jomale

My husband and I went to Maui and Kauai for our ten year anniversary for two weeks. Before I start on the report, I want to thank all of you for your posts and helpful information. I relied a great deal on what a lot of you have said, and it really made a difference. How did people travel before the internet? Sorry if this is long, but I want to repay the favor to all of you who helped me out so much with your reports.

Now to business.

First: All of you who said get Maui Revealed and Kauai Revealed were right. You should not go to Hawaii w/o first getting these books. They were dead on in everything, including sights, restaurants, etc. They were the bible for this trip.

We spent 7 nights at the Fairmont Kea Lani. This hotel is absolutely gorgeous, and as its an all suite hotel, the rooms are great. The private sitting area with couch and chair was great. Wet bar with microwave and fridge was handy to store food/beverages. Great big bathroom, marble floors. Absolutely no complaints about the room or the hotel.

The service was awesome, the food was awesome.

I'll give a general run down, and let me know if you want more info.

Day 1: arrived in evening so we had a light dinner at the italian restaurant at the kea lani.

Day 2: (By the way, there is an excellent jogging path that runs from the Fairmont along the ocean past the hotels. Total back and forth is 3.2 miles. Absolutely gorgeous run (or walk if you prefer) and a great way to start the morning and to catch the amazing sunset. Day 2 we hung out by the beach and pool. Great waves for some fun body surfing. The only thing they don't do that I wish they did is bring you drinks while you're on the beach, but they do that by the pool. Several large pools, one of which is adults only, which we frequented the most. Lunch at the pool grill at the kea lani was delicious.

Dinner at Spago at the 4 seasons was great. Try and get there around 5:30 to catch the sunset while you eat. The most amazing view and excellent service.

Day 3: Per Maui Revealed, we booked the Haleakala sunrise bike with Mountain Riders. They picked us up at 2:15 a.m. It was awesome and I highly recommend it. If you do it early in your trip it will be easier to get up and easier to adjust to. Ask for Uncle Russ as your guide. He is a trip and a lot fo fun and really added a lot to the adventure. As many of you noted, it is cold 9K feet above sea level, so dress appropriately. They provide the jumpsuit/overalls and gloves and helmet. We wore shorts and were very glad because when you get toward the bottom, its get warmer. Breakfast is included at this little Mexican dive, but it's very good. Overall, one of the highlights of the trip.

We ate dinner at the same Italian restaurant at the Kea Lani as we did the first night, and again it was great.

Day 4: We went out on our own to snorkel near La Perouse, the water was a bit rough so we went out by a nearby construction site, hiked over the lava rocks, and found another place.....but the water was too cloudy. Although it was a lot of effort, and not good snorkeling, the adventure itself was fun.

We decided to go to the Maui Ocean Center (Aquarium) and had lunch at the restaurant inside the Aquarium. It was delicious and I too recommend it. (also, second meal is half price with your paid receipt to the aquarium) The Aquarium is small, but very nice and worth the trip as it does not take too long to get there. Ask your hotel concierge if they have any discount coupons or special deals. THe kea lani concierge gave us a coupon for a free gift at the aquarium and we got a couple of plastic water bottles with a cute design. Good deal for free.

Dinner at Nick's at the Kea Lani. You will need to make reservations a few days in advance. The meal, service, atmosphere was fantastic.

Day 5: We booked an excursion to the Four Winds II to Molokini(per Maui Revealed). We had a blast. They serve a continental breakfast (bagels/fruit), but we grabbed breakfast at the Kea Lani and ate it on the way (which we were glad we did). Captain John was hilarious and added a lot to the trip. They have an open bar (beer/soda) and grill out great burgers,chicken etc. Snorkeling was very goods, lots of fish.

Dinner: Old Lahaina Luau. On the Travel Channel, this was chosed as the best Luau in Hawaii, and I see why. It is not the hokey touristy fire eating luau, but a authentic luau that tells a bit about the history of the hula and the hawaiians. It was mesmerizing and the buffet food was fantastic. They give you mai tais when you walk in, but I preferred the lava flows at the open bar, which is included in your price. If you are going to go to a luau (which I recommend) this is definitely one you should go to.

Day 6: Went shopping and walked around LaHaina. The drive there is gorgeous and great places to pull over and take pictures. We had a late lunch at Pacific O which was fantastic. They stop serving lunch around 4, and we got there around 3:30. The advantage is the prices are a lot less then dinner and the food is awesome. It's right on the beach so the view is great.

Day 7: Road to Hana. I had read some posts that said this was not worth the time or effort. In my opinion, they are wrong. This was one of the best parts of the trip. Why? Because we relied heavily on Maui Revealed and went to some of the hard to get to places that had absolutely stunning views and sights. Just sitting in the car driving the whole thing may not be much fun, but if you get MR, and go to some of the falls and other places, this trip will be one of the best.

One of the great things about the Kea Lani is they have a gourmet deli/food shop that makes sandwiches, gourmet salads, pizzas, desserts, etc. The day before, we had them make sandwiches/salads for the trip. The Kea Lani had a cooler that we borrowed (at no charge) which we filled with ice, drinks, snacks and lunch. There aren't restaurants along the way, so I urge you to pack a lunch. We stopped at the Garden of Eden (again, per Maui Revealed), which is absolutely beautiful and worth the $7 admission. They had a picnic table that overlooked the ocean and was surrounded by beautiful colorful flowers. We ate lunch there and it was great. We stopped at a bunch of the falls along the way and did the little hikes in MR. MR was also right about the great banana bread near the Keanae Peninsula.

Also, take the Nahiku Road recommended by MR, it's a gorgeous drive with a beautiful view at the end.

Blue Pool was cool, as was Red Sand and Black Sand beach.

Since we did a lot of stops along the way, we didn't get to Seven Sacred Pools until around 5:30 or 6:00. We decided to skip it and finish taking the road all the way around (as opposed to going back the way we came). This was interesting. There is about 17 miles of unpaved road. It's really not too bad, but you can't go fast at all and it's a little daunting after dark. For a while, we were the only car on the road, a bit scary, but way cool. We finished the loop and went to Mama's around 8:25. We did not have reservations but we were seated right away. Great food, great atmosphere, a bit pricey, but it's a vacation.

KAUAI

We left Maui around 3:00 for Kauai and stayed at the Princeville. Very different than the Kea Lani. Kea Lani much more tropical feel, mainly because it's all open air. As there is too much rain in Kauai, the Princeville is not open air and more of a traditional hotel. But it's gorgeous and the view of Bali Hai is breathtaking.

The rooms are beautiful, but coming from the Kea Lani, naturally we missed the suite and its size. Also, no balconies at P'ville, although you can open the windows completely and sit on a ledge in your room.

Overall, the Princeville was definitely a first class hotel, however we found the service to be better at the Kea Lani. We frequently had to wait for someone to serve us at the restaurants at P'ville, which never happened at Kea Lani. No big deal, but just wanted you all to know. I would still stay nowhere else on Kauai but P'ville. Of course, the food and atmosphere were spectacular.

Since we arrived late afternoon/early evening, we just got situated in the room and had dinner at the Italian restaurant (La Cascatta, i believe its called). Again, breathtaking view, delicious food.

Day 2:

Went to Hanalei, snorkeling at Ke'e beach was great (go early for parking). Calm waters, great fish.

Lunch at Zelo's was very good.

Kilauea lighthouse/nature preserve was way cool and I strongly recommend it, particularly if you like birds. It was not crowded at all, the views are spectacular, and the two workers provided very informative information.

Dinner at the P'ville: seafood buffet at cafe hanalei. You will need reservations. If you like seafood, don't miss this. come hungry, it's great.

Day 2:

Waimea Canyon: awesome
Kauai Revealed again was correct with JoJo's Shaved ice. Do get the ice cream on the bottom, yummy.

Had lunch at the Lodge toward the end of the drive (koke, i think it's called). Great Portugese Soup and the best cornbread I have ever had. There prices are reasonable as are the prices in their gift shop.

Did some of the various stops along the road back to Princville (Wailua Falls, etc.) Dinner at Coconuts was very good.

Day 3: Kalalau Trail (2 miles to the beach, not the full 11 mile trail). Start early, bring lots of water. Not an easy trek, but the views of the NaPali Coast are spectacular. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun with images I will never forget. The beach at the end is nice, but the water was way too rough to go into. We just got our feet wet and rested on the beach for a while before heading back.

Lunch at Bubba Burgers on the way back was good. Fun place, go inside and watch them work for a few minutes, it's entertaining.

The hike tired us out so we went back to P'ville and took it easy, went to the beach, (they do bring you drinks on the beach, way cool) and just vegged for a few hours and watched the sunset over Bali Hai. Amazing. Dinner at Cafe Hanalei at the P'ville was great.

Day 4: Went to Hideaways beach, walking distance from the P'ville. Be advised that it's steep path to the beach, and very difficult carrying our snorkeling equipment. That day, the water was rough so we went back to the beach by P'ville and did some great snorkeling right there.

Lunch at the Polynesian Cafe in the Chin Young Village in Hanalei was very good.

Did some shopping in Hanalei and had dinner at Bull Shed. It's hard to find because there are no signs on the road (but Kauai Revealed got us there). KR was also right about the salad bar ("pathetic") but the prime rib for $20 was big, juicy and delicious. I got the scallops which were recommended by KR. They were delicious and a ton of them for $18. Great meal and pretty darn cheap.

The next day we left for Oahu for one night before we returned home. We left Kauai around noon. In retrospect, I would have left Kauai as late as possible to enjoy the beauty of the island as much as possible. We wanted to see the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, which is why we left a day early.

We stayed at Waikiki one night (which is nothing other than a big city, lots of people and concrete, and in my opinion, a waste of time after the quite/quaint beauty of Maui and Kauai). U.S.S. Arizona was a moving experience and worth the visit. If you get there by 8:00, you will be done by about 10:00 or so.

Well, I hope this helps someone. Sorry it's a bit long, let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks again to all of you, these message boards are quite invaluable.

In summary:

I have never seen such natural beauty as Maui and Kauai. Truly paradise on earth. I will also not stay anywhere else other than Kea Lani and Princeville.

Aloha!

JohnD

Mahalo for your nice trip report! Could you compare snorkeling at Molokini vs Kee Beach in terms of what kind of fish you saw. Thanks again.

augustlily

Hi,
Fantastic trip report! Very helpful! I am planning my honeymoon and thinking about doing Maui and Kauai for 10 days or so. A couple of questions: 1.) Is 5 days "enough" for both islands? Coming from the East Coast, would it seem like too short a time before hopping on an inter-island plane? 2.) If you had to go to just one island, which would it be? Was Kauai more beautiful than Maui?

jomale

John D: Unfortunately, I'm not a fish expert so I can't really identify by name what I saw, but they were certainly different fish. There were a lot more at Molokini (they especially hung out around the boat), although there was not a massive amount of variety. Also, the coral at Molokini was a lot better. Ke'e was fun and the fish were different, just not the quantity and not the coral. Of course, Ke'e was easy because you just parked and walked right to the beach. Molokini is more of an event since it's an excursion that takes several hours. Ke'e won't take very long, we had fun just relaxing on the beach after a short snorkel. Hope that helps.

Augustlily:

I don't think there is never enough time on these islands given their beauty. There's a lot more to do on Maui. You can do a lot in 5 days, (if in fact you are talking 5 full days, you lose a decent amount of time on the day you travel interisland, obviously) but don't expect to do everything. just pick out what is most important to do and have fun. As there is less to do on Kauai, 5 days will suffice.

As for interisland, we came over from east coast too (atlanta), although a few extra days in maui would be preferable (but not at the exclusion of days in Kauai) you should be fine. It just depends on how your body adjusts to the 6 hour time difference. I think a lot of it is mental, and I forced myself to adjust rather quickly, and it seemed to work. We did not book our interisland flights until we got to maui and kauai. They have a bunch of flights to choose from. If you go to the web page for Aloha airlines, you can print the itineraries and bring them with you (which we did and worked well).

As to just one island, that's difficult, but probably Maui, although that's really a tough call. They are both paradise and amazingly beautiful. Kauai is more tropical/lush than Maui, which is why Kauai is known as the garden isle. I think seeing both is a good idea, because they are different. Hotels on Maui are open-air (as are most restaurants) because it seldom rains and the winds are fairly constant.

Kauai (at least on the north shore where we stayed) is not like that because it rains more often. Fortunately, we had no rain during our entire trip.

I say if you can extend it a few days beyond 10, you should, especially for a honeymoon. Congrats on the nuptials and enjoy the beauty of the most beautiful place on earth (in my opinion).

JohnD

Thanks again jomale,=D> your info. is helpful, hope to be at Molokini in a few weeks and was curious if you had seen anything extraordinary like reef sharks or a whale shark that some indicate are occassional visitors there, but I guess you did not-mahalo just the same.

Maggi

Thanks, jomale! Your review helped me reminisce about our trip which was very similar to yours (i.e. lunch at the Garden of Eden, Nahiku Road, Blue Pool, Princeville seafood buffet, Hideaways, etc.) and concur with all your comments. Mahalo for taking the time to share your trip with us.

Tammi

Wow thanks for the great trip report! I'm very excited for my honeymoon next July. We too are staying at the Fairmont and then on to Kauai. I'm going to print out your review!

So you didn't feel uneasy about not booking your interisland flight ahead of time? Not a chance you'd get stuck on Maui for an extra night? There are plenty of interisland flights available at the last minute?

Thanks Again!
Tammi

jomale

I was not uneasy about waiting until we got there once I saw how many flights there were out of maui and kauai. I think I booked about 2 or 3 days before our departure from maui and kauai and I would not wait any less than that to book them. Do print out the itineraries available on the aloha airline webpage if that will help ease your mind. Also, September is not the busy season so that may have played a part in getting flights.

Since you are traveling in July, however, which will likely be much busier than now since that is peak family travel time, you may not want to wait quite as long to book your inter-island flight. It's your honeymoon, after all, and you don't want anything to go wrong.

Glad the report helped, it's nice to return the favor from so many others who posted here and helped me plan my vacation.

As for Molokini, John D, no sharks or anything unusual other than fishies.

Tammi

BTW, what is a "lava flow" drink at the Old Lahaina Luau? We are also going to this luau (already have it booked).

catsmeow

Tammi,

Just a suggestion...book the "mat seating" at the Old Lahaina Luau. It's more intimate and you're closer to the action.

Tammi

Thanks for the suggestion catsmeow, but I already did! Months ago...

pspercy

Jomale, I'd dispute 5 days being sufficient for Kauai. We've been twice and still have things we want to do - exploring, walks etc, and that doesn't count the things we've done there that we'd like to do again

bluefan

Thanks jomale for a most enjoyable trip report!

vivi

Nooooooooooo, there are not plenty of interisland flights available "at the last minute." I have flown interisland at least 250 times and since 9/11 the flights are harder and harder to book due to decreased schedules. It can be especially difficult to book a last minute flight from Maui to Kauai as there are 2 flight segments involved in that trip and chances are high that one flight may be already booked.

BrendaM

Vivi,
I just read in my Sunday paper that both Aloha and Hawaiian were cutting back on the number of inter-island flights and that the prices were going to increase. Have you heard anything about that?

kolohegirl

"The only thing they don't do that I wish they did is bring you drinks while you're on the beach, but they do that by the pool."

That's because alcohol of any kind is illegal on the beaches of Hawaii. While it's not strictly enforced, the hotels can't serve it beyond their grounds nor are they suppose to allow a guest to walk off property with alcohol they served.

vivi

Brenda-

Yes, Aloha and Hawaiian have cut way back on schedules and it is very frustrating for neighbor island residents who must travel frequently on business. That is why I recommend making advance reservations. Two years ago (pre 9/11) the airlines ran more like Greyhound buses; we could show up at the airport and just hop on using pre-purchased flight coupons. Now both airlines have eliminated the coupon system and have instituted confusing, higher fares. Hawaii residents have not been happy with the changes.

BrendaM

Vivi,
Thanks for the info. I will be in Hawaii in Feb, so I will be sure to make my reservations. I have done the "go to the airport jump on the nearest plane" in the past, but looks like not a good idea any longer. Do you know what the new one-way fares are for non-residents?