Where to stay on DVCpts in Hawaiiand what is the #pts

[Dean]

She has no clue where she would want to stay. She does want a nice beach to swim and tan. She would like to snorkle, it would be a first unless you consider Typhoon Lagoon. She also mentioned going to Pearl Harbor. Last of all she wants to find some food like she had at Kona Cafe at the polynesian Hotel

She has a friend moving to Hawaii in the near future (military). I think she would like to visit her friend also. She would want to take her boyfriend and possible her brother. A Condo on or near the beach would be really neat. We are on a tight budget. How many days should we plan? What should I figure for meals?

Thanks Tigger

HI is a controllable expense but is more expensive than many other trips as a rule. Assuming OK as a starting point, I personally wouldn't go for less than 1.5 weeks unless they can get a direct flight with no stops and fly directly to the island they are staying on, you could get by with 1 week then. In that case I'd look for a combo deal with air and a room. I'd do Oahu for that situation and not fool with other islands for a full week or less. Air to Oahu will be cheaper and interisland is a pretty good chunk ($125-150 round trip or so pp) plus the rental car cost for the other islands. However, if it were me I'd look at Cancun or Aruba for this situation both of which you can get pretty cheap for all inclusive or possibly even other MX options like Cabo or Puerto Vallarta.

We went to HI in 2002 for 2 weeks. One week on Maui with two 1 BR units (4 people including 2 teens) and then to Kauai in a 2 BR. We flew into Maui, interisland to Kauai then to Oahu and flew out of Oahu. We used FF miles and timeshares. Our out of pocket including the exchange fees, taxes on the FF miles, underlying maint fees and interisland was around $2500 total. That's about as cheaply as one could get out for this situation and the prices would not have been that much less had it only been 2 of us.

 

[caverill]

We visited HI last year. I agree with Dean that it is hard to do less then a week and 1/2.

One thing that worked great for us was an offer from Marriot to stay at there Maui Ocean Club Resort. The cost was $374 per person for 5 nights and included a compact rental car. No timeshare tour required!

The resort was wonderful and was close to lots of activities.

We also stayed three nights in Honolulu at the Hilton Hawiian Village. Two of the nights were free with Hilton rewards. If you do any traveling, sign up for one of the major hotel plans and use like FF miles.

I don't like the idea of using DVC points, since you lose quite a bit of the value.