Long Range Planning - Hawaii

[snoopy5386]

We are planning a trip to Hawaii in about 5 years. I know it will be far and above what we normally spend on vacationing in a year and I want to start putting away money little by little now. I know costs will obviously go up before then, but looking for ballpark figures. We'd be using our DVC to stay at Aulani, so lodging is covered. Going sometime over the summer. We'd need airfare x4 from the East Coast to Oahu, rental car for a week, money for food and activities. For those who have made the trip, I'd love it if you could share your experiences. Is 1K per ticket a reasonable assumption for airfare? Figuring $300-400 for rental car? How much for food? Any help appreciated.

 

[ksh1111]

We go to Hawaii 2 X/yr, so have a bit of experience. Airfare varies greatly depending upon the season. We fly from West Coast, so can get sub $500 RT, but we travel in November and February, generally. Occasionally September. Right now $1000 would be a good estimate for off season airfare.

We save our Hertz rental points and use them in Hawaii, because we often find cars are $500-750 for a week and would rather not spend that much.

Food is really expensive on Oahu, I usually assume it will 30-40% higher than mainland. Costco is the best bargain, we find even if we even only go on the islands, it is worth the membership. Water, pop, rotisserie chicken, beach towels, snorkel gear, coffee and even souvenirs are all priced really well there.

We pack the small stuff in our suitcases (pepper, salt, paper plates, cutlery, any other condiments). Even cereal bars, granola bars all pack easily.

It is usually $25 - 50 to check a bag (unless elite) and we are willing to pay that and fill with 50# of food. We happily spend money over there (shave ice, hui hui chicken, mahi mahi, etc), but don't enjoy spending $6 for a box of cereal that is $3 here.

 

[Hawaii2Dis]

Aloha e snoopy5386 !

My name is Okalani, I am born and raised in Hawaiʻi my whole life. I currently live on Maui, from Kona on the Big Island, after living on Oʻahu for 2 1/2 years + 6 years of boarding school on Oʻahu from 7th-12th grade, I hopefully give you some pointers! (My boyfriend is from Kauaʻi, so if you also need pointers on other island I am your girl)

Food is really expensive here, but Costco is a really good idea. (Just a note about Costco, only the member with the card can pay for the items, so just make sure if you are the one with the membership you need to pay) OR if you are a Sam's club member, the closest Sam's Club to ʻAulani is in Pearl City. Pearl City is currently really hectic as O'ahu is currently building rail transit, and hopefully in five years the Pearl City portion will the done. And the closest Costco to Aulani is in Kapolei (neighboring "City" to Ko ʻOlina where ʻAulani is located)

Depending on what airline you are on, it may cost you more, and it may cost you less. If you fly just economy, you will save more money BUT if you are flying directly from the East Coast to Hawaiʻi that is a small seat and not a lot of leg room for a 10 hour flight... I do not know if the cheap cost is worth the "comfort".... so if that is the case you might want to upgrade. I love flying Hawaiian Airlines, but recently went to New York in December and back via American Air and loved it. Just a disclaimer though I did go first class roundtrip, as my Uncle paid and said he can no longer do economy. We stopped in Phoenix on the way to JFK, and we stopped in Dallas and Phoenix on our way home. I actually like broken up flights, as I can eat and relax before getting on the next leg of my trip. I would also recommend looking at kayak.com to compare plane fares, this helped me tremendously when planning our June 2016 WDW trip.

As for renting a car, if you sign up for USAA and just use them for the member discount on car rental it will work out in your favor.. or if you work for a company that can get you a discount it will save you money in the long run as well.

Hopefully this helps! If you have any other questions please feel free to ask!


Mahalo,
Okalani

 

[LovesTimone]

I have been a couple of times, and food is expensive so taking basic items with you will help or you might be able to ship a box of goodies ahead of time. Stuff like sunscreen and OTC medicine products are $$$$ very costly, so bring along.

Upgrading your seat will be worth it in the long run.

Car rental and gas are a lot more expensive - around 700.00 for a week for a small car, also get the insurance. A guy that works with my DH, him and his wife he had a seconded honeymoon there and someone backed into the rental car not once but twice. The Alamo guy was like that happens all the time. They paid the additional cost for a extra suitcase filled with food items, OTC med's, sunscreen, and whatever else. and used the suitcase for souvenirs on the way back home.

When I went each trip we would island hop for 1 night, to another island. So we would get the earliest flight to another island, rent a car, and see and explore as much as we could, stay overnight then do it all again the next day and go out on a later flight. We would just take a backpack with clothes for the next day, snorkel gear, swim wear, sunscreen, towel and a few toiletries with us. If we would see a place with a lot of cars we would stop and eat there. We ate on Kauai at old gas station that part of it was a restaurant, really just a kitchen and window and picnic tables and the food was so good it was absolutely amazing and the view of the ocean left us speechless. There was a little path down to the beach. Honestly I have never seen anything so untouched, it was really special. We were just driving around which is code for we might have been a little bit lost and we drove by it and the people waiting for it to open was insane, so we turned around and got in line... I honestly have no idea where we were that day. But I have a best memory of it.

 

[kool_kat]

My husband and I are planning on doing Hawaii for our 5 year anniversary (June, 2020). I've been several times with my family, but the last time was 2008. I have a Hilton Timeshare so I'm in the same boat as you - room is paid but must pay for extras. Depending on where you live, airfare can be ridiculous. I was looking for June of this year and Delta economy comfort was over 2200 a person. I live in Knoxville so airfare isn't cheap and this was a direct flight once I got to Atlanta. I'm sure you can do better than that with proper planning, but just FYI east coast flying can be very expensive.

As everyone has said food is a LOT more expensive. Just up your normal food budget by about 40% and you should be fine. I second going to Costco.

I would also start looking at activities and pricing them out to get an idea of what that will cost you. I think you are on the money on your rental car budget. Does Aulani offer free parking? If not, add 25-50 per day for that.

I am trying to pay for the entire trip with credit card rewards. I am hoping for 5k in cashback by then and maybe at least one airfare with miles. There are only two of us though.

 

[MEM]

We flew to Honolulu from Boston this past May. We booked a one bedroom at Aulani for a week using our DVC points at the 7 month window. I had the Hawaiian airlines credit card and earned enough miles for the four of us to fly one way from Seattle to Honolulu. I also had the Alaska airlines credit card and earned enough miles to fly from Honolulu to Seattle. In order to fly r/t from Boston to Seattle I used Alaska's companion fare for my daughter and DH used his for our son. We intentionally planned to stay the night in Seattle on the way to Hawaii - 10 hours is too much for the circulation. All four of us wore compression stockings. On our return trip we stayed 3 nights in Seattle since DH and DS had never been. I did not find the prices for food in Hawaii as high as reported, unless you shopped at the Island Store across from Aulani. We rented a full-size car for $300 for the week from Alamo near the airport. We bought food at the Target in Kapolei. We had most meals in our room but had a sit-down at Aulani - Makahiki I think - gorgeous sunset views but the food was skimpy and insanely expensive. We also ate at Monkeypod which was okay but loud and crowded.

Who knows what the airfare will be like in five years - Southwest will be entering the Hawaii market at some point and competition is a good thing.

 

[MEM]

My husband and I are planning on doing Hawaii for our 5 year anniversary (June, 2020). I've been several times with my family, but the last time was 2008. I have a Hilton Timeshare so I'm in the same boat as you - room is paid but must pay for extras. Depending on where you live, airfare can be ridiculous. I was looking for June of this year and Delta economy comfort was over 2200 a person. I live in Knoxville so airfare isn't cheap and this was a direct flight once I got to Atlanta. I'm sure you can do better than that with proper planning, but just FYI east coast flying can be very expensive.

As everyone has said food is a LOT more expensive. Just up your normal food budget by about 40% and you should be fine. I second going to Costco.

I would also start looking at activities and pricing them out to get an idea of what that will cost you. I think you are on the money on your rental car budget. Does Aulani offer free parking? If not, add 25-50 per day for that.

I am trying to pay for the entire trip with credit card rewards. I am hoping for 5k in cashback by then and maybe at least one airfare with miles. There are only two of us though.

Free parking for DVC members and the OP said he/she would be staying on DVC points.

 

[MEM]

We stayed at Aulani for a week in May 2016 - used our DVC points to book a one bedroom at the 7 month window. We shopped at the Target in Kapolei and did not find the prices much different than Boston. We ate most of our meals in the room. We broke the trip in half - flew Boston to Seattle and stayed overnight and then Seattle to Honolulu. On the return, we stayed 3 nights in Seattle because DH and DS had never been. Rented a car in Honolulu from Alamo near the airport. About $300 for the week for a full-size. I have both the Hawaiian airlines and Alaska airlines credit cards and flew on a combination of miles, companion fares and cash. Southwest should be entering the market soon.

 

[fofinia]

You are going to have a wonderful time! I really want to plan a trip back.

We went Feb 2015. I had hoped to rack up credit card miles to book airfare that way. I ended up paying cash. $810 pp from Boston to Honolulu on United and then we flew home Kona- Big Island to Boston. Connecting in LA.

Our total trip cost $8000. I had saved $9000 for the trip and was surprised we didn't go over. We had about $200 in Disney Rewards from our Cc too. We used this for snacks at the hotel.
5 people. In a 1 Bedroom at Aulani. Don't forget the room tax you have to pay. Can't remember what its called or how much. They have it on the DVC boards. We bought a Costco membership based on all the recommendations on these boards. And Costco rates certainly were the cheapest for car rental. We rented a minivan for 5 days on Oahu and the Big Island. Both cost about $500. We ended up buying a lot of our food at Target. I really didn't find many of their prices to be that bad. The only thing that sticks out is a fresh whole pineapple. It was $7.99 at a small grocery store we went in. Which I was surprised because just before we left home pineapples were on sale in Mass for $1.99. And we had just toured the Dole pineapple plantation where the pineapples are grown. So strange to be so expensive with no long distance shipping.

We were cheap about how much we spent for activities and eating out. We splurged on a few things. Our trip could've easily cost double what we paid. We did a luau at Paradise Cove. When we called to book it. They actually told us about a deal they had on livingsocial. That saved us half price. I was really surprised they told us about the deal. But it was great. Definitely do a luau. They can be very cheesy. But so much a part of the trip.
We also packed some food in our luggage. But not a crazy amount. Every day we got up in the morning and went sight seeing. We packed a small collapsible cooler(really small) with snacks and sandwiches for the kids. We didn't find food to be an option in some of the scenic places we went to.

I also have to say we stopped at ABC stores and picked up their ready made food a few times. (mostly we did this on the Big Island in Waikoloa). but they weren't too expensive. And lots of choices for even picky ones. So we ate out but didn't pay sit down prices.

Also we got a Hawaiian Airlines credit card. And the sign up bonus was enough for us to book 5 interisland flights one way. This may not help you if you don't want to go to another island. But I thought it was great!

Have fun planning! I really have only one regret- that I didn't go ziplining on Oahu. I really wanted to go. But my youngest was only 4 and couldn't and wouldn't have done it. And so it just didn't work for us. Oh and I wish I had stayed 2 days longer at Aulani. We only stayed 4.5 and went to the Big Island.

 

[snoopy5386]

Thank you all, this has been very helpful!