7 night stay in November or December
Waikiki Marina Resort
Tripadvisor Review #39
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60982-d575097-Reviews-Waikiki_Marina_Resort-Honolulu_Oahu_Hawaii.html
Including airfare from LAX to Honolulu and taxes.

$914 for 2 people ($457 per person)

There are other hotels with a similar deal, but they must have the “Save $250 when you stay 5+ nights in Hawaii!” special beside the hotel name.

http://www.expedia.com

Here are some tips on making an Oahu trip enjoyable and affordable at the same time.

1) AQUA hotels are great for people on a budget. People are complaining on TripAdvisor about the hotel, but I think they were expecting a little too much for what they were paying. Its not a 4 star caliber hotel — closer to a 2 or 3 star.

We recently stayed at the Aqua Palms, which is located right across from the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Internet access is complimentary (usually a $10 fee at other hotels), along with a daily continental breakfast (bananas, apples, oranges, muffins, croissant or pastry, coffee, and juices. The rooms were clean and the microwave/fridge is a nice touch. Bed was comfortable with 6 pillows and there was also a sleeper sofa in the room. There’s a 32″ flat screen LCD TV with a good variety of channels. Parking in the Aqua Palms structure is a bit tight, I suggest getting a smaller car if you plan on staying at the hotel. The corners around the structure are really tight and there are lots of scrapes on the walls. There is also complimentary coffee in the lobby, which is great in the evenings. Its one of those automatic coffee machines that grinds the coffee beans. Stick with the city view rooms since the diamond head view rooms are blocked by 3 hotels. The pool is small, so we didn’t spend any time there. As for location, it is across the street from the Hilton resort, where you can do some shopping and watch fireworks on Friday night.

For dining around the Aqua Palms, the Wailana Coffee shop is good for the money. Breakfast all day and prices are very reasonable for Waikiki.  Todai is located across the street if you are craving for all you can eat sushi. $30 for unlimited sushi — had a lot of poke and sashimi. Seems to be a little bit better than mainland Todai locations.

2) Buy your own GPS on the mainland before going to Hawaii. With GPS prices coming down to the $100 level, you are better off bringing one to Hawaii rather than renting. I picked my Mio C230 GPS for $80 after using a coupon, so its definitely worth every penny. The reason you will need GPS is because a lot of streets in Waikiki are one way and sections may be coned off during rush hour traffic. GPS isn’t 100% accurate though, sometimes it will leave you driving in circles.

3) Parking is very expensive in Waikiki. Hotels charge between $15 - $25 per day, so its something you will need to budget for. Kalakua ave. has a lot of good restaurants and fancy stores, but public parking is tough to find. We found a flat rate parking garage for $8 on Koa Ave. that was reasonable. There is also post office parking near the International Marketplace. Some restaurants will validate parking if its located in a hotel. Otherwise, take the bus from your hotel to Kalakua since there are a number of stops throughout Waikiki. Parking outside of Waikiki is fine.

4) Cheap souvenirs. We found really great deals at the Aloha Bowl Swap Meet on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Its located in the parking lot, which spans around the entire stadium. Lots of good deals on clothing, cheap t-shirts, tons of souvenirs, snacks, plants, and more. A lot of souvenirs were 50-75% off regular prices. Admission is $1. Bring a hat since it gets warm walking around the stadium.

5) Walmart and Costco. The Waikiki Walmart is located right in the middle of the city. Great prices on snacks, drinks, and anything you might have forgotten to pack. This time we bought our Hawaiian Sun drinks at Walmart since there was no way we could drink the 24-packs from Costco. Snorkel gear selection is good, with some nice US Divers mask/snorkel sets for $30-$35. Its worth the extra money since the snorkel closes up automatically if submerged. Buy a cooler and put the drinks in there to save $$.

If you are renting a condo, Costco is a great place to stock up on food. They now have the poke and sashimi grade stuff in a deli case, so you don’t have to buy 1-2 lbs of it at a time. We usually pick up gifts here before we fly back.

6) Airfare and hotel combos save money.  We booked a flight from LAX to Honolulu with 6 nights hotel at Aqua Palms for $600 / person. Airfare alone was $500 / person roundtrip. You can use the savings from the airfare and hotel to spend on food and souvenirs. You can try finding deals on Travelzoo.

7) Hawaiian Plate Lunches = Good value. I really like eating the Hawaiian plate lunches, especially ones with SPAM (not the junk mail)  The best one I had so far was at Ted’s Bakery. I ordered Ted’s bento box, which has fried chicken, spam, mahi mahi, bbq beef on top of furikake rice and cabbage. The bbq beef was really good, well marinated in teriyaki/korean BBQ sauce. I liked the spam, which tastes something like sausage and ham. Fried Mahi mahi was good and the fried chicken had a tasty coating of fried goodness. And it was only $9 !!! Only minor downside is that it took 20 minutes to make, but it was worth it! What a deal. For dessert, we had the classic Chocolate Haupia pie. YUM! Coconut + chocolate = Hawaiian!  So, if you are in North Shore, definitely check out Ted’s Bakery if you are looking for a place to eat. I’ll elaborate more on high end cuisine in a future post.

8 ) Shrimp Trucks.  There is one on the way to Kailua on Hwy. 72 called Ono Shrimp. They had a steak and shrimp combo plate that was good, especially after snorkeling all morning in Hanauma Bay. Steak was tasty, shrimp was good since you didn’t have to peel them. $10 for the steak plate, $11 for the steak and shrimp combo. Drinks were reasonable at $1 each. We also went to one near Turtle Bay in North Shore called Romys.  The Garlic shrimp was good, but a bit pricey. The shrimp plate was $13 and drinks were $2.50 each. Romys uses their local pond to catch their prawns, so its fresh. But I think next time we’ll drive out to the original Giovannis instead, since it was the first one.

9) Shaved Ice. Matsumotos General Store in Haleiwa, 66-087 Kamehameha Hwy, offers really good shaved ice for a reasonable price. We got the Matsumoto special one with Coconut, Pineapple, Lemon, and vanilla ice cream on the bottom. They also have good azuki beans too. Spend the extra 25 cents for the cool shaved ice holders, less messy. $2.50 for the large shaved ice w/ ice cream, 25 cents extra for the holder. The lines can get long, so try to visit earlier in the day.

Unlimited Metro Card
Each trip on the subway or bus is $2. You can offset these costs by purchasing an unlimited Metro Card. The 7 day is a good value for $25. That makes it about $3.50 per day, which you can easily recoup in a 1 week trip. The only downside to the unlimited card is: It cannot be used again at the same subway station or the same bus route for 18 minutes. This means you can’t leave the station you just entered unless you want to wait 18 minutes.

Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard
Buy as many rides as you want from $4 to $80. Put $7 or more on your card and receive a 15 percent bonus. For example, a $20 purchase gives you $23 on your card. 11 trips for the price of 10, with $1 balance. Refill your card to use the balance. This would make sense if you only occasionally use the subway/bus on the trip.

Some useful links
Subway Map:
http://www.lirr.org/nyct/maps/submap.htm
http://www.lirr.org/nyct/maps/subwaymap.pdf
 

Review:
We got the “Steak for 2″ on the menu cooked medium rare. I wouldn’t say it is the best steak I’ve ever had, but it was up there. The meat was perfectly seared where the outside was crisp and the inside was really tender. I like the fact that the steak arrives in a really hot plate with a spacer underneath so that all the juices pool to one side. Supposedly it is cooked in a broiler at 1200 degrees! It was a lot of food for us — generous portions.  The service was excellent and the atmosphere was really nice. Our waiters were very helpful and professional. The waiter even sliced the steak for us which was a great touch.

As for side dishes, we tried the creamed spinach, bacon, and german potatoes. The BACON is the best Ive ever had. Its a thick piece seared in probably the same 1200 degree oven. Definitely worth getting. The german potatoes were very tasty, a nice change from the usual garlic mashed potatoes. Creamed spinach was ok.  Onion rolls were good, and they were generous in giving extra to take home

Price is typical for a high end New York Restaurant:
~$80 for steak for two, $30 for the bacon, spinach, german potatoes, plus drinks and tip.

Overall, it was a great dining experience in New York. If you decide to go, make sure you get the bacon!

You can get a good view of the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry for free of charge. The view is probably a few thousand feet away, but with a good zoom lens you can get some nice photos. Its still a great view of the statue nevertheless. On the way to Staten Island, go to the very top of the ferry on the LEFT side. I believe on the way back from Staten Island, you also will need to get on the left side to view the Statue of Liberty. The way this works is that the ferry boards though one side and exits through the other. Once you reach Staten Island, you will need to leave the ferry and re-board onto the ferry back to Manhattan. The entire trip takes around 1 1/2 hour. I will be posting photos soon ….

Airplane Flight
We took advantage of some great prices on flights to JFK Airport in New York. The airport is about ~1 hour drive into Manhattan depending on traffic. Note: In case you want to do the red-eye flight, many hotels in New York do not have early check-in around 7 a.m. Thats something to consider. Make sure you sleep well the night before if you decide to do the red eye flight.

Getting into town. You have a few options on getting into the city.

Taxi is the easiest and cheapest if you have more than 2 people. It’ll run you about $50 + tips via cab. Cabs charge by the car so if you have a group of 3 or 4 it will be the cheapest way.

Note: There are some people driving regular cars looking for people to drive into town. I wouldn’t recommend this. Don’t go outside of the terminal unless you find a legitimate cab driver.

Van/Shuttle:  I wouldn’t recommend buying van tickets ahead of time since they usually have to fill the van before they can leave. We tried the Go Link since they had a van ready to go and the slightly cheaper rates. $19 into Mid-town, front door service. The driver was nice, so I can’t really complain for the money. They have to drop everyone off across town so its not recommended if you are in a rush.

Airport Service Bus: $15 each way or $27 R/T. The bus is the cheapest way into town with suitcases. They have a few stops (Grand Central Station, Port Authority, and Penn Station) http://www.nyairportservice.com/   Its a bit slow getting back to the airport since they stop at each terminal. Ours was one of the last terminals so it took around 1.5 hours from departure.

Train: This is probably the fastest way into town during rush hour if you are light in luggage (either a small bag or backpack) The train is not convenient if you have a lot of luggage since there really isn’t much room on the train. There is the Air Train which will take you to Penn Station for around $12 total.

If you go for the morning sunrise, it will be about a ~1 1/2 hour to 2 hour wait before the horses arrive.

From the website:

Ka Moa O Pele
Junction Ride

This ride descends Sliding Sands Trail to the Crater floor 2500 ft. below where a well deserved picnic lunch is served featuring our delicious croissant sandwiches! Round trip is 7.5 awe inspiring miles taking around 4 hours. Prior riding experience is recommended. Check in first at the ranch office, then continue up to the Visitor Center Parking lot just past mile marker 20 to meet your guide. Reservations required.

$182.00 + tax
8:30 AM

Snorkeling trips
The Kai Kanani was good for $49.88 early morning snorkel including a continental breakfast. They leave from Wailea so its a shorter boatride (less seasick) http://www.kaikanani.com/ Molokini was much better than Turtle Town. Its a good intro. to Molokini if you haven’t been there before. The Kai Kanani offers continental breakfast (muffins/coffee/soft drinks) along with snorkeling equipment. The crew was friendly and we even saw some dolphins along the way to Molokini. I plan on going for the all morning trip next time.

Free Snorkeling
Black Rock is a nice place for beginners since its on a sandy beach. You’ll see a nice variety of fish when you swim towards the “Black Rock” side where coral is still abundant. There is limited parking available next to Whaler’s Village (left side of the shopping center) You can park at the Whaler’s Village for 3 hours with a minimum $10-$15 purchase (ABC store is great for that)

Another good snorkeling spot is Kapalua Beach. Its a little tricky to find though, you have to drive through Kapalua Bay resort in order to reach the small parking lot. Access to the reef is a little more difficult since the beach has a lot of rocky areas along with sand. Stick with the lighter areas (sandy) and you will be able to venture out to the shallow bay. We saw a wider variety of fish here than Black Rock. As for the beach, the sand was very nice. If you aren’t a snorkeler, this beach would be nice place to relax. This beach is rated one of the top 10 beaches in Hawaii, so its definitely earned its rating.

Snorkeling gear:
If you prefer to buy your own gear, Costco has great prices for a full set (mask, snorkel, and fins) for ~$40. They usually have the snorkeling set either by the front entrance or in front of one of the aisles.

Kmart has more variety for snorkeling gear, while Walmart has better prices. If you need a life jacket, Kmart has a good selection.

Anti-fog: You can use baby shampoo mixed with water as an anti-fog for the mask.

Shopping
Maui has various shopping locations around the island. The Queen Ka’ahumanu Center is a typical indoor mall with Macy’s and Sears anchors. Whaler’s Village on West Maui has higher end stores and good restaurants (e.g. Hula Grill) If you are renting a condo, I recommend getting a Safeway shopper card to take advantage of the sales they have. Groceries are pricey! I’ll elaborate more on the shopping experience section soon..

Scrapbooking
If you are a huge scrapbook fan like Daynah, then you need to visit Island Paperie. It has one of the largest selection of Hawaiian scrapbook supplies. They have many different paper designs not found at mainland scrapbook stores.

Photography

Hawaii is a great place to take photos. If you can afford a digital SLR, this would be a good opportunity to get one. The nice part of having a SLR is that you can purchase filters/lenses to optimize your photos.

I highly recommend getting the circular polarizer filter for getting those postcard-esque photos of the ocean. It basically filters out the reflection from the sunlight so you will get clear views of the coral/water underneath the ocean. Another filter I recommend getting is the Natural Density (ND) filter for getting nice portrait photos behind a sunset/etc.

Great photo locations:
1) On the Road to Hana there are several waterfalls (make sure you use a tripod and set the exposure setting to slow)
2) Haleakala volcano. The morning sunrise is a great photo opportunity if the weather conditions cooperate. If its not cloudy, you will have a great view of the island. I would reschedule the visit if its windy or raining.
3) Sunset on the west side of the island.

Dining in Maui can get quite expensive. Here are some places that I have found where you can get meals for around $10 or less per person. Eating for cheap but good!

Aloha Mixed Plate
If you like Ono or L&L Hawaiian Restaurants in the mainland, you should try Aloha Mixed Plate. The teriyaki katsu was interesting — marinated teriyaki beef in a katsu coating. Its the traditional 2 scoops for rice, macaroni salad, and entree plate. Definitely worth a visit for a lower cost meal in Maui. Aloha Mixed Plate Reviews on Igo

Ko Ko Ichiban Ya
This is a great place to eat local style plate lunch after arriving in Maui. The udon noodles were tasty — chicken, fried shrimp tempura, and egg. They also have excellent unagi (eel) bowls and a wide selection of BBQ plate lunches. Seating is very limited — only 7 or 8 chairs, but you can order everything to-go. Its located at 360 Papa Pl Kahului, HI. If you are driving from the Maui Airport, it will be on the right side on Dairy Road. I’m definitely going back here a few times

Pizza Paradiso
This place has decent pizza for the money. Frommers gave it good reviews, so we decided to check it out. Their specialty pizzas had generous amounts of toppings — I suggest ordering by the slice for variety. Its a place to check out if you are in the Kahana area.

McDonalds
Try the banana pies! Instead of Apple Pies, they have Banana pies at Mc Donalds. Also, they have Fanta fruit punch.

Farmers Markets
There are a number of Farmer’s Markets in Maui. You can get fresh produce at prices lower than the grocery stores. They also have a variety of fresh fruit, coffee, and banana bread.

Safeway
Sign up for the Safeway card while you area in the store. You need to have the card in order to get the discount on the sale items. They have a decent bakery section where you can pick up bagels (baked daily) along with deli items for making sandwiches.

Costco
Its not just the $1.50 hot dog special or the $1.99 pizza.  The Maui Costco has prepared sashimi and poke in the seafood section. This is a great deal — probably enough for 20-30 pieces of high quality tuna sashimi for $15-$20. This is plenty of fish for a few meals. It comes in a package with wasabi and soy sauce included. Also try the fresh Hawaiian fruits (way better than the canned versions in the mainland) 1 gallon of POG is under $5 — passion fruit, orange, and guava juice drink commonly found in Maui. Also, if you like sweet coffee — try the 24 pack of Kona coffee in 12 oz cans for around $12-14. Back in the mainland its about $1 each, so I usually try to get a case when I visit Hawaii.

The Humid Season
Highs of 81°F and lows of 65°F
November - April
Tropical storms may occur during the humid season.

If you are on a budget, May and October are good months to visit Hawaii. Its not as hot and the airfare/hotel prices are generally less than during peak season.

How come Weather.com is forecasting rain for the entire vacation?
Weather.com doesn’t account for rainy conditions on the entire island, just one location. A lot of times, it can be sunny on one side of the island and rainy on the other side.  I would try using http://www.hawaiiweathertoday.com for weather information.