Hawaii on a Budget??

[momof1princess]

is this even possible? i have a friend who wants to take his wife to hawaii for their anniversary in january, or at least be able to give her the plane tickets and tell her they're going at a later date, but i've never been and i'm not sure his budget is reasonable (no more than $5000). can anyone tell me where he might look for discounts on airfare and hotels/condos, etc.? any info you guys can provide would be deeply appreciated TIA!!

 

[autumnbaby9]

We were able to do a family of 4 for 10 days in 5 star hotels for $10000. We stayed 7 days on Maui in a beach front condo and 3 days on Oahu in a condo that was 2 block from Wakiki(SP?) Beach. This included airfarre from Boise Idaho. $5000 for 2 would probably not be a problem, just depends on were he is flying from.

We used a local travel agent and they made all the arrangements for us.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Depends on the island.

Due to whale watching tours and tourists wanting to escape cold climates..January can get pretty busy and pricey.

Can't help you with the airfare as we used sky miles..

For our second hotel--we booked an outrigger resort on Oahu that is a condo and saved quite a bit of money for booking early off of their website.

Our first hotel is Hilton and we have 8 nights free...so can't help you there.

For our family of four--we have budgeted $4k for 2 weeks with 8 nights free hotel, skymiles tix and 2 weeks free rental car.

We also bought the entertainment guide to save some money on atractions and restaurants.

There is a budget thread around here somewhere. But for 1 week--for 2 people...$5K is totally doable. Just a matter of what he can find in his budget in January.

 

[cmjaffe]

Definitely doable... just depends on the island, where they're flying from and what "expectations" for hotels. Know for 2 you can definitely get decent packages combining hotel and air. We're going in December using FF points and hotel points. Not going to Oahu but Big Island and Kauii. We're planning on returning this summer on FF and looking into renting a condo directly from owner or timeshare for owner (got a quote for a 2 Bd condo next to Hilton in Waikoloa for $1000 for the week in August).
Can't wait till our trip.

 

[i like stitch]

Yes, it's totally do-able. Obviously, it'll be higher the longer they stay and the time of the year they go.

I book our own flights/lodging/rental cars as it's cheaper than using an agent and a package deal. If they've never been to Hawaii and want to book the reservations without an agent, they will want to get one of the many guide books on going to Hawaii---Frommer's is a good start. Oahu will likely be the cheaper island to stay, particularly if they want the waikiki experience (which I avoid like the plague). 3 of us went 3 years ago for under $4000 (10 day stay in a home on the beach) and we brought back a ton of island food and souvenirs.

 

[fabshelly]

I live here. I'm part owner of a tour agency. Maybe I can help.

 

[Momof2princess]

We went this past July and did it pretty cheaply.. We did a home exchange
(and no you do not have to give your house up also) For the week a 4 bedroom house on Maui cost us right at 1000 dollars..for seven nights. There are several good websites to look at for these.

By doing this we were able to do Breakfast in the House and some dinners. We found a store that in the afternoon discounted their meals, (lasagna, stew beef, steak and cheese ect) by over 75% because it would be bad the next day. These were huge portions and well enough and filling for us.

Now not to say that we did not go out to eat a lot and did lots of activites but the accomidations saving is what really helped.

 

[swilshire]

The six of us spent 22 nights on three islands in June. I never really added it up, but we probably spent in the neighborhood of $6500 total.

We used timeshares for all our lodging. I usually estimate about $100 a night when all my fees and memberships get added in, though it's often less than that.

Four of us went on ff tickets. DD had someone drive her to Atlanta (about 250 miles away) because she found a great fare of around $350 roundtrip. DS18 dilly dallied, so his ticket was more than double that.

We spent about $1000 total for the rental cars, searching all the codes I found on Mousesavers and anywhere else I could think of.

Our interisland flights added up to several hundred dollars.

We joined Costco because we heard they had the cheapest gas on the Big Island (they did) and also used the card for groceries, scuba gear, you-name-it on two of the islands. I hear Kauai is getting a Costco soon as well, but we used Walmart for now.

We didn't do any of the expensive tours, but saw a lot of stuff just driving ourselves around. I'm sure there were things we missed, but we stayed very busy.

It was the trip of a lifetime and the cost was not burdensome. Be creative and spend lots of time on the web searching for deals. They are definitely out there. If we could have traveled a bit more off-season, we could have made the trip quite a bit cheaper.

Sheila

 

[DisneyFunfor3]

We just did 2 weeks on 2 different islands for 5 people and spent less than $8,000 in August. Here are my money saving tips....Look at Aloha Air from somewhere in California. They have been running $200 to $300 (roundtrip) specials from various points in California. For us (we live in the midwest), I can get to and from California for about $200 round trip. We used frequent flyer miles, but I'm doing this next time (hopefully summer 08).

Go to the vacation rentals bby owner website which is at vrbo period com(sorry, couldn't post it another way). We rented an INCREDIBLE home in Haleiwa (Oahu, North Shore) instead of doing the hotel thing. I'd also stay away from Waikiki -- unless you like sharing a beach with 10,000 of your closest friends and only want 3 sq. ft. to yourself!

Talk with a travel agent who can likely pair up flights and rental car for you cheaper. Tell your friend to get a Costco card since their gas is about $.20 cheaper per gallon than anywhere else (at least in Hawaii).

Also, tell them to buy the "Revealed" books...i.e., The Big Island Revealed, Oahu Revealed, etc. They are terrific!

We only did The Big Island (Hawaii -- where they just had the earthquake) and Oahu. Next time I want to to Kauai and maybe Maui -- I've heard it's overbuilt, but...?

Karen

 

[HeatherC]

I'm another one who agrees that this is doable. Wanted to mention to check out SKY AUCTION for a place to stay. If there is anything on their "ready set go" auctions, they might be able to get lodging for a couple hundred dollars.

A couple other rental sites are: www.vrbo.com, vacationtimesharerentals.com, www.rciholidaynetwork.com, www.vacationclub.com as well as www.cyberrentals.com

If they are flying from the east coast, they should consider booking separate flights...one to CA which is sometimes cheaper than going to Orlando by the way...and then one from CA to Honolulu.

I also thought I heard that Aloha Air has an airpass you can buy for interisland flights or something like that.

And of course check the rental codes for cars as well as www.restaurant.com for eating.

Hope this helps.

HeatherC

 

[Jules123]

What months are considered the off-season in Hawaii?

 

[monorailsilver]

Yes it is doable.

We went for our honeymoon for 2 weeks in 2000.

We did fly for free from CT since dh had FF miles but still the hotels weren't too bad.

I searched & searched & searched. And I ended up picking the Aston chain over the Outrigger (can't remember why).

We went to 4 islands & got the airfare that allowed us to get 6 tickets per person for a few hundred dollars (can't remember the exact amount) & I think I used AAA too for another discount & we ended up in Maui as our last island & we flew Delta home from there so we didn't need another ticket for that flight.

I booked condo's on the Big Island & Maui & we had a washer/dryer in our room & a kitchen.

In Oahu I went cheap since we were only there for the night we got there & the next night & then we went to Kauai & they upgraded us & gave us 2 rooms over looking the beach which was great.

We ate in for breakfast & lunch & went out for dinner.

We did our own tours around the island. I found a cheap bike company & we used them for our sunrise bike ride down Haleakula & we got to ride down at our own pace vs with a group which was a plus for us.

I can't wait to go back but since it is a long flight for us it will be a while.

 

[momof1princess]

thank you, fabshelly! any suggestions you have would be deeply appreciated!

 

[DMRick]

We're just back from a cruise on Pride of Hawaii. We paid under $1500 for a week for two of us (that includes tips). We went with an unasigned room, in hopes of getting an upgrade. We were moved several desk up. Still an inside room, but no matter to us, as we barely were able to stay awake until we got to our room.

We stayed a few nights at Waikkii West in Waikki Beach for about $95 using the Entertainment rate. We rented a car vie National for $74 for the three days and paid $15 a day for parking at our hotel. We ate inexpensively while touring. The cruise was wonderful...it was like having a floating hotel. We rented cars in most ports for about $30 (it's less if you bargain on the dock). We called rooms service each evening and ordered wraps, and chips, etc, and packed our lunch each day, and off we went. Saved a fortuen by not doing ship excursions, and saw way more than those that went on excursions did.
Having the transportation from Island to Island was great, and we really got to see a lot, including a wonderful helicopter ride on Kuaii (we did pick a priceir one of those, since we wanted more time, but you can get less expensive rides). We started out each morning right after breakfast, and docking, and used the Revealed books (studied for weeks in advance) to get around on the Islands. We ran into the ship tours off an don, and several people said they wished they were with us..that they were missing so much.
Gas was pricier than home, but the Islands aren't that big, so it wasn't a hugh expenditure.
I had a free day with National and I used it our last day (the free days are wasted during a regular week, sinc eyou can't use coupons with them, so this was great). I asked for and got an SUV, and since our plane wasn't leaving until late evening, we did one more days tour of Oahu the last day.

 

[floridafam]

I just saw airline tickets on Travelocity for $400 round trip-dates were in December and January.

 

[grlpwrd]

I used to own a travel agency, too, and I worked for Hawaiian Airlines and American Airlines.

I think prices may go down because of the earthquake. I think there may be deals to get people to travel there.