Cass, Rob & Kira - 20 Hours at Aulani and other Oahu Adventures July 2024

[Timon]

Part 5

Once we were in our Jeep, it was literally a two-minute drive to Marriott's Beach Club.

It was so funny, Kira and I were in our swimsuits and sarongs while checking in. It felt like such a Hawaiian thing to do. I never thought I would ever be checking into a hotel in a bathing suit and flip flops.

Unfortunately, arriving in the dark does not allow you to see the sheer beauty of this resort. But don't worry, I took many photos the next day and the following days after so that you can see why I loved it so much.

The lobby area is all open, there are no walls around the perimeter except for the check-in side.

The check-in desks are on the right, the entire left side is all open air! Just gorgeous!

I won't lie, she gave me so much information while checking in, my head was spinning!

Since we have never been here, even despite looking at the layout online before arriving, everything was new to me and as I get older, I find myself getting overwhelmed when a lot of information is thrown at me. Thankfully she wrote everything down on the map so I could refer to it when I really needed the information.

The check-in person was really lovely too. She answered my questions and was very helpful and friendly.

We were in the Moana Tower (cute and easy to remember! ) on the 10th floor, with a mountain view.

Since it's a timeshare, we only get a "tidy" half-way through our stay. Similar to DVC resorts and she wrote down the floors that have ice machines and laundry facilities. Laundry is free too!

We drove over to our tower and Rob dropped us and our luggage off at the entrance while he went to park in the garage.

Thankfully Kira snagged us a luggage cart from near the elevators.

Here we go, our home for the next 7 nights.

Most people rent a 1-bedroom or or a 2-bedroom but we went as cheap as we could and rented a studio room. The pull-out couch was not the comfiest but we were able to get a (thin) mattress topper for it and Kira made the best of it for the week. I myself, would die if I had to sleep on that hard bed for a week but she's young and well, she had no choice because the 2-bedroom was not in our budget.

The bed is messy because Kira had already laid on it as we were coming in.

With the sofabed down, there was almost no room to get to the lanai so we ended up moving the table and chairs over to where the connecting door was, to give us all a little more room. She likes to keep the sofabed as a bed the entire time so it just worked better for us.

This is the area where we ended up putting the table and chairs. Since our bed had a solid frame, we couldn't put our suitcases under it so we had to be a rather resourceful in how we used our space. We did manage to squeeze in between the bars under Kira's bed and store most of our suitcases there.

The studio was a lot like a cruise ship stateroom. We are used to those so we were just fine in the studio room but I will say I wouldn't want to be in here with more than 3 people.

The studio came with a mini-kitchen, which was amazing!! More details further down.

While it was dark and you couldn't see much, I still wanted to check out the view from our lanai.

The TV that we never even turned on.

And here's all of the stuff that was inside that very useful kitchenette.

This was the best fridge I have ever had in any room! It was decently sized AND it had a freezer!!!

Inside of the closet. I loved that they had a laundry basket and a big recycle bin! We recycle and compost at home so it was nice not throwing out stuff that could easily be recycled.

And here is our bathroom. It was nice, the only complaint I had was that there was not a lot of counter space.

When we checked in, we received our bands to use the pools as well as our towel cards. The bands change colour every week and honestly, we only wore them the first day, we kept forgetting them but we never used the pools during prime time in the day, we only used them at night, so that's probably why we didn't have an issue not having them on.

As for the towels, you get one card each at check-in and you can swap the card for a towel but you always need to have a towel or a card, or they will charge you when you check out.

Here is Rob getting Kira's bed pulled out. You can see how there is almost no room between the bed and the table.

And here is the mattress pad that we got the next day from housekeeping. It wasn't great but it did help.

And here is the ice machine room, also the best ice machine room ever, it had little bags for you to use and we made great use of them!

We unpacked, got settled in and then went to bed. It had been a long, wonderful but tiring day.

 

[bcwife76]

Oh wow. That's a well stocked kitchenette! I can't wait to see your view in the daylight, it looks pretty at night

 

[Jillpie]

Oh you made great use of this space. It's surprisingly very similar to DVC studios, except they give you "real" glassware and silverware here, very nice, DVC gives you plastic everything in studios, ugh. We bring our own, and keep it in the Owners locker, a life saver.

Lol, checking in in your bathing suits! Love it. Something I probably would do, I mean, why not. Very excited to see this resort and what is to come!!

 

[Timon]

Part 1

I didn't set an alarm, I just woke up when my body said it was time, which ended up being just before 7am. Everyone was sleeping but I wanted to sneak out onto the lanai and see our view. I had missed the sunrise but it was still quite beautiful.

And just LOOK at my treeeeeeeees! See how they line the main road in and out of Ko Olina?

I don't know if I have a pic but if I went all the way left on the lanai, I could see a little bit of the marina and the ocean.

We got ready for the day and then headed out. Nothing exciting today, we needed to get some groceries for the week and then just enjoy and explore the resort.

This was in the elevator. They have a drink package like Aulani but it was Pepsi and way too expensive!

Unless you will spend most of your time around the resort, the pool area, to be more specific, I don't think it is worth it.

Rob went to get Mike Wazowski and picked us up at the main door to our tower.

And thus began my twice daily freak-out over how gorgeous these dang trees are!!

Would you just LOOK AT THAT!!

*sigh*

I miss my trees already.

The entire Ko Olina area itself is stunning! It has a ridiculously-green golf course and the entrance has waterfalls and ponds.

So, first we need some breakfast. The closest area to Ko Olina for shopping and dining is in Kapolei, about a 10-minute drive. I had done some research into what are some great breakfast options in the area and the top choice seemed to be My Cafe, so that's where we went!

It is a rather small place and it was a 30-minute wait but thankfully they text you when your table is ready so we went and sat in the Jeep in the lovely AC while we waited.

It was at that time when I did the Aulani survey that they send via email once you check-out. It was a rather long survey, it took me about 25 minutes to complete it! I did not hold back on my opinions and in two places during the survey, where you can type stuff in, I let them know my thoughts on the whole adult pool not being an adult pool anymore.

Well, five days later they announced that the Wailana pool will be an adult pool again.

I have magical powers.

You're welcome!

Once we got the text, we headed in and perused the menu.

It was a cute little place that still had the covid barriers in place. I am sooooo not against that.

Here's the other side of the menu.

Rob was thrilled with the mug that his coffee came in.

Here's mine. The ham was good, the eggs and potatoes were just okay.

It's weird but every breakfast place we went to in Hawaii did not serve toast with their meals, you have to order a side of it. This was my white toast that was more like french toast. Not my favourite.

See that Apple jelly under my toast? That is going to be the start of one of the funniest and most memorable moments of the trip for Kira and I.

Rob got the pancake flight because that is the popular thing to get here. He enjoyed but wasn't blown away.

Kira got the cookie butter pancake and didn't like it at all. I gave her some of my ham and then we ordered a side of ham for her as well. I think she only had four bites of this gigantic pancake.

So, since she hadn't eaten much, Rob was trying to talk her into eating more food. With my ham and her own side of ham, she was totally fine. She "eats like a bebeh" remember?

(That side of ham, which was the exact same as what I got on my plate, was $8! )

But Rob kept offering her food. I had some toast left over and he started talking about eating the toast and he mentioned that there was apple jelly but he went on and on about this apple jelly and said the word "apple" way too many times. Apple jelly, apple jam, apple dapple, jelly, toasty appleeee apple lapple apple. He went on for a good minute like this. He was not joking or anything, he's not a jokey-type. He was being serious. He was just talking about apples. But weirdly.

Straight-faced, I turn to Kira and said "Is he okay? Is he having a stroke?"

Well, she LOST it!

She laughed so hard and I laughed because she was snort-laughing and then the whole restaurant was looking at us, wondering what the heck was so funny.

It was the funniest and oddly the best moment of the entire trip. You kind of had to be there. Kira and I still say it, over and over.

When I started this report, I was thinking of titling it "Is he okay? Is he having a stroke?" but out of respect for people who have had to go through that, (my brother is one of those people, so I know all about it) I decided against it. And if it wasn't such a benchmark funny moment of this trip, I probably wouldn't have mentioned it. So please, don't take offense, I do not mean to make light of anyone's health issues. I have a lot of my own chronic health issues and any kind of laughter that it can bring to anyone in the world, I welcome it!

Breakfast was $65 USD, plus tip.

We headed to the Target. We laughed at this guy riding his bike in flip flops and shorts but he was also smoking.

Rob dropped us off at Target and then headed for Mass at St Jude, which was only about 7 minutes away from the Target.

I knew Hawaii was expensive but ding dang! We got some bananas, two bags of chips, Doritos, some pretzels, water, Diet Coke, Iced Tea, cookies, some goldfish, two bottles of Blue Lizard Reef Safe sunscreen, one lip balm, 2 packs of travel Kleenex, a few cheap tops, a bikini bottom and a $10 pair of jammie pants for Kira and it was $179 USD!

Here's a few random pics I took while I was there. I fell in love with those Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Kettle chips! We don't have that flavour here in Calgary.

Rob finished mass and then came and picked us up. We also went to Safeway and I ran in and got some chocolate croissants for Kira, some grapes and strawberries. Also very expensive!

Back through my trees, back to the resort.

Here's the Marriott welcome sign that I couldn't get last night because it was so dark.

We were given a parking card when we checked in that you had to scan to get in and out of the parking lots. It made a super cute sound that I would mimic each time.

Because we had rented from an owner, parking was free. If you book this resort directly from the website (expensive!) you have to pay for parking.

I got everything all organized and I was very impressed with how much stuff this little fridge could hold!

We ended up relaxing in the room for quite a while. Rob enjoyed the lanai while reading his book, I read my book in the AC and Kira chilled in bed while scrolling on her phone.

Now that the light's not shining directly at me, I needed to take another photo of my treeeeeeees.

I warned you that there would be a lot of tree pics in this report.

Eventually we headed down to explore the resort!

The access to the pool and beach is from the second floor.

Heading out of the back of our tower. There's a big set of BBQ grills on the right, each tower has one and they get busy!

Heading towards the first pool you can see the Kona tower in the background, this is the tower that has the check-in lobby area and the Marketplace as well as Longhi's Restaurant.

The Lagoon Pool is what I would call the kids pool. They just added a fantastic splash area for the kids and then next to that there's a zero entry into the pool and then it gets shallow with a big bump area in the middle that acts kind of like a sandbar. Then on the other side is a deeper end of the pool with a basketball net. I think I took more photos later on, it was very busy with so many kids, I didn't take any pics at this time.

This is the best pool for the littles. It is quite awesome actually. It has a towel hut to get your towels and a bathroom and a couple of hot tubs as well. There aren't a lot of pool chairs and I do know that there's a huge issue with people saving pool chairs, even worse than Aulani. They do come around and mark your chairs and remove stuff but it is not policed as well as Aulani, I don't think. We never used the pools during the day so I can't comment on it from experience, just from what I have read about it on FB groups.

The pools here are just fantastic though. They are spaced out more and there's more grounds here than Aulani, more room to walk, more open spaces. There's two other pools but I will talk about those later as I am out of time and at my image limit.

While not as lush as Aulani, the grounds here are gorgeous! Immaculate, lots of flowers, plants and trees. I will leave you with one flower pic I took on the way to the other pools.

Stay tuned for more of this gorgeous resort!

 

[bcwife76]

I think I know every inch of that Target I have to say, even on the mainland, Target is just not the deal it used to be but then you add in Hawaii prices and zoinks! That's so lovely that Rob was able to find a church for mass so close by Pool pictures and tree pictures is what we have come to expect from our dear Cass and now the public demands it

 

[Jillpie]

Oh I just want your stories to go on and on, I can't get enough!! I always feel like I'm walking right there with you guys, it's so much fun. Keep it going girl, this is a very pretty place! (and kudos to Rob for getting to mass even on vacation, he just made my very Catholic Mama in heaven very happy )

 

[KEK1]

Yay another Cass trippie! Enjoying, thank you. I am totally with you on the trees, I love the big majestic ones as well. The best place I have been to for trees was Tasmania, and I think my OH was probably sick of my exclaiming about them too. Wow everything looks sooo expensive. My sis ans family are making the massive trek there soon (from aust), I will warn her otherwise she will get sticker shock.

 

[MickeyD]

I always enjoy your trip reports, but this one really speaks to me. As Marriott owners who travel to Ko'Olina yearly, I get weepy seeing my "home away from home." This year we chose Kauai instead, but we love the MVC at Ko'Olina, and yes, we either stay in a one or two bedroom. That way I have full size washer and dryer in the unit and I only have to pack for four days for an 8 day trip! LOL

I wish I could have told you to avoid the Target. There is a super Walmart about 5 mins from there that has MUCH better prices! The Safeway is worse than the Target. For instance, last September we stayed at MVC and looked at Safeway for a pineapple: $6, Target: $8, walmart: $3!

You mention the trees (which are lovely), but have not mentioned that multiple (and I mean multiple) speed bumps you have to traverse down that road! Yikes, I get motion sick doing that road!

And those mugs used to be $25! I wouldn't pay $45 either especially for Pepsi!

You are lucky you rented from an owner so you get a higher floor. Ko'Olina is notorious for their "tier" system and those that are not owners get lower tier. The first time we booked there (not an owner then) we got to stare at a WALL on the first floor.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!
Lisa

 

[missjackiemcg]

What a lovely, relaxing morning! Disappointing about breakfast, but the pancakes sure do photograph well!!

The avenue of trees is definitely beautiful. Being such a tree lover, have you ever seen or heard of Oak Alley plantation in Louisiana? It's my Mom's most favorite place, and they have the most incredible "avenue of oaks" lined with live oak trees. Incredible!

 

[Paulaparm]

Those trees are pretty!!

 

[lucas]

Following along. So excited for another adventure!

 

[Timon]

Part 2

Let's continue with our little tour, shall we?

Let's start this one off with another flower pic .

I guess I did get a pic of the Lagoon pool after all. You can see the new splash area and the zero entry in this pic, with our tower in the background.

This sign said pools close at 10pm but I am pretty sure the website said 11pm, which was a lovely change from the 8pm closure at Aulani. We never did stay past 10pm so I don't know how accurate the website times were.

They have a koi pond and you can buy tokens at the pool huts and front desk for $1 (I think?) and can get food to feed them with. Kira did this later on in the trip, on our last night.

Here is the Reflection Pool, which is supposed to be a quiet pool but I wouldn't call it quiet, exactly. It was not as loud as the other two pools but certainly not quiet. I wish it was an adult only pool.

And here is a very quiet hot tub. It was quiet because it was almost impossible to find.

The great thing about this resort is that it had SEVEN hot tubs! Aulani has two! Technically three I will say since the adult one has two levels. I actually wish one of these hot tubs was adult only. But they had two really amazing hot tubs, which I will talk about in the next chapter.

Here is the food menu for Longboards to-go counter. This was also an outdoor sit-down restaurant but during certain hours, you could order at the to-go counter. We could also do a mobile order but we didn't. More on that later.

In the background, you can see the third and final tower, the Nai'a Tower. This is the one closest to the ocean. And here is the big grassy area where they have movies on the big screen at night.

Then down the steps to the lagoon.

Kira saw this sign and was thinking she wasn't going in the water. I told her the same things in this lagoon are also in the lagoon she was swimming in the night before.

Looking back up towards the two towers, the round pergola is where the check-in parking is.

And now my favourite of all the pools, the Nai'a pool! This sucker was awesome! It had different levels, a slide (that we never tried) cool rock work, a cave and it was quite large so when there were loud kids, I could just move to a quiet area of the pool. This was the pool we went to when we did have pool time. It also had a towel hut and a bar. This was the pool where all the teenagers and young adults hung out.

We headed into the lobby and walked through it now that we could see how open it was. I guess I didn't take a photo, just video.

Where you see the black railings on the top left side of the pic is where the check-in area is. We headed downstairs. The Marketplace is on the left and straight ahead is Longhi's Restaurant.

Into the Marketplace for a quick peek. It is a decently-sized store with some groceries, t-shirts, souvenirs, gelato and some food. I will try to post some more detailed photos of the marketplace later on, if I remember. I took a lot but haven't edited or uploaded them yet.

Here is Longhi's menu.

Once we were done exploring, we headed back to our tower, to the Welcome Center. There we spoke to this lovely lady who gave us a Marriott owner benefits card, so we could use it for some discounts. Even though we were renting from an owner, she still gave it to us and showed us a few places where we could use it. She also told us to pick out three shell necklaces. We already have some at home and Kira didn't want any so I told her to pick 3 of them for my friend's grandkids. Kira and I would be heading to Orlando in two weeks (that's where we were last week ) and we would be seeing my friend so we could give them to her then. I also saved the three plumeria hair clips that we got from Aulani for her 3 granddaughters.

She put a small effort into selling us a timeshare but I told her that we wouldn't be back to Hawaii for a very long time so she didn't push it.

Pretty cool map of the island.

Here are the places where we could use the card and one of them was Longboards, cool!

Stay tuned for the next chapter, dinner, sunset and some pool time.

Can you guess where we ate?

 

[Timon]

Part 3

Before I continue, here's some more detailed pics of The Marketplace.

OH. MY. DOG.


I just realized NOW that they had DOLE WHIP at The Marketplace!!!!

It's probably a good thing Rob and Kira didn't notice, otherwise they probably would have had two each per day, at least!

Oops, this one is a little blurry.

So, this was a great option to have at the resort. The prices were a little high, not bad though. I would say they were more expensive than Target by a smidge and way cheaper than Aulani. Aulani does not have a similar store but I checked out similar products and I felt like Aulani was super high compared to everything else!

Kira spotted a few things that she wanted and I tried to convince her to wait until we visited the ABC Store across the street on another day. I told her that she might find better prices for the same items. She agreed but did buy two things, a necklace with a shell on it and a little crocheted dolphin. She figured that they probably wouldn't be at the ABC store and there was only one of each left here and she was right! I was right about the other things though, she found the same items at the ABC store for much less.

Rob and I headed down to Longboards to get some dinner. We could have done the mobile order and skipped the line at the to-go counter but there was no way (that I could find) in the app to add our Marriott card to get the 10% off. I am thrifty gal so I gladly waited in line to get that discount.

Here is the drink machine that is located at the Mobile Order pick-up area.

We ordered the chicken strips for Kira and Rob and I split the fish & chips. This was $38 with our $4 discount and definitely the best thing I ate the entire trip!

We took it back to the room and ate on our beds while watching shows on our iPads. That towel under the food is a Hawaii towel that Rob and I bought 24 years ago here. I figured it should go home for a visit.

Kira said her chicken strips were pretty good but she, like myself, LOVED the fries! They were so delicious!!!! I hadn't had much luck with food so far but wowza, this was incredible! The fish was fresh and perfectly battered and nice and crisp. The fries. Oh my lord, those fries were sooooo good!! Maybe even the best fries I have ever had??? They were similar to the fries at the food court at Coronado Springs Resort in WDW but better!

The bartender who took my order was also amazing. I just had my Marriott card in my hand at the ready and she saw it and added the discount before I could even ask! She also asked if we wanted anything to drink while we waited for our food. I told her that we don't drink and then she offered to give us some ice waters! She was GOOD!

I made sure to tip her, she was on the ball! Generally, my policy is if I order my food standing up, I don't normally tip but she was quick and gave me ice water so this lady got a nice tip.

Shortly after dinner, we headed down to the beach.

Here is the movie screen all set up for the movie later on.

Down the steps we go!

Look at that! Just as gorgeous as Aulani and way less people!

Rob got settled into a chair to read his book and Kira and I blew up our chair floaties (LOVE THESE!) that I bought for our stay at Cabana Bay many moons ago.

Kira and I had recently started thrifting together and she found this bikini top for $3 CAD. She ended up buying the bottoms at Target earlier that day.

The sunset was already in progress and was beautiful!!

I had purchased the waterproof phone pouches for Kira and I, which we both ended up using and loving, so we took those with us so we could take some photos. I wasn't sure that they would come out well, since they are plastic but they turned out really well I think!

Except the very last one with just palm trees, these were all taken on my phone in a pouch!

My beautiful and very happy daughter enjoying this gorgeous sunset. I asked her, at the end of the trip, what her favourite part of this vacation was and her answer was "the sunsets."

Once the sun was gone, the water seemed a little colder so we headed back to Rob so we could move over to the hot tub and pool.

Look at that!

We headed over to the Nai'a pool, looking for a hot tub to warm up in. There was one closer to the beach but it was full so we headed over to this space, which ended up being "our spot" whenever we enjoyed pool time.

I told Kira that it looked like there might be a hot tub over in the corner so we headed that way and were rewarded with the two best hot tubs ever!

Hiding in that little corner were two gorgeous hot tubs with waterfalls in them!

Kira and I are both antisocial introverts with anxiety so we really enjoy quiet spaces, private corners and being away from people and while these were not always quiet and empty, we did have many glorious moments when it was just us.

I don't think I got a photo of the other one because it was less secluded and therefore always busy but on the very left side of this pic, you can see a small waterfall, that was the other hot tub.

There was nobody in with us so Rob took a couple of pics.

Kira enjoyed that little cove seating area on the left while I LOVED the waterfall. It was a lovely, free body/head/shoulder massage!

I went back and forth from the hot tub to the pool as I like to do. Kira stayed in her little cove with her phone, she was happy.

This pool really was amazing, I cannot say enough good things about it! I often overlooked the waterfall (you can see me doing this in the pic below) when the kids got too loud for me. With the water rushing, I could barely hear them.

When they got too rowdy (lots of teens!) I went to the lower level and could always find a quiet space to swim or float.

It was the antithesis of Aulani and I loved it! Writing this now, I really miss it! I would go back just to experience this pool and hot tub, that's how amazing it was! Kira and I both agreed that this was the best pool area of any resort or hotel that we had ever been to and I have been to my share of great resorts.

Once we had enough pool time, we headed back. This was the hot tub at the Lagoon Pool (kid-friendly one) and there were two others near the Quiet Pool, which I might have taken pics of later in the trip?

Even though it was a chill day, we were all exhausted. The time difference definitely impacts the way you feel here. For us, it's a four-hour difference so if you're coming from the eastern parts of the USA, it's a 6-hour difference so be aware of that! When we go to Orlando (a 2-hour difference for us) it does take us a day or two to adjust but we adapt and usually are totally unaffected for the rest of the trip but with Hawaii, we never did get adjusted, even after 8 nights. I was getting up early, usually 4-5am and then I was feeling ready for bed by 9 or 10pm each night. Considering I am a night owl and like to sleep in and go to bed late, this was weird for me. Timewise, it worked out great but we really felt it by 8pm every night.

After experiencing this pool, I made the decision to spend at least two hours at the pool/hot tub every single night. Sadly, I didn't quite make it every night.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventure to a place that none of us had been before and what ended up being my favourite place I have ever visited!

 

[alohamom]

It was the antithesis of Aulani and I loved it! Writing this now, I really miss it! I would go back just to experience this pool and hot tub, that's how amazing it was! Kira and I both agreed that this was the best pool area of any resort or hotel that we had ever been to and I have been to my share of great resorts.

I totally agree that the hot tubs on the Marriott property are incredible and we had a similar experience where it felt like sometimes they were made just for us! The only difference for me was that the Marriott bigger pool with the waterslide ended up being over run by a lot of extremely rowdy and rude unsupervised pre teens and teens while we were there last time. This was not just once but the whole time we stayed. At one point they ended up jumping into the pool from the bridge over and over not only truly encroaching on our time in the pool but making me so nervous that someone was going to get really hurt. Have you ever been to a hotel and a hocky team or a cheer squad kind of takes it over? That was what it felt like and it ruined that gorgeous pool experience for us. Now, would I go back to the Marriott Ko Olina? A resounding YES, in a heartbeat! The hot tubs alone make it worth while.

Since you enjoyed this pool you might also like The Grand Hyatt Kauai (if you have not been already)

I feel like the island of Kauai might really appeal to your family as it is very tranquil and laid back.
Plus, there is an incredible tree tunnel as you enter the area of Koloa on the way to this hotel, I think you would love that!
https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/getting-to-know-kauai-one-tree-at-a-time/

 

[RedK]

I really like the trees too. Thank you for so many great pictures! It makes me feel like I'm there.

 

[Timon]

Oh wow. That's a well stocked kitchenette! I can't wait to see your view in the daylight, it looks pretty at night

It was VERY well stocked, I was so surprised! Wait until tomorrow's chapter, I had a gorgeous sunrise that morning.

Oh you made great use of this space. It's surprisingly very similar to DVC studios, except they give you "real" glassware and silverware here, very nice, DVC gives you plastic everything in studios, ugh. We bring our own, and keep it in the Owners locker, a life saver.

Lol, checking in in your bathing suits! Love it. Something I probably would do, I mean, why not. Very excited to see this resort and what is to come!!

You should have seen how well we used this space, I put cushions and suitcases and pillows in every little space I could find.

Oh, yes it was lovely to have real dishes, we definitely used them!

Maybe one day I will travel often enough to get one of those purple lockers.

Checking into a hotel in bathing suits and sarongs was NOT ever on the list of things I thought I would ever do. But I will say, it was kind of amazing AND such a Hawaii thing to do.

I think I know every inch of that Target I have to say, even on the mainland, Target is just not the deal it used to be but then you add in Hawaii prices and zoinks! That's so lovely that Rob was able to find a church for mass so close by Pool pictures and tree pictures is what we have come to expect from our dear Cass and now the public demands it

It was not my favourite Target to be honest and yes, not great deals anymore sadly. But I do really hate Walmart and I always stock up on my $6 tank tops.

Rob is at the point where he's upset if he misses his Sunday mass and he also loves going to new churches so when we travel, I always make sure to scope out the closest catholic church for him.

Hahahaha, pools and trees.... definitely me.

Oh I just want your stories to go on and on, I can't get enough!! I always feel like I'm walking right there with you guys, it's so much fun. Keep it going girl, this is a very pretty place! (and kudos to Rob for getting to mass even on vacation, he just made my very Catholic Mama in heaven very happy )

Awww, you are so sweet, Jill!

Don't worry, it's going....and going and going and going! I took SO many pics and we did some cool stuff.

I now book our trips so that he can go to Mass every Sunday.

Yay another Cass trippie! Enjoying, thank you. I am totally with you on the trees, I love the big majestic ones as well. The best place I have been to for trees was Tasmania, and I think my OH was probably sick of my exclaiming about them too. Wow everything looks sooo expensive. My sis ans family are making the massive trek there soon (from aust), I will warn her otherwise she will get sticker shock.

Tasmania! Wow! Nice!

Oh yes, it is all so very expensive!

I always enjoy your trip reports, but this one really speaks to me. As Marriott owners who travel to Ko'Olina yearly, I get weepy seeing my "home away from home." This year we chose Kauai instead, but we love the MVC at Ko'Olina, and yes, we either stay in a one or two bedroom. That way I have full size washer and dryer in the unit and I only have to pack for four days for an 8 day trip! LOL

I wish I could have told you to avoid the Target. There is a super Walmart about 5 mins from there that has MUCH better prices! The Safeway is worse than the Target. For instance, last September we stayed at MVC and looked at Safeway for a pineapple: $6, Target: $8, walmart: $3!

You mention the trees (which are lovely), but have not mentioned that multiple (and I mean multiple) speed bumps you have to traverse down that road! Yikes, I get motion sick doing that road!

And those mugs used to be $25! I wouldn't pay $45 either especially for Pepsi!

You are lucky you rented from an owner so you get a higher floor. Ko'Olina is notorious for their "tier" system and those that are not owners get lower tier. The first time we booked there (not an owner then) we got to stare at a WALL on the first floor.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!
Lisa

Oh wow, nice!

I tend to go to Target to get my tank tops that I wear at home all the time. I really do not love going to Walmart but yeah, we probably should have. That's a huge price difference!!

Yes, I will definitely be mentioning those huge suckers! Pain in the butt but needed I think as we saw so many people speeding WITH those speed bumps so I can't imagine what it would be like without them!

Yes, I read about the terrible rooms for non-owners and it was one of the many reasons why we went through Red Week and rented from an owner. I can't imagine staring at a wall on the lanai!

What a lovely, relaxing morning! Disappointing about breakfast, but the pancakes sure do photograph well!!

The avenue of trees is definitely beautiful. Being such a tree lover, have you ever seen or heard of Oak Alley plantation in Louisiana? It's my Mom's most favorite place, and they have the most incredible "avenue of oaks" lined with live oak trees. Incredible!

Yes, the food all LOOKS good but the taste sadly doesn't come through in photos.

I have heard of it, never been but maybe one day!

Those trees are pretty!!

Sure are and I really miss them!

Following along. So excited for another adventure!

Glad you are here for this one!

I totally agree that the hot tubs on the Marriott property are incredible and we had a similar experience where it felt like sometimes they were made just for us! The only difference for me was that the Marriott bigger pool with the waterslide ended up being over run by a lot of extremely rowdy and rude unsupervised pre teens and teens while we were there last time. This was not just once but the whole time we stayed. At one point they ended up jumping into the pool from the bridge over and over not only truly encroaching on our time in the pool but making me so nervous that someone was going to get really hurt. Have you ever been to a hotel and a hocky team or a cheer squad kind of takes it over? That was what it felt like and it ruined that gorgeous pool experience for us. Now, would I go back to the Marriott Ko Olina? A resounding YES, in a heartbeat! The hot tubs alone make it worth while.

Since you enjoyed this pool you might also like The Grand Hyatt Kauai (if you have not been already)

I feel like the island of Kauai might really appeal to your family as it is very tranquil and laid back.
Plus, there is an incredible tree tunnel as you enter the area of Koloa on the way to this hotel, I think you would love that!
https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/getting-to-know-kauai-one-tree-at-a-time/

Oh wow, yeah that would be terrible! We have had that experience at Cabana Bay at Universal which is why we choose to stay at Aventura now. It is terrible when they act that way. We had many teens and even early 20's on this trip that were just crazy! Climbing those rocks above the two hot tubs and jumping off and just acting nuts! Throwing things in the pool with little ones around them that could have gotten hurt. They think they own the world.

Rob and I had a port stop at Kauai last October on our cruise and we loved it but then again all we did was a helicopter tour (and Rob went to Mass) and the helicopter tour was probably the best thing I have ever done in any place I have visited. It was so amazing that I cried like a baby three times on the helicopter out of sheer joy and happiness. While I didn't write a trip report for that cruise, I did make 6 videos from that trip that you can find on my YT channel.

I would also love to go back there and stay for a week, and you're so right, it's my kind of island!

I did read about the tree tunnel and if we ever go back, we will be going through it.

I will watch the video, I did peek at the resort a few days ago but haven't had the chance to REALLY look at it. It's been a crazy month and a bit and it's only getting busier.

https://www.youtube.com/@cass327/videos

I really like the trees too. Thank you for so many great pictures! It makes me feel like I'm there.

Thanks for being here and commenting.

 

[bcwife76]

Stunning sunset photos. Hands down one of the best things about Hawaii on any of the islands are the sunsets

Wow, so many pools and hot tubs!! Dang it Aulani, step up your game Though the property itself is smaller than the Marriot so, sigh.

 

[mcjaco]

I totally agree that the hot tubs on the Marriott property are incredible and we had a similar experience where it felt like sometimes they were made just for us! The only difference for me was that the Marriott bigger pool with the waterslide ended up being over run by a lot of extremely rowdy and rude unsupervised pre teens and teens while we were there last time. This was not just once but the whole time we stayed. At one point they ended up jumping into the pool from the bridge over and over not only truly encroaching on our time in the pool but making me so nervous that someone was going to get really hurt. Have you ever been to a hotel and a hocky team or a cheer squad kind of takes it over? That was what it felt like and it ruined that gorgeous pool experience for us. Now, would I go back to the Marriott Ko Olina? A resounding YES, in a heartbeat! The hot tubs alone make it worth while.

Since you enjoyed this pool you might also like The Grand Hyatt Kauai (if you have not been already)

I feel like the island of Kauai might really appeal to your family as it is very tranquil and laid back.
Plus, there is an incredible tree tunnel as you enter the area of Koloa on the way to this hotel, I think you would love that!
https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/getting-to-know-kauai-one-tree-at-a-time/

Kauai is where it's at!

Been many times to the https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/lihka-marriotts-kauai-beach-club/overview/. Biggest pool in the state, which can get busy, but the bay is fantastically quiet and peaceful.

Man, I miss Hawaii

 

[lucas]

Apple jelly, anyone?

That story had me cracking up. You are too funny!

 

[Timon]

Part 1

I was up early, just before the sunrise so I snuck out onto the lanai and spent an hour or so there by myself, enjoying the view and chatting with a friend.

I took many photos but here's my fave.

I woke the others and we got ready for the day and headed off!

For the first time ever, we will be going to the North Shore. I have wanted to go there for some time now but I just couldn't make it happen so when I was planning this trip, I made it a priority and scheduled it early in the trip so we didn't miss it!

The drive was quite beautiful.

I will caution you right now, this chapter is FILLED with trees! Big, beautiful, majestic treeeeeeees!


There were several gorgeous ones along the way!

About 40 minutes later, we arrived at Hale'iwa but that was not where we were going. Since most people who are touring the North Shore stop in there first and then carry on northbound, I decided to go to our most northern stop and then make our way south.

I had wanted to make a few more stops than what we ended up making but Kira can only do so much in a day before her battery runs out so we ended up just making the stops that were on the top of my list.

Waimea Valley was at the very top of my list so that's where we went!

Most people will visit Waimea Beach, famous for it's massive swells in the Winter. We are not big beach people so we skipped the beach and headed into the valley. Although we did see the beach and it looked quite nice.

Just driving into the valley, into the parking lot, we were met with gorgeous scenery. This valley is sacred to the Hawaiian people and after spending some time there, I totally get why.

We found parking, it looked like there were several spots available and we got the last spot in the closest parking area.

Just walking in, I was in my happy place!

Our goal here was to walk to the falls and swim in them. The falls change greatly with the weather. When it's too wet, you cannot swim in them because it's too dangerous and when it's too dry, there's no falls to swim in. Every morning at 9am, you can call them to see if swimming is available. I had called the day before just to see if they were open and they were so since the weather hadn't really changed since yesterday, I had assumed we could swim but I did call that morning just in case.

You have to walk through the visitor center to get to the ticket booth. As you walked through, there's posters of all of the movies that were filmed here, which was so cool to see as we are all big movie fans.

I know you are probably rolling your eyes about how often I talk about trees but c'mon!! Look at this!! The entire are was just canopied by these massive, gorgeous monkeypod trees!! Even if you aren't a big tree fan, like moi, you cannot deny the beauty that these trees just ooze.

Here are the admission prices to get into the valley trail to the waterfall.

There were tons of little paths off the main one but Kira was only up to doing the main trail that should take about 20 minutes to get there. We took about 30 because I was constantly stopping to take photos and videos and admire the trees.

I took approximately eleventy billion photos but I will only share a few with you.

The hike is paved the entire way, big wide paths for everyone to enjoy. The area was very well taken care of and around every bend, my mouth dropped, further and further. Rob and Kira were laughing at me and probably made a bet over how many times I said "Oh my dog, look at that!"

I think these are called Angel Trumpets and they were gorgeous!

Just before we hit the waterfall, there was a bathroom and considering where they were, they were quite nice! I was expecting outhouses or something similar.

I am at my 35 image limit so I will have to post about the waterfall visit in the next chapter.

Stay tuned to see if Rob actually makes it into the freezing cold water!