beach House there. The food at the Beach House is pretty good but don't expect much seasoning on any of the menu items. But their service is extremely prompt and friendly every time.

DAY 3 - SATURDAY

We were up by 5:45am again and had the breakfast buffet. We noticed that they changed up several of the food items. Things that weren't there the previous day and were really good: cinnamon pancakes, shrimp frittata, rosemary hashbrowns.

By 7:30am we were at the Honolua Store getting water, drinks, snacks and sandwiches. We had brought a collapsible ice chest (purchased at Walmart prior to the trip) and filled it up with ice at the hotel.

Then we were headed to Hana Road. We had done this trip on our last Maui visit but I did not have the Maui Revealed guide book on the trip so we wanted to check out some key things we had missed.

Our first stop was around mile marker 31 for the Blue Pool. We turned left onto a road that became a dirt road. Thanks to a post from either The Knot or Fodors we went down to the LAST parking lot for $2. There is one parking lot that says it's the last one but it's not! Past the lot were signs that said no parking here whatsoever but some brave souls had parked there anyway (I wasn't chancing that one). From here it was a short walk through a wooded area. It immediately opened up to the ocean - beautiful! We walked across a ton of rocks to get to the waterfall (Helele'ike'oha Falls) on the left on the side of a small mountain. The Blue Pool beneath the falls was the best thing I got to see on this whole trip. It was gorgeous and the water felt wonderful. I should've stayed there all day!

An hour later we got back on Hana Road. I wanted to try the 7 Pool Smoothies mentioned in the Maui Revealed book but alas no one was manning the counter there. The authors of the guide book even mentioned that there was a problem with people not always working there although the smoothies there are supposed to be great!

Around 11:30am we got to Haleakala Park. We parked, ate our sandwiches, put on sunscreen & Deep Woods Off, and headed for the Pipiwai Trail to Waimoku Falls. It had been raining a lot lately so things were muddy on the trail but not really bad. We love this hike! The first part takes you through a woody area and cow pastures (yes, be aware of cow patties). Then you cross a bridge and get an awesome view of the pools leading down to the ocean. There are actually 24 pools along this but only 7 of them are actually down in the park area below ? hence the name. Next you enter the bamboo forest part of the hike. This is really cool - most of this trail is along wooden planks making it rather easy. Those bamboo trees make really cool sounds in the wind! I forgot to mention that you pretty much hear the streams flowing along the entire hike (that helps keep you in the right direction too). An hour later we finally saw the waterfall. What a reward - it was really flowing heavily thanks to the recent rain! After taking some photos and checking out the cool scenery we headed back down the trail. Right after passing through a gate at a fence we took a side trail noted by the Maui Revealed book to get to the Infinity Pool. It was a pretty short side trail. This was cool to check out. The view from on top of this pool was amazing but we were too chicken to get as close to the edge as the people in the picture of the guide book! We took a bunch of photos and headed to the car.

It was around 2:30pm and we started the drive around the other side of the mountains to get to the hotel. We had dinner again at the Banyan Tree and it was wonderful again!

DAY 4 - SUNDAY:

We decided to drive up Haleakala after the breakfast buffet. This morning trip wasn't the best one because it rained practically the entire drive up the mountain! We did take one neat side trip on a dirt road near the Science Place on top though.

After finishing the rainy, mountain drive we decided that we were starved. We went back to Whaler's Village since there were a few good lunch choices there. We read the menus for Hula Grill, Leilani's and Rusty Harpoon. We picked the Rusty Harpoon. They all had good ocean views but their menu had more to choose from. I got a very delicious and spicy Ahi Rollup. Joe got a Club Sandwich. It was all very good! The meals were huge and we wished we had just split one between us.

We had brought "beach stuff" with us so we hung out on Ka'anapali Beach for a few hours. We actually totally lucked out and got these lounge chairs under a blue Whaler's Village umbrella!

Later that night we had reservations at David Paul's in Lahaina. It was extremely easy to find. We had to park in a pay lot ($5 I think). The area reminds me of the French Quarter in New Orleans (except it's a lot cleaner and you're next to a beautiful ocean). We got there at 6pm and it was already getting crowded. The restaurant does not face the ocean so you don't get any nice views but the atmosphere is still nice. The service was very fast and friendly. And the food was fabulous! The Kona lobster crab cake appetizer was soooo good! They also give you fresh French bread with garlic butter on the side. I got Tequila Shrimp with Firecracker Rice and loved it. Joe got Sauteed Mahi Mahi. Both were awesome. We also tried the Road to Hana, Maui dessert -layers of Hawaiian vintage chocolate cake, chocolate sour cream mousse, and macadamia nut caramel - it was awesome! This was definitely my favorite dessert on the island!

DAY 5 - MONDAY:

After our usual early breakfast buffet we headed out towards the West Maui mountain area around 8:30am. This drive was similar to but not nearly as beautiful as Hana Road. We pulled over past the stop for Honolua Bay at an overlook. We took pictures and saw 2 huge turtles playing around in the Bay. We could hardly wait to come back and check them out when we snorkeled there. Next we stopped where the Maui Revealed book said to stop for the Nakalele Blowhole. It was a slight hike down a rocky trail and we couldn't even find the blowhole at first. Then we realized where it was and that it wasn't really "blowing" at the time. I guess we should've paid attention to the idea of coming around high tide! Then we drove over to the area near the Olivine Pools. We followed another couple down a well-marked trail through a grassy area. It quickly turned into a steep, rocky area. Once you get down this you have to go towards the left slightly to get to the pools. The pools seemed pretty shallow to me. There was one deep one that I swam in for a little bit. You could see lots of fish and crabs in these pools. It was neat but I thought the Blue Pool was a lot prettier. By 10am we were parked and walking towards Honolua Bay. I must warn you that there were a ton of cars parked all along the side of the road by this time. We had to walk along the road quite a bit before getting to the trail entrance but not too far (there were only 3 cars parked there when we had passed at 8:30am but now there were at least 15). The trail was a little muddy and you had to cross an ankle-deep stream to get to the bay. The shore of the bay was mostly rocky but there was a good stretch of sandy area too. We had brought snorkeling gear with us and rented fins from the Ritz. It worked out well for us. The snorkeling here was very cool. We saw lots of colorful coral, fish, an eel and a turtle. The crazy part was that some parts of the water was freezing cold while other areas were comfortable. The snorkeling here was probably our favorite activity on Maui (next to the Pipiwai Trail). After 2 hours we went back to the Ritz for lunch at the Beach House again.

After hours of hanging out at the beach we went to our room to figure out dinner. We originally had reservations at Humuhumu...'s in Wailea. But we didn't feel like making the drive so we cancelled it. After calling around to a couple of places (Plantation House and Sansei) and finding out that the earliest reservation available was at 8:30pm anywhere we just decided to go down to eat at Banyan Tree again. Once again this meal was wonderful. I had the special (which changes nightly) of Opah (came with cous cous, shrimp and clams). Joe had Salted Salmon with Salmon Cake. Mine was good but Joe?s was better! Of course we finished the meal off with our beloved vanilla smoothies.


DAY 6 - TUESDAY:

The morning consisted of eating the yummy breakfast buffet and hanging out at the beach.

For lunch we went to the Plantation House restaurant nearby. The surroundings and golf course here are quite beautiful. We got a nice window seat with a gorgeous view of the ocean and Molokai. The atmosphere and service here was wonderful. We got the Sashimi (Cajun spiced) appetizer and thought we were in heaven. I got Mahi sautéed on a bed of lettuce with salsa. Joe got a blackened Ahi sandwich with the crispiest fries I tasted on the whole trip. Both were delicious! We finished off with a HUGE dish of warmed brownie sundae.

Then we had to go back to the Ritz and finish packing. Luckily they had given us a free, late checkout time of 2pm This concluded our wonderful trip to Maui. I already miss it!

Here's a link to some of our photos:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/txc...bum?.dir=/4acb
(Please let me know if this link doesn't work)

Ask any questions or give any comments!

LOVED this trip report! This is exactly the kind of stuff I want to do next time we make it to Maui. Glad you liked David Paul's--I love that place, especially that shrimp dish. MMMMMMmmmmm!

Thanks for sharing!

CajunStorm, wonderful trip report! Only problem is, I WANNA BE THERE!>:o Glad that you liked the Ritz...... a friend found the beach a little bit of a hike, but otherwise loved it also! Your pictures are fabulous (what a handsome couple!) and they brought back lots of memories for me!

Thanks!

How wonderful to return from a week long adventure in Martha's Vineyard MA and read my first fodors trip report in over a week! We to refer to Lahaina with your husbands term. Love that place for about an hour of shopping and then dinner at David Pauls!!! After that - seeya tourist board!!! Parking for the Blue Pool??? alas those days are gone. When I first found them...not a tourist in sight...it was a magical time. And charging for valet...just a shame....BUT won't keep us from going back to our favorite sites.....thanks for bringing me there!!!! Wonderful!

CajunStorm: Thank you for the wonderful trip report. How long would it take us to travel from Mama's and do the blue pool and the Waimoku Falls and then head back to Mama's. We really aren't up for the whole way to Hana trip but would like to experience a few of the best sites (if these are considered the best).

I use Mama's has a starting point because I know how long it takes to get there from our hotel.

And again - thanks for the great trip report.

Oops. I looked in my Revealed book and can see that the Trail is past Hana - we just don't see ourselves spending 7-10 hours of a day in the car. We'll have to do the road another visit.

I really enjoyed reading your nice informative trip report. Brought back fond memories.

Glad you enjoyed hiking the Pipowi/Pipiwai? Trail to Waimoku Falls and snorkeling at Honolua Bay. Those were two of my favorite activities on Maui as well. If you haven't already, you should consider hiking down the Sliding Sands Trail at Haleakala on your next visit to Maui.

travelisfun - glad you enjoyed the report! It makes me "Maui"sick to read through it. :(
I miss that dessert in addition to those shrimp at David Paul's.

bonniebroad - thanks for the compliments. I agree about the hike to the Ritz beach. It's only hard when the sun is blazing hot and/or you just finished a big hike that day!

Nancy03 - I could try to go back through my diary and figure out how long it really took us to get to Blue Pool and the Pipiwai Trail. I think we left the Blue Pool around 10:30 and got to the trail at 11:30. We had spent an hour at the Blue Pool - I don't remember it being far from Mama's - maybe a half hour (with no slowpokes in front of you - I also forgot to mention that my husband drives like a bat out of hell on Hana Road). But it was definitely another hour to get to the trail after Blue Pool.

bluefan - I considered that Sliding Sands trail but Joe wasn't interested (even when I tried to entice him with the idea that it resembled Mars - he's a space-loving geek). ;)

Thanks everyone for reading my post and responding. I enjoy doing it and recommend everyone taking notes since it's a lot of fun to look back and read them in the future.

Hi CajunStorm

I see that you are fellow Dallasits like us. We are planig our first trip to Hawaii in Sept. and are spending 6 of those nights in Maui. It was great reading your wonderful trip report and after looking at the great picutres I can hardly wiat for Sept. to get here :-) We used AA miles for our tickets but they are in coach. We are going to the airport early to see if we can at least get bulk or exit roow ir not upgraded to first (you never know) It looks like we will be on the same flight that you were on. What side of the plane were you on? How great to see a celebrity?

We too are renting from Hertz (though AM Ex points) but no gold card for us though.

We plan to stay at Napili Kai
Beach Resort just one bay over from where you stayed. So we will be in the same area and most likely will have meals at the some of the restaurants you recommended. I too have the Revealed book and plan to take it with us on the Hana raod trip. The only thing we are doing differently is that we are spending one night up in Hana so we don't have to do the trip all in one day. After seeing your pictures we will most devinately stop at the sites you did as they look very interesting. On the next day's trip back to the hotel we plan to stop for lunch at Mama's (less expensive than dinner)

Hopefully when we get back we can post a trip report and pictures for everyone to enjoy.

I forget to to ask you to send me an email to [email protected] if you can as I would like to ask some more questiosn and advice as our trip gets nearer.

Thanks

Kay

Cajun Storm, that's one of the best TR's yet and thanks for all the details. Your notes on timing are especially helpful and I imagine only possible 'cause you wrote them down right away.

Hi, Cajun. Fellow Louisianian here and have a question for you. How was the beach at the Ritz, how far of a walk (and how inconvenient) to the beach, how was the OV room and, finally, how was the water and weather at Kapalua.

Thanks.

Hi errousseau11

What part of Louisiana are you from?

I will try to answer your questions and will be glad to answer more of them if you have any. The Ritz beach was very pretty and sort of isolated from public reach (I think there is one access far off to the right that a lot of locals use but they don't really come near the part in front of the hotel). There are usually lots of waves right there but on our last visit it was very swimmable (not good snorkeling at all though). When we were there one November the waves were very high and you couldn't really get out in the water very far. It's quite windy on the beach constantly but this felt refreshing to me while laying out. I don't know if you saw my other post regarding the Ritz but they do not allow you to put their lounge chairs on the beach anymore. They are located in area directly "over" the beach (not on sand - either concrete or grass) but still great views. There a few chairs with umbrellas/cabanas but not many near the beach (much more of them around the pools). The walk down to the beach isn't too bad - it takes a few minutes going downhill. The golf carts do run back and forth pretty constantly to bring you (I would ask the bartender at the Beach House if you don't see one and would like to wait for a ride going back up). The water felt really nice - always shockingly cool right at first but just right after a while.

The weather was a different story. On our last trip it rained almost every morning! It even rained a couple of evenings too (around 5pm). But the rain usually ended after an hour. It would stay cloudy for a while and then clear up. We did have a couple of days where the clouds completely disappeared in the morning and it was a bright sunny day though. But I must say the temperatures were perfect every day and sometimes almost chilly cool during the rain. The best part about the rain was the abundance of rainbows and huge waterfalls. During our November trip we didn't get any rain at all and there were always just some white clouds hanging out. It was a little hotter and we didn't see as many or nearly as big of waterfalls.

Our ocean view room at the Ritz was pretty nice. I was quite happy with the view. We stayed in the Napili wing and our room faced "inside" the resort and toward the ocean (wonderful view of waves crashing on beach in addition to the lovely sound of the waves). The balcony was a really good size with table and chairs with foot rests. The actual room was an ok size (still bummed about not getting that suite!). The bathroom looked pretty but wasn't very user friendly for 2 people simultaneoulsy - only one power outlet and low lighting.

CajunStorm, so you're saying that it rained every morning, on your last trip, but it stopped after about an hour? I always stay in Wailea, but I think, during July/August/September, it would be nice to stay in Kapalua, with the slightly cooler, breezier weather......... and I would also like a breezy beach. For me, the rainbows would be worth the rain. Obviously, you must like the weather in the area, else you wouldn't have gone back. Thanks for that explicit info...... :-)

Cajun Storm, loved your trip report. I'm going to go look at your pictures. We're heading from Houston to Honolulu for 5 days (brother is there) then to Maui for 5 days. Our kids ages 9 and 11 are going with us. I really appreciate the detail you gave and have been struggling with doing Hana, all or part way. Any thoughts? Thanks again.

My wife and I were both born and raised in Baton Rouge. We reluctantly left 13 years ago, but go back often and keep the culinary traditions alive in our Atlanta Georgia home. I also continue to hold on to my 4 season tickets to LSU games. Geaux Tigers.

Debbie13207 - I would at least do part of the Hana road trip. My best advice is to read through the Maui Revealed book and various fodor's posts and pick the sights that seem the most interesting/adventurous for you and your family. Otherwise it's just as easy to start the drive and stop off at the obvious stops for the various waterfalls to see if you how far you feel like going after a while. I say this because I'm not sure how 5 and 9 yr olds will hold out on the long driving! ;)


erousseau11 - LSU is no stranger to me. Both my brother and sister go to LSU dental in N.O. so my entire family has become LSU groupies. I hear ya about missing the food there. I'm hard-pressed in finding GOOD, spicy seafood places in the Dallas area too. I met my husband here and I had to teach him how to eat boiled crawfish!!!

Did you purchase your airline tickets from Dallas to Kahului and then use your miles to upgrade to first class? Was it difficult to do? I've had a terrible time trying to use my miles with Delta and am thinking about changing airlines!

Ok, I just looked at your AWESOME pictures and I have one question: what time of day were you at most of these waterfalls? I can't believe there's not a single SOUL in any of your pictures except you guys - even the blue pool! Every single photo looks like places that are completely deserted! Amazing...

crazy4Hawaii - yes, we purchased our tickets through American Airlines and then got on the phone to use our miles to upgrade. You really have to try to do this ahead of time as they only allow so many "mile upgrade" seats on each flight. We only booked out 3 months in advance so I think we were pretty lucky this time. I must admit that we have had to call back several times on other trips to try and use the miles though (sometimes depends on if a "nice" person helps you).

tstrohn - it is soooo funny that you noticed the lack of people in the photos! At Waimoku Falls there really wasn't anyone at the bottom of the falls while we were right there. This was around 12:30. Now at both Blue Pool and the Olivine Pools there were 2-7 others there at the same time BUT my very patient DH would wait for them to leave or have me jump in at an opportune moment. It really made me wonder why some folks left so quickly after checking out those beautiful sights - I had to swim/hang out for a while at each one!

Oh the other extremely deceptive photos are the ones taken at Ka'anapali - there were TONS of people there - somehow (and I swear not planned at those time) we didn't get the people at that exact moment...