Author Topic: Maui TR 2018  (Read 8582 times)

Offline jshelton

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Maui TR 2018
« on: April 30, 2018, 05:35:03 PM »
In the process of ironing out details for my June trip to Maui.

So far:

(No judgement for flying coach  :'( )

Flying United. Redeemed 90K miles for 2 RT tickets from EWR->OGG

Staying at the Wailea Beach Resort (marriott). Redeemed a 7 Night Category 8 cert for 310K Marriot Points which included me getting 77K AA Miles. I chose AA because that's where I have airline miles left and I figured it would be best to put the credit there. There was no availability for point redemption at this hotel. I got the representative to ask the hotel if they'd honor a cert and they did, luckily)

I've been to Maui 3 times (as a kid/teenager). This is what we plan on doing so far - snorkeling at molokini/turtle town, scuba beach dive, road to hana, adopt a dog for a day with the maui humane society, pineapple tour, photo shoot, surfing.

doing pom meals and will order from the chabad there for shabbos.

I'm writing this now so that I will write a TR when I come back. In the meantime, I'm open to suggestions or tips. thanks

Offline stmark

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2018, 09:56:59 AM »
skip the pineapple tour. its out of the way and a snoozefest.
do a luau at night one of the nights. whale or dolphin watching is fun!

Offline ponsey

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2018, 12:44:35 PM »
Most Luaus require you to pay for food, however the Sheraton in Ka'anapali has a "Drinks only" option.
Just make sure to drink as much as you can to get your money's worth :) - also they take away the open bar about halfway through the luau.

Here are a few more ideas:
Ziplining (Jungle Zipline was good)
Strawberry Picking (Kula Country Farm)
Sunrise at Haleakala
Whale Watching (Pacific Whale Foundation)
Warren & Annabell magic show
Sunrise Torch lighting ceremony at Ka'anapali beach (only certain nights)
Olivine pools, dragon's teeth, Nakalele Blowhole

Hope this helps!!


Offline jshelton

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2018, 11:07:59 AM »
thanks. Im skipping the pineapple tour in the end. Im doing the haleakala sunrise tour on my first morning there. a lot of the hikes and sites you mentioned we plan on visiting on our road to hana. i think we'll just do the Luau at the marriott.

thanks for the tips

Offline ushdadude

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2018, 11:44:01 AM »
The room we had at the Hyatt overlooked their luau and was actually about after the first night

Offline yg1836

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2018, 11:45:01 AM »
IIRC, there luau is super expensive, I would just watch it from the pool lol, great view.

Offline ushdadude

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2018, 11:48:48 AM »
IIRC, there luau is super expensive, I would just watch it from the pool lol, great view.

Exactly. If no food why pay

Offline jshelton

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #7 on: May 15, 2018, 03:41:35 PM »
this is what i meant by attending the marriott luau lol ;)

Offline jshelton

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2018, 10:59:42 AM »
Just got back from Maui and we had the best time. I booked our flights on United redeeming 2 RT coach tickets for 45K miles each person (from NY). We landed on Sunday at 2:30PM. We got our bags and headed straight to Budget to pick up our rental car. We booked it through Costco, which seemed to be a great price ($280 for a standard SUV for a week – ended up being a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited). When booking through Costco you can check the prices every day or so and keep on making reservations and then cancelling the more expensive ones. This worked to my benefit because my initial price was 390. If you are using Budget I would strongly suggest signing up to become a Fastbreak member and linking your Costco reservation to your Fastbreak number because this means that you don’t have to wait on a ridiculously long line and also your car will be waiting for you starting at the time you put on your reservation. We brought some food from NY – POM meals and cheese, because I was told you can’t find that in Maui but they had in Costco. We headed to Costco to pick up some fruit, snacks, water (waste of money because hotel gave me free bottled water everyday) and bread. We shipped a flat surfaced Panini maker to make eggs and grilled cheese.

We finally got to the Hotel and we really can’t say enough wonderful things about this property. We stayed in the fabulous Marriott Wailea Beach Resort.

I requested a complimentary upgrade and they addressed it at check in, told me she’ll look for the best room to switch to. I checked back 2 days later and the room was a better view behind the adult only infinity pool, but at that point we didn’t feel like moving, the room they gave us was perfect and as a bonus the terrace was covered in shrubs so we had some nice privacy to sit outside and relax. But they trimmed them a day after we declined the upgrade lol, you win some and lose some, all good though.

That night we split the Fettucine Alfredo from Pomegranate and were very impressed, a bit oily but very good.

Day 1:
The next morning we got up early and left the hotel at 3:15AM to go to the top of Haleakala at 10,000 feet to watch the sunrise. We got there at the perfect time, still room for parking before the tours get there and still places left to stand by the railing. You’ll need a car pass to go all the way up which you can easily get at recreation.gov for $1.50. You have to do this in advance because otherwise they’ll turn you around. You still also have to pay the $25 park entrance fee which you can only do at the entrance of the park on the morning of. This was a truly remarkable experience offering incredible views of the sunrise and Maui. I highly recommend this and if your flight gets in after noon the previous day, the first morning you have there is likely a good time to do it and get yourself on Maui time. A side note, save your park entrance receipt if you plan on visiting the other side of Haleakala during the trip to Hana and going hiking to the 7 Sacred Pools, the bamboo forest or Pipiwai Trails – its good for 2 days after. The attendant honored mine even though it was 3 days but YMMV.

We stopped at Target on the way back and picked up some more essentials.  Got back to the hotel around 8:30 AM, relaxed by the pool and then headed out to Kihei to take our surfing lessons. We booked through the hotel because it offered the best rate - $85 per person for a semi-private 2 hour lesson (just the two of us and an instructor). We used Maui Wave Riders and were happy with them. A guy comes towards the end of your lesson with a camera on the surfboard to take pictures which they sell a CD of the pictures they took for $40.

We went back to the hotel to relax by the pool for a bit, when the sun set, we headed back to our room and had our Pomegranate meals brought to us. Tonight we had the short ribs and the onion dark meat cutlets. They were all excellent but one had an amazing side dish called cabbage noodles which was basically bowtie noodles with deconstructed stuffed cabbages.

I will upload pictures in the appropriate sections in the TR when i have some more time.

Offline jshelton

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2018, 12:36:14 PM »
Day 2:

Another early day for us. I can’t say how great it was to get up early the first morning (if you can handle it) to get us on a good activity schedule. Most activities take place early in the AM. Ill just say one thing, I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep on the morning we went to Haleakala but I fought through, had some coffee (bought a box of cold brew at Costco from a brand called kona red, it was great) and powered through.

We went snorkeling on a 3 stop trip, one being the front of Molokini crater, the second being the other side of Molokini crater and the last stop was near an area called little beach which is the spot we saw some turtles.

We booked through our hotel which is an expedia partner and felt we got a decent rate (I think it may actually have been cheaper through the company directly). We didn’t want a big boat with so many people, so we went with a smaller company that only has like 30 seats on the boat so it felt more intimate and fun. We used Pacific Whale Foundation. I think it was like 20 minutes from Wailea. You can park in the marina for a couple dollars for around 7 hours. It’s just like NY where you get a ticket printed and stick it in your window. I would allow 5 minute just for this as there could be a line and then you still have to walk back to the check-in location which is in the building across the marina.

We had a great time on this trip. The tour guides were nice and knowledgeable and kept us safe. The advantage of going with a smaller boat as opposed to something like “the pride of maui” is that you get there a bit before the bigger boats and it feels less crowded. Molokini Crater was so awesome. Crystal clear water with some really cool wildlife. I bought a campark (essentially a knockoff gopro for $50 on amazon) and it was so cool to be able to take pictures and videos underwater. We stayed for about 50 minutes. Then we went to the other side of the crater where the water is bluer. Some different fish than on the other side and the water is much more jumpy. We were only here for about 30 minutes, they have seen octopus there and we were hoping to find some but they weren’t around. Then because the people running the boats go where they feel is best, we cruised around and eventually stopped somewhere near little beach and were there for about an hour. We saw some really cool fish and coral and then 2 turtles. We were able to swim with the turtles and it was an amazing experience.  Again, having an action camera is so cool and makes the trip more memorable and fun.

On the way out we passed Safeway and decided to stock up on some much needed aloe vera and other essentials, like fruits and veggies. They had Bartenura Moscato D’Asti for about $12. I would register as a SafeWay club member as you save a lot, I think it’s free.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed by the adult only pool. There is an infinity pool that overlooks the ocean and a nice seating area to relax in. The hotel gives you some free drink vouchers for either a starbucks drink (there is one located on the property) or a Mai Tai which you can order by the pools (they will likely let you switch it for any cocktail). There is free ice water by all the pools. We had the Eggplant Rollitini for dinner and my wife liked it but I didn’t care for it too much. We split it because the dairy meals were very heavy and just supplemented with fruits and salads. We bought a ceramic knife and cut up some vegetables into a bag and sprayed pam, added salt, pepper and some lemon juice and pretty much had this with most meals to feel like we were eating fresh food as well.

We mostly ate on our porch or inside our room but friends of ours who stayed at this hotel told me they went to the restaurant in the hotel and had their food brought to them there.

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2018, 03:13:37 PM »
Nice.  When do we get pictures?

Offline mmgfarb

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2018, 05:26:32 PM »
@jshelton any more details about the hotel? I'm thinking of going in August and staying for Shabbos, was it generally Shaboos friendly?
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Offline marduk

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2018, 11:14:15 PM »
Great to hear you had an awesome trip to Maui. Share some pics

Offline ludmila

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #13 on: July 12, 2018, 11:24:14 PM »
Nice TR, waiting for pictures. :)
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Offline jshelton

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #14 on: July 19, 2018, 07:48:41 PM »
I will share pics shortly, it's just that they take me more time than writing does. I promise I'll post them soon

Offline jshelton

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #15 on: July 19, 2018, 07:53:56 PM »
DAY 3:

Wednesday was a bit of a more relaxed day but still fun. We took a different approach and stepped out of our comfort zone for the day. We wanted to do something fun but different, we adopted a dog for the day. The Maui humane society (the only dog shelter on the island) is an incredible organization. They have a beach buddy program where you get a dog with a bag of supplies and you are responsible for the dog for the day. All of the dogs that they give are super friendly and adoptable. We don’t have a dog back home and we both like dogs so we decided to give it a try. We lucked out and got an unbelievable dog with an incredible personality. She was a big 7 year old island mix with lots of love to give. Its very cool, you get a backpack with water and a collapsible water bowl for the dog, treats, a beach towel, and a mandatory leash that looks like a caution tape line but instead says adopt me. We picked up Puna at the Maui humane society (about 20 minutes from Wailea) at 11AM (that’s when they open up) and drove her back to our hotel (which doesn’t allow pets) and parked near the beach (the lot next the Andaz) and we had already gotten towels and chairs from the Marriott. We just hung out at the beach, walked Puna up and down the sand, she played in the water for a bit and just sat and chilled with us. It was a nice relaxing break for 2 tiring days and also a big travel day prior to that. We drove Puna back a bit early (they need the dog back by 4) at around 3 and then headed back to our hotel. We really had a great time and it was a nice break from activities but I am not sure that we'd jump to do this again.

We had some grilled cheese and salad (made with our Panini press).

We booked a sunset photoshoot with a professional photographer. We used someone named Angie that we found on Craigslist for a very reasonable price. She was excellent, the white rock beach we shot at was very empty and really nice. As the session ended, the lights got more interesting and the sky was all sorts of colors so she took out her camera and shot some more at no additional charge. She sent us a portfolio of 50 edited pictures and when we decided we wanted to see all the pictures, she mailed us a flash drive with all the pictures for $15. Feel free to reach out for her information.

For Dinner we had pretzel schnitzel with mushroom rice and roasted butternut squash. This dish was fantastic and would definitely order it again. We also had what we thought would be incredible but was a bit much for us, pastrami quinoa stuffed capons with popcorn cauliflower and Brussel sprouts with smoked veal – that side sounded to good to be true and it was lol. It was not good. The chicken itself was good but the stuffing inside the capon was not to our taste. The cauliflower was good. Again, overall, we were extremely pleased with the Pomegranate meals and would most definitely order from them again, now we know what we would do differently. Everything is a learning curve.

We went to bed early because we were doing the road to Hana the following day. We didn’t really do any planning for this but we downloaded the Shaka guide app which is the best $7 you’ll ever spend. You basically download this app, purchase the guide you want and let it download (make sure its downloaded, because you’ll go offline during the trip and lose service so it must be downloaded prior to your departure to Hana) and it guides you along the way with input on nearly every stop. It’s the best and it takes the stress out of pre-planning.

I have a hilarious story about the Road to Hana to tell. This was my 6th time in Hawaii, and my 4th in Maui. I grew up in California and we went frequently growing up during winter vacation. We went to Hana as kids and we had the worst time. A friend told my parents that the road to Hana is a must-do and you can't skip it, unfortunately for us they did not elaborate. We literally drove there stopped at the black sand beach, got to Hana and then turned around. That was it. We couldn’t figure out what the hype was all about. And my parents had 3 complaining kids in the car and some of us got car sick and it was just a terrible day. My father begged me not to do the road to Hana this time around, he said "don't you remember, it was the worst day" and he had no idea, 15 years later, that there was more to the trip. So the Road to Hana trip is not about the destination, its about the journey along the way. It was likely the best day of our trip.

Offline theyankel

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #16 on: November 05, 2018, 10:55:15 PM »
still waiting for those pics... you promsied soon  :)
thinking to go to this property for a couple days before end of year

Offline rkg27

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #17 on: November 14, 2018, 09:42:06 PM »
DAY 3:


We booked a sunset photoshoot with a professional photographer. We used someone named Angie that we found on Craigslist for a very reasonable price. She was excellent, the white rock beach we shot at was very empty and really nice. As the session ended, the lights got more interesting and the sky was all sorts of colors so she took out her camera and shot some more at no additional charge. She sent us a portfolio of 50 edited pictures and when we decided we wanted to see all the pictures, she mailed us a flash drive with all the pictures for $15. Feel free to reach out for her information.


how much did you pay for the photo session?

Offline zow

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2019, 07:40:13 PM »
Any chance you can fill in more details from your trip?
What do you do for luao?

Offline Live N Learn

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Re: Maui TR 2018
« Reply #19 on: December 22, 2019, 05:29:41 AM »
still waiting for those pics... you promsied soon  :)
thinking to go to this property for a couple days before end of year
BUHP
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