How much for a family of 5 to go to Hawaii?

[mermaidwannabe]

I'm too embarassed to say when we'll be going, but it's in more than a couple years. I've heard it's VERY expensive so I wanted to set up a separate fund for it. I did this for our $8,000 Disneyworld (since we had to fly out of Montana!) and it worked well. If we found a condo or something similar with a kitchen, would we need more than $10,000?? Our airfare will be horrendous. My brother just spent $750 per plane ticket.

Thanks for any input!

 

[leahjade]

my friend went last year (from PA) and it was $10,000 for 4 of them -2 teenagers and 2 parents but I guess it depends on what all you see and do.

 

[macaronigal]

The people that should be embarrassed are those who take trips with money they don't have.
You will get alot of people that tell you which island to go to and that you have to do absolutely every touristy thing available.
This is a family vacation and just being together as a family in one of the most beautiful places in the world will be fabulous.

We have done both hotels and condos and condos are IMO the better way to go. You don't say the ages of your kids but Hawaii is great for any age (we took our daughter at 4 months and were just there for 2 wks over Christmas and she was 13), she loved both trips!
I suggest VRBO dot com for some condo rentals. We found our Maui condo that way and loved it.
Once you have decided which island to visit you can get a clearer idea of what you want to see and how much you will need to budget. The time of year will also determine the price range. We have been in Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr. All were great.
Good luck and happy planning
BTW We had been 7 times before we ever went to a luau so it is possible to have a great vacation in Hawaii without doing all the touristy stuff!

 

[dare2dream]

I started researching a girls only trip for DD, then 25 and I. We flew out of Seattle where she lives. After some general research I turned to my travel agent. She got a package for us. 5 nights at the Hyatt on Waikiki Beach, airfare, airport transfer and breakfast each day was included for $1100 per person.

Start saving and have a great trip!

 

[swilshire]

I never really did a total, but we took our family of six two years ago on a budget. We got frequent flyer tickets for four of us. My daughter found a great rate out of Atlanta. Only my oldest son, who decided late to go, got stuck with an $800 ticket.

We used timeshares for three weeks on three islands. We joined Costco because their gas was very cheap compared to all the other stations, so we also used them for groceries and incidentals (like the snorkling equipment we bought to avoid renting).

Gas and groceries were a little expensive, but not ridiculously so. In fact, we're probably paying the same or more locally now two years later. We did skip a few things because they just weren't in the budget, but we had a great time.

Sheila

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

We are headed to Maui over the Xmas holiday (the most expensive week in Hawaii, BTW, for hotels and condos) and while we pay nothing for airfare, our hotel bill alone will run about $23,940 for 3 rooms at the Grand Wailea. That doesn't include food or other activities. We expect to pay another $4000 or so for that. Definitely not a budget trip, but we're doing this in lieu of a 50th anniversary party for my folks and my brother and I are splitting the cost.

Makes a trip to WDW seem cheap by comparison, doesn't it??

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Macaronigal - good point about not being embarassed since we're actually saving beforehand. Thanks. We used VRBO for a condo in Florida. I don't know why I didn't think it would be available for Hawaii, so that will probably be how we do it. We like condos. I have heard the hotel pools there are amazing, but we'll just get our soak time at the beach!

Dare2dream - 1100pp seems pretty good to me. I think I'll have to just go if/when airfare isn't too horrendous.

Sheila - we belong to Costco, so we'd definitely do that. I didn't know they had Costco over there!

ExPirateShopGirl - Can I come with you?

 

[mjhd]

Start looking for cheap airfare after you have some saved - you'd be surprised how many times I've seen $300 r/t pp on deals sites. I also like looking on travelzoo.com for great hotel rates. Things there are a bit more expensive, but aren't too bad. I LOVED the Hyatt's pools in both Maui & Kauaii. I thought I would love sitting on the beach and swimming in the ocean but that salt water is just not my thing so you may want to take that into consideration (if you don't like salt water, a great hotel pool is a must!). We did not take the kids with us so I cannot comment on that. Have a great time no matter when you go!

 

[HeatherC]

Another thing you could do is price air from California and not Montana. In other words, book two separate flights. Price your flight to CA and then price one from there to Hawaii. May wind up being cheaper.

Also...if you qualify, there is GovArm.com and Getravelop.com to check for condos along with SkyAuction.

You can also rent timeshare weeks from owners at sites like myvacationrentalnetwork.com.

We went on our honeymoon and had a great time. We booked our hotels with the Entertainment Book.

And one more thing....I think there is a big condo company in Hawaii...least there used to be. Something like Aston Resorts. We stayed in one of their condos on Kauai and it was very nice and very cheap.

Good luck and happy planning!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Great websites, thanks!! Also, good point about flying to Cali first. I'll also check out those other condo sites.

Thank you!!

 

[luvtogo12]

Don't be embarassed. I have been pricing out a trip for my family of 5 and have no plans on going for another 3 years (my 25th anniversary).
I have not done too much research but so far, I am coming up with approx. $3,000.00 p/p for one week.
Hopefully, over the next 3 years I will learn how to do this trip on a budget. Otherwise, I don't see it happening.

 

[Green Tea]

We did 2 weeks. about 5K air, about 5K house rentals, one island, maybe another few thousand on food there.

 

[madelyn]

What's a good amount of time to spend there? And which island? My last and only trip to Hawaii when I was in college was only 5 days long and now our WDW trips are more than twice that amount (we kept adding the days since it never seemed long enough). We don't see a Hawaii trip in our near future though. Our kids are now 10 yrs, 6.5 yrs and 20 months. I've only been to Oahu and my husband has been there too - first time last year but for work. Our kids have never been and we hope to someday. Since we have to travel on times when schools are out of session I bet the airfare alone (we are flying from Texas) will cost us what it cost us for our last 13 day WDW trip!

 

[2goofycampers]

This may not be for you but,
alot of people fly over and then take a cruise, that way you get to see all of the Islands without having to change accomodations and your food is included in the price.

 

[tnkrbell13]

I took my family of 5 for around $5000!
We used VRBO for a bungalow on the North Shore, which we loved! We had what was basically a private beach(no easy public access) and we swam with the same Sea turtles every day!
We did moslty all our own cooking and hit costco for lots of stuff!
My best tip: if you are going to bring souveneirs/gifts back for people, go to costo for the Macadamia Nuts! They had 10 packs of the chocolate covered ones for cheap! It was a great thing to bring back to people.
I think it really depends on what kind of vacation you like, if you don't want to cook and like to pampered it can definitely go up high in price.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

I hadn't thought about a cruise...I personally like them but don't know how my family would do with such tight quarters. Good idea, though, and I'll have to think about that! Especially to see all the islands as you said.

Tinkerbell13 - private beach and sea turtles sounds so cool. Where is the North Shore?? Would you mind narrowing down where you got your condo from VRBO? Thanks!!!

 

[parith1114]

Another website to look into is greatrentals.com. We rented a house from this site last year and saved thousands on hotel costs. Have fun.

 

[leahjade]

depending on how old your kids are - you could get adjoining rooms on the cruise. We did that two years ago with our teen girls and that worked out well. I can't imagine us all being in one of those tiny rooms!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

My kids will be 15, 13 and 9 when we go so in 3 summers.

 

[pyrxtc]

When is DVC Hawaii supposed to be available for booking? They will have non-DVC rooms there also.