Kauai - Hyatt or the Princeville?
 

I have heard that the weather on the North side by the Princeville is less sunny/stable - more prone to rain. Is this true? Is the resort more intimate and cozy that the Hyatt? Less children? Any opinions on the differences between the two and which would be better for a honeymoon would be great. Thanks.

Hey LoriDori (love the name)

When is your honeymoon? I split my time at both the Princeville and the Hyatt on my honeymoon in June 2001. If you are going in the summer - all I can say about the Hyatt is children, children EVERYWHERE. If you are going at a different time, this may not be the case.

Please realize that you are going to get a million different opinions on which is better. My vote is for the Princeville all they way if you are going during the summer months. I've only been in June, so I am unfamiliar with the weather during the winter months. I personally didn't like the Hyatt (other than the beautiful grounds).

Returned yesterday from the Princeville. Having stayed at both, I would say the Princeville is a little more "cozy" and ALOT less children.
The views at the Princeville are incredible. As for waether, don't know when your going, but its a crap shoot.
Out of the six days we were there, it poured all day one day, was overcast most of the time on three, and partly sunny the last two. Regardless of weather, IMO for a honeymoon, it would be had to top the Princville.

We stayed at the Hyatt last July/August and loved it! We did not feel the place was overrun by kids. Sure, there were children there and sometimes you could hear one being cranky and getting hyper. The place is big enough with nooks and crannies that we always found a place for peace and quiet and did have to
hunt for it. We never moved locations by the pool or beach due to noisy neighbors or inconsiderate people. They do have an adults only pool too, which by the way we never felt the need to use. We would go back in a minute!

Thanks for responding! We will be honeymooning in July/August this year. I am very torn btw these two as i love the sound of the smaller resort with the possibility of less children but I am a HUGE sun person! Our first trip together was ruined by bad weather (we were on a cruise and weather was so bad the ship could not dock anywhere to allow us to get off at any of our destinations). I also tend to get chili at night. But I am also a Starwood member so it works out to be cheaper if we stayed at Princeville! So confused. The weather is what is holding me back I think - how far would we have to drive for nice weather/beach/swimming/sun?

I to asked this question of everyone except I have kids. Since we to are a starwood member we opted for the Princeville. We hope there are some kids, but plan on being so active we will not be at the hotel to much anyways. After all the responses on how beautiful the Northshore is we are excited to stay there.
Do not go end of May as I will be there with my 5 kids! Have fun! I bet you are as excited as we are.

Hahaha - thank you Momof5. Don't get me wrong, we love kids but we have soooo many in the fam that the honeymoon will be our only retreat. Have you heard anything about the weather there?

Those Starwood Preferred rooms go fast. Using my SPG card I got a quote of $293. for the least expensive room 8 months before travel. I checked a month later and the least expensive room was over $400. So decide quickly! Does anyone know what percentage of rooms are alloted the SPG rate at any one time? I ended up getting a better deal at the Hyatt and am very satisfied. The weather should be lovely on the north shore during July and August.

Its about a hours drive to the sunny south coast from Princeville

In summer the weather would be ok up north. We just returned from the Hyatt Kauai yesterday. We loved it. A handful of very well behaved kids, but it IS winter. We went to the Princeville for a drink and dinner and found it to not be very well maintained or clean. Stucco had fallen off wall, painting was needed, the Cafe Hanalei where we were seated at opening time had bread under a table, what appeared to be some type of food smeared on the marble (I mean, they were opening for the first time that day - someone should be sweeping and wiping down)the staff was very snooty and we heard the same from other people around the island. There were a couple of kids at the Princeville that we saw.

LoriDori, I am glad you can take a joke. After reading my thread I thought I hope she knows I was just kidding. Isn't it terrible that with or without kids picking a hotel is such a pain. They are soooo expensive it a shame when they are not worth the price. This last thread got me worried but oh well we already booked. My hubby wants lush tropical and rain foresty. So we are risking it all on the local. We have thought of spending 5 nights on the Northshore and 2 nights at the Hyatt. Oh well. I have stayed in many Luxury Collection hotels and never not once did I find them anything less then fantastic!

I stayed at the Princeville in August and the weather was great. However, I do not think I would stay there again as you can not swim in the ocean at their beach, there are too many rocks/reef.

To me an important consideration is that the Hyatt is closer to many more good restaurants, more shopping, and more island attractions.

Never stayed at the Princeville but had a guest card so hung out there a bit during five visits. It was getting a bit rundown, dirty stucco kind of stuff as of 2.02. It is much more quiet than the zoo of the south shore, probably more romantic. The swimming is not great, more of a pool place although the beach is nice. The Anini public beach 10 miles to the east is LARGE and in a secluded bay and wonderful. There is snorkeling and surfing to the west. The restaurants in Hanelai (think Peter, Paul, Mary and Puff) offer diversity and good to great food. South Pacific was reportedly filmed here, Bali Hai is scenic and there is a restaurant at the golf course with a sunset view of it, better than the Princeville view altho the bar is wonderful at Pville. The south has Poipu where you can walk on top of the snorkelers, no need to rent equipment. If you want more "stuff" to do, the south offers more (and a better selection of local ice cream flavors) but the north is more intimate. The Prince golf course will eat you up, takes a lot of balls to play. Take the catamaran tour of the North Coast (Juraisic Park) from the harbor, it's mostly sailing and beats the powered tours from the southern side of the island. And it's a little over an hour to the south coast depending upon traffic. SPG award rooms supposedly are available if any rooms are open. Don't know if I really believe that but haven't found it not to be true through blind testing. Enjoy!

Definitely the Princeville. It is beautiful, romantic & out of the way. The weather is not as bad as everyone says (and we were there in November). It's not that far from everything else, either. Within a half hour you can be at the South Shore.