Aloha!

Well, our honeymoon in Maui was absolutely fabulous! It took us about 23 hours (due to layovers) to get there from DCA, but it was soooo worth it! The best part was that we got upgraded to first class for the flight from San Jose, CA to Maui (OGG) and were greeted by the flight attendants on board with a shower of "Congratulations" and champagne. After dinner, we even got made-to-order ice cream sundaes for dessert- what a treat after such a long day of long flights and layovers! It certainly made the last leg of our journey much more enjoyable :^)

We arrived at the Kahalui airport around 10pm and picked up our rental car, a Jeep Wrangler. It took us about 30 minutes to drive from the airport south to Wailea. As soon as we pulled up at our hotel (Marriott Outrigger), we were greeted with leis and whisked away to our oceanfront room via golf cart. When we woke up in the morning, we were amazed by the view outside of our room... there was nothing but the Wailea pathway and a few palm trees between us and the ocean. From our lanai, we also had a great view of Molokini and Keholawe off in the distance. Traveling as honeymooners has a lot of perks- on our second night at the hotel, the manager treated us by leaving an ice-chilled bottle of champagne in our room along with a nice note of congratulations. We were totally surprised!

Despite the great service at the hotel, we spent very little time in our room or at one of the resort's pools, because there was so much to see/do around the island. Like a lot of other honeymooners, we basically used Maui Revealed to guide us through our visit. Our outings included a trip to Costco to stock up on snacks/drinks, a fun night at the Old Lahaina Luau, sunrise on Haleakala, a half-day kayak trip through the Ahini Marine Preserve (included snorkeling spots the Aquarium, the Fishbowl, and LaPerouse Bay... where we got to swim with a pod of wild dolphins!), a snorkel cruise to Molokini on the Four Winds II (we tried out SNUBA... great!), lunch at Pita Paradiso and the Maui Onion, dinners at Mama's Fish House, Sarrento's on the Beach, and Bubba Gump, a drive around West Maui, and (of course) the Road to Hana (all the way around).

We actually found the road that wraps itself around West Maui to be much more scenic and fun than the road to Hana. The road to Hana was crowded at 7:30am with tour buses, while we hardly saw anyone in West Maui. The West Maui roadtrip took us about 5 hours to complete (with lots of snorkeling stops) and the road to Hana took us 12 hours (with lots of snorkeling/swimming stops).

We also took a walk one morning after breakfast along the Wailea path and checked out the other hotels along the strip (Renaissance, 4 Seasons, Grand Wailea, and the Fairmont Kea Lani to see if we were missing out on anything. All of the hotels were gorgeous and each had its own defining character. The only negative we noticed at all of the resorts (except ours and the Renaissance) was that all of the pools were overrun with kids... they were everywhere and it was hard to find a quiet place to relax in the pool without getting splashed or bumped into. We actually felt sorry for many of the couples staying at the Kea Lani, the 4 Seasons, and the Grand Wailea... it looked very difficult to enjoy a peaceful and relaxing honeymoon there.

Overall, our favorite parts of the trip were swimming with the wild dolphins, driving around West Maui, snorkeling on our own (we met a very friendly sea turtle), driving around in the Jeep with the roof and windows off just checking out the sights, and the sunrise on Haleakala. The sunrise was incredible, but it was very, very cold and blustery. I wore a polarfleece jacket, a ski hat, and gloves and it was still chilly! Fortunately, our hotel sent us off with a Haleakala survival kit containing blankets, a warm thermos, and breakfast pastries and fruits.... a very good investment!!!

By the end of our vacation, we didn't want to leave (surprise, surprise). We took a red-eye flight to San Jose and got upgraded to first class again, which allowed us to get some sleep and rest. By the time we arrived in California, we felt pretty good!

I hope you all have a wonderful visit to Maui!! Let me know if you have any questions!

This is a great trip reort. Thanks for the information. Is snorkeling at LaPerouse Bay easy to get to? Was it crowded, and what time were you there? That sounds like a lot of fun. Would you do anything different if you to do the trip again?


Thanks,

Scott

Congratulations and glad to hear that you a fabulous time on your HM!

Terrific report! Thanks for taking the time to report back...it should prove helpful to plenty of others!

Any restaurants of note?

Any tips on how to get upgraded to first class, since your were so forunate as to get upgraded twice?? We are flying from O'hare to Maui in Decemeber--looong straight through flight!

How did you let everyone know you were honeymooners? We have heard that you receive lots of extra stuff when they know you are. We booked through Costco travel and I'm not sure if they inform anyone.

Also great trip report, I'm so glad you had such a great time! We are also staying at the Outrigger and your report made me that much more excited.

First...congrats on your wedding and second on your great trip! We too took our honeymoon to Maui last year. I would really like to give another shout out to the four winds 2. They had the best staff we encountered. Your trip made me long to be back there again...I can almost smell the plumeria now!
In regards to letting people know you are on your honeymoon... we booked through funjet and they didnt let anyone know either. I called each of the places we were going to let them know ahead of time. Actually I was using it as an excuse to "double check the reservations" as we wouldnt want to be without a place to stay on our "honeymoon" LOL Not endorsing sneaky behavior just employing it!! =)

So no one just tells people in person they are on their honeymoon? I guess that would be embarrassing? or not??

From where to where did you do your west Maui drive?

We told the hotel we stayed at (HBR on Kauai) that we were on our honeymoon and they gave us a free video of their property, because recomendations from honemooner's are one of their best ways of attracting new guests.

Thanks everyone! Now to answer your questions...

We arrived at La Perouse Bay about 7am via kayaks with Maui EcoTours. Our group's 5 kayaks were the only ones in the bay, which allowed us to receive undivided attention from the wild dolphins. It was unbelievable!

Our favorite restaurants were Mama's Fish House in Pa'ia and Sarrento's on the Beach in Kihei. They both had great fresh fish and wonderful service.

It was pretty easy to get the word out that we were honeymooners. I simply called the Mariott Outrigger ahead of time and chatted with the reservations rep. for awhile about our arrival time, what to expect weather-wise, etc. Then I threw in that we were on on our honeymoon and he said he would put a note in the system. It all worked out great.

We got our *surpise* free upgrades to first class through a wedding guest who works at the airline. She put a note in the system stating that since we were loyal frequent fliers and on our honeymoon, we should receive a free upgrade if any seats were unreserved in first class. Seats happened to be open in both directions, so we lucked out! If we got to do our trip all over again, I think I'd splurge and just pay extra $$$ or miles to secure the seats... it would be worth it for the service and comfort.

For those of you who are considering staying at the Mariott Outrigger, I wrote a brief rave about the hotel on the rants/raves section of this site.

Hi,

Can you swim to where the dolphins are at in La Perouse Bay, or is it too far and you need a kayak?


Thanks,

Scott

I think I would stick with a kayak in La Perouse Bay. The dolphins are pretty far out from shore in deeper waters (100+ ft).