Hawaii 2020 Questions? Bring 'Em On!

We will be on the 10n Hawaii-Vancouver sailing, which sails on Friday, May 8. We will arrive in HNL on Wednesday, and hope to stay 2n at Aulani pre-cruise. We were also hoping to do the Aulani Luau, and was hoping to do it Thursday night because I don't know what time our flight will arrive/what time we would get to Aulani on Wednesday afternoon, but looking at the schedule, it appears that they may not normally schedule Luaus on Thursdays??
 
It is actually quite easy to get around without renting a car. The bus is excellent and goes everywhere. It does take longer of course, but the views are always good, it is air conditioned, no,parking fees and SUPER cheap. I just can not afford aulani and a cruise, so the bus works for me!
Are Uber or Lyft choices from HNL to Aulani or Aulani to various tourist destinations?
 
We will be on the 10n Hawaii-Vancouver sailing, which sails on Friday, May 8. We will arrive in HNL on Wednesday, and hope to stay 2n at Aulani pre-cruise. We were also hoping to do the Aulani Luau, and was hoping to do it Thursday night because I don't know what time our flight will arrive/what time we would get to Aulani on Wednesday afternoon, but looking at the schedule, it appears that they may not normally schedule Luaus on Thursdays??
where did you see the schedules? We have begun research on Luaus and just recently learned you do not have to be a Aulani guest to book the Luau. I also heard it was good. I dont want to do the PCC one ( sorry but I want the option of having a cocktail with dinner). We are most likely not staying at Aulani as this is our first Hawaii trip and for our short stay we want to see the island, not be stuck in a resort.
I saw the Dis podcast and Pete was saying that as a tip to book the Luau your first night as it does get rained out and then bookings are moved to the next show.


Edit: this is actually mousefan73 I just realized I answered and my son was logged in to his account lol!
 


We are starting the process of staying at Aulani and trying to find out what airport folks fly in to. We will be flying from Indy and we know there is no direct flight from here. Do most rent a car or is there a shuttle from the airport to the resort? Thanks in advance for any help with this...smjj ºoº
 
We are starting the process of staying at Aulani and trying to find out what airport folks fly in to. We will be flying from Indy and we know there is no direct flight from here. Do most rent a car or is there a shuttle from the airport to the resort? Thanks in advance for any help with this...smjj ºoº

We flew from Ft. Lauderdale into Los Angeles direct, spent the day there, then caught an early flight the next morning from LAX to Honolulu. Didn't want to repeat what we did for our honeymoon of flying all day and arriving so jet lagged.
We paid for a shared van ride to the resort. We didn't rent a car for this trip. We spent 5 days at Aulani before a Disney cruise. We left the property only once for a day trip to Pearl Harbor.
I believe its $35-$40 a day to park a car, unless you're staying DVC.
 
where did you see the schedules? We have begun research on Luaus and just recently learned you do not have to be a Aulani guest to book the Luau. I also heard it was good. I dont want to do the PCC one ( sorry but I want the option of having a cocktail with dinner). We are most likely not staying at Aulani as this is our first Hawaii trip and for our short stay we want to see the island, not be stuck in a resort.
I saw the Dis podcast and Pete was saying that as a tip to book the Luau your first night as it does get rained out and then bookings are moved to the next show.


Edit: this is actually mousefan73 I just realized I answered and my son was logged in to his account lol!
At the booking site here:
https://aulaniexcursions.pleasantactivities.com/page/product/11584

When you go to choose your dates, the calendar pops up
 


We are starting the process of staying at Aulani and trying to find out what airport folks fly in to. We will be flying from Indy and we know there is no direct flight from here. Do most rent a car or is there a shuttle from the airport to the resort? Thanks in advance for any help with this...smjj ºoº

We flew direct (from Newark) -- 10 hour flight but it was very smooth and comfortable. Weird thing is we arrived 6 p.m. their time, but it was 11 p.m. our time, so by the time we had dinner it was actually 1 a.m. our time. Boy, were we thrown off for days by the jet lag. But we did manage to drag ourselves out of bed the next morning to see the sunrise over Diamond Head (more or less -- best way to see it is on top of Haleakala on Maui), had breakfast and crashed back into bed LOL.

We rented a car on Maui as part of our hotel stay, but in Honolulu the hotel we stayed at had a Hertz in the lobby. So we just rented a car on the days we needed one and it worked out quite well. We drove all over the island, visited Pearl Harbor and Waikiki and several cemeteries. The island is such a great place and so beautiful. You will have a great time.

Let us know what you think of Aulani!
 
I read yesterday that Aulani is doing a big refurb on the pool areas this year. I'm very excited to go back in 2020 and see what they do.
If you have reservations during the construction time, they are offering $50 a day resort credit. Construction starts August and is scheduled to be finished by December.
 
I read yesterday that Aulani is doing a big refurb on the pool areas this year. I'm very excited to go back in 2020 and see what they do.
If you have reservations during the construction time, they are offering $50 a day resort credit. Construction starts August and is scheduled to be finished by December.

Already? Seems like they just opened LOL
 
Hawaii cruise question. I see that on the past DCL Hawaii cruises they gave ukulele lessons. How did that work? Did they make an exception to the no musical instruments onboard rule? Or did they have loaners just for the lessons? It might be nice to bring one back.
 
I'm sure the cruise line provided the ukuleles. If you want to bring home a ukulele, I'd suggest shipping it home from Hawaii.

Transfers from Aulani to the ship are available now, if anyone wants to book them. They are US$80 per person. They have different transfers for people staying in hotel rooms versus DVC, which doesn't make any sense to me since it's such a small resort, but it is what it is. I didn't get the Vancouver transfer prices because we're walking to the heliport next to the ship and taking a helicopter home. That, and taking the SkyTrain to the airport is easy and inexpensive.
 
What would be the better meal option time? For Europe, I had the late seating and it was frustrating with the turn around time of waking up early and eating very late. Originally my family booked late seating since we heard that for the European cruises it was best in case excursions ran late. However, even if we came back late, they pushed the first seating back to a later time to still accommodate them. My server was a first timer, and no matter how early we got there at late seating, he would always serve families with smaller children first. So my whole family didn't really get out of late evening till like 10 to 10:15 pm each night.

For those who did excursions on the previous Hawaii trip, if you did the first seating at meals, was there ample time from when you got back from excursions? Looking at the itinerary one port will definitely have to be meal on your own regardless of what seating. Thanks!
 
Does anyone know if Aluani will set aside some rooms for the Wonder Hawaii guests?
When would we potentially be able to book rooms for April/May 2020?
If they do set a block of rooms aside, are these likely to be discounted in some way or regular price?

I think it is slightly lesser than what you would see online. But you would have to have DCL book it for you.
 
What would be the better meal option time? For Europe, I had the late seating and it was frustrating with the turn around time of waking up early and eating very late. Originally my family booked late seating since we heard that for the European cruises it was best in case excursions ran late. However, even if we came back late, they pushed the first seating back to a later time to still accommodate them. My server was a first timer, and no matter how early we got there at late seating, he would always serve families with smaller children first. So my whole family didn't really get out of late evening till like 10 to 10:15 pm each night.

For those who did excursions on the previous Hawaii trip, if you did the first seating at meals, was there ample time from when you got back from excursions? Looking at the itinerary one port will definitely have to be meal on your own regardless of what seating. Thanks!

I didn't do Disney in Hawaii, but I can say that the excursions we did take always got us back around 6 p.m. So you may be cutting it close for early dining. The good thing is if you have early dining and miss it, you have the buffet as an alternative. We always do late dining simply because we don't want to rush back; if service goes too late, we skip dessert.
 
So is the only way to do port adventures for the honolulu port is if you do a pre or post stay? I wanted to do diamond head when we get to honolulu but cast members are saying that the day you disembark there are no excursions that day. Yet, for the people embarking would they be able to do that? Since we are embarking from Van Couver I looked for port adeventures and they have it listed only as disembark. So I'm wondering if it only depends on the port if you get to do excursions.
 
We have booked out excursions from DCL. All of the excursions are last 4-5 hours, like morning until afternoon...through lunch. They don't say anything about lunch. What are we supposed to do for lunch?

TIA
 
Anyone have a guess how long it will take to drive to the port from the airport area on a Friday morning (to board for the 10 night)? I mapped it but with all the mention of traffic I’m really not sure! Thank you!
 

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