I was just at the Mauna Lani for 8 nights in late March/early April. If you do a search including my name, you'll find my trip report which is fairly detailed.
We got a "mountain view room" in order to save points. Because we were not in our room much during daylight hours, we really didn't care about the view. We were very satisfied with the room we had. If we had booked a partial ocean view or a full ocean view room, we could not have stayed as many nights. We are glad we chose to stay longer.
Be aware that there is a wide range of views you would get in the partial ocean view category. Some rooms would be pretty close to ocean's edge, and have a very nice view from the side. Other rooms would be set pretty far back, and would not have as much of a water view. The full ocean views face the water head on, and are the closest to the water's edge.
We absolutely LOVED the Mauna Lani. It was a splurge with
DVC points in honor of a special occasion, and we are so glad we went. Our 8 nights took 301 pts. (They had a deal where we could get a free night for every 4 nights we stayed.) I'd love to go again some day. If I went again, I'd probably book a mountain view room again in order to stay for as many nights as possible.
For more details, feel free to do a search to find my trip report. If you have more questions after that, I'd be very happy to answer them. You can send me a private e-mail if you like.
