We will be meeting our kids and grandchildren in Maui over Thanksgiving vacation. They will be staying at the Aston Mahana at Kaanapoli, a condo....we would prefer more amenities for ourselves (restaurants, etc.) and our family could take advantage of pools, etc. What hotels nearby do you recommend ? The Westin or Sheraton or even the Hyatt are huge but it might be fun for the kids. Is one more desirable than another? The Ritz Carlton seems to be further away. We were on 4 islands 20 years ago...we loved the big island, Hawaii, most of all...this will be a whole different experience.

The Westin and the Hyatt are both big and "glitzy" with great pools. The Sheraton is much more low-key. The Westin has the advantage of being right next door to the Whaler's Village Shopping Center (restaurants, shopping, coffee, drinks, etc.) The Hyatt has the narrowest beach (or maybe even none), whereas the Sheraton has the widest beach (and is right at Black Rock -- great snorkeling -- which also means very crowded on that part of the beach). The Ritz Carlton is newly redone. It's only about a 10-minute drive, maybe less.

Oh, by the way, the Aston Mahana, although technically on Kaanapali Beach, is actually on the part that is north of Black Rock. The main part of Kaanapali Beach, the part you can walk from one end to the other, runs from the Hyatt to the Sheraton.

Last time I walked on the beach in front of the Mahana ( Jan/2010), it had a steep drop off as you enter the water and lots of pebbles in the sand underwater that are not comfortable to walk on. So IMO, if this is still the case, this is not a very good beach for children. The beach in front of the Sheraton, next to Black Rock, is very sandy with a more gradual deepening as you walk in the water and hence better for kids. The pools at the Sheraton are nice but they are not specifically designed for kids like the pools at the Westin or the Hyatt which have the water slides and other fun kid stuff.
The Ritz is a beautiful resort but not directly on a beach and designed more for adults looking for a quiet, peaceful respite rather than for kids.

The Ritz-Carlton beach is down a big hill from the hotel. It almost doesn't seem like the hotel has a beach. I don't particularly like the setting for the RC for a family.

monterybob-You're right about the beach being narrow and having a steep drop off right in front of the Mahana but all we did was walk a little to the South and the beach was fine.

To get from the Mahana to the Whaler's Village area is about 3 miles and we always drove. But someone told me there is a new boardwalk that will enable you to walk from the Mahana to Black Rock.

The pools at The Sheraton are nothing special, but the beach is the best of all the hotels you mentioned for kids. And if you can reserve oceanfront rooms in Building Six, which is the closest building to Black Rock, you will feel as if you are literally right over the water. However, be prepared to walk- even to the hotel lobby. The Sheraton is quite spread out, and you will definitely get a workout in just going back and forth to the beach/pool/restaurants, unless you are in the main building closest to the lobby.

Paula is correct about the new boardwalk. It starts a little south of the Mahana and goes by the new Dukes Restaurant --- which BTW is wonderful.

Just curious. How long does it take to walk from the Mahana to Dukes?

Although they are booked already, I just got this email alert

http://www.astonhotels.com/aston/spe...ohaSpecials.do

Paula: about 5-10 minutes. This new Dukes is great. Wonderful food and views and much more serene and peaceful setting than the other Dukes spots. I have a goal to go to everyone of the 13 Dukes restaurants --- so far I'm at 7.

I just got an e-mail from Kaanapali Ali'i which is where we stayed last year. It's a gorgeous luxury apartment complex on one of the nicest parts of Kaanapali Beach, and the boardwalk which connects to all the hotels plus Whaler's Village runs right in front of it. Anyway, they are running a special on garden and oceanfront one bedrooms until mid-December, and the pricing makes it a better deal than any of the hotels on the boardwalk. Just thought I'd mention it in case it's of interest...

A question here ... if the grandparents are staying in one of the luxury hotels, and the rest of the family is in a condo, is the hotel going to allow the family from the condo to use their pool? I didn't think they would do that. For the OP's sake, I hope I'm wrong. (The hotels I've stayed in though are usually very strict about that kind of thing ... if you're not staying there, you don't swim in their pools, usually.)

My experience at Kaanapali hotels and pools is this: They don't police swimmers very much but they do require armbands for the waterslides. The hotels are happy for the income that they get from non-guests who spend money on food and drinks at their poolside. It couldn't hurt to ask if the hotel would extend the courtesy of giving water slide armbands to the grandkids.

Good point, elsiemoo. Security was pretty tight at Kaanapali Ali'i and also at The Sheraton, where we saw a family without ID turned away after trying to secure poolside chairs.