Anyone have any ideas on how to do Hawaii on a strict budget?

[keagansmom]

When we go we rent a home. Go to www.vrbo.com. Last time we went with my parents and my borthers family. We rented a nice beach house (right on Sunset Beach) for $250 a night. The house had 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, an outsided shower to wash off the sand, a deck on the beach, a hot tub, and it was fully furnished. The house also came with boogie boards, beach chairs, beach umbrella and canoe. This was perfect as we had 2 children with us. Much more room to run around! And the kids loved digging in the sand. The good thing is you can purchase food for breakfast and eat out when you want (food is spendy on the islands.) We split the cost between 3 couples. Much much cheaper than a hotel and we were right on the beach. We bought fresh fruit at the local farmers market, as well as fresh seafood. You can rent your own snorkel equipment from Snorkel Bob's and keep it for your entire stay. Snorkeling is a cheap and amazing way to view the islands. We went to many tidepools and let the kids see all the sea stars, sea slugs, urchins, etc. In downtown Honolulu there is a free hula show on the weekends. If you go during the winter season you can go and watch the surfing competitions for free. We're going back this fall. Hope this helps.

 

[MEM]

Great thread! I have been planning my trip to Hawaii in 2009 for my 50th bday for some time now. The link below has some interesting information.

http://www.andhawaii.com/hawaii-vacation-articles/budget-nav.htmlnow.

Also try a search for Frommer's Hawaii on a Budget.

I would prefer to skip Oahu entirely but DH is a WWII buff and Pearl Harbor is a must. Hoping to keep that part of the trip to 2 days.

Looking forward to hearing more tips from those "real people" who have been there and done that.

 

[disneedee]

we've done ohau 2 times and there is a lot to do there that is free or cheap
we did do 1 pay tour when we took the kids, it was an all day with a hike to a waterfall, snorkeling, and body surfing. we've done with and without car. both work but without takes more planning and relying on shuttles and buses than without. i kept them busy, the kids were disappointed that they did not get more beach time, but liked seeing all that they did see. renting a blow up float was like $6 a day and they didn't want them back so kept it for the duration. (did have to hike down the street carrying it). we had a kitchette in our room and did breakfast and dinner in, and only ate out for lunch meal. Even mcdonalds cost more there. packed food in a suitcase. frozen egg beaters, bagels(don't squish easily in packing), frozen summer sausage,(had breakfast sandwiches), nucoa margarine (doesn't need refrig), canned turkey/chicken, pasta, koolaid, powdered milk, dried potatoes, dried/canned soup/noodles/chili, canned vegt/fruit, little short on fresh stuff but it was only for a week and allowed us to take our kids to hawaii.
no island hopping for us but hey we saw hawaii, it was beautiful, went in early november, some rain but it felt like a warm shower when it came and it never stayed long.

 

[Servants of Evan]

A few things to remember: You are not going to Pearl Harbor -- you are going to the Arizona Monument. If you follow the signs to Pearl you will wind up at the front gate of the Navy base where a stern MP will not be amused by your mistake. Granted, he must see the same mistake 100 times a day, but he's rather put off just the same. He's better armed than you are so follow his instructions VERY closely.

Depending on when you go to the islands, the trades (winds) will vary direction as will the surf. During the winter, the North Shore gets pounded, but it's not bad in the summer. Personally on Oahu I love the area around Malaekahana -- it's beautiful and I've never had to share the long beach with more than three or four people (on a weekday). During the winter it's perfect to go splash around in the smaller waves, and it's pretty well protected from the big surf but you can watch it pounding Mokuauia Island farther off shore...

The best information I've ever gotten has been from the Doughty & Friedman books. If you go to your bookstore you'll know their guides by their blue covers with satelite photos of the island the book is covering. They're VERY well researched and they're not afraid to "tell it like it is."

PM me if you'd like any further assistance.

 

[Chereya]

Looking to go for our anniversary this year. Anyone have any tips or know of any good websites to get discounted hotel rates? Or airline tickets.
thanks.

I would sign up for the email newsletters from the different travel web sites and specify in your preferences that you are looking for RT from your home airport to Hawaii. The cheapest I have gotten is $440 from the East Coast for a trip in Dec 2002. Basically anything under $500 from the East Coast is a good price and anything under $450 is Really Good.

Try the Hawaii Entertainment Book for money saving coupons. Wait until just about a month before you go to order as the price goes down considerably. It starts at $35 and goes down to about $15 in June, $9.99 in October.
Get a membership in Costco, they have one on Maui and Kauai (not sure about the other islands). Great place for gas, food, souveniers, etc.

You really need to rent a car for the whole time you're there, not just a day or two. Otherwise you're at the mercy of whatever high-priced eatery in your hotel, condo, etc. You need a car to get your groceries, etc. Cooking and eating in a condo can cut your trip expenses in half!

I second the suggestion about the Hawaii Entertainment Book. Even if you only use it for a few activites and meals it's well worth it - especially if you're able to get it last minute at a big discount.

I wouldn't go out and get a warehouse club membership just for your vacation. If you are already a member, there is a Costco tucked away near the Hilo Hatties flagship store area (Iwilei, check the Costco website). There is also a Sam's Club (and Walmart) right across the street from Ala Moana shopping center which is much closer to Waikiki. Honestly, I think Walmart should be good for buying stuff on vacation - do you really need a giant package of "whatever" and have to take it home again? There is also a grocery store in Ala Moana shopping center which isn't cheap either (tell the truth, ALL the groceries in Hawaii are expensive, but anything sold to tourists will be more so). A neighborhood grocery store sells milk for over $4 a gallon and Tropicana OJ for over $5 a gallon!!!

I disagree about needing a car. Lots of residents make do without a car. The traffic is BAD, really bad during rush hours and school vacations. And it's not easy to navigate directions. The highway on and off ramps and just driving on the streets in general take some time to get used to. Someone just posted their Hawaii trip report and they only rented a car for one day. The rest of the time they took a tour, trolley, taxi or The Bus (public).

[/QUOTE=Servants of Evan]Personally on Oahu I love the area around Malaekahana -- it's beautiful and I've never had to share the long beach with more than three or four people (on a weekday).[/QUOTE]

Shhhhhhhh! You're gonna give away all the good secrets! Luckily this beach has a tiny parking area and really hard to find signage/driveway.

disneedee - sounds like you had a great time!

Chereya

 

[danalee]

Maui gets my vote!

My husband and I and I find it laid back and not crowded~

We just love it!

I really dont have any budget tips but one thing I agree with is a car is a must for the entire trip~

We just love driving on the Island, up to Hana and Lahaina we stay in Wailea and have never been crowded on the beach.

Its an amazing place! I cant wait to go back
Have Fun and enjoy yourself

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

So...Thank you everyone again! Great discussion going on here.
We have decided on Kauai and that website vbro.com, is awsome! Can anyone reccomend which beach or shore (n,s,e,w) to stay on in Kauai? There is so much to choose from, and its hard to tell which is best. We are looking for a tropical hawaiian experience. Where my dd 4 can play in the water, we can see some turtles, things like this..does Kauai offer this?

 

[my3kids]

www.gohawaii.com is another one to look at for planning. They have a link to Kauai information. Some more rental agents on Kauai are Regency Pacific Realty in Princeville and www.grantham-resorts.com Since the N and S are different areas, you could split your stay into 2 different lodgings and feel like you saw 2 completely different places.

 

[Dznypal]

we went to Maui March of 2004 for a week.

there were 16 of us 4 kids and 12 adults. in a total of 5 rooms.

we stayed at Embassy Suites in Maui so we all had a kitchenette so you can cook if you want and separate bedroom- huge bathroom free hot breakfast every morning air (from WI) car was included with each room.

We booked through AAA and each person got a $30 activity voucher even the kids!!!

total bill for 16 people (kids were just charged air)

was $14,000

thank goodness my parents paid for it!!

best part of the whole trip was DS and DGF got married!!!

it was so romantic--barefoot on the beach at sundown!!

just breathtaking!!

 

[staceyfe]

Subscribing to this thread as DH would like to celebrate our 15 year anniv. in Sept. 2007. I really have no idea where to start as neither of us has never been. Sounds like I will be using my Barnes and Noble gift card from Christmas for a guide book.

 

[lmj]

We (DH, 2DD, DS, my mom, and myself) are leaving for 9 nights in Hawaii next Saturday!!!! In booking this trip I have done all of the things suggested. We used Priceline for one night in Honolulu, the Entertainment book for another night in Honolulu, and www.vrbo.com for 2 nights in a condo at Turtle Bay on the North Shore and 4 nights in a condo on Kauai. I did tons of research using the Kauai Revealed book and the wizardpub.com website along with bidding for travel.com and tripadvisor.com. The whole trip for the 6 of us is costing about $5000 including airfare from the east coast, interisland airfare, all hotels, and a rental car for the whole trip.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned which saved us a ton of money was by breaking up our airfare into two legs. We are flying from Providence to Phoenix on Southwest paying $59 each way. Then we are flying from Phoenix direct to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines. We signed up for the frequent flyer card and they were running a special where this saved $50 off your roundtrip fare. This was in addition to another special where we are paying $149 each way. With all of the fees and taxes we are only paying about $400 roundtrip for our whole flight. Not to mention that we have great flight times and two direct flights. If you go to the Hawaiian Airlines website they are running lots of great specials. This is not easy to coordinate but it was definitely worth it to us. We are spending one night in Phoenix because I couldn't get flight times to work all on the same day. I don't mind though, we got a nice airport area hotel for a great price on priceline. I have never been to Arizona so we will do a little exploring here. It is better than spending the night in Rhode Island that is for sure.

Another great savings for rental cars was throught the Entertainment book. Since our trip is broken up into so many legs, I needed lots of separate reservations. There are coupon codes for Entertainment members that save form 10-25 dollars off of a rental. For the total of 9 days we are paying about $400. Not too bad!

This will be our sixth trip, the second with all of the kids. We don't spend a lot of money when we are there. We eat pretty cheaply and spend lots of time at the beach and exploring the island. It actually costs us less than a Disney vacation once we are there.

I would probably pick Maui if you were only going to one island. This would save you some money on interisland flights as many airlines do fly direct into Maui. Oahu and Honolulu are fun but they are more crowded as the other posters have stated. This will be the first time we have spent time on the North Shore and I am pretty excited to try something different. We are also spending time in Waikkiki because my DS8 really is into Pearl Harbor and history stuff and I want to take the kids snorkeling at Hanuama Bay. We are going to Kauai because I have never been there but I do love Maui and it is great for kids.

Sorry this is so long, I have spent many hours planning this trip and can't believe it is almost time to go.

 

[lmj]

I just went back and read more posts. If you have any questions about where specifically we are staying PM me. We lucked out on vrbo.com and found some great places. I would be happy to share with you. We are staying in southern Kauai and Kihauna Plantations. I picked this area because it seems like this is where the best beaches are at this time of year. It was hard to find a place on a nice beach in this area that we could afford but I think we did it.

 

[leslieh]

I did plenty of reseach, spent about $5000.00 on everything. We were there 8 nights and 9 days, RT Air on Delta was 560.00 from Washington DC (Bargain). Timeshares just didnt work into our arrival time and departure to get the cheap flights. Did most of the research on TripAdviser.com. Great site. Ended up booking two rooms at an ohana hotel two blocks from beach in waikkee for last 6 nights. (We stayed two nights on North Shore at Turtle Bay Resort, expensive and very quiet Should i say I like movement, excitement and something going on which was in Wiakkee) Ohana hotel had small kitchen so you could eat snacks, small meals, pizza etc. I think our biggest expense was eating. Do buy the entertainment book before you go, saved us on rental car, dinners, pearl harbor and Luluas (SP) We had three 19-22 year olds and DH and myself. I hope to go some back someday, The most beautiful place ive seen. Summer was hot and in the winter big surf on north shore and more rain i believe. Just pick spring (not spring break ) or fall or early summer.

 

[cyansmom]

Aloha!

I am from Hawaii (Oahu) and answer any questions anyone may have...just PM me.

Kauai is very beautiful. Take the boat ride up the Wailua river up to the Fern Grotto. Lots of people get married there. Kauai does rain alot (the most rainfall out of all the islands). If your family is an outdoorsy family, Kauai is great because they have a lot of hiking trails etc. Beaches are not as nice as Maui or Oahu though.

Maui is awesome! There are many things to see and do. My favorite thing to do is to watch the sunrise on Haleakala Crater. It is truly amazing. You do have to leave at around 2:00 am to get up to the mountain but it is worth it. There are tons of whales that come during the fall/winter months. You can see whales from your hotel room if you stay on the beach. You can stop at a look out point and watch for free. The best windsurfing in the world is located on Maui. Hookipa is great to go and watch the windsurfers and swim too. There is an amazingly long drive to Hana. At the end of the drive are the Seven Sacred Pools. These pools are on a mountain ridge and is truly spectacular. You may see some famous people in Hana (Oprah, George Benson, Pat Benatar etc). There are plenty of places to eat at reasonable prices...you just need a car to drive to those places. I would try local eateries vs. popular chain restaurants. The local eateries can be found in shopping centers and strip malls.

Hawaii (Big Island) is great too but it is more for staying on property and not doing too much sight-seeing. Terrific golf courses on all islands but the Big Island is really famous for some. If you stay on the Kona side, it will take you about 2 hours to drive to see the volcano (active). Kona is very hot...all year around.

Oahu has the most to do...if you are into doing the touristy thing. The Bishop Museum has great exhibits about Hawaiian History. The Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center has free classes for hawaiian arts/crafts like quilting, basket-weaving, etc. The North Shore is dangerous during the winter months.

Hawaiian Air has great fares from the West Coast. Travelocity has fare specials too. Check Travelzoo for great specials on car rentals, hotels etc. Alamo has a new option...if you prepay for your car rental, they give you a discount. I got my brother and his family a mid-size car for $140 for one week. I was able to get them a fare of $670 from Salt Lake City during spring break! That is really cheap! Check www.pandaonline.com for special prices.

If you truly want a vacation, I would stay away from the timeshare/condo thing. Unless you are definitely going to make a majority of your meals and eat in. To me, that's not really a vacation. Most hotel rooms now have mini fridges, and a small wet bar (Hilton Hawaiian Village). The Waikiki Parc Hotel is a nice small boutique hotel next to the Sheraton Waikiki and sister hotel to the Halekulani hotel (Hawaii's 5 diamond hotel). this hotel is small but really clean and in a great location and they have great specials that may include a car and free breakfast buffet which is terrific. I worked at this hotel for several years and it is Waikiki's best kept secret. Check their website at www.waikikiparc.com

I know this is a lot to take in...hopefully it will help all of you who are planning your vacations to Hawaii.

Mahalo Nui Loa--

cyansmom

 

[Stephanie218]

Does anyone have an idea to the easiest way to get around? My BF and I are flying into HNL to stay at the u. of hawaii moana campus with friends for a week. we're not sure if we're leaving the island yet. BF is 21, so we could rent a car with additional fees - is this worth it, or is public transportation pretty good? our friends hitchhike a lot, but i'm not really comfortable doing that lol.

 

[Skatermom23]

So...Thank you everyone again! Great discussion going on here.
We have decided on Kauai and that website vbro.com, is awsome! Can anyone reccomend which beach or shore (n,s,e,w) to stay on in Kauai? There is so much to choose from, and its hard to tell which is best. We are looking for a tropical hawaiian experience. Where my dd 4 can play in the water, we can see some turtles, things like this..does Kauai offer this?

It has been many years since I was in Kauai (about 16 years!) but I remember thinking that this wasn't the island for kids. The beaches are not as nice for children. I would think you are looking for calm waters and smooth sand. Since you also want the tropical feeling, my guess would be Maui. Just my two cents!!!

 

[kinntj]

My pick of islands would be Maui, especially for kids. We stayed there 7 years ago. Our trip was expensive, so no advice there. We got married then, so the tab was quite large. South Maui is nice Wailea (sp?). We stayed at the Kea Lani and it was quite heavenly, but expensive. It is an all suites resort. They upgraded us for free from a standard room.

Things we did were went snorkeling off of a boat. They included breakfast and on the way back we saw whales and they were beautiful. This was in April, not so many left there, but there were a few to see. We took our rental car up north and toured around and went shopping. We went to a show next door.

I wish we would have visited Oahu a little bit, that's what I regret the most. Next time we'll reserve some days to tour the city.

To save some money we ate breakfast (bars or cereal)in our hotel rooms and snacked there. We also had small lunches (appetizers), so we could have nice dinners.

We plan on going back there when the kids are a little older and we'll have to budget for that too.

Tammy

 

[pyrxtc]

well, I'm not going until2009 but I want to leave on Christmas day from NH and leave Hawaii sometime in the first week of January. No clue where we want to stay but by then our kids will be 15,14,8, and 6. Also my mom wants to talk my dad into going since they have always wanted to go. Who knows who else will invite themselves. So there will be at least 6 o us with the possibility of 8 or more.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

So a No to Kauai huh?? I was really excited about this place..it sounds wonderful! Any votes for Kauai with kids??

 

[PRaffen]

If you get the travel channel, there are several shows on today starting at 3 PM (ET) including "Hawaii on a Budget."

Have fun planning!