Aulani - Split Stay chances?

[gonzalj1]

DW and I are looking to take the kids to Hawaii in August 2013. We have a 1 week Norwegian cruise booked to see the other islands and were hoping to do a split stay at Aulani - a few days before the cruise and a few days after. Has anyone done a split stay like this? Should we be concerned about availability? Do folks go for less than a full week? We're looking for a 1BR Oceanview if that makes a difference.

I should have clarified that we are DVC members looking to book Aulani at the 7 month Window. We'd be traveling in August 2013 - looking to arrive the 7th or 8th and depart the 21st or 22nd. Our cruise is the 10th to 17th.

 

[WsPrincess]

I am interested in this as well. We want to do something similar since DH wants to hop to the other islands.

 

[gonzalj1]

Anyone?

 

[CocosMeme]

Haven't done it yet - but we have the NCL cruise booked for Oct 27- Nov 3 and then Aulani Nov 3-10. We decided that we will probably be tired after the cruise (we usually are after one) and the Aulani part would be better after it. We don't like split stays - we only like to unpack once!

 

[cleophus12]

We also did our stay post cruise and, boy, were we glad we did! First of all we would have been terribly disappointed in the ship if we'd done Aulani before boarding. In all honesty, we probably wouldn't have wanted to leave. By doing it afterward, we had something to look forward to instead of having to hop on a plane for 10 hours. I'm sure you would enjoy the split stay, and I know a few days on the front end of the cruise would help acclimate to the time change, but I'd recommend all the Aulani time after the cruise if that's an option.

 

[gonzalj1]

Thanks. The split stay is not a requirement but it would save quite a bit on airfare with the midweek flights. Plenty to think about.

 

[gonzalj1]

Has no one done a split stay at Aulani? Even interested in hearing from folks who tried and couldn't for whatever reason.

 

[Fuhnuh]

Disclaimer: I am not a DVC member, so what information I have may be incomplete. I also took too much time to write my response and then incorrectly entered my login info and had to start over. We have stayed at Aulani twice after a week in Waikiki. Last Thanksgiving we stayed for 4 nights and for 3 nights in late June. We stayed Ocean View for 5 nights and pool/garden for 2. We enjoyed both. We are already planning our next Thanksgiving trip. I think that less than a week is fine if your are enjoying other parts of Hawaii. I would think that if you can have at least two full days at the resort before and after it would be a great treat for your family. If I was arriving late and departing early, a short stay may offend my wallet a bit.

The only other disadvantage of a split stay I can see is that you will need to make a refundable deposit for each booking. Like room-only reservations at WDW, you can cancel before 5 days out and get your deposit refunded. I don't know if you are a DVC member or Aulani owner, but if you are not, the DVC rooms don't seem to enter the general public reservation until 60? days out. It seems that some days open around 90, I don't know how this works. The rest of the resort may be booked much further in advance. The disadvantage is that the resort 1 bdrms are much more expensive and do not have a kitchen (if that matters to you). I don't know when the Phase 3 rooms are to be finished, but when it is, I am guessing more DVC rooms will open up (depending on how Aulani sales are going). You could reserve what would work for you on the regular resort side and then change the reservation to a DVC 1bdrm when (if) it opens. I did this for 1 night of our June trip. Results may vary. Early August this year is already pretty well booked. I hope this starts to answer some of your questions. As always, I hope the more knowledgable will correct my errors and fill in the gaps. I hope your family has a great vacation.

 

[gonzalj1]

I should have clarified that we are DVC members looking to book Aulani at the 7 month Window. We'd be traveling in August 2013 - looking to arrive the 7th or 8th and depart the 21st or 22nd. Our cruise is the 10th to 17th.

 

[gonzalj1]

Bumping for some more opinions.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi - just bumping this thread forward as I too am contemplating an Aulani stay coupled with a Norwegian cruise - I would LOVE to hear about anyones experience of the Norwegian 7 night Hawaiian cruise We have become accustomed to DCL now and am a bit apprehensive about trying another cruise line, but do like the sound of the norwegian itinerary - we will be travelling with our two boys who will be 10 and 7 when we vacation.

Many thanks for your help

 

[fitnessmouse]

Very interested in this thread.

We have plans to go in 2014
Our plan is to do the weeklong NCL cruise first, then Aulani for 5 nights and then DL for 2 as a stopover on the way home.
If we have to stay at a hotel before the cruise, i'd probably book any hotel close to the port or in waikiki.

I want to have something to look forward to after the cruise.

 

[wdrl]

We will be leaving for Hawaii in just 7 days for the NCL cruise and Aulani. We are staying a night in Honolulu (Hilton Hawaiian Village at Waikiki) before boarding the NCL Pride of America on September 8 for the 7-night cruise. After we disembark on September 15, we are checking into Aulani for 7 nights.

My wife (denlo) and I will definitely do a trip report covering both the NCL cruise and our stay at Aulani. We'll start doing daily updates as soon as we get internet access, which might not be until we check into Aulani on September 15. But it might be as early as September 7!

We will probably post our trip report on the DVCNews Forum. If you have any questions about Aulani or the NCL cruise, please let me know. We'll try to answer them for you.

 

[wdrl]

We have started a pre-trip report on the DVCNews about our upcoming NCL cruise/Aulani trip in September. Click here if you want to follow along.

 

[Denise W]

We took the NCL Pride of America cruise in 2008 and had a great time. Because it is an American flagged ship it had a mostly American crew, so the service was a little different from cruises that use an all foreign crew. We had no problems at all and felt the ship was beautiful. Some people traveling with us felt the crew wasn't as good as others they had had, but that is personal opinion. We loved going to a different island each day and fell in love with Hawaii. Now we want to go back and experience Aulani as well.

Denise

 

[amystevekai&bump]

We will be leaving for Hawaii in just 7 days for the NCL cruise and Aulani. We are staying a night in Honolulu (Hilton Hawaiian Village at Waikiki) before boarding the NCL Pride of America on September 8 for the 7-night cruise. After we disembark on September 15, we are checking into Aulani for 7 nights.

My wife (denlo) and I will definitely do a trip report covering both the NCL cruise and our stay at Aulani. We'll start doing daily updates as soon as we get internet access, which might not be until we check into Aulani on September 15. But it might be as early as September 7!

We will probably post our trip report on the DVCNews Forum. If you have any questions about Aulani or the NCL cruise, please let me know. We'll try to answer them for you.

Thanks ever so much for your post - I will be following your trip report with keen interest!! Have you booked any excursions on the cruise?

We took the NCL Pride of America cruise in 2008 and had a great time. Because it is an American flagged ship it had a mostly American crew, so the service was a little different from cruises that use an all foreign crew. We had no problems at all and felt the ship was beautiful. Some people traveling with us felt the crew wasn't as good as others they had had, but that is personal opinion. We loved going to a different island each day and fell in love with Hawaii. Now we want to go back and experience Aulani as well.

Denise

Thats great to hear Denise - th more I research the Hawaiian islands, the more I want to be there!!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

OOh just read your pre-trip report Wdrl - I am very excited to hear you are doing the Kauai helicopter tour - I am petrified of copters, but am going to 'brave it' for the chance to see those awesome views!! Would love to hear all about it after your trip!!

 

[wdrl]

OOh just read your pre-trip report Wdrl - I am very excited to hear you are doing the Kauai helicopter tour - I am petrified of copters, but am going to 'brave it' for the chance to see those awesome views!! Would love to hear all about it after your trip!!

I'm impressed that you are willing to do the helicopter excursion even though you are petrified of helicopters!! We've done a helicopter excursion before in Hawaii and it was great -- one of the best excursions we have ever done. It was on the Big Island and we flew over the volcanoes and the east coast of the island. Copter excursions are expensive but we think they are well worth it.

We'll post lots of photos of our excursions and give reviews of each in our trip report. Thanks for following along!!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Well, here is my opinion and advice, I would stay at Aulani for as many nights as you can ---- it doesn't matter if they are before or after your cruise or both!!! We were there in July with our two DDs, ages 12 and 8, in a one bedroom, ocean view and we all LOVVVVVVED Aulani!!!!! We talk every single day about how we can get back to Aulani and hope to go again next summer.

I think you will love it!! You will be there after the expansion so Aulani shoukd be even better by the time you arrive next year. Sounds great!

 

[eva]

I am super interested in this thread. I can't wait to read the trip report. We are thinking of a week at Aulani and either a cruise or a few nights on another island. Hope we can get Aulani for May 7 months out.