Hawaiian Airlines has some deals for airfare to LAX to Honolulu in April and early May. Sample dates from Friday, April 8, 2011 to Wednesday, April 13, 2011 are $399 from LAX to HNL roundtrip before taxes.

Hawaiian Airlines features:

• Complimentary meals
• Complimentary snacks
• Free soft drinks

Hawaiian Airlines Deals

This is a continuation of my Oahu Travel on a Budget post. I recently visited Oahu in December 2010 and found some new ways to visit Hawaii on a budget.

Vacation Packages:

The ultimate deals for Hawaii airfare and hotel packages can be found on Pleasant holidays. If you are on a real budget, the deals offered occasionally on Pleasant Holidays are the best. They have offered $550 3 night vacations for two people with airfare included from LAX or SFO.  The latest deals are posted on their Facebook page. Most of the deals are for last minute booking. http://www.facebook.com/PleasantHolidays

Vacation Rentals:

Booking airfare and hotel together offers the best deal for 1-2 people. If you have larger groups, booking a vacation rental may be a good option. I used VRBO on my last trip and had a good experience.  Some of the amenities in a vacation rental often include: a kitchen to cook your own meals (and save lots of $$), a parking spot, washer/dryer,  and larger living space. One thing to note is that many rentals require a cleaning fee between $65 – $110, so that’s something to consider. If you have a large group of family or friends, its a better deal to rent a condo/house than multiple hotel rooms.

Discount Airfare:

Hawaiian Airlines often has great deals on airfare to Hawaii. Their prices are competitive with the other airlines and they offer a complementary meal in their flights. The new planes on their LAX route are very nice with video screens on every seat and powered USB ports. Bring your USB charging cord for your devices on the flight from LAX to HNL if you have the newer Airbus plane. They can be identified with the 2-4-2 seating arrangement.

Best seafood under $10:

My favorite place is Nico’s Pier 38 http://www.nicospier38.com/ 
They offer fresh fish at affordable prices. Their famous dish is the furikaki pan seared ahi, which I recommend to try at least once.  The fried ahi belly is also excellent — giant pieces of fried ahi tuna topped with delicious tomato.

Cheap groceries:

The cost of groceries in Oahu are one of the highest in the nation. Fresh produce and dairy products are very expensive. Two places for finding cheap groceries in Oahu are WalMart and Don Quijote. Walmart doesn’t have much of a selection of food products, but their prices are the lowest. Don Quijote has a good selection of groceries and their prices are reasonable. You can often find Hawaiian poke in their seafood section for $6-$7 per pound. Costco also offers good prices on groceries, but the large portions are suited for longer trips 7 days+.

View from hotel room (20th floor, Ala Moana tower)

The Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki  is located next to the marina in Waikiki. All 521 rooms are oceanfront, which means you get a view of the marina side or the Diamond head side. We stayed there early November 2009 and were impressed with the location as it was much quieter than other parts of Waikiki. The service of the hotel is probably the most memorable. When you first check-in, you will recieve hot towels (oshibori) to wipe your face (which is a nice touch after a long flight).

Check-in was fast and easy. The rooms are located in the 28 floors, with one tower facing diamond head and the other facing the marina. Priceline guests will most likely get the tower facing the marina. As you can see from the photo above, the marina rooms had a decent view. Each room has giant windows that open up, but no balcony or lanai. The rooms are huge for Waikiki, they had nice bathrooms with marble flooring, separate shower/bathtub, separate room for the toilet, and a large electronic safe. The room had a lot of amenities — slippers, robes, daily Lion Kona blend coffee, nice tropical shampoo/conditioner, lotion, complementary water upon checkin (2 bottles), and a tube TV. Internet access is available for $11.95 per day. Hotel also offers a salt-water pool and jacuzzi. Fitness center offers treadmill, elliptical machine, weight machine.

There is a free shuttle that takes you from the hotel to the Waikiki beaches. Pretty good to not have to drive to the center of Waikiki since parking is a premium there.

The hotel has a great buffet — Waikiki Prince Court Buffet. Pricey, but good quality.

For shopping, there is the Ala Moana mall about 2 blocks away. Tons of stores and a huge food court for cheap eats. The Hilton resort is about 2 blocks away the other direction, which is nice to check out the Friday night fireworks show (if they still offer it).

Tip: The room we stayed in had a mildew smell to it — its best to leave the window open as the A/C  didn’t seem to help. There is parking in the main garage for $15 per night.

Priceline has some great deals on this hotel. If you can get this for $75-$100 range, its a good deal. If you are looking for good value for your $$, this hotel offers a lot of amenities for rooms with actual oceanfront views.

Airline meal on Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu back to LAX on an evening flight on 11/2009. They offered two choices of pasta or a turkey sandwich croissant. Premium meal options included sushi rolls or taco salad for $10. The pasta was very tasty and the chocolate cake was good. I’ll definitely go with Hawaiian Airlines if it’s within $40 of other carriers for the hot meals alone. They offer drinks after takeoff, during the meal, and coffee/water after the meal, which is a nice touch.

Here are some useful resources for Hawaii Beach safety.

When scheduling a trip to Hawaii, make sure you avoid the times when box jellyfish are around, usually eight to 10 days after a full moon. They usually are around for 2-3 days and then leave for the month. For more information on box jellyfish, go to 808jellyfish.com

Current beach safety warnings are available at:

hawaiibeachsafety.org.