I came up with a compromise that worked for my husband as well….we’d stay 3 nights in Waikiki, at a Marriott right off the beach, and doing intensive sightseeing Friday afternoon (we arrive aboOur trip report for Hawaii should have been a trip report for a DCL trip from April 2020. You know what happened with that. After much discussion and coordination of schedules (our trip was with my mom and our three 20-something kids), we rescheduled for April 2021. Back in about November, we made the difficult decision to cancel this cruise. Dh had the “great” idea to go to Aulani. I looked at prices and we were looking at something like 9K just for rooms (for 6 of us) plus airfare, food and activities. Gulp! Our cruise was the same 9K but included food, and the flights were just for dd who had to work on Saturday (the rest of us driving back and forth) So we decided to look into less expensive hotels and found a couple of good options with Marriott (I have platinum status with Marriott) . However, as it happens, our young adult children had changes in their lives. Our oldest had his company fold and he was obviously laid off. That meant he was applying for jobs and had no idea what April would look like for him. Our daughter quit her job and took a new one and she needed to save her vacation for a big trip she has booked for 2022. And our youngest, who works in aerospace, informed us he had a launch now scheduled for that week (true, that date will probably slip, as launches tend to do, but we couldn’t predict what would happen) And my mom wasn’t feeling comfortable about traveling, not knowing what COVID may have in store and the status of vaccines.
So dh and I considered our options. I still felt Aulani was way too expensive, but I knew dh really, really wanted to stay there. He discovered that Aulani made rooms available at a 30% discount for Disney VISA holders, so we considered that as an option. However, Aulani was still expensive, even with the discount. However, I should share that my husband is a gem…..a great father, an awesome husband and I really wanted to make a trip work. But I had to contend with my issue that I still felt it was too expensive. So we decided to stay at a cheaper hotel for three nights (Friday through Monday) and sight see those days. Then we’d check into Aulani and spend 5 nights relaxing and primarily enjoying the resort. Because there is a 30% discount for 5+ nights plus a $50 a day resort credit and only 25% for 4 nights with no resort credit, it wasn’t that much more to do a 3 + 5 split. So that’s what we booked.
Airfare was paid for with points and credits on Southwest.I booked a car rental through Costco, but knew that maybe I’d plan something different. That’s because car rental was $460 and parking $340. That’s A LOT! I knew we’d need a car the first few days and I also knew I planned a trip to the North shore while at Aulani, as well as leaving the resort for dinner, for example. So I really didn’t know what to do. Eventually, after much thought, I did keep the rental car, because with trying for two shorter duration rentals cost more, and even with less in parking fees, the total cost was essentially the same.
I then started working on our actual itinerary, focusing on what we wanted to do. Basically we looked at visiting Pearl Harbor, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Kualoa Ranch and the North Shore. Depending on our arrival time, I hope to fit in a visit to the Bishop Museum on Friday when we land. I tend to be a big time planner, but except for Pearl Harbor tickets, booked nothing until we had our negative Covid tests. We had many trips planned over the last year (the Disney Cruise twice, a three week British Isles cruise and London trip, a Boston to Montreal cruise and then this year, a week in Paris and an Alaskan Cruise in June) and I just didn't want to cancel a lot of things again if this trip didn't work out. This made booking some things difficult, because I waited until the last minute. Also, as the trip drew closer, I found myself less and less motivated to do a lot of sightseeing and just wanted to relax.
We took our Covid tests about 1pm on Tuesday April 6. We had our results by mid day on Wednesday, uploaded. We did our health report on Friday and finished packing.
In terms of our travel style, in the past we have been really active, seeing everything, getting up early and going full force every day.. But as we’ve gotten older and travel more, I like more relaxing trips. In terms of budget, I try to balance cost with time and energy. But we have the financial resources to do kind of what we want now.
One factor that was going to impact our trip a little was that I had cataract surgery about 2 ½ weeks before leaving. I wasn’t supposed to swim due to risk of infection until Wed. April 14.. So that impacted how I planned our itinerary.
Friday 4-9
We got up and made it to the airport a little early, I was glad we did because the only open coffee place was at the other end of where our gate was. We also discovered that we could get our Hawaii entry “approved” at our airport (SJC). We were given a wristband and subsequently sailed through the airport, just showing our wristband instead of being stopped and having our phone scanned. Very nice.
Our flight was uneventful and we arrived early at gate G10.. We walked miles (or so it seemed) to our baggage carousel and waited hours (well, really about 20 minutes, lol) and then went to take the shuttle for our Alamo car. I was not at all impressed with our “premium” car (a Honda Accord) but I also know there is a rental car shortage and I was grateful we got a car (we had a trip once where there were no cars left and were expected to hang around, hoping one was returned).
We made it to our hotel, the Sheraton Princess Kauilani and checked in. We were upgraded to a view that included seeing the ocean if you were out on the balcony and leaned and looked to the left. After getting ourselves oriented we walked over near the Royal Hawaiian, because I wanted to try Dukes. The line was super long, even for afternoon so we headed over to the Royal Hawaiian because dh wanted to try their mai tai bar. We easily had a table with a lovely beach view. Dh had the mahi mahi which he liked and I had the shrimp with polenta and fried lemon which was amazing. So a successful dinner. We crashed early, as I was tired, which was probably a mistake because I woke up at 4 the next morning. I dozed off and on until almost 7.
Expenses (I like to list our daily expenses as I know it helps me consider costs)
Tip for luggage at hotel: $5?
2 coffees and one scone from Starbucks at airport: don’t know
Water shoes for me . $18.84
Royal Hawaiian beach bar ($87.88……….Over the past year, my dh and I have made a concerted effort to support more local businesses and tip larger. Our family has come through Covid relatively unscathed and I know how lucky we are. And even though my oldest lost his job and moved back in with us, even that was lucky, because he was getting ready to buy a house right before his company folded. Thank goodness he didn’t do that! So, virtually all of our food purchases include a 30% tip…...just FYI)
Shaka tour download: $25
So dh and I considered our options. I still felt Aulani was way too expensive, but I knew dh really, really wanted to stay there. He discovered that Aulani made rooms available at a 30% discount for Disney VISA holders, so we considered that as an option. However, Aulani was still expensive, even with the discount. However, I should share that my husband is a gem…..a great father, an awesome husband and I really wanted to make a trip work. But I had to contend with my issue that I still felt it was too expensive. So we decided to stay at a cheaper hotel for three nights (Friday through Monday) and sight see those days. Then we’d check into Aulani and spend 5 nights relaxing and primarily enjoying the resort. Because there is a 30% discount for 5+ nights plus a $50 a day resort credit and only 25% for 4 nights with no resort credit, it wasn’t that much more to do a 3 + 5 split. So that’s what we booked.
Airfare was paid for with points and credits on Southwest.I booked a car rental through Costco, but knew that maybe I’d plan something different. That’s because car rental was $460 and parking $340. That’s A LOT! I knew we’d need a car the first few days and I also knew I planned a trip to the North shore while at Aulani, as well as leaving the resort for dinner, for example. So I really didn’t know what to do. Eventually, after much thought, I did keep the rental car, because with trying for two shorter duration rentals cost more, and even with less in parking fees, the total cost was essentially the same.
I then started working on our actual itinerary, focusing on what we wanted to do. Basically we looked at visiting Pearl Harbor, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Kualoa Ranch and the North Shore. Depending on our arrival time, I hope to fit in a visit to the Bishop Museum on Friday when we land. I tend to be a big time planner, but except for Pearl Harbor tickets, booked nothing until we had our negative Covid tests. We had many trips planned over the last year (the Disney Cruise twice, a three week British Isles cruise and London trip, a Boston to Montreal cruise and then this year, a week in Paris and an Alaskan Cruise in June) and I just didn't want to cancel a lot of things again if this trip didn't work out. This made booking some things difficult, because I waited until the last minute. Also, as the trip drew closer, I found myself less and less motivated to do a lot of sightseeing and just wanted to relax.
We took our Covid tests about 1pm on Tuesday April 6. We had our results by mid day on Wednesday, uploaded. We did our health report on Friday and finished packing.
In terms of our travel style, in the past we have been really active, seeing everything, getting up early and going full force every day.. But as we’ve gotten older and travel more, I like more relaxing trips. In terms of budget, I try to balance cost with time and energy. But we have the financial resources to do kind of what we want now.
One factor that was going to impact our trip a little was that I had cataract surgery about 2 ½ weeks before leaving. I wasn’t supposed to swim due to risk of infection until Wed. April 14.. So that impacted how I planned our itinerary.
Friday 4-9
We got up and made it to the airport a little early, I was glad we did because the only open coffee place was at the other end of where our gate was. We also discovered that we could get our Hawaii entry “approved” at our airport (SJC). We were given a wristband and subsequently sailed through the airport, just showing our wristband instead of being stopped and having our phone scanned. Very nice.
Our flight was uneventful and we arrived early at gate G10.. We walked miles (or so it seemed) to our baggage carousel and waited hours (well, really about 20 minutes, lol) and then went to take the shuttle for our Alamo car. I was not at all impressed with our “premium” car (a Honda Accord) but I also know there is a rental car shortage and I was grateful we got a car (we had a trip once where there were no cars left and were expected to hang around, hoping one was returned).
We made it to our hotel, the Sheraton Princess Kauilani and checked in. We were upgraded to a view that included seeing the ocean if you were out on the balcony and leaned and looked to the left. After getting ourselves oriented we walked over near the Royal Hawaiian, because I wanted to try Dukes. The line was super long, even for afternoon so we headed over to the Royal Hawaiian because dh wanted to try their mai tai bar. We easily had a table with a lovely beach view. Dh had the mahi mahi which he liked and I had the shrimp with polenta and fried lemon which was amazing. So a successful dinner. We crashed early, as I was tired, which was probably a mistake because I woke up at 4 the next morning. I dozed off and on until almost 7.
Expenses (I like to list our daily expenses as I know it helps me consider costs)
Tip for luggage at hotel: $5?
2 coffees and one scone from Starbucks at airport: don’t know
Water shoes for me . $18.84
Royal Hawaiian beach bar ($87.88……….Over the past year, my dh and I have made a concerted effort to support more local businesses and tip larger. Our family has come through Covid relatively unscathed and I know how lucky we are. And even though my oldest lost his job and moved back in with us, even that was lucky, because he was getting ready to buy a house right before his company folded. Thank goodness he didn’t do that! So, virtually all of our food purchases include a 30% tip…...just FYI)
Shaka tour download: $25