lia_b

I am a bit delayed in posting my trip report . But, I got so much info from this site, that I wanted to share my experience and hopefully help other families as many of the trip reports helped me. Sorry it?s long or for any spelling errors.

Hawaii is absolutely beautiful, we took over a 1000 pictures!!!.. and still did not get to see everything we wanted to see, which gives a good excuse to go back. We usually never go to the same place twice unless we really love it. We used Big Island Revealed, Hawaii for Dummies, and tips from friends and this site to guide us.

Our trip took place in August. My husband and I and our two girls flew from New York and visited Oahu and Big Island for 10 days. For hotels, we chose the Hilton both times as they seemed the most fun and appropriate for our family given our 7 and 12 year olds.

Monday - Oahu:
Left New York at 3:30 p.m., arrived in Honolulu International 11:30 p.m. ( 5:30 a.m, NY time). We had a lei greeting and hotel transfers (part of our package). We were dropped off at the bus depot behind the Hilton Hawaiian Village and had to wait for a baggage handler to come get us (not too happy about this). The upside was that he showed up in a golf cart and we got a nice tour of the grounds on our way to the front desk. We had a partial ocean view in the Alii tower that faced the super pool and to our right we had the penguin and flamingo lagoons. It was a treat for us every morning. They feed the penguins at 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and they let the kids pet one penguin under supervision. The rooms were nicely appointed. I expected more luxurious. But, not disappointed. Robes, the small fridge and the welcome fruit were nice to have. We had some problems with the bathroom doors and toilet, which they promptly fixed the next day.

Tuesday Oahu
Up at 7:00 a.m. Our package included a welcome breakfast at Planet Hollywood with a presentation regarding tours offered. We were told this would only take an hour and after an hour and a half, we left. The tours seemed pricey. We had reserved a car at Alamo and upgraded to a convertible for $35.00 a day. We spent the rest of the day driving around Honolulu and Waikiki and shopping at Hilo Hatties in the Ala Moana shopping center (they have free shuttle buses from the hotels). Had lunch at Bubba Gumps and headed back to the hotel in the afternoon for some pool and beach time and some Blue Hawaii?s. The weather was pleasant not overwhelmingly hot. The water at Waikiki beach was perfect and it was not as crowded as I expected it to be in August. We were tired so we strolled over to the Golden Dragon for dinner and they took us right away without a reservation. Even with an entertainment coupon, it was expensive! The service and food was great though. The little one fell asleep during dinner.

Wednesday Oahu
A tropical depression offshore brought torrential rains (the planet holywood guy had said there was no rain forecasted for the next week). The concierge suggested shopping, movies or the Waikiki aquarium. We ate breakfast at Rainbow Lanai (first time tasting macadamia pancakes and coconut syrup) yum! Took a chance and headed to Pearl Harbor. We arrived at 11:30 and walked right up to the desk to get our ticket, the wait was about one hour. During this time we checked out the museum, the gift shop and grabbed a sandwich at the deli. The film that they show and experience at the memorial was moving. It really is an incredible sight. Even the kids realized the seriousness of this place. Afterwards walked the grounds.We mistakenly thought the Missouri closed at 3:00 p.m. so we missed it.

The weather had cleared so we drove to Diamond Head, did not hike it as the ground was still wet and we were exhausted from the jet lag /time difference. Spent rest of afternoon at Alii?s private pool and ordered room service for dinner.

Thursday Oahu
Got to Hanauma Bay at 7:30 a.m., it was already full! Kept going to Sandy Beach for pictures, the surf is too rough but it is a spectacular beach with awesome waves. Continued on this scenic road, it seemed there was something to see at every turn. We stoppped at Kailua Beach. Beautiful beach with gentler surf. Due to the previous day?s storm the river that empties onto this beach was going strong and people were trying to ?ride? it into the ocean. It looked a little risky to do and the lifeguards were constantly telling people not go in the river. There were many little fish being swept in from the river into the ocean and the kids were having fun trying to ?catch? them. From there we drove to the Pali lookout, which was absolutely beautiful. Extremely windy. We continued to the North Shore and stopped at the Dole Pineapple Farm. Heady scent of pineapple everywhere on the road. We had the pineapple whip, delicious! Took the train tour - very relaxing. We had imagined the north shore differently. We expected it to be a road with beaches on one side and restaurants lined up on the other side of the road. This was not the case. We were starving and there were no obvious restaurants. We finally found the Shark?s Cove grill, which is really a truck that sells food and has a few tables. We had grilled shrimp and grilled chicken sandwiches and mochi ice cream. I still crave the mochi ice cream! Yum! The food was good and they use Taro bread. Since it was kind of purple, my daughter would not eat it, so I tried and it was delicious. I wish we could get it here. Afterwards, we went across to Shark?s Cove for some snorkeling. It was a little tricky getting down to the shoreline but it was not crowded and we did see some fish. We then drove into Haleiwa for some shaved ice ? huge servings and yummy and had dinner at Cholo?s ? great recommendation from this site. The sunset was spectacular!

lia_b

Friday Oahu
Our last full day in Oahu. We headed to Lanikai beach. It was a little hard to find almost gave up but we finally followed some people with beach gear and we were rewarded with such as beatiful beach. This is the Hawaii beach picture I show everyone with the two islands offshore. The beach was uncrowded and we spent about two hours playing in the surf. There are no facilities, though Kailua beach is a short drive away. Tried to have lunch in Waikiki but the traffic was so bad, we spent one hour looking for parking before we decide to just drive out of it and head to Aloha Tower, near the Moana shopping center for lunch. We had wanted to lunch at the Sheraton Moana or Royal Hawaiian. Every night, the Hilton has a show at the pool but on Friday nights, the show is even more spectacular and ends in fireworks. Since our Allii tower room overlooked the pool, we had front row views. We watched the entire show and fireworks from our lanai. It was awesome. Later we went for a walk on the hotel grounds. There were groups of people gathered around the pools and the place was alive with festive Hawaiian music. It was such a wonderful way to end our stay on Oahu. I almost did not want to leave.


Saturday Big island
Got up early to take in our last view of Waikiki Beach and final penguin fix for my 7 year old. She wanted to take one home. On the interisland flight to Kona, we flew over Diamond Head and we took some nice pictures. We were pleasantly surprised by the small airport and being able to walk off our plane onto the tarmac. The heat was incredible, almost unbearable at first. What a difference from Oahu. We got our luggage quickly and took the Alamo shuttle. My husband, the big spender upgraded to an SUV, which we found out later was not four wheel drive. So if you want one, be sure to request four wheel drive, SUV alone does not do it. The drive to the Hilton was approximately 25 minutes. I was in awe of the lava fields all around us. It looked like we were on the moon or something, not at all what you usually think of Hawaii, beaches and all. Incredible. Waikoloa Village seems to be in the middle of nowhere and self contained. I was less happy with this Hilton. It was more crowded than the one in Oahu. We had to wait in line to check in. Even though, I had booked a year in advance and am a Hilton Honors member, they did not honor my request for the Lagoon tower and placed us in the Palace Tower instead. Their only explanation was that they were booked solid and those rooms were not available. Palace Tower, it turned out was a blessing, as there was less chaos since it has no shops nor restaurants. When our luggage arrived, we discovered a 12 inch gash on my suitcase. They offered to fix it, but I am still disappointed that they did not also offer to replace it or give us a partial room credit for the inconvenience. Thankfully, it was not an expensive piece but I will not be able to use it again. I would have complained further to management but we really had already spent too much vacation time on this issue. We had quick lunch at the Boat Landing at Ocean Tower and explored the hotel grounds, which are incredible. Went to check out the dolphins, the lagoon (we saw turtles) and finally settled down at the Pool. I know people either hate or love this hotel. For us, it was fun, there was so much to see and explore, the collections in the walkways were stunning. Families and young at heart adults would enjoy it alike. The water slides, river pool and kayaks on the lagoon are all fun. I found some ?hidden? pools where there was maybe one other person there and I wish my husband and I could have done a romantic cabana massage with champagne overlooking the lagoon at sunset!. We actually did not mind not having a beach as we spent a lot of our sightseeing visiting island beaches. For dinner, I had reserved the Star Moon and Sands bbq at the Four Seasons. Although I had reserved, two weeks prior and had called that day to confirm and called again for directions (as the hotel is not obvious from the road), upon arrival, the maitre?d told me they did not have my reservation and that they normally do not take reservations for non-hotel guests. They wanted to know who I had spoken with etc?I was t annoyed at them and felt they were just being snobbish. After a few minutes, they decided to make an ?exception? and gave us a table. I almost left at this point but once the waiter arrived the service was superb. He acknowledged us by name and made sure he took care of every need. There was lobster and crabs legs and mounds of shrimp all served on the beach. There was a live hula show and the children were invited to participate. There was a fire pit on the beach for the children to make smores. We watched the sunset and after the initial bad impression, we felt the rest of the experience was absolutely magical. Afterwards, there was a woman with a telescope showing everyone the constellations. The Four Seasons hotel itself is absolutely beautiful. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to stay at one of the oceanfront rooms. However, I cannot imagine it for families with active children. The place requires a certain amount of tranquility. For example, the pool did not allow any kind of noise including cell phones and god forbid, splashing. I did see a few children mostly of pre-school age or older 13. Personally, I would get a little antsy here, too quiet for me. But if you like tranquility, this is the place. Like the Waikoloa, Haulalai is self contained and there is nothing for miles. The hotel has a beach but it looked a little bit on the rough side, very rocky., warning signs in some sections. They also have a lagoon with some eagle rays, I think.


Sunday Big Island
Headed out to A-Bay. There was a local event going on and it was fun to hear the local lingo. The water seemed a bit darker here and my advise is to wear beach shoes because there is some exposed lava under the water as my daughter found out when she cut her foot. We had to go back to the room to tape her up. This is when the tram/boat thing at the Hilton is inconvenient. One of the trams broke down and we had to wait a long time to get back to our room. Wouldn?t it be great if you could just drive up to your tower and just use the tram to get around on the inside. Lunch at the dolphin lagoon grill, nothing special. The girls had a swim with the dolphins reservation . We were able to sit lagoon side and watch them. Though it is hard to get a good picture as they have their backs to you. They absolutely loved this experience. It was one of the highlights of their trip other than the volcano and spotting a wild turtle. For dinner, drove to Kona for the luau at the Kona Beach Hotel. It was more like a barbeque at someone?s house. They had food on burners and ran out of chairs. They finally put together a table for us. The show was nice though. I heard people talking about the paradise cove in Oahu was better.

lia_b

Monday Big Island
Running away from the high prices at the Hilton, we had breakfast at the steak restaurant (name?) in the Kings Shop?s. The prices were not much better, the pancakes were huge though and the kids had fun watching the fish in the pond in the back. Started our drive to Volcano via the north route. The drive was very scenic with Mauna Kea always in view. First stop was Waipio Valley lookout. It was magnificent. ( I can?t believe we had phone service there and on the volcano and we have trouble in NY). Frankly, I can?t see how anyone can make it down that steep hill but a local truck went right down while we watched bracing ourselves. Next stop, was Rainbow Falls and Pee pe? Falls and Boiling Pots. Very pretty. Finally we stopped in Hilo to walk around a bit and stopped in the Tsunami museum. I thought we would spend ? hour there, but we were there 1 ? hours. It is a small museum but very interesting. The guides are Tsunami survivors and they tell you the stories of what happened on those tragic days. They give some interesting facts and then you can walk around and see the exhibits. They is an entrance fee though. My 12 year old was fascinated, she even brought a book to take home to read. Though we wanted to try some of the restaurants suggested in this site, we were now in a rush to get to Volcano. So we opted for Pizza Hut in Hilo and made it to Volcano by 3:30. We were just in time for a ranger presentation, very interesting and informative and we headed out over the Crater Rim Road. The first thing we saw were the steam vents, then the caldera. We were probably on this road 1 ? to two hours stopping at all the interesting lookouts before going on the Chain of Craters road to the bottom. The scenery on the Chain of Craters road was awesome, suddenly you were in a rainforest than you were driving with view of the ocean. The road finally ended by the ocean and you park your car on the side of the road and walk to the lava, which can be a long walk. For us it was about two miles before starting the lava hike. All the recommended gear came in handy, flashlight, water, light jackets, hiking shoes. Hiking the lava is not too hard but there are holes so you have to pay attention. There was some lava flowing from the side of the hill but none to the ocean as we were hoping to see. Nevertheless, seeing this and being there was so awesome. Once it got dark, you look up and the sky is amazing. At this point, it was 9:30 and we were hungry and realized we had a two mile walk and a two hour drive to food. Many people brought food and were picnicking from their cars. Good idea! I was annoyed at the inconsiderate drivers who drove up and down the road really fast as people with kids and older people were walking back to their cars on the road in the dark. More than once, I thought someone would get hit.


Tuesday Big Island
Today everyone was too tired to do marathon sightseeing so we headed out to Hapuna Beach for the morning. It was beautiful, just like on travel channel. I?m thinking next time I go, I might want to stay at the Hapuna Prince Hotel. We looked for turtles but I think we were a bit late. Had lunch in Waikoloa. Tried Loco Moco. Ver yfiilling. Back at the Hilton rented a paddleboat for the lagoon. My 7 year old had a blast seeing all the fish up close and personal. Had dinner at Huggos in Kona. We had waterside seating and spotted a few fish in the rocks from our table. Food was good. The fish was exceptional. Bartender told us about the snorkel beach further up the road. Walked around Kona for a while, it was in full party mode. Reminded me a little of Puerto Vallarta.

Wednesday Big Island
Our final full day in Hawaii. We headed south to Kona to see how far we could go. We started late and got to Kona about 10:30. Had a hard time finding a place to serve breakfast. Finally discovered Pancho and Lefty?s, a Mexican place (Puerto Vallarta feel again). They have upstairs seating, good for people watching. There was a cruise ship in port. Food was good, I had rice and beans for breakfast and liked it! Shopped a little and headed to snorkel beach. It actually has a name with a K (Kuhaluu??) past Jameson?s on the beach. It?s a small beach, kind of rocky but you can walk into it to snorkel. It was crowded with cruise ship people. We were standing in waist deep water when a huge turtle swam by us. It was amazing. Can?t touch them though. We also saw some puffer fish and other colorful type. You need to be a little careful the current pushes you out and you don?t realize it. While we were there a woman was pulled from the water and a kid got hit by a car on the road by the beach. We got spooked at this point and left. We wanted lunch and decided it was getting late to go to South Point. We stopped for a late lunch at the Lava Java, good quick food. Great cookies! We met a local originally from New York and had a good conversation with him for a while. Afterwards, we took the long scenic route back to the hotel (route 190). Had dinner at the Kirin?s. Beautiful restaurant, but again overpriced for Chinese Food.

Thursday Island
Got up early to do some snorkeling in the lagoon before the big trip back. The water was cold, but the place was empty and the fish were everywhere. The jumping fish were a riot. We had the great snorkeling in the hotel and we only realized it on the last day. We even saw an eel. The Hawaiian airlines people were fabulous. They checked our bags all the way to New York even though the mainland flight was on Delta. This was a huge help as we had too many bags. Next time, I will take ? the clothes. They even patiently waited for us when we realized we had left my daughter?s bag on the Alamo shuttle. Once we were back in HNL, I regretted not printing the Delta boarding passes at the hotel prior to leaving. I had walk out of the terminal and across to the Delta terminal to print my tickets and it was a loooong way plus I had to go back through security again. Luckily, since Hawaiian Airlines had checked our bags, only one of us had to do this without lugging the luggage. Had time for one last Blue Hawaii while waiting for the flight home.

Aloha everyone and Mahalo for all the suggestions. Maui and Big Island again in 2006!

beachgirl86

Lia -- What a great trip report! We went to Oahu, Big Island, and Maui last month and LOVED it! We did a lot of the same things that you did on the BI (Volcano, Hapuna Beach, etc...) We stayed at Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel for 1 night before moving on to the Marriott Waikoloa, and I would definitely recommend it! Thanks for bringing my memories back -- we can't wait to go back!

bonniebroad

Thank you so much, lia_b!!! Wow, I feel like I just came home from Hawaii; hung on your every word!

HvnScentU2

GREAT report lia! We're hoping for the Big Island and Oahu next summer.

Ashley24

I really enjoyed reading your detailed trip report! We are going to the Big Island and Kauai next summer. We have reservations at the 4S for 3 nights, but starting on a Sunday. Maybe we could switch the dates but would want to make sure the BBQ was worth it. Could you give more details about the BBQ? We are not seafood lovers so would want to know the other choices (if any) and what my two girls would enjoy (any kid friendly options?). Is there info on the BBQ on the 4S website? Also, what is the price? Thanks for your help!

lia_b

Ashley24, The BBQ at the 4 seasons is only held on Saturday nights at the Beach Tree Bar and Grill and it is literally on the beach. I believe the cost was $55 per person and it does not include the beverages. There were many other options, grilled ribs and steaks, chicken, some pasta salads. I believe there is a children's menu if you wish. However, my kids liked what they saw and opted for the bbq. It is definitely worth it and you will love the hotel it is beautiful.
Here is the web link.
http://www.fourseasons.com/hualalai/...dining_39.html