Hey! I finally got around to reading your trip report. So glad you guys had such a great time. Aren't you dying to go back!? I think the "direct" flight from ATL is a good idea, I say "direct" because you had to get to ATL first, but thinking back I would've rather done an overnight-ish flight home. The flights are exhausting and the part I dread most, haha.
It's funny how you liked different islands, because we were the exact same way. I totally agree with your sentiment about Maui being a cross between relaxed/nature and commercial. A perfect blend, actually. I love that you got to go to three islands and experience so much!
As for the upper deck casabellas at Ama Ama, we were quite disappointed. First, they are WAY off the beaten path. On the very border of the resort property, in fact.
I was thinking of that as soon as you said in your TR that you rented one of those, because that was my opinion as I walked by, too! I thought they looked nice if you wanted something truly out of the way, but they were VERY out of the way!
As for the upper deck casabellas at Ama Ama, we were quite disappointed. First, they are WAY off the beaten path. On the very border of the resort property, in fact. And as I mentioned, no one was sitting in the standard lounge chairs in front of Ama Ama, which were in between us and the pool. This made the whole area dead and we felt like outcasts. It was also entirely shaded, which is not what we were expecting. We wanted some sun with the option of the umbrella if we wanted shade. I mentioned all this to the CMs at Rainbow Reef and they were more than willing to refund us the cost, which I was appreciative of. At $150, it just was not worth it to us. We ended up reserving a beach casabella that day, since it was our first day and we were still learning the ropes of how busy it would be. A beach casabella was $75 and not worth it, IMO. Waiter service was available for all chairs (although VERY slow/infrequent) and the cushions were nothing special. Save the money or spend it on a full fledged cabana!
Sorry to hear that! Good to know for the future. It's nice that they refunded the cost!
After, we headed back toward Haleiwa and stopped by Laniakea Beach to see if we could see any sea turtles. You'll know the beach when you see all the cars and traffic! We were lucky enough to see a turtle so it was worth the stop.
AHH! Omg! That is so neat. We went there one day and it was grossly rainy so we saw nothing of the sort. He hardly looks real! Awesome.
We decided around 6:30pm to line up for the Starlit Hui, as this was the only night during our stay that it was playing. I believe it's since been discontinued so I won't spend time reviewing it, but as two adults, it just wasn't our speed. Great for kids/families though!
I wish we would've seen it, but I also figured it wasn't our speed either and was probably geared towards little ones.
After the temple, we headed down the road to Kailua. We parked the car and walked to a few of the shops, and then drove over to Kailua Beach Park. The beach and water here are just gorgeous! I wished we had brought our swimsuits to change into. The water was a clear turquoise blue, different than the water at Aulani or any of the other places we had been. The beach was a soft white sand. Just gorgeous! Had I known, I may have planned a day out there.
Wow, this is beautiful! I'm going to keep this in mind for if/when we go back.
Thursday was sadly our last full day in Hawaii. After being there for two weeks at that point, we had really acclimated to island life and the thought of going home was devastating at that point! We started our last morning with breakfast at Ama Ama. I can’t emphasize just how good this breakfast was, and I’m still kicking myself for leaving it until the end of our trip. I got a coffee and DH had OJ. I had the vanilla mac nut pancakes and DH had the breakfast sandwich with lobster. It was one of the best meals of our trip! Our bill was pricey for breakfast at around $50, but worth every penny IMO.
I reallly wanted to try breakfast there, but somehow never got to it. My husband is a pretty "basic" breakfast eater so it didn't seem worth the $$ but I think we should try it next time. (I say next time like I'm gonna go back soon or something HA!)
For those wondering, I would do the same trip over again without any changes. If we ever visit Hawaii again, I’d stay at Aulani and do one other island – probably Kauai because it was the least commercialized place we visited with just crazy natural beauty. I'd also recommend to book any inter-island flights for early morning or late at night. Our mid-morning flights just ate up too much of the day, and we probably could have done a little more if we had those hours back.
Sooo glad you had such a wonderful honeymoon!!! I think Kauai looked so beautiful. Thanks for sharing all of your experiences! I agree with the inner-island flights. We did ours at like 7 PM and it was almost too early because we still left Maui at like 4 PM to get to the airport on time (again with 2 hours to spare). Good to know!