Aulani or No (pre-cruise stay)

[mjmcnns]

This is a more general question, but hoping to benefit from some experienced travelers...

We are looking at a cruise out of Honolulu and would arrive 3-4 days before departure. We haven't been to the island before.

One consideration for the pre-cruise (non Disney Cruise) stay is if we consider Aulani or just find a hotel more in the city/closer to the cruise terminal.

We enjoy Disney (took our now 6 yr old to DL last Dec), but aren't as enthusiastic as others. Is the experience significantly greater than other resort options in the area and/or worth the slightly added travel logistics? Or in our situation would be probably be best to find another choice.

We aren't DVC members or anything like that, so we're paying public rates anywhere we go.

 

[Disfamwa]

How far away is your cruise? If you can rent DVC points to book your stay, I think you get a lot more for your money staying at Aulani vs paying the cash rate at other places. Is your child going with you? Aulani is especially nice with littler kids because of the calm lagoon and pools. The downside of renting DVC is that typically you don’t have the same ability to cancel and often have to pay the entire stay at the time of booking.

 

[richmo]

Totally do it!! We stayed at Aulani for four nights prior to our NCL Pride of America cruise and loved it! We also rented a car and did a day at Pearl Harbor and drove around the island some. We rented points from David's Vacation Rentals, which lowered our Aulani costs and gave us free parking. Good point on the previous post that if you rent points, be pretty confident of your travel dates.... We really enjoyed Aulani, beautiful setting and much more relaxed than the wall to wall hotels in Waikiki.

 

[mjmcnns]

How far away is your cruise? If you can rent DVC points to book your stay, I think you get a lot more for your money staying at Aulani vs paying the cash rate at other places. Is your child going with you? Aulani is especially nice with littler kids because of the calm lagoon and pools. The downside of renting DVC is typically that you don’t have the same ability to cancel and often have to pay the entire stay at the time of booking.

April 2023. So we're within 6 months (and also still very conceptually planning).

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

Yes - I highly recommend Aulani, especially if you like the deluxe resorts at WDW or DL. Aulani is the main reason I continue to return to Oahu.

 

[Van@Disney]

There are other great hotels to stay at, but none have the pools, kids splash areas, water slides and lazy river. AND, Disney characters just hanging around waiting to be met.

 

[OKW Lover]

There is much more to the island of Oahu than just Honolulu or Aulani. You can find lots of hotels in the Honolulu/Waikiki. However don't expect to see Oahu from either place. If you stay in Honolulu, you'll essentially be staying in a city that happens to be on a gorgeous beach. If you stay at Aulani you'll be staying in a beautifully themed resort. But either way you'll miss the real Hawaii unless you rent a car and drive around the island.

 

[Disfamwa]

April 2023. So we're within 6 months (and also still very conceptually planning).

So DVC availability is already pretty limited for studios, but there is more availability for 1 bedrooms. It sounds like you might not be ready to commit to booking at this point, but if you decided too, I would book it sooner rather than later. DVC rental store would be a good place to look and see what’s available and what it would cost—they also let you pay in payments if you decided to go the DVC route.
https://dvcrentalstore.com/guests/availability/

 

[AstroBlasters]

So DVC availability is already pretty limited for studios, but there is more availability for 1 bedrooms. It sounds like you might not be ready to commit to booking at this point, but if you decided too, I would book it sooner rather than later. DVC rental store would be a good place to look and see what’s available and what it would cost—they also let you pay in payments if you decided to go the DVC route.
https://dvcrentalstore.com/guests/availability/

 

[Flossbolna]

It kind of depends what you want out of those days. If you think you will do a lot of sightseeing on Oahu, stay somewhere else. But if you just want a beautiful resort to hang out at with amazing pool and beach that is kid friendly, Aulani is great. We love Honolulu, too. It’s a beautiful city with amazing beach. Lots of shopping, nice restaurants etc.

Ultimately Hawaii is wonderful everywhere, so I am sure whatever you pick will be a great choice!

 

[MsChristy12]

I think it depends entirely what you and your family would like to do in those few days.

If you want those few days to be very chill and simply do some luxuriating around the resort, then stay at Aulani. Since you're paying a premium price to stay there (even if you were to go through DVC rental), you want to enjoy the pool/beach and other amenities on property.

If you want to do more sightseeing, shopping and dining at different places, then I wouldn't recommend staying at Aulani since it isn't exactly a convenient location and especially this will be your first time on the island. Of course, Waikiki is where most tourists stay and it is a VERY busy area. However, it is also the most convenient and you can easily spend a few days there without a car. So is that something you would prefer? Or quiet few days? There's also a big price difference between the hotels/resorts at Waikiki vs Aulani. You can easily find way cheaper rooms at Waikiki.

Between Aulani and Waikik it's about 45 mins drive with no traffic. With traffic it's easily 1+ hour. I have never cruise to/from Oahu but if I'm not mistaken, their cruise port is right there by Waikiki so that makes it more convenient for embarkation day. Whatever you choose, it will be good times on the island!

 

[Paul Stupin]

My vote would be Aulani. The lagoons are amazing, and both the environment and hotel are stunning. All the other hotels are mostly in Waikiki and are kind of generic and interchangeable, and the area is crammed with expensive shops. It’s a fun place to visit for an afternoon but with Aulani you’ll get a next level experience.

I would watch a few YouTube videos and reviews of both places to get a better idea.