boogie7

We're going to have our honeymoon January of next year, and we're looking for a little bit of everything. It's our first time to visit Hawaii, so we're very excited, but at the same time undecided. Both of us are very much excited about all the beautiful sights that only Hawaii can offer. We also hope to take part on beach activities such as sailing, kayaking, and snorkeling of course. To top it off, we also want to experience Hawaii during the night time. So we wouldn't mind at all a nice clean bar or club to hit the dance floor for fun and music. Well like I said a little bit of everything. Any SUGGESTIONS? What Island? What property or hotel? I called a travel agency and they recommend the Outrigger Wailea Marriott. Is this hotel good? I'm also a Starwood member, and I was wondering how would this hotel compare with the likes of a Kapalua Bay Hotel or the Princeville? How would you rate the rooms, location,...? Please advice.

JohnD

Congratulations on your honeymoon. We spent ours last year on Kauai at a resort next to the Princeville Hotel. The Pville Hotel has been rated as the #2 resort of all resorts among all of Hawaii. It has decent snorkeling on the beach in front of the resort, but outstanding snorkeling can be found a short drive away (e.g. Kee Beach etc)That being said, there are more activities to choose from on Maui and if you head towards southern Maui in January you may experience less rain (e.g. Wailea area). I have only stayed at condo's on Maui so I will leave it to others to make resort recommendations.

If you are going for a long enough period (e.g. 10 days) you might want to split your time between Maui and Kauai and possibly the Big Island). Kauai has less people and less nightlife but has easy access to snorkeling beaches and river kayaking and inspiring hiking.
Big Island has an active volcano to visit, sea kayaking, and excellent snorkeling but also alot of lava on the beaches, so if you go there pick a resort with its own sandy beach.
Suggest you check out guidebooks available for all the above islands at www.wizardpub.com to get the most out of each island. You will love Hawaii!

JohnD

Found some reviews on this site and others:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...oksmartHR.html

http://www.fodors.com/rants/rrread.c...sort=name&pg=3

Hope this helps

dolciani

We checked out the Outrigger Wailea while we were there a few weeks ago and asked to see an ocean front room (because we had been considering staying there). The rooms seemed small and drab to me - we were glad we had chose to stay elsewher. We also saw the Princeville in Kauai and it is not even in the same league w/ the outrigger - the Princeville is very upscale and lush - one of the most beautiful and ritzy lobbies I've ever seen, if you can afford it - stay here! (I preferred the Kanaapali area of Maui over the Wailea)

boogie7

Thank you all for all your replies. So Outrigger isn't all that classy. Anymore suggestions on where to stay? How about Oahu? Is this another island we should consider? I would really love some more insights from experiences, bad or good, from Hawaii's top hotels and resorts. Thanks again...