Hi Everyone,

First of all, let me just say that I am blown away by the wealth of information that is in this forum!

My husband and I are finally planning are honeymoon, after spending the days after our wedding in the hospital and the next few months in rehab - he had the ACL knee surgery, and now he's doing well and we both can’t wait for the trip.

We are planning 10 days (9 nights) at the end of September, Sep. 24th – Oct. 3rd. From what we have read this far we would like to divide our time between Maui and Kauai. We love nature, although will not be able to do strenuous hikes. The plan now is to fly to Maui and out from Honolulu. Other than that we are open.

I have a few questions which I hope you can help me figure out and of course any other recommendation/tip/though would be wonderful:
• How many nights should we spend on each island?
• Is it possible to stay in one location on each island and drive to all the sites? If so, which side of the islands would you recommend?
• Is doing a zip-line tour dangerous with bad knees?
• Where would the best Luau be?
• We are scheduled to fly out at 8:00pm on October 3rd from Honolulu. Would it be worth it to fly in early order to have ½ a day or so to tour the city or stay on Kauai/Maui until the last minute we can?
• If we choose to splurge on a resort for a few of the nights, having the honeymoon excuse and all, what 3 options would be first on your list?
• Which beaches would be best for swimming and/or snorkeling this time of year?

I think that’s enough for now  Thank you so much, in advance and I can’t wait to read even more!

First of all congratulations, I am not an expert but have been a couple of times so can give you my two cents  .
1. In my opinion minimum of 4 nights I much prefer five nights.
2. Maui yes, you can most people stay on the West side. I stay on one side of the island when visiting Kauai but a lot of the people here suggest dividing your time while in Kauai so you should really decide what you want to do while there and see if it worth it to you to split your time.
3. Can’t help you here
4. I really enjoyed Old Lahaina Luau in Maui
5. Only problem here is what will you do with your luggage? You could rent a car and keep it in your trunk if that is the case do so, other alternative would be to fly into Honolulu day before spend the day you could leave your luggage at your hotel even after check out and pick it up on your way to the airport.
6. Here I will only give you one for two of the islands you will visit in Kauai Princeville was awesome and I really loved the Westin Maui Resort & Spa.
7. I don’t snorkel so for what I do in the beaches they are all great Makena in Maui is really nice also Poipu beach in Kauai is calm.
Hope this helps a little I always enjoy reading trip reports from other travelers and make my notes and come back with questions later. Have fun planning!
Gina

FlyingB:
THe Princeville (not called St. Regis) is not scheduled to open until 10/09 (according to starwood website) sorry about that either way am sure you will get lots of more help.
Gina

I'd say split the time between the two island. You can drive anywhere on kauai or Maui in one day, but it might be fun in Kauai to split your time north/south. Or spend a night in Hana on Maui.

I would definitely not do a zip-line with a bum knee. THe landing could be bad...

I'd fly into Honolulu early in the morning. Rent a car and visit some of our sights: Arizona Memorial, Iolani Palace, Bishop Museum, Noth Shore, Waikiki, Byodo-In temple, etc. Not all of them! Other wise, leave kauai a little earlier than you have to, as you don't want a flight delay to cause you to miss your mainland flight.

Old Lahaina Luau on Maui is a good one. Better choice: look for a church or school luau.
Surf may be slightly rougher on south side of all islands in late September.

Wow you are quick! Thanks so much. Keeping your suggestions in mind, maybe we'll end with Kauai - two night in the south and two last night of the trip (October) at the st. Regis... No zip-line that's for sure. and the day with the car is definitely on our radar now. Thanks again and if you think of anything else I'll be reading

If you do end up in Hana, a great place for your splurge would be The Hotel Hana Maui. It is a fantastic, low-key and romantic place to spend a few days. We've been twice and intend to go back.

How many nights would you recommend at Hotel Hana - 2 or 3? (Would 2 be enough or would it seem too rushed?)

Two would be great given the total amount of time that you're going to be in Hawaii. That would give you one full day to do some exploring around the area. If you can afford it, the Sea Ranch Cottages are the way to go. They had a promotion going that if you used an Amex card they give a complimentary room upgrade. Check the website for deals too. They often have specials that can save lots of $$ of the rack rates.

Remember you are on your honeymoon. Do you really want to do all that driving. If you are dividing you time between 2 islands then check in a stay unpacked 4 days on each island is good. Rent a car and drive around. Oahu traffic can be awful and driving around before catching aplane might be stressful if you get caught in traffic. Kauai is my favorite island and do not go any where else now. Princeville and Poipu are the 2 hot spots. Poipu generally has better weather but I think a bit more crowded. There are some wonderful resorts or private condo's to rent and the Hyatt at Poipu Beach is a must to at least see for the beauty of the old hawaii feel. Have stayed there but it is very expensive. Go for dinner or at least drinks. You can zip line and go tubing in Kauai. Did the tubing a couple of years ago on our anniversary and it was fun, fun, fun. Have friends who did the zipline and they loved it but I agree I wouldn't try it with bad knees. As far as Luau is concerned, they are very touristy but if that's your thing go for it.
Can't speak for Maui as haven't been in years as I find it too crowded and touristy. kauai in IMHO is the best. Congratulations on the recovery and honeymoon

Don't be in a real rush to get to Hana-make sure you allow time for pulling off the road-(where you can) and exploring the trails nearby.And I would not make the return drive at night.

And on Luau's...Old Lahaina Luau is probably #1 in all of Hawaii...I would not miss it!

Thank you so much for the good wishes and the great input. I think we'll stay in one place on Maui, we'll start early for Hana taking into consideration Randyforgt suggestion not to do the drive at night. Definitely book a boat tour of Na Pali and maybe skip the Luau.

We received a gift from my parents a few days ago and will be spending two nights that the Grand Hyatt in Kauai. Can’t wait!!!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.