Summary
11 days in beautiful Waikiki! Total out of pocket: $2462.89.
Travel Notes (All prices below are USD unless otherwise noted)
Covid Notes
- You must register for https://travel.hawaii.gov/#/ for current travel to Hawaii.
- We signed up for testing 3 days prior to departure through Kaiser Permanente. You schedule an e-visit through their site and show up for drive thru testing on that day.
- It was first come first serve, so we arrived about 20 min before they opened. There were about 7-8 cars in front of us. The line was extremely long behind us.
- We got results the next morning online and uploaded the results to https://travel.hawaii.gov/#/. A QR code was provided which we provided at the airport screening upon arrival.
Travel
- I found a fantastic deal on Southwest for $161 round trip flights from Long Beach to Honolulu. Then I signed up for a companion pass which made one of the fares $11.20 round trip which brought the cost to $494.20 for our family of four. Finally, I used the airline fee credit from our credit cards to make the flights free!
- We reserved a car a couple months beforehand through Costcotravel. We went with Budget since the terminal is in the airport and we avoided taking the shuttle.
Accommodations
- Hyatt Centric Waikiki
- We had Globalist status for the stay.
- We used 45,000 points and 2 free night certificates for 5 nights total.
- Point redemption value was about 2.8 cpp.
- Was upgraded to City View Suite with 2 queen beds. Was quite roomy.
- Since we paid with points and had Globalist status, there were no resort fees and parking was free.
- The hotel provided free beach chairs/umbrella/boogie boards. This was a great perk.
- They also loaned us a betta fish which the girls loved watching and feeding.
- Royal Hawaiian
- We had Platinum status for the stay.
- We used 180,000 points and paid for 1 night to take advantage of the Marriott double points/nights promotion for 6 nights total.
- Point redemption value was about 1.6 cpp.
- Was upgraded to Historic Garden Junior Suite. Was plenty of room for us, the girls ended up sleeping on the sofa chair and bedroom bench.
- We received muffins and pink macadamia nuts as a welcome gift.
- The kids enjoyed the large Sheraton pool and feeding the huge Koi fish.
Entertainment
- Beaches
- All beaches in Hawaii are public and most of them have great facilities. We spent most of our leisure time here.
- Dole Farm
- Was too crowded and hot when we visited. Probably won't be doing this one again even though the Dole Whip and fresh pineapple was delicious.
- Chambers Escape Room
- The girls enjoyed doing the temple. Great effects and puzzles.
Mobile/Internet
- Our mobile coverage was pretty good all over the island and both hotels had excellent wifi. The Royal Hawaiian also offers a free mifi rental which was useful the few times my cell coverage was spotty.
Laundry
- Sheraton Waikiki allowed reservations of their laundry room (which accepted credit cards). This made it very easy and convenient.
Food
- Both hotels were in the heart of Waikiki. There are so many affordable good choices around that we enjoyed.
- Some other highlights were:
- Giovanni's Shrimp - we went to both the truck and the less busy Honolulu location
- Matsumoto's Shave Ice - our younger daughter kept wanting to go back
- Yummy Korean BBQ - really fresh side vegetables
- Tanaka Ramen - great ramen and karaage
- Jujubing Dessert Cafe - my wife really likes injeolmi
- Tropical Tribe - really liked their Brazillian Acai with premium toppings
- Big Islands Candies - their milk chocolate macadamia cookies are soooooooooo good
Things that went well
- Staying on California time had us waking up early and getting to all the good beach spots without any parking issues.
- Renting a car gave us so much freedom to travel the island. It was a great choice even with the hefty parking fee at the Royal Hawaiian. There was also a rental car shortage and we saw some people getting turned away at the counter. Glad we reserved far in advance.
- The free beach chair/umbrella loaners from Hyatt Centric Waikiki were fantastic. Made our beach visits very comfortable.
- The Go Pro Hero9 was great. Was really cool to incorporate time lapse into our family videos.
- The extension cord with power strip was super useful: Anker Power Strip
- Went 2 for 2 on suite upgrades! The larger rooms certainly made our stay much more enjoyable. Can't be certain but I think adding that it was our anniversary/my birthday and contacting ahead of time may have helped.
Lessons for next time
- I cut my feet pretty deep at Lanikea beach. Should've known better and wore water shoes in.