Stash

Brittany -

For a one week trip to Honolulu here are some good estimates.

You are going to need $500 - $800 for high season airfare PHL – HNL in February.

“Nice” hotels run from $150 a night on up. You can Priceline hotels on HNL for as little as $50 for a three star [I just did]. But these are just crash pads, not someplace where you want to hang out by the pool for the day.

Figure at least $100 a day for food and fun.

You will definitely want to rent a car for the week, figure around ~$300 with parking and gas. You can use the bus and taxis, but it is a pain in the rear, especially when you are on vacation and will cost almost as much with airport transfers and tips.

Best guess for a basic trip to HNL your budget needs to be if all of the stars fall into place $2500 on the low end, and $4000 on the high end.

For Maui, below is a package from FunJet using Delta as the carrier, Maui only for seven days. Is just over $3000 without food or car [a must on Maui]. So using the same estimates figure another $1000, for a total budget of $4000. Average cost per day is $572.

So it looks like your $3000 budget might be a little light.

I don't want to discourage you - there are lots of ways to save money when going to HI, I am in the process of doing this now. Plus, if you are going to spend than kind of dough on a flight - my recommendation is that you should stay for at least 10 days...

A great trip would be PHL - HNL, stay three nights to experience the Polynesian Cultural Center [budget $250 for two], Climb Diamond Head [free], shop at Waikiki [budget ???], and experience the worlds most famous beach [not that great in my opinion] and the city.

Priceline the cheapest room you can get in HNL. You won't be in the room or be using the pool - it will just be a crash pad.

Then take a flight from HNK - OGG [Maui] and stay for seven days to hang loose and watch the whales.

I like West Maui; Ka'anapali and Napili. You can get a great condo for as little as $150 a night a Napili Shores [my sentimental favorite], or $200 in Ka'anapali [more to do right in the area].

I would use www.tug.com or ebay.com to find a condo. I have rented using both with a lot of success.

You will need a car for the entire stay, Priceline this as well.

If you don’t car about arrival times, number of flight legs to get there or where you sit on the plane, then Priceline the fligh. If not, watch expedia or orbitz daily for a fare sale and jump on anything below 20% of the current fare. Waiting to snag something lower and you might get burned…

For this trip on a high end budget, here are the numbers:

Flights - $800 x 2 = $1600
Hotels HNL - $65 x 3 = $195
Condo Muai - $1500
Car HNL - $150
Car Muai - $300
Food/Fun - $100 x 10 = $1000

Total $4,750

A lot more bang for you buck, average cots per day is $475

Here are a couple ways to save some money on this.

1) Get a credit card that earns miles and use it on everything. I did this and received two $500 vouchers for me next trip. Don’t get one that passes the miles to a specific airline, these miles are difficult to redeem; subject to blackouts, seat restrictions, etc. I have a VISA from Chase where I get specific credit on any airline.

2) Beg or buy frequent flyer tickets. There may be an uncle or aunt that fly’s all of the item that has a gazillion miles that they may never use. Make them an offer for two round trip tickets. You never know you may end up with one as a graduation gift.

3) Learn how to play the Priceline game. Forums on sites like http://betterbidding.com can help you a great deal.

4) Learn about the areas you want to travel. Know as much as possible so you are not disappointed.

5) Read trip reports here on Fodor’s and on tripadvisor.com

6) Post your questions…

Good luck – I am exited for you – I leave for my 14 day adventure to HI in 31 days!

Stash

Funjet Package:

PACKAGE INCLUDES: TOTAL PRICE: $3,144.10
Vacation Philadelphia (PHL) to Hawaii, Maui (OGG) Avg. Price Per Person: $1,572.05


SELECTED FLIGHT
Delta #760 Feb 18 06 - 7:10 AM to 9:51 AM Philadelphia to Salt Lake City
Delta #1760 Feb 18 06 - 12:00 PM to 3:20 PM Salt Lake City to Hawaii, Maui
Delta #1761 Feb 25 06 - 10:10 PM to 7:00 AM Hawaii, Maui to Salt Lake City
Delta #677 Feb 26 06 - 9:55 AM to 4:18 PM Salt Lake City to Philadelphia



SELECTED HOTEL
ASTON At Papakea Resort Feb 18 06 to Feb 25 06


ADD RENTAL CAR
Add a Rental Car to Your Vacation


SELECTED ACTIVITIES
Penalty Waiver
Add More Activities and Tickets

dusty56438

The Pro Bowl (football) is on
February 12, 2006.

Many of the events for Pro Bowl week are free (Feb 6-11).

Hotels are a little more crowded during that week, but not bad.

brittany21

Wow!! I didnt even think about the Pro Bowl. Do you know if it is really hard to get tickets to the game? Id love to surprise my mom and have tickets for us to go. That is the week we were planning on going. Thanks for the heads up.

weimer

I recall seeing a good amount of empty seats during the probowl. Tickets should not be a problem.

You may want to avoid Honolulu that week and spend your time on one of the other islands.

dusty56438

The Pro Bowl does sell out every year. The Hula Bowl on Maui for college senior all-stars does not.

From a local newspaper after this year's game:
"A sellout crowd of 50,225 ? the 25th sellout in 26 Pro Bowls at Aloha Stadium ? watched the AFC avenge last year's 55-52 loss where it squandered an 18-point lead in the final 13 minutes."

The last few years, tickets were available until a week or so before the game. Expect to pay around $75 for cheap seats. This year, tickets were not sold out until a couple days before the event.

I don't think tickets are available yet for the general public (except for ticket brokers and maybe package deals). You can check any search engine for info:
pro bowl tickets or
2006 pro bowl tickets
There are plenty of brokers that already list tickets for sale.

Don't worry about Oahu being overcrowded then. Just book your trip a little more in advance to make sure you get the type of room you want.

But, if you are not going to attend any of the events, then you should go before or after Pro Bowl week.

Usually season ticket holders have an option of buying Pro Bowl tickets. So if you know someone who is an Eagles season ticket holder, they could get the tickets.

Here is a list of events from a past Pro Bowl:
http://www.nfl.com/probowl/probowl_sked

dusty56438

Hula Bowl back on Oahu.

This is from today's news.

What it will probably do is take thousands of local people away from going to the Pro Bowl. Tickets for this game will be much cheaper than for the Pro Bowl game that will be three weeks later. So I suspect more tickets to the Pro Bowl will be made available.

From Honolulu Advertiser June 4, 2003:

Hula Bowl's hopes rest on return to Honolulu


By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Hula Bowl will leave Maui after eight years and return to Honolulu for its 60th anniversary game in what might be its last chance to stay in the state of its birth.

The college football all-star game, Hawai'i's longest-running sports attraction, will be played Jan. 21 at Aloha Stadium with a 2 p.m. kickoff.

"We looked at a couple of other places, but the main thing was taking the Hula Bowl out of Hawai'i didn't make sense at this time," said Mark Salmans, the game's president and chief operating officer. "So, we thought we'd give it another go and see if people want to get behind it and want to keep it here."

entire article:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../sp/sp03p.html

SandiontheBeach

We promised to take our daughter back to Hawaii for College Graduation and we are going on Monday. She is not a partier or a drinker either. She loved both beaches. (We have been to both Maui and Oahu, and took a day trip to the Big Island.) She loved Maui,for its quieter more laid back pace. We stayed at the Kanapali Bay HOtel there it was wonderful! But, she also loved the Arizona Memorial and the Polynesian Cultural Center with the Horizons evening show..so much that we are doing both again.Its expensive wiht the Laua option but its a full day's entertainment and She says you would love it! Hawaii is a place I never really wanted to go....its expensive and the plane ride is long...this will be our third trip.. Need I say more? We have stayed at the Outrigger on the beach and the reef, but a freind is there now at a hotel 3 blocks off the beach, teh resort something. HEr price is much lower and she is very happy. She's 51, a single mom on a school teachers budget, and hiked up a mountain today, seeing everythign from waterfalls to cacti. You can make the trip in the off season for a better flight value. I suscribe to "Travel Zoo", too. They let you know the best travel values each week. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation and enjoy Hawaii!!! No place in the world we have been is quite as beautiful!

brittany21

Thank you so much for your input and the input of ur daughter. Im glad to hear that you guys had a great time. I am leaning towards the cruise, or a stay in Maui. I think im going to leadve the final decision to my mom since she is paying. I am away at school so over the 4th of july weekend when she comes to see me, we are going to sit down together and review everything over the net, or maybe with a travel agent. Ive decided against the week i originally chose b'c i forgot about valentines day and id rather not be away from mt boyfriend for that special day, and im sure there will be alot of gushing couples there during that week, so im going to go for the week after that, so the pro bowl is out. Again thanks.

pspercy

Sandi, you said Hawaii is a place I never really wanted to go....its expensive and the plane ride is long...this will be our third trip..

Sums it up perfectly, wife wanted to go so we went on "miles" some years ago, now we finagle trips whenever we can
Maui is the favourite "Maui no ka oi".
:0

SandiontheBeach

If I had more time and more money, I would go to Hawaii EVERY other year now.. But as it is, we must wait for -4years , but each trip gets longer. A friend of mine just went 2 days ago.Shes called twice to exclaim..."I cna't believe how gorgeous it is I have been to the Carribbean and to the Mexican Riveria adn Gold Coast, but this is so vivid!" No picture comes close to the beauty of it all.

Brittany, I know people who did the Hawaiin cruise too..they loved that as well. You get a little bit of each island adn the all inclusive value is good....but if you are comparing Hawaii to a carribean cruise, the comparison is null and void. At least in my opinion.....and remember, i was a convert....

brittany21

A researched the cruise further, and stey spend 2 days on each island. I think that is plenty of time to enjoy each island and form an opinion as to which one i would want to come back to to spend a full vacation at. (I probably want to spend 10 days at each one, lol) I figure we can schedule a shore excursion for one of the days, and just hang out the beach, or explore and shop the other day. Im very excited and i think im leaning towards the cruise. The cruise line is NCL, Pride of Aloha, i have another post on here specifically about NCL, on cruise critic. com they got very poor reviews when they first launched the ship last summer, but have signifigantly improved.

brittany21

Ok.... we booked a trip.. we did not confirm the reservation yet, but they are holding it for us while we discuss, and prepare the deposit. Let me run it by you guys.

Pride of Aloha, 7 day cruise throughout Hawaii. Honululu, Kuaui, Maui, Big Island, back to Honolulu. 2 nights on each island. Airfare, food, gratuities included. This in on the 8th deck (viking) Oceanview stateroom EE, cabin 8440. This is for 3 people, my stepdad decided he also wanted to go. We would sail Feb 26th, to Mar 6th. The total cost with ins, tax and port fee came $6,111. Is this a good deal? Any input would be great, we have to have our deposit in by Tuesday. (6/21) Thanks!!! Im so excited.... : )

bebalm

Someone posted earlier that Maui was targeted to the night life scene...i think that is incorrect. It is anything but. A suggestion on the "delux view rooms"...in my opinion, get a cheaper room with a less impressive room. You won't be spending much time in the room...and when you are there you will be sleeping. Spend the room money on activities.

bebalm

having been on a cruise, and gone to maui twice...i would say CANCEL THE CRUISE. We laughed last year at all the people getting off the cruise in Maui. WE had driven all over the island to some great places and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. They however were being crammed into a cheap luau (the equivalent to a luau at Shoney's). No one was smiling, no one seemed to be having a good time. Then that night, the weather got bad and they couldn't get back to the boat. Instead the cruise company dropped them off at OUR hotel after 11 pm for them to stay the night. They they had to be back on a bus at 7am the next am to head back to the ship. I forgot to mention that they had no luggage for that night. If you are going on a cruise to maui...you might as well go to the carribean on a cruise. Plus it would be cheaper.

dusty56438

bebalm - I totally agree with you. With a cruise in Hawaii, there is not enough time to do anything or see any of what the islands offer.

crazy4Hawaii

Having been a major detractor of cruising the islands in the past, I feel I must put in a positive here. Something I learned this weekend from a well-traveled friend. When he last took a Hawaiian cruise, they passed VNP at night and got a KILLER view of the lava flowing into the sea as well as the glowing top of the cauldera. Now I've never seen that from sea! Why don't any boat operators offer a tour like this?

dusty56438

crazy4Hawaii - One reason may be that lava doesn't always flow into the ocean. The lava flow changes every day.

There is always lava glow though. But, anyone who wants to view that can do it with a hike of a couple of miles.

I don't know that that there would be enough overnight (or late night) visitors on the Hilo side that would be interested in a lava tour by boat to support a regular scheduled tour because of the change in lava flow. But you're right, the idea should be explored (if it hasn't already been).

I'm sure there have been boats chartered for this purpose when the flow actually reaches the ocean. I think that would be an awesome sight.

crazy4Hawaii

That makes sense. Basing a tour on something as unpredictable as the lava flowing would be a risky proposition... Like you, I'd love to see it though!

brittany21

Well, the oceanview room was a promo, they upgraded us for the same price as the inside state rooms. We will be on each island for 2 days, and since we have never been there before i thought that it would be a good way to see a lil of each island, and then next time we go, we'll know which island we would want to focus all of our time on. I also priced hotels on individual islands, and this was the more affordable way to go considering that it includes your dining and the ship is your board. Thanks for ur input, does anyone have any suggestions as to activites on each island? Im defiantely wanting to do the whale watching in maui, a Lauo on the big island, i would like to swim with dolphins, Pearl harbor of course. Input?

dusty56438

Big Island (Hilo side) Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Akaka and Kahuna Falls

Oahu - USS Arizona Memorial and Circle Island Tour or Hanauma Bay snorkeling.
Polynesian Cultural Center if you have an extra day on Oahu.

Maui - Whale watching or Road to Hana.

Kauai - Waimea Canyon