I have found this forum to be soooo helpful. So hoping that by sharing my experience, it will help others. I%26#39;ll try not to make it too long.
I just got back from Hawaii for my honeymoon, and it was WONDERFUL. We went to Kauai first (also wonderful) for 4 nights then headed to Maui for 7 nights.
HOTEL: Four Seasons Wailea. GREAT!! First time in a Four Seasons and I loved it. Would absolutely go back. We did get stuck with 2 queen beds (as opposed to a king...) but oh well. It%26#39;s very pricey when staying in the hotel....but very hard to leave.
RESTAURANTS:
Overall, we had GREAT dinners and really lucked out with tables and views. All of them were pretty pricey but wonderful.
Spago at the Four Seasons: wonderful, delicious, very innovative. We%26#39;re big fans of Wolfgang Puck to begin with.
Mama%26#39;s Fish House: LOVED IT. Great atmosphere, great food. Heard some mixed reviews about Mama%26#39;s recently, but would absolutely say it%26#39;s great.
Capische: Located in the Diamond Resort in Wailea. It%26#39;s an Italian restaurant recommended by the Four Seasons. So glad we went. Great view -- great food -- great service.
Nick%26#39;s: Also so great. Located in the Fairmount Kea Lani (which is also very pretty.) Wonderful service, great atmosphere...romantic, outside. They make bad mojitos. But the waiter saw I didn%26#39;t drink it and took it off the bill!
DUO: New steakhouse in the Four Seasons. Was also great. Beef and fish were great. They also serve Kobe beef but it%26#39;s outrageously expensive. DUO also does breakfast in the mornings. Great atmosphere for breakfast too.
For lunch we went to Ferraros a couple times, Kimo%26#39;s in Lahaina (which we loved!), Cheeseburger in the Wailea shops, and just kinda winged it.
ACTIVITIES:
Shopping in Lahaina -- love the drive here and the town is great.
Shopping, walking thru Kihei, stopping at one of their beaches -- LOVED Kihei. What a great little town. Love to walk thru open air markets. Bought most of my souvenirs here.
Old Lahaina Luau -- this is such a great luau. It was very hot the day we went. But so worth it. The food, I think, is actually pretty good. The show is great.
Star Gazers tour at Haleakala: This was a great experience. I actually got the Star Gazers recommendation from this site. We had wanted to go up there for sunset anyway and then I came across this recommendation. It was perfect. We drove up on our own at about 4:30 - 5ish. Took our time. Made a couple stops on the way up. Met the tour at the last visitor spot at about 6 pm. We then went off on our own to go to the summit, watch the summit, etc. Then met back together again. They gave us down coats and hats (which was great! it%26#39;s freezing up there!). Provided a simple dinner but was very good. We looked thru the telescope....saw great shots of the moon, stars, saturn, jupiter, venus, etc.. Midway they let us go back to our cars to warm up while they walked around and gave us hot cocoa and cookies. GREAT TRIP. Highly recommend this tour. Or if at the very least, going up Haleakala for sunset is wonderful.
Road to Hana: As many people post.....you either love it or hate it. We loved it! We had the revealed book as well as the CD. Both were helpful, but ended up following the book more. Made as many stops as we good. We had a great day. Saw great waterfalls. Got GREAT banana bread. Went on a hike. Went to Black Sand Beach. I just thought it was great. We left early and were therefore able to head back early. Which was very nice because we had time to lounge around, regroup and have a nice dinner. We did turn around after we reached Hana and did not go all the way to the pools. But that%26#39;s OK. Trip was worth it for us.
Well......hope this helps and was enjoyable for some. Any questions...feel free to ask. Thanks!
Trip Report 5/25 - 6/1Ooops...typed too fast. Sorry for those stupid typos in there... :-)
Trip Report 5/25 - 6/1Congratulations capemaybride and thanks for the great report. How was your flight (we are flying from Phila in July)??
Thanks what a nice report
I was thinking of the Stargazer tour, and now I have read how much you enjoyed it I will do it. How long were you with the tour company?
Carole
Great report.. It sounds like you really enjoyed your trip.
Thanks all.....glad you were able to enjoy. It really was a fantastic trip.
Marty -- we took the direct flights between Newark and Honolulu. In order to save money we exchanged our Continental One Pass miles for the trip. We were lucky enough to get First Class on the way out, but only coach was available coming home. Going out in first class was a dream. If you%26#39;ve never done first class.....what a treat. If you%26#39;re a Seinfeld fan and you%26#39;ve seen the episode where Jerry gets first class and pretty much rubs it in Elaine%26#39;s face.....it%26#39;s actually that good. The show is not exaggerated at all. Great food, kept filling the wine glasses, warm cookies, ice cream sundaes, lots of movies and shows to distract you and great chairs. Coming home was of course a different story, but actually better than I thought. We were fortunate enough to get a two seater and you still had your personal TV with the remote so that you can control what you watched. Food stunk though and the chairs of course were not as comfortable. But the flight was thru the night so I was pretty tired. 10 - 10/12 hours air time on the way out.....about 9 hours air time on the way back.
Carole -- I highly recommend the Star Gazers tour. We met them at 6 pm, literally for a few minutes. They let us do our thing, watch the sunset, etc and then asked us to meet them back after sunset which was about 7 pm-ish. Then they give you dinner and you can have that in your car. Once it gets dark enough -- which in our case was about 8 ish, they setup the telescope and each person looks thru one at a time. We had 7 people in our group. Then about 3/4 thru, they let you warm up, give you cocoa and you look at 2 more things. We were done with them at about 9:30 pm or so. And then it was about a 11/2 hours back to Wailea.
Carole -- one other thing about the Star Gazers tour, or basically about Haleakala in general. Definitely dress appropriately. I hardly packed any long pants and long sleeves, but I did bring one pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt for this trip. I also wore socks and sneakers. You%26#39;ll be so much more comfortable that you do. I saw a lot of people up there with shorts, tank tops and flip flops, they had to be freezing. Once we met the tour, they provided the down coats to borrow and then gave you a souvenir ski hat. I wore both and was comfortable. But I would have even been more comfortable with a heavier shirt or sweat shirt.
Awesome trip report. how much was the star gazer tour? This would be something I would want to look into for next time ...
Congrats on the wedding too!
Thanks! Star Gazers tour was about $75 per person. If you google star gazers tour maui, it will come up with a couple links.
Thanks for the report.
These reports are helpful to those who are planning their trip and to those who are looking for new ideas or places to try on their next visit.
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