Just back from Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, Kona, HI

[zellda]

We just returned from our Hawaii vacation that included a 5 night stay at Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows (concierge collection). We did the Mauna Lani Experience (turned out to be a great deal). Beautiful resort, great room with gorgeous view. We also did NCLAmerica Pride of Hawaii 7-night cruise of the islands, so if anyone has questions, just ask.

 

[BeccaG]

We just returned from our Hawaii vacation that included a 5 night stay at Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows (concierge collection). We did the Mauna Lani Experience (turned out to be a great deal). Beautiful resort, great room with gorgeous view. We also did NCLAmerica Pride of Hawaii 7-night cruise of the islands, so if anyone has questions, just ask.

Zellda, did you book the bungalows on points? Tell us about the room/resort! Glad you had a great time!

 

[DizkneeDenna]

Zellda,

Hope you had a wonderful trip. I was wondering what you thought of the cruise. We are planning to take it next March - to celebrate my birthday and Hopkins birthday (another DIS member)! We have heard some pretty bad reviews on this new ship and are hoping that things are improving!!

Please tell us anything you can about the cruise!!

Thanks!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I'd like to know about the cruise as well as we're thinking of going over the summer.

 

[happyrebster]

We are planning ot visit this resort next summer -- what did you think of the place? The rooms? A good value on points? Comparable to other resorts?

 

[zellda]

Mauna Lani Bay is a beautiful secluded resort on the Kohala coast about 30 minutes north of the Kona airport. The Fairmount Orchid is at the same location, along with some condos, but you would almost never know they were there. The beach is salt and pepper sand (black and white) and they have cabanas with lounges available for their guests (no additional charge). We didn't see many children, it seemed mostly couples of various ages. We didn't do the bungalows (I'm not sure that is even an option anymore). We did the "Mauna Lani Experience" (a "special" with discounted points) which included a king-size oceanview room, $50 per day room credit (can be used for meals, golf, spa, etc.), buffet breakfast for two including tax and gratuity (menu price $26 each).

The entire resort has been recently refurbished in soft greens and browns to harmonize with the natural beauty of the location. It's not glitz and glamor, more understated elegance. Beautiful fresh flower arrangements are everywhere in the public areas, and we had fresh flowers and potted orchids in our room. At nightly turn-down service, they left Hawaiian Candies mints with fresh orchids on the pillows. Buffet breakfast was truly exceptional. I'm really missing Les's great Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries, coconut syrup, macadamia nuts and whipped cream! with Kona coffee - we're talking breakfast!

Unfortunately lunch and dinner which are available on the property, are very pricey and IMO not worth the expense. Ruth's Chris steakhouse and Tommy Bahamas, have now opened very close, though, so that may provide some healthy competition. All in all, we enjoyed our stay at Mauna Lani Bay very much and hated to leave. We hope to be able to return again soon, when we can spend more time there.

About the cruise:

Having been on 8 Disney cruises, we weren't sure what to expect. We told ourselves from the beginning that it wouldn't be the same, that we shouldn't expect it to be, and we should try not to compare.

The ship (Pride of Hawaii) is very pretty, and does have some beautiful areas. It was fairly easy to navigate to the various public areas, although in many cases, you must pass through one restaurant to get to another. That, to me, was a little strange. We had a mini-suite, which was comparable to a balcony stateroom on DCL. This cruise is port-intensive so you don't spend a lot of time on the ship, maybe an inside or oceanview room would serve as well. Although they have what they call freestyle dining, you MUST make reservations for dinner for the entire week as soon as you board, in order to avoid a very long wait for a table. (I still don't understand that). Food was good to very good (nothing exceptional, and I didn't have a really good dessert the whole cruise -- and I sure tried! Three of the onboard restaurants charge a surcharge $10 and $20+ each - we ate at all 3. Again, these were not fine dining, and we were disappointed in both the food and service. The itinerary was great, the islands are beautiful, we had a wonderful time, we were really glad that it turned out better than we were afraid it might, but hope that NCL continues to improve. I would cruise NCLAmerica again on this ship or others only for the itinerary, not because of the cruiseline or the ship, or its employees.