Westin - Kaanapali
 

Husband, 8 year old daughter and I are staying at the Westin Kaanapali for 9 nights starting June 19. 5 nights are free because I'm a frequent traveler. Has anyone stayed there recently to give us your thoughts or experiences? Hopefully it is an OK hotel

We thought the Westin was great, as well as Kaanapali. It's beautiful, with 5 pools and one specifically for kids and along the Kaanapali stretch are stores and other hotels and restaurants.

Your kids will love the pools!

Hi Liz,
It's a REALLY nice hotel (more than ok). And yes your daughter will LOVE the pools, especially the one with the slide.
We got a room on the top floor, right in the center of the building. The view was absolutely beautiful. I would tell you to try and avoid the lower floors because there's a really loud waterfall. It's very soothing if you're on the top floor but could get very annoying if you're on the 1st floor.
Our only issue with the hotel: there's a fee to use the beach chairs...a bit outrageous in our opinion since the cost of the hotel room was not cheap. But you might not mind since you have 5 free nights. Anyway, we chose to leave our things on our pool chairs when went into the ocean.
The staff was really nice.
Have a great vacation.

Thanks all - does anyone know how much the beach chairs cost?

Surprisely, I didn't see a lot of people on the beach by the hotel, but the lounge chairs around the pools are free.

We went in October 2001 and the beach chairs were $15 for half a day and $30 for a full day.
And yes actntime is right..the pool chairs are free (thank goodness!).
There's one pool that's closest to the beach, separated only by a walkway...so you can leave your stuff by that pool (no valuables of course).

I should tell you about the restaurants. Not a lot of choices we thought. There's the all-you-can eat breakfast buffet every morning...about $20/pperson...expensive if you're not a big eater...but not if you are (like my husband).
When you walk towards the beach and make a right, there's an outdoor restaurant for dinner. When we were there, it was buy an entree, get the 2nd one free...good deal.
I think there was a 3rd restaurant we didn't try.
And if you keep walking straight after you make that right, there's an outdoor little mall with shops and restaurants. You can get better priced food for lunch than at the Westin (burgers, etc..).

Thanks for all the info and ideas caribtraveler! We'll check out the 2 for 1. We eat fairly early too so hope to take advantage of some early bird specials. Have you eaten at the Hula Grill? I'ver read some good things about it too.

The name is not familiar so I don't think we ate there. Sorry...

While the Westin may not have a lot of choice in restaurants on the property there are a number of restauarants of all types with in a five monute walk. The Hula Bar and Grill is right next door to the Westin right on the beach in Whaler's Village. There are 7 or 8 major hotels in the Kaanapali resort area and each has several restaurants, plus there are several more restaurants and fast food outlets in Whaler's Village.

The town of Lahaina is three miles from Kaanapali and there are many restaurants there.

Go to this web site for an aerial view of the whole Kaanapali Resort area:

http://www.maui.net/~kbra/accommodations.html

You will like the Westin. We had breakfast at the buffet there a few weeks back. It did seem very busy, but all of Kaanapali is in general. We always eat at the Hula Grill when we go to Kaanapali. I recommend making early reservations, ask for a walkway/ocean front table and enjoying a gorgeous Maui sunset while you eat. They also do anything on the menu to go (my daughter was sick one night). I would not recommend The Rusty Harpoon next door as the food was mediocre, service slow etc...We really enjoyed the saturday night all you can eat Alaskan king crab at Va Bene (at the Marriott within the Kaanapali resort area)Back to the Westin itself-we actually stayed at the Hyatt, but as I said we strolled through and ate at the Westin. It has a feeling of tranquility within the hustle and bustle of Kaanapali, a real sense of quality and an upscale feel. The beach is better here than in the Hyatt area. Enjoy your stay...

Can I add an unsolicited suggestion?
If you're into snorkeling excursions, we took a really great one, snorkeling with the sea turtles. It was a full day boat excursion and the staff on that boat was fabulous.
The boat was called the Gemini and we booked it through the excursion desk that's by the beach (not the one in the hotel lobby), next to the little shop that sells floating devices and beach wear.

Five minute walk down the beach is the Sheraton. The beach there is one of the best snorkeling spots anywhere(Black Rock). If you are a snorkeler--don't miss it. If not---its a great place to start. Also, 10 minute drive is Kapalua Bay Beach. It is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The snorkeling there is the easiest(and best) for kids who are learning(easy in and out and virtually no waves). Good Luck --you'll love it!!

Thank you for the great suggestions and if there are any more out there, please keep them coming!!!! caribtraveler - thank you particularly for all your feedback and the idea of the Gemini. I've seen something call Trilogy too which Fodors or the other F travel source talks about. The idea of my daughter seeing turtles is a huge hit. She LOVES all types of animals.

You will love Maui! The Westin is a wonderful hotel and your daughter will love it. We have stayed at the Hyatt, Sheraton, Westin and Marriott. We will be staying at the Westin again in July. We love to eat at the Hula Grill. We love to sit in the outdoor section and watch the sunset. There is live music and usually hula dancing too. The food is good and the atmosphere is wonderful. We love to stroll along the walkway that runs from the Hyatt up to Black Rock. Be sure and take your daughter up to the Sheraton some evening to watch the cliff diving ceremony at sunset. There are lots of sea turtles up at Black Rock that we see when snorkeling. We have taken the Trilogy Molikini/Turtle Town trip and we loved it. Maui is addicting! As soon as we get home we start planning on when we can go back. Any other questions please feel free to ask. I love Maui.