Grand Wailea & Kea Lani
 

Any experiences with food costs and choices for families with young teens at these resorts. Are there places to eat non-gourmet food when needed, especially for things like breakfast & lunch. How bad are the prices? <BR> <BR>Any opinions on which resort is better for a family with several young teens who would be bored with the "children" programs. Thanks in advance.

Grand Wailea has the killer pool so I think teens would love that and the grounds are so huge they will feel at home there to roam around. Grand Wailea is really so worth going to. <BR> <BR>Food is crazy priced. I found that going to the grocery and loading up on soda, bottled water etc for drinks and having a cooler in the room saves lots of money. Have snacks for the room as well. We found that going to a huge buffet breakfast and having a snack in the room around 4 and then going out for dinner saves on cash. However teens eat all the time. There is a Denny's in Lahaina. You will have to drive to get any kind of reasonably priced food in Wailea area. We were just in Cancun, at the Ritz Carlton, and the prices along the hotel strip were higher than in Hawaii. Crazy priced for everything. That is all part of being in paradise. Enjoy your trip.

My husband and I stayed at the Kea Lani for our honeymoon 5 years ago. We loved it, but I don't know that it would be a good choice for a family. It is very quiet, mostly honeymooners. The hotel restaurant was expensive. We ate at the Chart House restaurant which is directly outside of the Kea Lani and the Four Seasons. It has excellent steaks and seafood, at somewhat more reasonable prices. The South side (where both of your hotels are located) is the quiet side of the island. Your family might enjoy a drive over to the North side and Kaanapali Beach, where they have a Planet Hollywood, ice cream shops, and arcades.

I guess it depends on when you go because we took our kids in the summer and did not at all feel out of place at the Kea Lani, actually I found quite a few families there because of the suite style accomodations. It is a very nice property as is the Grand Wailea. The Grand was 200.00 more at the time than the Kea Lani. Cheap places to eat? You do have a little frig, coffee maker, micro and sink and that is, I guess, why we chose the Kea Lani. They have a gourmet deli there called Caffe Ciao where you can pick up cold salads, great sandwiches, and muffins, etc. Prices were pricier that a grocery but food was actually better and not as expensive than in a restaurant. We bought cereal, etc. in nearby Kihei and stalked up the frig with pop, etc. Nice, big balcony with tables and chairs to eat. In the evening there was pizza, etc. which again would be moderately priced. We also ate at Sandcastles in the nearby Wailea shopping village that the kids could take a shuttle(free) to from the hotel...although they have been closed for renovations, due to open soon, or maybe now oen??? The Maui Onion at the nearby Renaissance Wailea poolside is supposed to have the best rings, fries and burgers on the island although we never made it there. In nearby Kihei there are fast food restaurants. We ate the Renaissance"s Palm court once and the food was good and entrees then were 10-20. Hope this helps.

The Grand Wailea would be great for teens. There are waterslides throughout the resort, secret caves and jacuzzis. The Maui onion is good for burgers at the Renaissance.

If you can take a short drive into Kihei you will find the "affordable" places to eat that you are looking for. In particular, Alexander's Fish and Chips (which serves a variety of inexpensive fish items) and Maui Tacos.

Hmm, did I get it right? If you are concerned with food costs, it seems to me that dinner is where you get the big savings. In any case, the best chance of saving food cost within Kea Lani, as other poster said, is to use the take out deli at Cafe Chao. Whether it is a good value depends on what you consider to be worth paying for. The sandwiches are all prepackaged beforehand, not made to order. <BR> <BR>Regarding choices for young teens. You did not say boys or girls. We took our teen girls just last week to Kea Lani, they were just happy to be laying around the pool and taking occasional dips. We took several walks along the beach to Grand Wailea. It seemed there were noticably more teen boys hanging around the numerous pools at the hotel.