Honeymoon trip questions?

[Raya]

Planning a honeymoon trip for late August 2018. Our main activities will be sleeping late, eating great food, and snorkeling. We'd like to do a few adventure trips like helicopter to a volcano, whale/dolphin watching, and star gazing at night. Is Aulani a good resort for us?

I'm concerned that if we sleep late we'll never get a lounge chair by the pool or that the snorkeling pond will be crowded/closed due to capacity. Having to fight for lounge chairs and deal with rude people at the pool put a huge damper on our stay at YC last year. I don't want to repeat the experience in a tropical paradise.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

Aulani is not really a good resort or location for the things you want to do. I recommend a split stay between The Big Island and Maui.

 

[nkereina]

Agree with PP. We just got back from our two week honeymoon in Hawaii, including time at Aulani.

We did sleep in a few days at Aulani, but always had to get a lounge chair by the beach. We were fine with that but if you're particular about where you sit or have to be by the pool, you'll want to be down there by 8-9am.

We never saw the snorkeling lagoon crowded, ever. We didn't do it ourselves because we could see from the viewing area that it was all colorful fish, as opposed to larger fish and sharks like they have at Typhoon Lagoon in WDW. The snorkeling lagoon at Aulani is a cool option, but not a replacement for snorkeling in the ocean which you can do almost anywhere in Hawaii.

If you have a car at Aulani, you'll have plenty of options for great food since most places are driveable.

The only active volcano is on the Big Island. We did a helicopter tour on the island of Kauai, and were able to see Waimea Canyon and the Na'Pali Coast which was very cool. We also spent time in Maui which was good for snorkeling, and there is a dormant volcano you can hike or take a tour of.

I think your first step should be researching Hawaii to get a feel for what each of the islands offer. We chose Maui and Kauai for our activities, and ended our trip with a relaxing stop at Aulani.

 

[Raya]

Thanks for the advice! I'm just getting started with things (obviously) and suggestions on where I should begin my research?

 

[alohamom]

you can try this site, it is produced by the Hawaii tourist bureau

http://www.gohawaii.com/

and for snorkelling info on the all the islands try this site

http://www.hawaiisnorkelingguide.com/