Booked Maui through RCI, now the planning begins

[Dean]

How far in advance did you have to make the reservation? What are other choices besides the Kaanapali Beach Club? Or do you have a choice at all? Looking to book Hawaii for 2011 and just wondering how far in advance I need to do this. Any other advice would be helpful!

As a rule, decent Maui Inventory is never sitting there. Generally with RCI starting a search 2 years out is best and anything under about a year is short notice. DVC only has 2 options on Maui. Of those, only KBC is reasonable to trade DVC points for. The other is nice enough but it's not in nearly as good of a location and is across the road and up a big hill in the Kehei area. Also I do not believe there's much or any beach in that immediate area. HI, like the Caribbean, has mostly lockoff and smaller units so getting a 2 BR is almost impossible for many situations.

Another option is that there are several smaller independent exchange companies that may have inventory in HI. These include HI Timeshare Exchange (HTSE), Trading Places Intl. (TPI), Trading Places Maui (TPM) Platinum Interchange (PI), Dial an Exchange (DAE) and San Francisco Exchange (SFX). Some have no membership fee and some allow search first as well. Also consider a direct exchange with another owner at a given resort or system.

Do realize that DVC doesn't trade as well as some would think. It may be doing better with RCI than II though RCI simply isn't having the same overall quality resorts that II did (en masse). With HI the time of year is also very important. Though it is red all year around, there is great variability from one time to another. Here is my thoughts on the busiest times.

Busiest - Xmas, NY and Feb to Easter.
Next busiest - June to mid August
Average - Jan, Nov (esp around the Holiday)
Below Average - May, Sept, Oct
Lowest - 2 weeks before Xmas

Even within these times, demand can vary dramatically from one week to another. While travel is down overall for HI, I saw something recently that suggested timeshare travel was actually up for HI which surprised me. However, as Disney has seen with DVC, timeshare travel has seemed to cushion such swings in demand for many areas.

 

[Anal Annie]

I have been to Maui several times. We tend to rotate thru things every other time. i.e. if we do sunrise at Haleakala we don't do the Road to Hana. If we do the Road to Hana we don't do sunrise at Haleakala. We ALWAYS do a snorkel excursion tho. There are several offered out of Lahaina or the Makena Harbor. We like Molokini if the weather is good & we can get there early, before all the other boats arrive.

I will add more votes for dining at the Hula Grill and Leilani's on the Beach. We have also enjoyed some good meals at the Lahaina Fish Co. If you want to do a luau I would suggest you spring for the big bucks (and reserve EARLY) for the Old Lahaina Luau. This one WILL book up early and it's a significant chunk more than any of the others you will find. But IMHO the Royal Lahaina one is DISGUSTING.

Went to the island of Lanai once. It was OK. Very pretty. Definitely a touristy beach day sort of thing. You can amuse yourself on the island of Maui with its beaches tho for free.

Golf! BEEEG island for golfing if you golf. BEAUTIFUL courses. You can either bring your own clubs or you can rent them at the course. There's probably a concierge desk that can help you find the right course & set up a tee time. I do not play but DH does so I once arranged for a round to surprise him for his birthday. We were staying in Wailea on that trip & he played at the Gold course where the Senior Masters play. I went along & rode on the cart for the day. Beautiful.

Freebies! Yay!! Lots of things to do on Maui that are free! Sunrise at Haleakala crater is AMAZING. You can ask at the front desk what time sunrise is while you are there & what time you should get up / leave by. You will likely have to get up between 2 & 3:00 am for the drive as it takes several hours. But it's an amazing thing to be above the clouds when the sun comes up. Talk about a photo op!! Warning - it WILL be COLD up there!! You should bring some long pants & fleece!! I've often seen icicles hanging off of the viewing station. The air is really thin too. But it's just a really neat thing to do. And it's freeee!!

We ALWAYS rent a car and I cannot imagine taking a bus tour to Hana. But whatever. Driving the road to Hana is another freebie. You pack a lunch & head out early. It is a leisurely day. LOTS of great places to pull over & stop & take pictures. You can swim in the 7 pools at the end if you want (if you wear your suit under your clothes - there is no place to change). Again, free!! It takes a full day to go and come back but if you drive yourself you can self pace the trip. Someone else posted 12 hours on the bus thing. I think more more like 9 or 10 driving yourself. They have paved the road so it's MUCH easier now although it's still a narrow winding single lane. (It USED to be an unpaved dirt road that REALLY took all day to go.)

All of the beaches are public and you can walk to the beach at the Sheraton at Black Rock. There's a path that takes about 10 min. to walk from the Whaler's Village. Big expanse of beach. Fair snorkeling off shore. In the evening there is a torch lighting ceremony with a cliff diver at sunset that a lot of people come to watch. FREE!

We love Maui and I am really disappointed that DVC chose Oahu to build the DVC resort.

 

[velrox]

I have been to Maui several times. We tend to rotate thru things every other time. i.e. if we do sunrise at Haleakala we don't do the Road to Hana. If we do the Road to Hana we don't do sunrise at Haleakala. We ALWAYS do a snorkel excursion tho. There are several offered out of Lahaina or the Makena Harbor. We like Molokini if the weather is good & we can get there early, before all the other boats arrive.

I will add more votes for dining at the Hula Grill and Leilani's on the Beach. We have also enjoyed some good meals at the Lahaina Fish Co. If you want to do a luau I would suggest you spring for the big bucks (and reserve EARLY) for the Old Lahaina Luau. This one WILL book up early and it's a significant chunk more than any of the others you will find. But IMHO the Royal Lahaina one is DISGUSTING.

Went to the island of Lanai once. It was OK. Very pretty. Definitely a touristy beach day sort of thing. You can amuse yourself on the island of Maui with its beaches tho for free.

Golf! BEEEG island for golfing if you golf. BEAUTIFUL courses. You can either bring your own clubs or you can rent them at the course. There's probably a concierge desk that can help you find the right course & set up a tee time. I do not play but DH does so I once arranged for a round to surprise him for his birthday. We were staying in Wailea on that trip & he played at the Gold course where the Senior Masters play. I went along & rode on the cart for the day. Beautiful.

Freebies! Yay!! Lots of things to do on Maui that are free! Sunrise at Haleakala crater is AMAZING. You can ask at the front desk what time sunrise is while you are there & what time you should get up / leave by. You will likely have to get up between 2 & 3:00 am for the drive as it takes several hours. But it's an amazing thing to be above the clouds when the sun comes up. Talk about a photo op!! Warning - it WILL be COLD up there!! You should bring some long pants & fleece!! I've often seen icicles hanging off of the viewing station. The air is really thin too. But it's just a really neat thing to do. And it's freeee!!

We ALWAYS rent a car and I cannot imagine taking a bus tour to Hana. But whatever. Driving the road to Hana is another freebie. You pack a lunch & head out early. It is a leisurely day. LOTS of great places to pull over & stop & take pictures. You can swim in the 7 pools at the end if you want (if you wear your suit under your clothes - there is no place to change). Again, free!! It takes a full day to go and come back but if you drive yourself you can self pace the trip. Someone else posted 12 hours on the bus thing. I think more more like 9 or 10 driving yourself. They have paved the road so it's MUCH easier now although it's still a narrow winding single lane. (It USED to be an unpaved dirt road that REALLY took all day to go.)

All of the beaches are public and you can walk to the beach at the Sheraton at Black Rock. There's a path that takes about 10 min. to walk from the Whaler's Village. Big expanse of beach. Fair snorkeling off shore. In the evening there is a torch lighting ceremony with a cliff diver at sunset that a lot of people come to watch. FREE!

We love Maui and I am really disappointed that DVC chose Oahu to build the DVC resort.

Thanks for all the great information!

 

[Dean]

I have been to Maui several times. We tend to rotate thru things every other time. i.e. if we do sunrise at Haleakala we don't do the Road to Hana. If we do the Road to Hana we don't do sunrise at Haleakala. We ALWAYS do a snorkel excursion tho. There are several offered out of Lahaina or the Makena Harbor. We like Molokini if the weather is good & we can get there early, before all the other boats arrive.

I will add more votes for dining at the Hula Grill and Leilani's on the Beach. We have also enjoyed some good meals at the Lahaina Fish Co. If you want to do a luau I would suggest you spring for the big bucks (and reserve EARLY) for the Old Lahaina Luau. This one WILL book up early and it's a significant chunk more than any of the others you will find. But IMHO the Royal Lahaina one is DISGUSTING.

Went to the island of Lanai once. It was OK. Very pretty. Definitely a touristy beach day sort of thing. You can amuse yourself on the island of Maui with its beaches tho for free.

Golf! BEEEG island for golfing if you golf. BEAUTIFUL courses. You can either bring your own clubs or you can rent them at the course. There's probably a concierge desk that can help you find the right course & set up a tee time. I do not play but DH does so I once arranged for a round to surprise him for his birthday. We were staying in Wailea on that trip & he played at the Gold course where the Senior Masters play. I went along & rode on the cart for the day. Beautiful.

Freebies! Yay!! Lots of things to do on Maui that are free! Sunrise at Haleakala crater is AMAZING. You can ask at the front desk what time sunrise is while you are there & what time you should get up / leave by. You will likely have to get up between 2 & 3:00 am for the drive as it takes several hours. But it's an amazing thing to be above the clouds when the sun comes up. Talk about a photo op!! Warning - it WILL be COLD up there!! You should bring some long pants & fleece!! I've often seen icicles hanging off of the viewing station. The air is really thin too. But it's just a really neat thing to do. And it's freeee!!

We ALWAYS rent a car and I cannot imagine taking a bus tour to Hana. But whatever. Driving the road to Hana is another freebie. You pack a lunch & head out early. It is a leisurely day. LOTS of great places to pull over & stop & take pictures. You can swim in the 7 pools at the end if you want (if you wear your suit under your clothes - there is no place to change). Again, free!! It takes a full day to go and come back but if you drive yourself you can self pace the trip. Someone else posted 12 hours on the bus thing. I think more more like 9 or 10 driving yourself. They have paved the road so it's MUCH easier now although it's still a narrow winding single lane. (It USED to be an unpaved dirt road that REALLY took all day to go.)

All of the beaches are public and you can walk to the beach at the Sheraton at Black Rock. There's a path that takes about 10 min. to walk from the Whaler's Village. Big expanse of beach. Fair snorkeling off shore. In the evening there is a torch lighting ceremony with a cliff diver at sunset that a lot of people come to watch. FREE!

We love Maui and I am really disappointed that DVC chose Oahu to build the DVC resort.

Likely dollars was the main factor. Ko'Olina is still looking for an identity. For Maui, they'd have to either go out and try to develop a new area along the lines of Ko'Olina OR they'd have to buy an existing hotel or similar property and tear it down. Much cheaper to start with Oahu in an area looking for an infusion of dollars and still looking somewhat to legitimize itself than to spend likely 3 to 4 times that cost for a similar Maui project.