My dream vacation is to go to hawaii for my ten year anniversary this June. We never had a honeymoon and the only other place I've been to is Cozumel. It sounds a lot like you travel a lot and I was wondering what I'm doing wrong? I'm middle class, no kids, bills of course, but can't ever seem to get it together and take a nice trip for myself. From all the packages I've looked at so far (and believe me I've done extensive research) I've come up with with it being $4000+ for two people (for a 1 or 2 star hotel) if you count money that we'll need to spend there to eat and tours. That is steep to me, and that is leaving from Texas. Someone told me to wait after spring break because prices will go down. Is that true? Should I wait a while longer in hopes that I can find something cheaper? Is there anything cheaper out there or is that the kind of money I'll have to spend-(and this is on the cheap end)-to visit hawaii? How much money should I budget for a nice trip to Hawaii, at a decent resort, to see decent tours?

Aloohaaa,
You sound like us! Never had a HM since we barely had two nickels to rub together and used any money we got to buy a washer and drier. (Damn practicality!)
We thought we were the only people in Calif that had never been to Hawaii so for our 10th anniv in '89, we went to Kauai/Molokai and Oahu.

We went thru a TA friend of ours who knew it was our 10th anniv and took extra special care of us. We've been going back ever since.

Have you tried Priceline, Hotwire, Orbitz, Travelocity et al "air+hotel" packages? I've used them to go to Chicago and New Orleans and they were pretty good.

Waiting until after Easter has always been our rule of thumb for summer travel.
Good luck and remember...sometimes ya just gotta say "WTF" and go!

LOL, thanks Kal...I won't give up yet. I guess I just feel like after Easter is a long time to wait to be booking travel in June. I feel like I need to plan it way in advance, but if it saves money that's definitely what I'll do.

Look at Your Man tours. They advertise in our Sunday paper travel section and seem to be cheaper than others.

The Maui Kai has a honeymoon/anniversary special for seven nights. It includes a studio (with kithen) or one bedroom with kitchen), convertible rental car, and your choice of a Hawaiian Luau or dinner cruise for rates as low as $1535, depending on the time of year. Check out their website www.mauikai.com and you can read posts about this property by doing a search on Mauikai. This is a start!

I've said before and will now again, condo's are the way save on Hawaii.

The way I figure it, you could spend ~$1300 per 2 people RT from (IAH)Houston to OGG (Maui) and ~100-~$150 per night for a 1BR condo on Maui (x7 days=~$1000). Would also recommend splurging at a resort for a night (~$300/night) (e.g. Grand Wailea). The total flight + housing=~$2600, which is much less than 4K, and IMHO just being in Hawaii is a special treat, you do not to spend all your time in a resort.

You can find condo's in Hawaii at www.vrbo.com, or search this site or internet.

jwnismo - you don't say how long you plan to stay in hawaii. It is definitely possible to go for less than $4K. I agree with John about condos - we've never stayed in a hotel in hawaii. Also never taken a tour. Basic expenses are airfare, condo, car rental and food (well, and mai tais...). Keep checking the airfares for specials and be prepared to jump on a good fare when you see it - they disappear fast. Sign up for Fare Watcher on Travelocity or similar services on other websites. they will send you an email when fares drop. Hang in there - you'll make it!

$4000??? We've done TWO trips to Hawaii for that! Last year the two of us did a six-night trip to Oahu and airfare (for 2), hotel (at a 3*) and car was about $1600 TOTAL + spending money = $2000. Book your air via Hawaiian Airline's website and book your hotel & car on Priceline, but only after doing your homework at Biddingfortravel.com. Follow these steps and you'll be just fine - and you'll be able to take two trips for $4K!

$4000 for how long a visit ?

Do you have to pay high fares from some small Texas airport in the middle of nowhere, or what?

Houston to Honolulu runs $800 per person air & hotel for a 2-3star in June.

jwnismo: One can divide people into two groups -- those who budget for a vacation every year and those who don't. Many people discover they actually have the money for a vacation if they simply include the expense in their yearly budget. It might entail doing without a few dinners out every month, or other expenses during the year.

As for $4000, the other response is correct -- two people can easily do Hawaii for a week or 10 days for a lot less than that. Our 9-day trip just last month cost the two of us $1950 (not including food or tours). Add another $100/day for food, tours and extras (on average) and you're looking at less than $3000.

High season in Hawaii is from mid-December to mid-January, although the islands begin to get crowded right around Thanksgiving. Avoid going any time between mid-November through the end of January, and preferably wait until after Easter. Good deals are much more plentiful in the off-season.

If you are really serious about traveling, here's what you can do: track the price from your airport to Honolulu daily. (Try orbitz.com) Take the cheapest flight you can find, even if you have to change planes. Today, for instance the fares for June were about $650rt Houston to Honolulu with one stop. Sometimes you can find really cheap fare via Aloha or Hawaiian airlines out of Oakland or other California cities. You could watch for a cheap fare Houston to California and catch that flight to Hawaii. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's kind of fun, like a treasure hunt.

Anyway, to avoid paying extra to fly to another island, get yourself the cheapest rental car you can find (around $160/week) and drive to your rental house on the windward side or north shore of Oahu. Here's one for $800 a week:
http://www.vrbo.com/28246
or for $525 a week: http://www.keikibeach.com/garden/pikake.htm
Since you have your own kitchen you can pick up groceries instead of eating out. There are also tons of cheap eateries where you can get $5.00 plate lunches which will keep you full all day. You don't need the expensive luau, or the expensive activities. Just being there is so wonderful, you just want to relax without all that running around. You can get cheap souvenirs at the ABC, or forget them altogether.

So, $1300 for two airfare, $160 car rental, $600 house rental, (perhaps $200 on food?) maybe $200 more on sundries...for $2500 you can have a wonderful week if you are willing to cut corners.

$4,000. That is pretty steep. We've been a few times and trust me, I would never pay that much. How long do you plan on staying? We normally stay in Maui. Let me know the dates you are looking at? We usually stay in a condo. We love the condo atmosphere. This way we can save on food. Like we cook breakfast in the mornings. Last year our condo property even had barbecue grills onsite. We barbecued in the evening some nights. I'm sure with all our help on this forum, we can get you to Hawaii for under $4,000. You may find better deals to Oahu. Also, which part of Texas are you flying out of?

I forgot to mention in my previous thread is to check expedia.com Sometimes they have great airfare "specials" to Hawaii.

Hi there,

Just a couple of thought.
First, you live in Texas, AA is based in Dallas, so that usually keeps the fares low, and priceline, yes, the way to go. Also if you go through AAvacations, you can make payments,that gives you some extra time. just some thoughts, good luck,
Liz

jwnismo-Your story is very familiar. I'm working on the same thing for June but it's my 20th. If you scuba Hawaii does not compare to Cozumel so don't expect that but it is nice. I live in central Texas so I check San Antonio, Austin, DFW and Houston, on orbitz, travelocity etc.. my trip will be for 16 days 3 island and so far I've found airfare + interisland for $820 pp I beleive in March it will come down more. I'm with you in waiting until after easter it seems kind of late(scary) Anyway good luck if I find anything great I'll post something.

jwinismo - We are planning 10 day to Maui in October and are not finding any better results than you. We will be flying from Nashville. Right now flights hover around ~$600pp. We are tracking HOU, LAX, Sacramento, San Diego, etc. as sometimes you can get cheap flights there but then when we price from there to Maui it ends up being as expensive as RT from Nashville. HELP!!

We have NOT had good experiences with Priceline. We always end up getting "double booked" by Priceline and then the hotel. Doubt we will try it for airfare or rental car as we don't want a "foiled" trip. Good luck and post back with your results.

Oh my goodness, absolutely you can do Hawaii for under $4,000. What website are you looking at? How long do you plan on staying? The tours can be costly. It depends on how many tours you plan on doing. Please be more specific on what tours, airline, island and hotel you are looking at.

I won priceline bid for june $52.00 a night 3 star hotel ends up to be Radisson. Always a good name hotel. Even if it ends up a stinker most Name brands will make it up anywhere. Might give it a try. Ok to wait on airfare but afraid to wait on accomodations. I think I'll pick my travel dates and arrange airfare around that.