Military travel (leisure) sites

[live4christp1]

Anyone have any others?

I know of:

govarm.com
afvclub.com

Thanks,
Cristy

 

[live4christp1]

Also, does anyone ever use MWR when traveling?

Looking at a trip to NYC and found a Navy Lodge on Stanten Island. Can't book until 30 days out though.

Please share, tips, etc. on your travels.

Thanks!
Cristy

 

[jsmith]

it can be a little hard to get into Navy Lodges if you are not a member of the navy-having said that we have stayed at Wainaie ( called some thing else now) Barbers Point, Bellows, the Hale Koa and Kiluea Military camp in Hawaii-the Colorado Inn on ft carson before we moved here, Crow Creek Inn on FE Warren AFB, in the senior enlisted quarters at both Hood and Bliss and of Course Shades of green. All our experiences have been positive. We dont use military lodging when we are in a situation where it would be space A rather than making a reservation simply because im too much of a control freak to trust that we will get something.
Since you are going to that area i have heard the new Cape Henry Inn AFRC at Virginia Beach is awesome.

 

[finalepiphany]

thanks dude!

 

[samshane]

SO other than Hale Koa, what would you recommend if staying in Hawaii? Our anniversary is in Sept and he will just have come off a 13 month deployment... think I can talk him into a trip without the kids!

 

[vettegirl]

In Hawaii, we love staying at the Sheraton Waikiki. They have two awesome pools, with one being an adults only infinity edge pool right on the ocean. I found it to be cheaper than the Hale Koa for an ocean front room and the location is the best on Waikiki. The outrigger reef is nice also and is a couple of hotels down the beach.

 

[jsmith]

It depends on what you want-and im sure that the Sheraton Wakiki doesnt match the Hale Koas deal for R and R and post deployment leaves-they will give you 20 percent off everything-the room, drinks and meals charged to the room-everything.
Personally while i like the Hale-i dont care for Waikiki-too busy and crowded-my favorite place on Oahu is Bellows AFS. Its not as fancy as a hotel down town-its cottages-ocean front for officers and other locations based on paygrade-but not expensive by hawaii standards. The cottage have two bedrooms-full equiped kitchens-which can make for a decent savings on food-especially if you hit the commissary at the NEX before you head over. I love being able to go to sleep with the window open and hear the surf and the beach there is one of the nicest ive been to-and we travel ALOT The beach is closed to the public during the week and i have been out on the beach when i was alone-to me thats worth more than the room at the Hale-or Hilton Hawaiian Village or Royal Hawaiian ( just checked-for may-halekoa is 186 for our pay grade for ocean front-sheraton waikiki is 260.)
On the neighbor islands Kilauea Military Camp is awesome-its really cool because its inside the national park and because it will kind of remind you of staying in Yellowstone in someways-but you can drive down to the ocean-so i thought it was awesome. Im not a lap of luxury kind of person-but i love Hawaii and these are my favorite places to stay-if you want lap of luxury i would go for the Hilton Hawaiin Village-but it will cost you more.

 

[DawnCt1]

I love the Hale Koa. While it may not be luxury, it is comfortable and very conveniently located. We walked next door to the Hilton and frankly I was glad I wasn't staying there; too big. Also, the Hilton Waikaloa Village on the Big Island sometimes offers military rates that are quite good. I love the Big Island. Three days on O'ahu are enough for me and then I want to move on.

 

[live4christp1]

We have friends who recommend Barking Sands in Hawaii. We've never been but they said, while it's a bit out from everything else that it's beautiful, quiet, relaxing.

http://www.greatlifehawaii.com/Acti...atid=261&catname=Barking+Sands+Beach+Cottages

 

[DawnCt1]

We have friends who recommend Barking Sands in Hawaii. We've never been but they said, while it's a bit out from everything else that it's beautiful, quiet, relaxing.

http://www.greatlifehawaii.com/Acti...atid=261&catname=Barking+Sands+Beach+Cottages

I have driven over there and they are remote, on the west side of Kaua'i but they look wonderful. Right on the beach. During the summer that is the "hot" side. We have friends that stay there every time they go to Hawaii and love it but they go in the winter. On the other hand, Kaua'i is not that big.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

Ones we have stayed at:

Went to Cape Henry Inn (VA) last year. They have both a hotel and townhouse sort of accomodations (they are on stilts at the edge of the dunes, not talking base housing here, lol- but there are 4 or 5 of them sharing walls, not individual cottages) right together. They advertise cabins too, but they weren't where the hotel and houses are. We think they may have been more towards the center of the post, but we never went actively looking. The beachhouse/townhouse place wasn't anything overly fancy, but worked well for us. (We had 3 bedrooms, kitchen, small living area.)

I will say it was an interesting morning when we first woke up to this "wierd sound" off in the distance. The marines were practicing beach landings or something. It was way down the beach, certainly not in our front yard. It did crack us up though- they didn't put that in the brochure!

You aren't in the "downtown" of VA Beach (which was ok with us!) but easy 10 minute or so drive. Reasonable (20 minutes, I think?) into Norfolk as well. We did trips up to Williamsburg as well, um, yeah, well. In case you've never been there- it's all tunnels in/out of towns in the area. Traffic can be a challenge!

Hale Koa- nice for what it is (you know-a highrise on the beach in Waikiki ). You are right on the beach and in the middle of everything. That's really not where we'd usually hang out, but we had no complaints about it at all. There is a decent sized AAFES store (not really a BX, but more than a Shopette) in the hotel- good prices for snacks and souvenirs. (Keep in mind EVERYTHING in HI costs more, it was nice to pay some AAFES prices. ) There is also a nice little snack bar (Happys, IIRC) to pick up snacks or a light meal. Again, beat HI prices! We went with 2 youngn kids and weren't up for eating in a restaurant all the time.

Shades of Green, but probably enough reviews on that for this board, lol. We like it because it's NOT "Disneyafied". Good to decompress after a day with the mouse!

Garmish AFRC Campground, though I think the new Edelweiss Hotel has taken that space over. We went back to Garmish a couple years ago, but stayed in a gasthaus (my preference for Germany anyway!) There is still a BX and commissary there {note retired personnel can't use those overseas, if that is a factor.}

Kilauea Military Camp on the Big Island of HI is my favorite military accomodation. It's not fancy. I like the Yellowstone reference someone else gave. Cute little cabins (with pretty stained glass windows of the volanoes and wildlife) right in the park. The amenties are pretty basic- a mess hall sort of restaurant with a small bar. There was a pretty small gift/grocery shop sort of store (NOT AAFES, more Hawaii-ish prices and a limited selection. But there is something there if you need it.) Really dinky cute bowling alley (I think it was 2 lanes.

We saw the absolute best hula/etc show in the bar (and we weren't even going to go- let's see, take 2 young kids to a GI bar? lol) It was *wonderful* though- extremely family friendly. Local hula group did it- young children on up to elderly "aunties". It wasn't the glitz/glamour of one of the big stage shows, but girls and women who you could tell just loved sharing their traditions. Lots of audience involvement. I still get warm fuzzies thinking about it!