sppunk

This is my budget for six or seven nights, but don't know if this is even remotely feasable.

Thanks. :/

Orcas

How many people in your party? Are you including airfare? You'll have to figure out the details. But, I don't see any problem. Just find a condo and car rental you can afford (and there are plenty that won't break the bank). The food is expensive, but if you don't see the vacation as an excuse to pig out, you'll be fine. Eat in your condo mostly, or picnic. Eat out at less expensive places.
Hawaii is gorgious. Enjoy the natural beauty swimming, snorkeling, sightseeing, hiking. All of the best of Hawaii is free.

sppunk

There will be two of us, a honeymoon basically is what it is.

I was including air fare in that, but realized I could go up to $3,500. I hate asking these questions here because money is so personal.

I was looking at NCL's Pride of Aloha cruise around the Islands, but think perhaps it would be best for five nights to just go to Maui and explore. We're not huge swimmers (I have very fair skin and the sunlight causes problems for it). I would love to get a condo with a private hot tub or even pool, but am so unsure where to look!

soquel

Look in the latest version of "Maui Revealed" which reviews condos and hotels (and everything else you need to know!). They have links to web sites that give further information. We are going to Kaui in Sept. the cheap way, with a condo at $120 a night, $1,300 for both of us to fly from California.....so we are at $3,000 with those and a car rental. We figure we can keep it down to $100 per day for food & misc. if we don't eat at the fancy places, so our total trip will be around $4,000. We just returned from a lavish 30th anniv. trip where we spent over $7,000 staying at the nicest places etc. (insane) but loved Kaui so much that we wanted to go back in the fall and try to do it cheaper, but it's stil expensive mostly because of the air fare rates right now. But go! You will love it! It will be a wonderful memory for your honeymoon! And regarding the cruise, the only problem with that is you are limited to their schedule and you can't wander around at your leisure. I loved my cruise to Alaska, but in any of the Hawaiian islands I love to stay on the island!

CaliNurse

Hawaii via a cruise? As said above (see Soquel) cruisin's great, but I'd never do it in Hawaii (or Europe).
Right now Hawaiian Airlines is having great prices for August thru Oct. Check out their web site. YES you can do it for $3,000, including air fare, for two. including plane fare. (You don't say how many people). Just for starters, maybe check Expedia or Pleasant Hawaiian for air/car/hotel deals.

sppunk

Thanks for those wonderful links, everyone. Airfare won't be much of a problem due to "ins" with American Airlines.

However, I am unsure which island would be the best to stay on for a five/six night vacation. I'm guessing Maui, and then just look for a condo? What area of the island is easiest to get to/around on?

bonniebroad

sppunk, if you have the airfare under control, then I would buy the Hawaii Entertainment Book ($35 at entertainment.com if your trip is after November 1, 2004. If this trip would be between now and Nov. 1, you can get the 2004 book for $15 total right now!) Use their card to get half price off one of the condos listed in there for the island you want (I would do Maui for a week, for a first trip/honeymoon.) Many very nice condos honor that card, except during the Christmas through Easter high season usually. I think you could stay well within your budget going that way......... And there are quite a few coupons in the book for discounts on restaurants and activities in Maui, though not as many as for Oahu. Happy planning........

tstrohn

You can do it! My husband and I are going to Maui for 7 days (actually we get an extra day because our returning flight is very late, overnight, so sort of like 8 days) for $2700 including airfare and rental car. Originally, it was $2600 but we opted to upgrade the room to be closer to the beach. We are staying at the Wailea Ekahi villas (beachfront condos), in a studio with kitchen so that we can save some money by cooking some of our own meals. I'm sure the price will vary depending on where you're flying from and what time of year you're going, though. We're going July 6-13 (in just a few weeks), and we're so excited!

We NEVER thought we'd be able to afford Hawaii, but when we had to cancel our vacation to the Outer Banks this year (due to my husband's job), we looked into Hawaii prices just for kicks. The quotes I got were less than I expected, and I did LOTS of research - online and otherwise. The best deal I got was from a website agency called "Great Hawaii Vacations", and no one I spoke to could beat their price. In fact, my friend's mom is a travel agent and told me she couldn't get a price anywhere near as low as they gave me for what we got - she told me to jump on it so I did!

Check out www.greathawaiivacations.com (I hope that's the right address) or email me if you want more info! Good luck!

- Tina