Westin Kaanapali Resort Villas

[tomandrobin]

Glad you had a nice trip...The place looks exactly like it does on the DVC website...beautiful. I hope to be staying there next October.

 

[TnRobin]

CJ is a mixed plate type resturant, also known as a meat and three here in the south.

We did a mixture of eating out and eating in. We went to the safeway in Lahaina for groceries. It was okay. I wished we had gone to the one just north of the resort though, it was very nice. I can't remember the name, but the resort lists it in thier information. In addition, that store will deliver your order for $10 if you don't feel like shopping.

Two other activities on Maui I didn't see mentioned - Parasailing and Whale watching in the winter months.

One note about the biking down the volcano. New regulations have limited the number of tours that are allowed and you are no longer allowed to begin the trip at the top of the volcano. The biking starts just outside the park boundaries.

Another activity that is great for the less than svelte crowd is a trip to IAO Valley. It is a short drive from Kalalui and almost no walking. I think it was about 99 steps to the observation point. It is absolutely gorgeous. Also there is a nice park dedicated to the deversified cultures of Hawaii on the way.

 

[mickeymorse]

Love all your pics Robin. Hope to trade to Hawaii in 3 yrs time.

Rob

 

[OurDogCisco]

Your pictures made me a bit homesick. I love the location of the Westin Kananpali Villas in Maui. Anyways... not to hijack your thread but if you need to see more beautiful pictures of this resort.... I have a ton at Webshots (just click the picture):

 

[rascalmom]

Thanks - this is just the type of info I have been looking for.....I started a thread over on the DVC planning board & someone posted a link.

DH & I want to go to Hawaii for our 25th in June 2010. When is the earliest I can start looking for an exchange?

 

[fers31]

Thanks - this is just the type of info I have been looking for.....I started a thread over on the DVC planning board & someone posted a link.

DH & I want to go to Hawaii for our 25th in June 2010. When is the earliest I can start looking for an exchange?

Glad I could help with the link. I really enjoyed reading this thread. For 160 points....seems like a great deal!

 

[Josh125]

The resort is in a great location and stunning. We did the tour this past May. I'll tell you what the buy in cost is, might want to grab a seat.

Oceanfront 1 week non-expiring= $96,000
Oceanview 1 week non-expiring= $75,000
Gardenview 1 week non-expiring= $69,000

If you can use DVC to trade, what a deal !

 

[mackeyapp]

Would love to do this one year. I wonder what the odds would be to get a trade through the Xmas season. We are only able to swing two weeks from our business in that time frame. It would have to be the week before and after Xmas. Any opinions on this??

Thanks
Joan

 

[El&Asmom]

The resort is in a great location and stunning. We did the tour this past May. I'll tell you what the buy in cost is, might want to grab a seat.

Oceanfront 1 week non-expiring= $96,000
Oceanview 1 week non-expiring= $75,000
Gardenview 1 week non-expiring= $69,000

If you can use DVC to trade, what a deal !

And some people think DVC is expensive. We can go to Disney for pretty much the rest of our traveling life for about $15K.

 

[mygirl]

chiming in here . just wanted to agree with all of the other pp's regarding this lovely resort. we honeymooned there - along with kauai - 8 years ago and LOVED it! we were in an oceanview suite that was AMAZING! we paid rack rates as this was many moons before we knew what a timeshare was - let alone DVC.

we also highly recommend kimo's for dinner. they had some dessert there - the name escapes me, but the memory of something insanely delicious does not!

snorkeling molokini crater was one of the highlights of our trip. we loved it so much that we ended up buying our own snorkel gear while there and found all sorts of secluded beaches and inlets to explore and snorkel on our own.

we took helicopter tours on two islands, and were not too impressed with the tour on maui.

car rental is a must as there was not public transportation on kauai and maui for the things we wanted to do. if you are "resort vacationers" - those that do not leave the resort (believe me, we met so many who did not step foot off property), then a car is probably not necessary. if you are into exploring, the rent the car. we did drive to lahaina, but parking was no picnic - esp at night. the old lahaina luau was great, but i agree - book this way in advance. downtown lahaina was fun - lots to do at night.

we found some wonderful guidebooks for our stay - the authors were entertaining and full of knowledge about things to see "off the beaten path". in fact, we did do the road to hana, but never made it to the seven sacred pools as we found so many hidden gems along the way! don't remember the authors, but the book title for this island was "maui revealed". don't know if there has been a recent edition, but we carried this thing like a preacher carries a bible! it was a infinitely helpful and entertaining at the same time. the authors pinpoint descriptions led us to the most amazing places that we never would have otherwise found.

whew! i totally rambled. guess i need to get back there asap - maybe for my 10 year annv???

have fun!

 

[della]

Oh! I so want to go to Hawaii now!!!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Would love to do this one year. I wonder what the odds would be to get a trade through the Xmas season. We are only able to swing two weeks from our business in that time frame. It would have to be the week before and after Xmas. Any opinions on this??

Thanks
Joan

This might be tough as these are fixed weeks bought at a premium. But it might not hurt to try. Another option would be to rent your points and then, rent from an owner at redweek. I own here but I'm only able to reserve weeks 1 through 50. Weeks 51 & 52 are bought as fixed weeks and cost a lot more.

 

[mackeyapp]

What is redweek? I am new to all of this.
Thanks Joan

 

[OurDogCisco]

What is redweek? I am new to all of this.
Thanks Joan

Alot of timeshare owners rent their weeks on redweek, Tug, craiglists, etc... You can go to redweek and see what is available for resorts all of the world.

 

[mackeyapp]

Thanks, I will check that out.
Joan