I'm also tracking air flights to Hawaii for a July visit and waiting for them to drop. At the moment, I see prices going into May, so I believe March may be the month! Or at least I hope so! What I've done is sign up for any and every tracking service I can find (Travelocity, Cheap Tickets, Expedia etc) as well as the airline sites. You can also sign up at the various hotel sites and have them email you of any specials. I'm not interested in a condo, although that's my personal preference. So if you're a "I Want a Hotel ONLY" person, my advice is to monitor the hotels you're interested too in and if you see a great price in the time frame you're interested in BOOK IT. Of course, ONLY do this after you inquire a) if a deposit is required and b) how far in advance you must cancel before being charged. Priceline is also an option, although I'm not interested in that either. IMO, the big sticking point at the moment is airfare. I think once we see the summer specials, all of us waiting will have a better feel for how much our vacations will really cost. Until then, patience, grasshoppers. Patience (where ARE those $%*% summer fares!!! LOL).

Thank you for everyone's reply. I have been doing a lot of research from different places, including expedia. I'm not sure about priceline but if it's cheap and it's trustworthy, I would do it. I would be willing to fly out of anywhere in Texas-mainly I've been checking out of Dallas and Houston airports. Most packages I've been checking on are packages-including the airfare, a cheaper hotel, and car rental. Usually it ends up at $2000-$2600 and if we add meals onto that (I've heard prices are high in Hawaii) and and tours, that's how I'm figuring we would need $4000. This is for five nights. Maybe I'm overestimating things?

The tours I'm mostly interested in are one helicopter tour (to see the island) and one hike to the waterfalls, and possibly a sunset cruise on the night of our actual anniversary. I could skimp on those, but if I'm going I would want to do at least the helicopter tour.

I would definitely be willing to stay in a condo or even a B&B-it doesn't have to be a resort. I will check into those websites. I'm also still trying to decide between Maui and the Big Island or even Kauai-probably whichever is cheapest.

I guess I thought the best thing to do was to just get a package deal but now it sounds like it might be better to book air fare and hotel or condo separately. Thank you everyone for your reply and thank you for giving me hope. I'll keep checking but will wait until after spring break or easter before I decide.

For islands to consider I would stick with Maui or Kauai. Maui has the most activities to offer at your fingertips. Kauai has stunning scenery but less activities and is a smaller though beautiful island.

With regard to packages on expedia or airline websites, I have always found we could beat the package prices by researching and booking each item individually. It can be alot of work to find condo availability coinciding with a cheap flight but as you gain experience it gets easier.

With regard to car rentals, Alamo and Dollar have online reservations and periodically special rates for Hawaii and you can reserve a car without paying, and if you find a better price you can cancel the previous reservation and rebook the lower rate.

If you pick a copy of the www.wizardpub.com guidebooks for Maui(i.e.,Maui Revealed) or Kauai inexpensively available at Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstores, they list alot of condo's and activity vendors and prices, and you can usually beat the condo prices by hunting online at www.vrbo.com for example. We usually go in Feb-March, and Oct-Nov. so don't know about summertime prices. Hang in there and feel free to ask more questions about individual properties/flights/rentals

jwnismo

If you don't mind me asking, what dates are you looking at for June?

Hi jwnismo

I agree with everyone above especially with the gal who said put it in you budget. We travel with our 5 kids and 4000.00 is about what we paid last time we went. I would also join a airlines club like Hawaiian and see if you get any special deals there. As far as the sunset cruise, we took one (without the kids) and I found it less then desirable. I wish now we had doen the helicopter tour instead.

If is just you and your hubby I think you will be able to find great deals. My friend took her and her 3 kids and did a lot of stuff on Priceline for cheap. The condo route is the best but remember food over there is sooo expensive. Good luck!

jwnismo-Have you tried Continental or American Airline Vacations for a package? Or Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays? Here is their website: http://www.pleasantholidays.com/Plea...Web/Welcome.do Sometimes you can get package deals less than doing it yourself. I would also check travelocity.com and expedia.com. I saw one of them has Hawaii on sale when I was checking airfare the other day.

Janny, the dates we are looking at are June 21-June 26. We're pretty set on our days because of work and vacation time, but might could change them by a day or two.

One more suggestion. Hawaii is also high on our "must go" list. What we decided to do is a cruise -- there's a lot of capacity out there now, which means prices are competitive, and often so are their air packages. Check out cruisecritic.com for info and helpful links to discounters.

A cruise will give us a flavor of each island (without the repacking and lost flight time), so that when we go back we'll know where we want to spend more time.

Your best bet if you are looking to save money is to stay on Oahu. You'll find cheaper accomodations due to the competition(please don't stay at anything less than a 3-star). And the variety of places to eat are greater. For a first time visitor Oahu has the most must cultural sites to visit. If you are looking for night life (you did say No-Kids) Waikiki is bustling through the morning, while its lights out by 10:30 on Maui & Kauai.
For the most bang for your dollar go to Oahu. After you've been hooked on Hawaii, come back & vist the other islands.

Hi jwnismo - we're like you - no kids and middle class. But we are able to take great trips just by budgeting and doing tons of research. The internet is your friend!

Its too late for this trip, but I would recommend getting a credit card that gives you miles. We have the AA citibank M/C. My husband and I have used miles to go to Cayman, last year Hawaii, and in May we're going to Belize. Even with everyday use (charge everything!) you can build up at least enough for one ticket and purchase another if needed. We gutted and remodeled our kitchen and put on a new roof and was able to charge everything. We were going to take out a home equity loan anyway, so then just used those checks to pay off the credit card - we ended up getting our Belize tickets from most of that.

Another thing is try to book a condo - you can stay at some awesome condos for much cheaper than just a basic room at a fancy hotel. Plus you save money by having a kitchen so you can buy groceries and eat cheapies for breakfast and lunch and then enjoy a nice dinner.

If you pick Kauai, you can do your hike to the waterfalls for free along the Napali Coast.

And since its your anniversary, make sure you mention that, sometimes you can get an upgrade or free drink or something. Never hurts to ask!

Congrats and hope you can work something out!