Maui trip report, 2/19/23 to 2/25/23

[AnnieW625]

Trip Report Part 1, Honua Kai Resort review.

We stayed at Honua Kai resort in Kaanapali and our room since we booked through AAA was booked through main resort owner Outrigger. We had a one bedroom room with a pullout sofa bed. We asked about an upgrade at check in and they had nothing available. They did not charge us for the rollaway bed (a weeks charge is $140). The room wasn’t awful but the resort opened in 2009 and felt like it could use an upgrade. It felt a lot like a Homewood Suites, which isn’t awful (and our preferred hotel class) but I am not sure I would classify it as a 4 Diamond Resort (AAAs rating of the resort) based on the room I had (because like l said it is starting to feel a bit dated for the price). The room photo decor did match the photos on the website though (some trip advisor reviews say they got rooms that felt more outdated or was different than the photos on the website) so that was a plus. The beds including the rollaway bed were very comfortable so that was a huge plus and made the stay that much more enjoyable.

There is a bit of construction going on right now (direct ocean facing rooms in Hokulani building have scaffolding up on them which blocks the direct ocean view) so if you have an ocean view booked and you are in that tower and you know your room number already call your rental agency or VRBO/Air BNB owner and make sure you don’t have scaffolding in front of your ocean view. I believe this will effect rooms numbered in 25, 27, and 29 from floors 3-10; these are two bedroom units from the map I found on google (which I posted below). There are also two sets of boom lifts in front of some of the rooms at both the Hokulani and Konea towers as well. Odd rooms are ocean facing.

Our resort view room was on the fourth floor (430) of the Hokulani tower and overlooked the crescent driveway and porte cochere. It was a little loud and you could hear cars coming in as late as midnight and as early as 5 or 6 am due to the valet bringing in the cars. We decided after the first two nights that it was probably best not to leave the doors open on the balcony at night (but the slight breeze the first few nights was great). I would’ve preferred a higher room but the hotel resort rooms booked with Outrigger were full (we never got a call about the upgrade during our stay). The kitchen was okay and pretty up to date and included Bosch electric smooth top oven, and refrigerator; an ancient GE dishwasher (that didn’t work for me….but it worked for the super on day 2 but not again when I tried to use it); and a LG washer/dryer combo unit. The kitchen was missing the following items: cookie sheets, a cutting board, and pot holders. I asked for baking pans (probably should’ve asked for a cookie sheet) and got a 9x13 casserole dish. I got the cutting board and honestly forgot to ask about the pot holders (the kitchen towels worked fine). I probably also could of asked for a pasta strainer, but again not the end of the world.
We had a stainless Cuisinart branded frying pan so we used that for making Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and crescent rolls. The knives could’ve used a sharpening but were sufficient (they cut mango and pineapple pretty effortlessly). Our unit was listed as an ADA unit which was fine but I would’ve preferred a stacked unit because it was easier to set the washer to the combo setting than a separate wash and dry setting. One complaint from my girls was that the TV didn’t have streaming capabilities and that if we had known there was a dvd player we could’ve brought some dvds from home. Again not the end of the world and the TVs were good size. The quality of the bed, and the rollaway bed were excellent, but the sofa bed was definitely aging as not all of the straps were staying put so it sagged a bit. A few other amenities for cooking like salt, pepper, oil/oil spray, plastic wrap, and aluminum foil would’ve been nice.

The pools here are shallow…the deepest part of one is maybe 5 feet. The water slide only works during the day. The hot tubs are sufficient. The pools are very friendly to the under 10 set, and there is no larger adult pool. I have stayed at plenty of places with no adult pool and been fine but an adult pool with a deeper maybe just even 6 foot depth would’ve been nice. They charge rents for everything including inner tubes to use in the lazy river (so we didn’t rent them….if I had thought about it I would’ve picked up two inner tubes for $4 at our Target before leaving home). The white towels from the pool deck stand or the front desk suffice though for the pool and the beach and are very nice so I wouldn’t bring towels from home unless you really want to. There was a towel dispensing machine that had a $20 per charge loss fee to them but we couldn’t get it to work with our room keys but like I said the white towels the resort or front desk worked fine.

The ocean is rocky and the part where the waves break before mid day in front of the Konea Tower is not surf able due to the sharp rocks. There are no posted signs (dd1 and I both cut our foot on them). There are rocks along the whole beach in the ocean but if you go closer to the Westin resort the rocks are much smoother and you can easily navigate around them. There is also a bit of shade there which was nice.

We did not eat at Duke’s and never tried to get a reservation once we were there. If the food is anything like their Huntington Beach location then the food is great but look at making a reservation for dinner a good two to three months in advance.

Parking was easy and we never had to park in the garage or valet park our car. We were in before 9 pm each day though.

If I stay here again I may look at booking with a VRBO owner, or another local rental company. I didn’t dislike our stay and the positives did outweigh the negatives but now that I know what I know I might be able to find a better room elsewhere in the resort for the same price as we paid.

This graphic shows the layout of the rooms, but if on a mobile device it might be easier to look at by this link: https://mauiluxuryrealestateteam.com...ums/honua-kai/


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[AnnieW625]

Part 2: food

We ended up getting pizza at Costco upon arrival the first night, ate two dinners in, and three meals out. We ate breakfast in everyday but the day we went snorkeling. We also liked the ability to make sandwiches for lunch.

The two dinners in (Monday, and Thursday) were bulgogi from Costco, and shrimp from Times market with a Costco Cesar salad on Monday. We used the bbq grill from the resort for this meal. We made spaghetti in the room on Thursday.

The three dinner meals out were at the following places:
Amigo’s Mexican, Kahului (hole in the wall/Taqueria style; not fancy but it was good Mexican food). We stopped here on the way back from Haleakala.

Maui Brewing Company, Kanaapali: great brewery food that was very casual kid friendly atmosphere. I thought it would be a step up in casualness (it is on level with a pizza place tbh less the arcade games, but they have a dedicated bar….very casual) but the food and the service made up for it. Dd1 said it was her favorite meal on the trip. We ate here on Wednesday and I chose this place because we needed decent vegetarian options due to Ash Wednesday. Dh had fish tacos, I had fish and chips, Dd1 had margherita pizza, and dd2 had plain cheese pizza . Their root beer is amazing. I had their POG hard seltzer which was okay (but I realized I liked my seltzers mixed with vodka so I should’ve ordered a mixed drink instead). Dh liked the brown ale.

Sea House Restaurant: this was our last dinner meal in Maui/20th anniversary dinner. The food and the view was amazing; although it rained as we arrived, but the sunset was nice despite the rain. The quality of the dinner was excellent for the price (one fish entree, one vegetarian pasta dish, a salad, noodles, two deserts, two sodas, and two drinks plus tax and tip was $187…of course it would’ve been more had my kids ordered full entrees with meat, but we had budgeted for this as our main “fancy” meal). DH has crusted fish, I had vegetarian mushroom raviolis in cream sauce, Dd1 had a capresse salad and Dd2 was not given a children’s menu (which I honestly wasn’t surprised at as she is 5’4” and looks her age), but thankfully the waiter let her order buttered noodles (an item which is listed on their kids menu online, which doesn’t list an upper age limit….most say kids menu 10 and under). I tipped our waiter 20 percent because it was a Friday night and I understand the importance of tips, but had it not been a higher end restaurant and the waiter made me feel rushed about ordering in general I wouldn’t have tipped 20 percent. My issues were that I had gone to the bathroom right when they were seating us so I didn’t have a chance to order my drink first so when he came back to take mine and dh’s drink orders he seemed peeved that I didn’t know what I wanted to order and said I better order quick because they were bound to get busy. He came back about three minutes later and took the drink order and then mentioned that we could take our time with the menu as he was there until 9:30 (this was about 6:30 pm), and then a few minutes later (somewhere more than 5 minutes but no more than 10) he said we better order now because a large party was coming in and the kitchen was bound to get backed up. We had essentially knew what we were going to order then anyways but the fact that he made a stink about (twice, almost three times if you count the drink ordering) rubbed me the wrong way. I have eaten at enough fine dining establishments in resort areas or areas that tend to be upper crusty and cater to the retired (Napa for sure and did a lot of that due to my dad’s employment in the wine industry) and have never had that kind of comment be made to me. I never noticed the large party come into the restaurant either. It was odd but again the food made up for it. The only other odd thing was that the bread wasn’t served until after our meals were almost completely done. I don’t know if that is standard or not but some of the tables around us or if the bread lady had just missed our tables.

Costco trips (we went twice):
First trip (Sunday, day 1 after arriving at airport):
Bulgogi
Cesar Salad
Coppertone Sport Mineral sunscreen spray (2 cans for $15.99….they had other brands as well)
2 lbs. of strawberries
2 lbs. of grapes
Giant bag of Ruffles
Giant bag of Hot Cheetos
Pack of 2 baguettes
Korean beef jerky (this is soo good)
Pepperoni pizza

Second trip (Wednesday, day 4):
Microfiber beach towels (we were going to Hana and forgot our towels at the hotel) and I chose these because they folded up very thin and would be easy to pack. We didn’t really use them on the beach because it was cold and misty but we used them at the pool the rest of the time at the resort and they dried quickly. I would look for them especially if you want to travel with your own towels.

2lbs of strawberries
1 pineapple

Times Market (Monday, day 2):
Trip 1:
Bag of apples
A gallon of POG juice
Western Bagels (the cheapest bagels we could fine….they were $5 a bag there vs. $2.50 or so at home)
1 bottle of Chardonnay
1 lb. of cooked shrimp
1 mango
1 pineapple
2 gallons of water
1 pack of deli meat
1 pack of sliced deli cheese
1 four pack or margarine (this was cheaper than getting oil and or oil spray….I knew it was a waste at the end but it worked for us).
1 container of cottage cheese
2 yogurts
Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
2 liter of Starry soda (Sierra Mist replacement)
6 pack of Maui Brewing beer
reusable snack bags (thought we bought sandwich size bags, but they worked okay….we used the veggie bags for sandwich bags)


Trip 2 (Tuesday, day 3):
Aloe Vera
Cream cheese
1lb of bacon
1lb of breakfast sausage links
Maui Sourdough bread

Trip 3 (Thursday, day 5)
Ground beef
spaghetti sauce
pasta
Pillsbury crescent rolls
Maui Sourdough bread
1/2 gallon of POG juice
2 l of Starry soda

Food I had to throw out: a few pieces of pineapple, mango, and grapes; about 1/3rd of the Cesar salad (it was pretty old by Thursday), and half a 12 oz. bag of pasta.

We left the two cubes of unused butter in the fridge and the snack baggies in the kitchen. I am sure the butter will get thrown out but the baggies I am hoping they will keep in the room for the next guest.

Food we brought home:
Cheese slices, 1 yogurt, chips, and jerky.

I brought a 12 can cooler bag from REI that worked great. We used it for food transport on the plane and no one said anything about the additional bag (it was nowhere close to full).

Take out:
Jersey Mikes, Lahaina Cannery, x 2 (Wednesday for a tuna sandwich to take to Hana, and sandwiches to take with us on the plane home yesterday).

Joey’s Kitchen, Whaler’s Village: I had the tofu veggie dish with rice on Friday and it was excellent.

Nikki’s Pizza, Whaler’s Village: the girls had two slices of cheese pizza which they said was good.

Hagen Dazs: DH and Dd2 for milkshakes from here and liked them.

Shaved Ice: we had it from Surfing Monkey (Kihei), Breakwall in Lahaina (dd1 and Dh got coupons for it from their submarine trip), and Da Kine in Paia. All were excellent.

I don’t think I would’ve done much differently to be honest other than maybe buying the first gallon of POG juice at Costco (but we hadn’t tried the POG juice until we went snorkeling the next day). Costco was out of pineapple the first day but the pineapple from Times was just as juicy.


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[georgiegirl]

My kids drank so much Pog juice in the trilogy cruise. How did you like your snorkel cruise?

[AnnieW625]

My kids drank so much Pog juice in the trilogy cruise. How did you like your snorkel cruise?

Part 3, Activities:

Monday: Trilogy Kaanapali (8 am to 1 pm) snorkeling cruise. This was our first activity at 8 am on Monday morning. Dd1 and I were the only ones who ended up going because Dd2 had an anxiety attack (and probably some PMS issues) about getting on the boat. The crew, myself, and dh tried to get her to go on but she just wouldn’t go on so her and DH stayed behind. She had wanted to let me leave her on Kaanapali Beach so she could explore on her own and I told her no way which then caused her essentially shut down and not listen to anyone. Dd1 and I ended up having a great time (I figured out snorkeling this time, saw a bunch of whales, and we saw a sea turtle….dd1 was so excited!). DH and dd2 climbed the black rocks, went to Whaler’s Village and got milkshakes and hats, and went in the ocean. Looking back I probably should’ve booked the afternoon cruise and maybe booked it later on in the week after we had done some other things. It was the one time I wished there was a kids club for Dd2.

After snorkeling we drove up to Honolua Bay and explored that area. We didn’t go in the water, but enjoyed walking around the area and got some banana muffins and lemonade from one of the stands.

Tuesday: Beach day at Resort, and Haleakalā. We hung out at the beach for a few hours and both girls had a good time. Then around 3 we left for Haleakala to see the sunset. It was overcast and misty for most of the drive and therefore cold as we reached the summit so we turned around. We loved the drive though and got some cute selfies as the sun went down even though the sunset wasn’t as bright as we would’ve hoped for.

Wednesday: Drive to Hana. We left Lahaina around 10:30 (after picking up lunch) and it took a long time to get to Hana. We got to the black sand beach right at 2 pm….my original goal was 1 pm, but we hit a lot of traffic driving there. We explored the beach but couldn’t swim because the weather made the waves too high, we explored the lava tube and the girls loved the blow hole. We stayed until 3:30 and then headed back. We stopped at a few places on the way back but there was way less traffic so we made it back to Paia in about an hour and 40 minutes; just in time to get some shaved ice before the stands closed. It was a great experience despite spending so many hours in the car (and dealing with driving in the rain for parts of both trips). The girls made up their own podcast and did Ranger Carl (Parks And Recreation tv show character) impressions to keep us all entertained. It was fun.

Thursday: Dh and Dd1 did the Atlantis Submarine experience and loved it. Dh said he liked it more than snorkeling because he was able to see more. They also toured the governor’s mansion in Lahaina while waiting for us to come back from the chocolate tour; dd1 said it was really interesting and said we should go back and see the whole building*. Dd2 and I went on the Maui Estate Chocolate Farm Tour. We both enjoyed the tour but Dd2 wasn’t a fan of the chocolate tasting because she doesn’t really care for dark chocolate. I probably wouldn’t do this again and I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who doesn’t care for dark chocolate. Later on that day we went to the hotel pool.

*We never made it back to Lahaina. We attempted to go on Saturday morning before heading to the airport but at 10 am it was already packed and we couldn’t find parking. I don’t know if I would even recommend going into Lahaina which is a bummer because I think there are potentially some great things to see, and or eat but it was just soo crowded that it was really a turn off and I was glad to get out of there. I also realized that when we went in 2003 we never explored the downtown Lahaina area either.

Friday: I dropped off DH for his solo snorkeling trip and he said he had fun but he said it was weird being there by himself. DDs and I went to the Maui aquarium and had a great time. Dd2 said it was her favorite activity we did. We then hung out at Whaler’s Village and ate lunch while
waiting for DH to be done snorkeling. It was a chill day and we just spent the afternoon playing cards in the hotel room because the wind made it really hard to want to be outside and in the ocean or even the pool. It was the only day other than Saturday that we didn’t swim.

Saturday: drove down to Kihei/Wailea prior to going to the airport.

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[AnnieW625]

Other stuff:

1. Snorkel/beach equipment: we ended up not renting anything. Due to the winds on Thursday and Friday it really limited our ocean time. Had it not been windy on one of those afternoons we probably would’ve rented some equipment to do some snorkeling from the shore.

2. I am not convinced that mineral sunscreen (we used Think Sport SPF 30, and Coppertone Sport Mineral SPF 50) works for pasty pale people like Dd2 and myself. For DH and DD1 they were sunburn free. We both ended up with awful sunburns and we were religious about reapplying it.

3. The weather was great other than the wind. About two weeks ago the forecast said rain everyday. Other than the drive to Hana (where it rained in and off) there was no rain other than maybe 20 minutes on Thursday when we saw a rainbow.

4. Kind of TMI: Dd2 got her period on Wednesday morning and the period swim bottoms from Ruby Love worked when she used them on Thursday. I was amazed and she was happy she was able to swim!

5. Our flight was cancelled by Alaska Airlines yesterday and thank god I checked flightaware as we were driving to the airport because my Alaska app didn’t notify me of the cancellation. I had Dh drop me off at the gate and wait at the cell phone lot. The Alaska ticket counter staff was eventually able to get us booked on a flight with United that got us home at the same time as the original flight. Initially they had us staying an extra day and then flying to Portland and spending 3-4 hours overnight at the Portland airport and then flying back to LAX at 6:30 am on Monday morning. So happy we had the option of the direct United flight vs. the other Alaska option but still flummoxed that I didn’t get a notification either by phone or text that our flight was cancelled. The incoming flight from LA never left at 10:50 am so I potentially could’ve known about the cancellation earlier. My app. is set to receive all notifications from Alaska as well. No emails either.


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[georgiegirl]

Sounds like a good trip. Sorry your DD2 was afraid to get on the boat. My DS1 has anxiety and ADHD, and for some reason, he turns into an amazing chill happy kid on boats…he loves the wind in face and smell of the sea. That sucks it was so windy. I think it’s generally less windy in Wailea.

Glad you has a great time.


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[AnnieW625]

Sounds like a good trip. Sorry your DD2 was afraid to get on the boat. My DS1 has anxiety and ADHD, and for some reason, he turns into an amazing chill happy kid on boats…he loves the wind in face and smell of the sea. That sucks it was so windy. I think it’s generally less windy in Wailea.

Glad you has a great time.


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Dh also thinks part of the issue was it was the first thing we did. In hindsight we should’ve done it later in the week (although Dh said it was choppy on Friday due to the wind). In an ideal world I should’ve looked for a kids club at one of the resorts on Kaanapali for that day, but didn’t even think about it. We also took away the iPad on Monday afternoon because we told her she needed an iPad detox (and the detox is continuing at home….she got it at the airport/plane ride home only) and while she tried to fight us on it it helped her overall mood a ton! I guess you learn a lot of things when you travel and find things to correct for the next time!


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