Aloha everyone,

Just want to say thank you to everyone who had helped me planned the Hawaii honeymoon trip, from crazy timeshare questions to restaurant reviews. Here is my trip report, hopefully it will help others in their planning.

We visited Kauai for 6 days and then Maui for 6 days. We booked all the flights, car rental and Maui?s condo stay through Liberty Travel. We booked the Kauai condo on our own through Remax Realty and the price was much cheaper than booking through Liberty. I would recommend booking on your own if you have the time to do all the research, you will sure pay a bit less that way, or at least, a better accomodation for the price you would have to pay for booking through Liberty. It all depends of how your package works. It will be smart to price it both ways before committing to anything.

Kauai-
We stayed at Princeville in the Pali Ki Kau condo #108. It has absolutely the most gorgeous view of the Bali Ha and the most well maintained condo we have ever stayed at. The owner went to the extended that she even has a salad spinner in her kitchen, and drawstring placemats for your home cook meals. The place was equipped with two pairs of reef shoes, a million towels, tons of homey deco and paintings. The condo also has lots of up to date movies, DVD player and travel books and beach books. Anyway, it was great. The only thing I think I should mention is the location of this condo. It is on the North shore, now Kauai is not an island where the highway goes all around, so that means every time we need to go anywhere besides the Hanalei Bay, we will have to drive south. About at least half an hour to the East shore and about an hour to Poipu (south shore) if no traffic in their one lane highway. It must have taken us at least close to two hours to get to the Waimea Canyon.

We didn?t find the food that great overall in Kauai, but that could also be because we are from New York and are a bit spoiled with all the options we have on a daily bases. The worst meal we had was the seafood buffet at Princeville! TOTALLY 200 percent overated. The buffet selection was so small, raw oysters (room tempeture, yucky!), frozen crab claws, shrimp and mussels, and that?s all for what they called ?seafood buffet? Those were terrible! There are about 8 selections of different salads with shrimps, octopus and Ahi. And about 6 selections on entrée, the Rib steak tasted like rubber, we couldn?t even cut it with a knife. Sorry, don?t mean to sound obnoxious, but it really was not good for $50 a person. Drinks are about $10 a pop with barely any alcohol.

I will also add that we did a timeshare presentation in Kauai in order to get dirt cheap rate for activities in Maui. It was a 90 minute presentation at 8:30am at the Embassy Suite. After all said and done, we politely told our rep that we are not ready and will not be making any purchasing today, she said ?thank you for coming, enjoy your honeymoon!? It was terrific. For that we paid $150 total for two people for both the ?Mountain Rider? trip and ?Pacific Whale Foundation Molokini and Lanai Trip?. If we were to book these activites without the timeshare, it would cost us $170 just for the ?mountain riders?activity. Can?t speak for other timeshare presentation, but this one was really easy. We booked everything through www.travelhawaii.com, ask for Sara Mater. Very sweet lady, not pushy at all.

The must do in Kauai-
Queens Pool. It was so great and such a short and easy hike. You will see at least two small waterfalls, great ocean views and lava pools to swim in. And if you are lucky, you will see some sea turtles riding the waves. Really awesome!

Waimea Canyon. Now we understand why Mark Twain had called this the Grand Canyon of the pacific! The drive up will get all human being dizzy, but the view and the experience was worth it! We had lunch at the Shrimp Station right before we go up on the road to the Canyon. This place was recommended by ?Ultimate Kauai? guidebook, it was good. Our order had 12 coconut shrimps for $8.00 - $9.00 bucks!! We also stopped by JoJo Shave ice, the Lychee was so yummy!! Must try!

Otherwise, just enjoy the lush feel of the island because we obviously noticed the differences once we arrived in Maui. It was then that we missed hearing the rain drops overnight from our condo's bedroom. I like Kauai more and will definitely go back and stay in the North shore.

Hi

Thanks for your very helpful trip report. My husband and I are going to Maui for 6 nights and Kauai for 5 nights in Sept.

I do have a couple of questions. What time of the day did you drive up to Waimea Canyon? We were trying to decide if we should try to drive up ther in the mornign or afternoon? Do you know if the restaurant the Shrimp Stations has anything else on the menue besides shrimp as I can't eat shrimp?

Thanks

Kay

Thank you, thank you, CPT! So interesting........ will look forward to Maui now!

Thanks CPT. We're ready for more! I get excited when a see a NEW trip report posted.

Kaymit:

We are early birds! Everyday we would wake up around 7:30 to 8:30am, have breakfast and head out. We like to see alot and realized that we had to drive everywhere in order to see everything. Aside from that, my husband gets road rage even while driving in NY when there are three lanes for him to work with. Therefore we always start early to avoid any traffic on those one lane roads and bridges. I don't really think there is a good or bad time to head into Waimea Canyon, if you stay at the North shore, I would head out after breakfast, grab something light when you get near the Waimea Canyon, drive up and head down around early afternoon, and still have some time to hang out in your pool or a short stay at the beach. We didn't do any hiking because they all seem pretty tough and we are definitely not fit for it. But if you can, you should go on at least a trail. But we had a good feel of the Canyon without doing any hiking. As for the Shrimp station, I don't believe there is anything else on the menu, and if it did, we didn't notcied it. There are few eatery around the Shrimp station. But not sure if it's good. And lastly, the Shrimp station is really nothing but a shack kind of place. They just have outdoor tables, order your own plate and bring to your own table. Hope thi is helpful.

CPT, I'm really sorry to hear that about the Princeville seafood buffet. We consider ourselves "discerning" diners, and honestly, several years ago our experience there was great! Judging from the many other favorable reviews on this board we weren't the only ones. I wonder what happened since then? Makes me want to rethink our plans to eat there again on our upcoming trip back to Kauai in August.

Thank you , Thank you CPT!

I stopped at your sentence reporting the Princeville Seafood Buffet. I couldn't continue without responding! We HATED it, and have vowed to never do a buffet again...ever!!! Such a sad end to oysters! We are simply no longer, and will never be again, all you can eat, quantity over quality eaters. For half the price the best night in Princeville is sushi at sunset followed by sharing a burger and/or california roll in the Livingroom,,,now that's amazing food and atmosphere!!! Now I will continue with your wonderful report!!
Mahalo! gyppei

Coconut shrimp sounds yummy! we'll give it a try. Also Queens Pool. We didn't have the Kauai Blue Book last year. Got it now, so we're ready to go! I'm looking forward to more of your report. Thanks.

Maggi, my husband & I enjoyed the seafood buffet in May for our 10th anniversary. We had a lovely table outside and even though the selection wasn't as large as we thought it would be, we enjoyed it very much.

gyppei:

Too funny, and thank you for confirming we were not just plain food snobs. I still recalled after eating the first oyster, I knew I would not go for the second one. And I did realized that after all the oysters were gone, they were replaced by frozen Alaskan Crab legs. Which meant, the second seating customers did not even get to have oysters! You would think they would have abundance of oysters! The only thing I did enjoyed was the Ahi sashimi and the king roll sushi. The cold salads were ok, the tempura Ahi was ok and the hot food station was just terrible. Somehow, I can understand why some people may have had a great experience because the ambiance was just perfect. We sat outside, had a top notch unbeliveble view with a rainbow backdrop. It was "manifico"! Would have been A+++++ if the food was just as good.

Thanks for the helpful trip report CPT, I'll be sure to avoid the seafood buffet. How did you like Hanalei Bay, have heard that's a great beach.