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Hawaii Trip Notes: Part 1, Oahu.

-There are 4 main Islands in the state of Hawaii: Kauai, Maui, Oahu, and the Big Island of Hawaii.  Oahu is by far the most populated with the capital of Honolulu and touristy.  If you are going to Hawaii you need a minimum of 5 days on any Island, but a week is ideal.  In order of importance my opinion would be Kauai, Maui, the Big Island, and finally Oahu.

-We just finished an amazing week on Kauai.  Kauai is just incredible, my favorite Hawaiian island. It’s hard not to gush about it. The air is deliciously fresh with greenery abound. It’s just a stunningly beautiful island without any of the touristy kitsch that permeates Oahu and to a lesser degree Maui. From the depths of Waimea Canyon to the sheer and awe-inspiring cliffs of Na Pali it’s hard to not lose your breath…

-We stocked up on some of our kosher favorites in Whole Foods in Oahu before flying to Kauai. Got some ZenSoy Chocolate/Vanilla pudding ($3.99 vs. $2.99 in Cleveland), Corn and bean salsa ($3.69 vs. $2.99 in Cleveland), Whale Tales corn chips (never seen these in Cleveland), and Fat free soy milk ($5.69 vs. $3.29 in Cleveland)

-Groceries and gas are generally insanely expensive in Hawaii.  Except at Costco.  I confirmed on a number of items that Costco’s prices here are the same as on the mainland.  Even on frozen and refrigerated items like frozen salmon and Tropicana Orange Juice that can be double the price at other stores.

-Also before we left Oahu I picked up some of the great Aloha Hawaiian Kippot from Chabad of Honolulu. If you’ve never seen them they have double sided aloha prints in a myriad of unique designs and colors. They are great to wear around (you’ll get tons of compliments!) or to bring back instead of some tacky wooden gift. They’re $8 and help support the great work of Chabad of Honolulu.

-On our way to Honolulu we flew on Continental which allowed 70 pound bags, but from Honolulu to Kauai on Hawaiian we were only allowed 50 pound bags…which is where Skycaps come in handy

-A convertible is definitely the way to go in Kauai!

-Tabi’s are awesome! I’d never heard of them before reading about them in the Hawaiin guidebooks.  They are a Polynesian hybrid of a beach shoe/boot with felt bottoms that grip onto slippery rocks.  They are perfect for hiking on slippery trails or for the beach.  Walmart in Hawaii sells them for $15-$20.

-This past week we stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai down in dry and sunny Poipu. How awesome is Kauai? You have to go through a “tree tunnel” just to get down to Poipu! Anyway the hotel is absolutely incredible. When you walk in the lobby there is an open wall where you can see straight to the Ocean.  There are dozens of pools, hot tubs, and lagoons that never seem to end. Exotic landscaping, talking parrots, and tons of free entertainment. You could literally spend a week here without leaving the hotel and never be bored for a minute…but that would be a crying shame.

-The Grand Hyatt put us in a ground floor suite when we arrived.  It was nice but I didn’t care for it.  There was no balcony, no ocean view, and no cell phone reception.  They let me take a look at a few other suites and I settled on a 1,400 square foot beauty with a separate living room, dining room, bedroom with walk-in closet, a bathroom with a jacuzzi and separate shower room, a 40 foot ocean-view balcony, 3 LCD TV’s, 4 phones…Total cost: $0.

-At 4am on Tuesday morning the Hotel fire alarm system malfunctioned.  It told everyone to evacuate the building.  After we left we were told it was a mistake, but they couldn’t get the alarm turned off for half an hour.  In the morning they sent out an apology letter offering everyone a $50 resort credit.  I don’t think so! I negotiated a more fair response with a manager over the phone, 18,000 Hyatt points (enough points for a free night at any Hyatt) and a $100 resort credit…which bought a nice pair of Naot’s for my wife!

-Wi-fi for 2 computers for the week came out to $200…waived of course for Hyatt elite members.

-The resort fee ($18/day) was waived as it was an award stay. Parking was free.

-The hotel offers a daily Scuba lesson in their expansive saltwater lagoon for free!

-They have these great sized Heinz ketchup packets at the self-service bar by the pool.  You know those regular Heinz packets that you need to open 7 of to cover your burger? Well 1 of these babies and your burger is covered!  Why haven’t I seen these anywhere else???

-We brought some self-heating La Briute meals with us (Cheese Ravioli and Meatballs and Spaghetti). These flavors are actually pretty good, and it’s great to have a nice piping hot meal in middle of a long hike!

-We were able to freeze the food that we needed for Maui upon arrival and get an extra fridge in the room for our food for the week in the hotel.

-Times Supermarket carries a complete line of Jelly Belly products and confections, including some super fresh candy corn! Yum!

-On Wednesday night we went to the “Tiki-Torch” menorah lighting at Chabad of Kauai which was nice. Rabbi Goldman brought down Zvi Bielski, the son of “Defiance” World War 2 hero Zus Bielski. At Chabad I ate the only Latke that I would have all Chanukah long!

-It hit me when we brought in Shabbos at the Hyatt that we were among the last Jews in the world to bring in Shabbos. With Kauai being the westernmost part of populated Hawaii and with sunset at 6pm local time/4am GMT and us being located further west than the local jewish community I think it’s entirely plausible that we were the absolute last people in the world to bring in Shabbos…kind’ve cool!

Some of the activities I’ve done on Kauai on this and past trips (5/5 = must do , 0/5= don’t bother):

-A Helicopter tour of Kauai with Blue Hawaiian (Kauai Revealed, Pg. 134), as recommended by the Kauai Revealed book. This trip is AWESOME!!! They have first class helicopters with comfy seats, 2 way noise canceling headphones, and huge windows for incredible views. The biggest problem with Kauai is that so much of it is inaccessible. With a helicopter tour you can go right up to sights that seem impossible…into the canyon, over Na Pali, and it ends of with Mt. Waialeale, one of the wettest spots on earth with some 500 inches of annual rainfall and dozens of waterfalls gushing down: 5/5

-Kayaked to Fern Grotto and Secret Falls (Kauai Revealed, Pg. 163). Both sites are very impressive! It is a little tricky to dock at Fern Grotto and to actually find the beautiful Secret Falls with its swimmable pool…but well worth it. We started from Hawaiian Village where it’s just a short 5-10 minute kayak to either site. We ran out of time and couldn’t find Secret Falls before they closed, but they let us come back a couple days later and try again for free-and we made it! Bring Off or you will get eaten alive. : 4.5/5

-Polihale Beach (Kauai Revealed, Pg. 88). 13 miles of uninterrupted and deserted beaches in the remote westernmost part of the United States. It’s mostly unswimmable in the winter due to waves up to 25 feet tell. However standing in Queen’s Pond where the massive waves are taken down by the reef just feet in front of you makes for a surreal experience. Watching the sunset over the “forbidden island” of Niihau at Polihale is breathtaking: 4.5/5

-Snorkeling at Poipu Beach (Kauai Revealed, Pg. 112). I snorkeled right on top of a green sea turtle that was bigger than me! Monk seals often park themselves at this beach which is just a few minutes from the Hyatt. 4.5/5

-12 Mile Hike in Waimea Canyon Nualolo/Awaawapuhi loop (Kauai Revealed, Pg. 144). I’m not sure what I was thinking here. This hike included half a mile of altitude change, some very scary cliffs (don’t make a false step or it’s miles till the next one!) and was way too strenuous for my taste. The views of Na Pali were shockingly beautiful (which is why I did the hike in the first place) but I was nice and sore for 2 days after this hike.  If you do this hike don’t forget lots of water-I went through 4 liters myself easily: 2/5

-4WD Miloli Ridge Road (Kauai Revealed, Pg. 196) Stunning view of Na Pali without the 12 mile hike. 4WD car is required though…4/5

-Liko Kauai Cruise of Na Pali. (Kauai Revealed, Pg. 168) These are supposed to be great in the calm summer seas…don’t bother in the winter. It was so nauseating that half the boat was throwing up. There are better ways to see Na Pali than this. 0/5.

If nothing else, just drive around Kauai, there is beauty everywhere. The drive up to the quaint North Shore with its 1 lane bridges and into Waimea Canyon is just awesome.

We’re off to Maui now…catch ‘ya later! Oh, and thanks for all of the comments on the last trip notes posting!

Click on the thumbnails below to view the entire photo and to enlarge!

Waimea Canyon

Na Pali, from a helicopter

Sunset at Kekaha Beach

Na Pali, from a helicopter

Hanalei Lookout

Mt. Waialeale, from a helicopter

Grand Hyatt Suite Living Room

Grand Hyatt Suite Dining Room

Grand Hyatt Suite Bathroom

Grand Hyatt Suite Balcony View

Pools At Grand Hyatt Kauai

Menorah on balcony

Grand Hyatt Suite Balcony View

Na Pali, from Waimea Canyon loop hike.

Na Pali, from Waimea Canyon loop hike.

Waimea Canyon loop hike.

Na Pali, from Waimea Canyon loop hike.

Menorah Lighting at Chabad of Kauai

Grand Hyatt Kauai Restaurant

Grand Hyatt Kauai

Pools At Grand Hyatt Kauai

Message left at Polihale

Sunset at Polihale

Sunset at Polihale

Grand Hyatt Suite Balcony View

Wild Peacock

Secret Falls Kayak/Hike

Secret Falls (Partial view)

Monk Seal Tanning At Poipu Beach

Sunset at Polihale

Sunset at Polihale

-Taking a 2 week trip to Hawaii as a religious Jew sure is far from easy. My dear wife spent a good couple days making all of the food for the trip in advance. We then froze the food to get it to be rock hard.

-I did my share as well as well-arranging every trip detail and constantly being on the lookout for Continental First class and BusinessFirst seats to Hawaii (Only fair after my wife slaved over a stove for that long!). It paid off-each of our flights were confirmed in First or BusinessFirst. I locked in the 75K mileage rate before it went up to 80K in October. I love that Continental now gives free date and routing changes on award tickets! It makes planning mileage tickets so much easier!

-Forum member agug was extremely kind and hooked me up with a free room at the Sheraton at the Cleveland airport (Starwood Category 2).  With the mercury clocking in at 10 degrees on Thursday night we were able to leave the food in a suitcase in the car without worry. By staying at the airport we were able to roll out of bed at 5am and get right onto the 6am flight.

-Continental’s BusinessFirst on the Houston-Honolulu leg was great.  It’s not lie-flat (although it will be within a couple years), but it’s probably as good as it gets for flights to Hawaii.  A nice luxuriously wide seat, with plenty of legroom, a footrest, and a personal LCD.  We got a kosher lunch and pre-arrival snack.  Neither were great, although the chocolate mousse dessert was quite good-it was so rich I was able to make it last for hours!  The flight attendants were excellent, some of the best I’ve ever had!

-Anyone even thinking about going to Hawaii must read the “Revealed” series of guidebooks. These are guidebooks like you’ve never seen before.  They are funny, easy to read, detailed, full of great tips, and unbiased straight-talk reviews.  It would be criminal to visit any Hawaiian Island without the appropriate book!  I only wish the author would create more books like this for other places!

-We’re staying at the absolutely gorgeous Westin Moana Surfrider in Honolulu for 2 nights.  One night was with my Platinum free weekend night, the other with a Starwood category 5 free night redemption. They TOTALLY hooked us up! A 17th floor corner suite complete with 2 large oceanfront balconies, a massive living room that has a dining room table, an empty fridge and pantry, a murphy bed in the wall, a couch, chairs for 7, a flat-screen, and a work desk.  The bathroom is all marble and the toilet, um, I’ll let you see it for yourself but I haven’t seen one of those since I was in Japan!  The hotel also sent up a fantastic fruit tray and 4 bottles of water.

-Parking at the hotel is a confiscatory $33/day.  I found $15 parking across the street.  No-brainer there.

-The food arrived in Honolulu frozen solid.  We took out the food we needed until Sunday and sent the rest of the suitcase of food to the hotel freezer.

-While the hotel is great and I’d highly recommend it, it’s far from ideal for sabbath observing Jews. The stairs have sensors that turn on the lights when you enter the stairwell which meant we’d be spending Shabbos in the room.  Mind you, this room was not a bad room to be stuck in!  The air conditioning unit turns off when you open the balcony, but I got an engineer to override that “feature” (he said the sensors for the stairs were not able to be turned off).  The toilet had to unplugged-good thing we noticed it before shabbos or it would’ve been quite unpleasant!

-The Whole Foods in Honolulu has tons of great kosher food, but prices are 10%-50% higher than on the mainland.  Regular grocery store prices can be 25%-80% higher than the mainland, but buying things on sale with a Safeway discount card helps.  Costco’s prices on the other hand are pretty much in line with the mainland and is a great place to stock up.

-My opinion is that Oahu is too overcrowded and touristy.  While there are nice places and fun things to do on the island, the other islands just offer so much more that there is no compelling reason to spend more than a couple days in Oahu.  There’s relatively little of the awesome greenery, hiking, active volcanoes, and serene waterfalls that the other islands offer.

Previously on Oahu I’ve done the following activities (5/5 = must do , 0/5= don’t bother):

-Jet-skied insane waves near the Banzai Pipeline (Now this was exhilarating!): 4/5

-Kayaked to a “sunken island” (So cool to be able to walk in the ocean after kayaking for an hour): 3.5/5

-Walking down the Waikiki Boardwalk, checking out the stores and people (and a lot of them sure are interesting): 3.5/5

-Snorkeled Hanauma Bay (More exciting snorkeling is free on other islands): 3.5/5

-Watch surfers battle 15 foot waves at Banzai (Worth a stop during the winter if you’re at the north shore): 3/5

-Driven the H3 (Some of the best scenery on Oahu): 3/5

-Hiked to Manoa Falls (Pretty falls, nicer ones on other islands that are easier to get to): 2.5/5

-Climbed Diamond Head mountain (Nice view, but not any nicer than a Ocean view room balcony!: 2/5

-Visited Pearl Harbor (I’m pretty sure I was the only non-Japanese person there…weird): 2/5

-Visited the Dole Plantation (Cute store, with great kosher Hawaiian microwavable kettle corn, but not much else worth spending the money on).: 1/5

-Anyway now we’re off to my personal favorite, the Island of Kauai!

The flight attendant even offered to take our pic!

Kosher Lunch (appetizer and dessert)

Kosher Lunch (entrée)

Kosher snack

Partial view of living room

Partial view of bathroom

Toilet controls…

Living room balcony

Hotel fruit tray

Getting ready for Shabbos

View from the balcony

View from the balcony, from left, Sheraton Waikiki (Starwood Cat. 5), Royal Hawaiian (Starwood Cat. 6), and Outrigger Waikiki.

-Agree/Disagree with any of my opinions? Let’s hear it in the comments!

Update 2: DEAD!

Update-12:25pm: The fare is now bookable, but seats can be quite hard to find.

Here are some sample dates:

MSP-HNL: 07/09-07/22.

SLC-HNL: 05/12-05/20.

USAirways just filed a $229+ fare, which is about $285 with tax from nearly all of Delta’s and Northwest’s hubs to Honolulu!

Tickets should be bookable very soon on usairways.com!

www.continental.com

Valid for travel through 06/07/09 with a 3 day or Saturday night minimum stay.

Don’t forget to register for double elite-qualifying miles!

Also Continental has a nonstop flight from Newark to Honolulu for just $438 round trip including all taxes but travel must be completed by 05/19.

Hawaiian is offering guaranteed $43 fares on nonstop interisland flights in Hawaii.  It’s valid as long as there’s a single open seat on the flight!

While some interisland flights (say Honolulu, Oahu-Lihue, Kauai) can be had for as little as $27 at times, other flights (like Lihue, Kauai-Kahului, Maui or Kahului, Maui-Kona, Hawaii) can be much more.

The $43 fares book in “X” fare class so miles can be earned on most US Mainland airlines.

It’s valid for flights between 03/02-05/15.

Registration is required by 03/11.

All fares are for round-trip prices and include all taxes.  Fares have limited amounts of seats available per flight. All fares are valid in either direction. Fares are subject to change at anytime. Links listed are for researching valid dates only. Book directly from the airline or from priceline to avoid booking fees.

United started off this morning by filing cheap Hawaii fares to/from AA’s hubs, and AA retaliated this afternoon!

Chicago-Honolulu: $362 On AA

Washington DC-Honolulu: $368 On AA

Denver-Honolulu: $373 On AA

S. Louis-Honolulu: $391 On United

Miami-Honolulu: $389 On United

Dallas-Honolulu: $394 On United

All fares are for round-trip prices and include all taxes.  Fares have limited amounts of seats available per flight.  All domestic fares are valid in either direction.  Fares are subject to change at anytime. Links listed are for researching valid dates only. Book directly from the airline or from priceline to avoid booking fees.

Chicago-Honolulu: $383 On AA

Offer Linky

East coast fares start at just $199/each way!

This is a great price for the only nonstop flights to Hawaii from the NYC area.  It cuts the 15 hour journey to paradise down to 10 hours.  Best of all Continental still provides free meals (and even kosher ones on longer domestic flights if you ask for it) in coach on domestic flights.  I flew from Chicago-Honolulu nonstop earlier this year on United and all they had was some junk food available for purchase!

Bookable now on Continental.com or priceline.com.
(It’s actually slightly cheaper on priceline as they round down and don’t charge a booking fee, but if you are shooting for elite status you’ll want to book direct from continental.com in order to earn 100% EQM’s)

Travel on Continental must start no later than 02/08/09.

AA also has a simalar fare out of Newark that is valid though the end of their schedule.

As always there are blackout days and seats are limited on any given day.

If you have at least 2 passengers see below for how to get hotel rooms with your tickets for an additional $34 per person.

This fare is now bookable on AA.com

Use AA.com’s excellent “price and schedule” search to find $110 dates.

Sample valid dates: 11/13-11/18.

The base fare on this is just $110 each way plus tax!

Fare rules: Valid for travel any day of the week with 7 day advance purchase through end of scheduling.  A 3 night minimum stay in Honolulu is required. Seats must be available in “Q” class to get the fare, and therefore dates within the period of validity are subject to sell out quickly!

Update 2: DEAD!

Update: This deal will also work originating in Denver for $310 per person. Follow the same method for DEN-HNL as outlined for LAX-HNL below.

This deal was sent to all of our dansdeals.com facebook group members. Join the 679 people already registered on the Dansdeals.com facebook group to automatically receive similar alerts!

Related: LAX-HNL for $242.

Note: This deal requires 2 passengers flying together!

Instructions:

Step 1: Go to Orbitz

Step 2: Click on the “vacation packages” tab.

Step 3: Search for a 5 night trip for LAX-HNL for 2 people. A sample trip that definitely works is 11/13-11/18 on AA or Delta.

Step 4: Click on “Sort packages by lowest price“.

Step 5: Click on “I have a promotion code.”

Step 6: Enter code:  5HAWAII250

Step 7: The cheapest hotel should be the “Castle Ocean Resort Hotel Waikiki”  The price should say $401 per person.

Step 8: Click on the $401 price.  On the next page it will give you the discount for the coupon, making the price just $276 per person for the tickets and the hotel!!!

Fare rules: Valid for travel any day of the week with 7 day advance purchase through 12/13/08. A 3 night minimum stay in Honolulu is required.  Even dates within the period of validity are subject to sell out quickly!

Maui is a true paradise, and it comes with all the conveniences of never leaving the country!
Fair warning: You may never want to leave!
Average fares to Maui are over $700.
Best availability appears to be on United.

Related helpful threads from the friendly folks over at dansdeals.com/forums:
Going to Maui!
To good to be true? (5 nights at the westin maui)
What Do You Do For Kosher Food While Traveling?
United Vouchers for sale.

Sample Round Trip fares, including taxes:
Seattle To/From Maui For $416 RT
Chicago To/From Maui For $437 RT
S. Louis To/From Maui For $437 RT
Detroit To/From Maui For $444 RT
Cleveland To/From Maui For $446 RT
Miami To/From Maui For $452 RT

Delta Tickets: Get an automatic 5% cash rebate on your AMEX statement and double miles by using the Delta business Amex.
Get an automatic 3% cash rebate on your AMEX statement by using a Starwood or Jetblue business amex…

Apply for a first year fee-free Delta Consumer AMEX or Delta Business AMEX and get 20,000 (when applying for the base card) or 25,000 miles (when applying together with 2 additional fee-free cardholders) for each card!


Tickets to Honolulu have been insanely expensive ($800 and up) since the demise of Aloha and ATA.  Delta has finally launched the first nationwide sale to paradise since then.

Fares are valid with a 7 day advance purchase and a 3 night minimum stay. Travel must be completed by 10/27/08.

Seats are limited, try using Delta.com’s +/- 1 day search for the best results.

Here are some sample round-trip fares on Delta, by origin city, including all taxes:

Seattle: $397

Houston: $409

Denver: $423

Newark: $427

Minneapolis: $430

Kansas City: $437

Chicago: $445

Cleveland: $451

Baltimore: $456

NYC (LGA/JFK): $459

Here is the full list of cities.

Continental has already responded with a $440 fare from Cincinnati and a $499 fare from Atlanta…

All of the Hawaii fares (Continental: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, or Charlotte-Honolulu. United: Newark or Houston-Honolulu or Kauai) have been pulled as of the 10:00am feed.

That means that depending on the booking site there are only a matter of hours remaining to book a ticket to one of the most beautiful places on earth for less than $300! (The new lowest price for Houston-Kauai will be over $900!)

Update: DEAD!

United filed a cheap Hawaii fare this morning from Continental’s hubs, and Continental has responded by filing a cheap fare from USAirways’ hubs.
Doesn’t make sense to me either, (preparing for a United/USAir merger?) but I’ll take it anyway!

Pittsburgh-Honolulu is $219+ RT
Philadelphia-Honolulu is $251+ RT
Charlotte-Honolulu is $261+ RT

Taxes will add about $45 depending on the routing.

All fares are now bookable for travel from 08/08 through 03/09. There is a 3 day minimum stay counting from time of departure. There seems to be good availability and all fares were available for the sample dates that I checked of 09/09/08-09/16/08 and 01/13/08-01/20/08 at continental.com

Update: DEAD!

This deal was sent to all of our dansdeals.com facebook group members. Join the Dansdeals.com facebook group to receive similar alerts.

Try using the flexible search on Travelocity to find valid dates.
Valid for travel though 02/09.
Sample valid trips currently bookable on United.com:
Newark (EWR)-Kauai (LIH) from 09/02/08-09/09/08 for $272 including all taxes.
Houston (IAH)-Honolulu(HNL) from 01/20/09-01/27/09 for $287 including all taxes.

From Newark you should easily be able to get over 10K elite qualifying miles with this fare. You generally need to earn a minimum of 25K elite qualifying miles in a calender year to earn elite status.

If we’re lucky this will set off a response from Continental to set off a new, long-awaited round of hub-war fares to Hawaii! For you Chicago and DC folks-Stay tuned!

HT: Yossi.

ATA has a pretty sweet deal for frequent travelers between the west coast and Hawaii.
You can purchase flight credits for trips to/from:
-Las Vegas, Phoenix, Oakland, Los Angeles, or Ontario, CA.
-And Maui, Honolulu, Kona, Lihue, or Hilo, Hawaii.
You must prepay for flight credits.
The cost per credit ranges between $8.64 and $11 depending on how many credits that you buy.
The minimum purchase is 150 credits for $1,650. The maximum is 700 credits for $6,049.
One-way flights start at 10 credits and go up depending on the day and season.

You can book travel with as little as 4 hours advance purchase-as long as there is a seat on the plane it is yours!

If you need to cancel booked travel-just do it at least 24 hours prior to flight time and there are no cancellation fees!

The only catch is that the credits can only be used by yourself and must be used within 12 months from the date of purchase!

FlightBank Details Linky

FlightBank T’s And C’s Linky

Travel Calendar Linky