INTRO
My name is Pete and my wife and I just returned from a 13-night vacation in Hawaii during which we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We live in NJ, have two grown children, and we’ve been DVC members for 20 years with BWV as our home resort. In addition to many family trips to WDW, we’ve also been to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort once, Disneyland once, and we’ve done two Disney cruises. This was our first trip to Hawaii, and our first time using DVC points without our kids!
While I’m afraid I won’t have the time to post a trip report that is nearly as comprehensive as some that I’ve seen, I do want to ‘pay it forward’ since these boards have been very helpful in planning our Disney trips, and I will definitely answer any questions folks may have.
Since this was our anniversary trip and we’re not sure when/if we’ll return to Hawaii, we did ‘splurge’ on a number of things including first class flights on United from Newark to Honolulu round-trip, plus intra-island flights on Hawaiian Airlines. We rented SUVs through Alamo (Costco rate) on all 3 islands we visited since we knew we would do lots of exploring on our own. We enjoyed a couple premium ‘excursions’ which I’ll mention below, spa treatments and the Luau at Aulani, and several nice dinners at some very good restaurants.
Our anniversary is April 24th which is why we chose the last 2 weeks of April, but this also worked well because it was after Easter/spring break and before Japan Golden Week (first week of May) which is a peak week at Aulani. As a result, we had no trouble booking a one bedroom standard view unit at 7-months, which we later upgraded to Island Gardens view. I noticed that pool and ocean view units were available until only a few weeks prior to our trip, however we kept our Island Gardens view because we wanted to conserve points for a BWV stay we’re planning for New Year’s Eve.
MAUI – arrival
We landed at Kahului Airport at ~5pm after a layover in Honolulu following our flight from Newark. Flying first class means your baggage is prioritized so our bags appeared quickly and we found the rental car shuttle quickly and were on our way to the Alamo facility which offers ‘skip the counter’ service so we went straight to our car. We drove ~25 minutes to the StarWind Cottage at Maui Tradewinds which is located in Haiku near Maui’s north shore just off the road to Hana. Since we were staying ‘on the beach’ at Aulani we wanted a different experience on Maui plus we wanted to be centrally-located so we could explore all parts of the island. This location was absolutely ideal and the Cottage was also one of the best places we’ve ever stayed in. I couldn’t recommend this ‘B&B’ any higher for couples or for families.
The Maui Tradewinds property consists of the main house where the owners (Bev and David) live, with a 'suite' on the bottom floor which is available for rent, and then a separate cottage just in front of the main house (but very secluded with thick vegetation) which has a full kitchen, nice dining/living room, 2 bedrooms (each with a queen bed, but inflatable mattresses available so that the cottage accommodates up to 6 people). A full bathroom adjoins the master bedroom but the 2nd bedroom has a half-bath plus a door leading outside to an outdoor shower so the cottage really functions as a full 2-bathroom unit. A beautiful deck (with immaculate hot tub!) spans the entire front of the cottage, with views of Haleakala in one direction and the not-too-distant ocean in another direction. Both bedrooms have AC but the main living area does not (we used the AC when sleeping but the breezes during the day did not make us miss AC in the main living area). There is a washer/dryer on the bottom floor of the main house which is open 24/7 and is accessible for both the suite and the cottage. It's literally 50 paces up the steep driveway. There is also a fridge outside the main house with extra beverages which you're welcome to take back to the cottage.
Being on east coast time, we were tired so went to bed knowing we’d be up early to start our exploration of the island.
MAUI – Day 1
Left our cottage before 7am and drove one hour to west Maui through Lahaina to Kaanapali and parked at the Sheraton Resort. All beaches in Hawaii are public and each hotel is required to set aside a small number of parking spaces for day visitors so we parked for free and walked to the beach, took pictures of Black Rock (famous for cliff diving) and spent some time on the beach, then drove north to Kahekili Beach (aka Airport Beach) which had ample parking, restrooms, etc. and a very nice beach with a view of Black Rock.
Didn’t want to get too much sun on our first day so drove back to the north shore and stopped in Paia for an early lunch at Café des Amis, a great place for Mediterranean food and people watching. After lunch, did some shopping in Paia, then visited the Ali’i Lavender Farm in Kula before returning to the Maui TradeWinds to rest. We had dinner reservations at Mama’s Fish House (very famous place) and the food was excellent, the location on the beach is perfect, and the bill was substantial (hey, it’s Hawaii).
MAUI – Day 2
Departed for Haleakala at 7am and arrived at park HQ at 8am. Chose not to make reservations for sunrise viewing which everyone says is not to be missed, but we wanted to pace ourselves and take a more leisurely approach and so glad we did. Even though it was overcast near the coast, the weather in the park was sunny and mid 50s which is about as good as it gets, and the sunrise crowd had mostly departed so we felt like we almost had the park to ourselves and enjoyed lots of scenic views, short hikes, and many photo opportunities.
Had lunch in Makawao at Polli’s Mexican which was very tasty, then shopped for a while before returning to our cottage to rest. Later that afternoon, we drove one hour to South Maui through Kihei to Wailea which is an upscale resort area on a beautiful beach. We parked at the Four Seasons since we had dinner reservations at Ferraro’s Italian restaurant at the resort. We enjoyed the ‘beach walk’ connecting the resorts along the shore, then had an excellent dinner at Ferraro’s outside overlooking the ocean. Almost as expensive as Mama’s, but probably a better overall meal.
MAUI – Day 3
Road to Hana! Although we had rented an SUV and I’m not shy about driving, I wanted to enjoy this trip without having to watch the traffic, and also wanted to make sure we saw all the best places including those less known to tourists, so we booked a private tour with Holo Holo Maui Tours. Not to be confused with other tour companies with Holo Holo in the name, this is a small, family-owned business on Maui and I only discovered them because they were linked on the Maui Tradewinds website. This turned out to be a great choice and worth the $500 total cost. It was just the two of us in a minivan driven by our guide Sammy, a 32-yr old native who brought us to all the best sites including water falls, black sand beaches, sea arches and blow holes, as well as great places for lunch, ice cream, fresh coconut, and shopping. Unlike taking a group tour, we were able to customize the tour to our liking, and we were never rushed to leave a certain spot or to stop somewhere we weren’t interested in. Sammy was an excellent driver, a great story teller with a wonderful laugh and personality. She treated us like family and we absolutely adored our time with her. The tour was also super convenient because their default pick-up point is the Park & Ride near the airport, but because we were already staying in Haiku at the start of the Road to Hana, Sammy picked us up right at our cottage so we truly had door-to-door service. Highly recommended!
MAUI – Day 4
Our last full day on Maui with an early scheduled departure to the Big Island the following morning, so we planned this as a relaxing day. We spent the morning on Baldwin Beach which is only ~20 minutes from the Maui TradeWinds. A beautiful, uncrowded beach with lifeguard, bathrooms/showers, etc. Note that if you stray a bit to the right from the guarded area you will come to a section which is ‘clothing optional’ and we did see a couple nude sun bathers although they did cover up once more people began to arrive later in the morning. On our way back to our cottage we stopped briefly at Ho’okipa Beach which is famous for wind surfing and there were quite a few surfers there every afternoon as the breeze picked up. After cleaning up and changing, we headed ‘upcountry’ to Kula and arrived at Maui Winery to enjoy some wine tasting (including pineapple wine!) Our plan was to buy a bottle and go across the street to Ulupalakua Ranch Store for a late BYOB lunch since I had seen reports on TripAdvisor that folks have done this. However the winery was very specific that you could NOT drink their wine at the Ranch Store and the store itself had signs saying that you couldn’t consume alcohol on their property. Oh well, the food was great and the view of the south Maui coast was awesome, and after the wine tasting I was better off not drinking any more since I was driving back to our cottage to begin packing (and one more night in the hot tub!)
MAUI – departure
We were truly sad to leave the StarWind Cottage, but excited to embark on the next leg of our trip. We filled-up the SUV at the Costco just outside the Kahului airport (best gas price but membership card required at the pump) and the return process was quick and easy so we had plenty of time prior to our 9:18am flight to the Big Island.
I will continue with The Big Island later today.....
My name is Pete and my wife and I just returned from a 13-night vacation in Hawaii during which we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We live in NJ, have two grown children, and we’ve been DVC members for 20 years with BWV as our home resort. In addition to many family trips to WDW, we’ve also been to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort once, Disneyland once, and we’ve done two Disney cruises. This was our first trip to Hawaii, and our first time using DVC points without our kids!
While I’m afraid I won’t have the time to post a trip report that is nearly as comprehensive as some that I’ve seen, I do want to ‘pay it forward’ since these boards have been very helpful in planning our Disney trips, and I will definitely answer any questions folks may have.
Since this was our anniversary trip and we’re not sure when/if we’ll return to Hawaii, we did ‘splurge’ on a number of things including first class flights on United from Newark to Honolulu round-trip, plus intra-island flights on Hawaiian Airlines. We rented SUVs through Alamo (Costco rate) on all 3 islands we visited since we knew we would do lots of exploring on our own. We enjoyed a couple premium ‘excursions’ which I’ll mention below, spa treatments and the Luau at Aulani, and several nice dinners at some very good restaurants.
Our anniversary is April 24th which is why we chose the last 2 weeks of April, but this also worked well because it was after Easter/spring break and before Japan Golden Week (first week of May) which is a peak week at Aulani. As a result, we had no trouble booking a one bedroom standard view unit at 7-months, which we later upgraded to Island Gardens view. I noticed that pool and ocean view units were available until only a few weeks prior to our trip, however we kept our Island Gardens view because we wanted to conserve points for a BWV stay we’re planning for New Year’s Eve.
MAUI – arrival
We landed at Kahului Airport at ~5pm after a layover in Honolulu following our flight from Newark. Flying first class means your baggage is prioritized so our bags appeared quickly and we found the rental car shuttle quickly and were on our way to the Alamo facility which offers ‘skip the counter’ service so we went straight to our car. We drove ~25 minutes to the StarWind Cottage at Maui Tradewinds which is located in Haiku near Maui’s north shore just off the road to Hana. Since we were staying ‘on the beach’ at Aulani we wanted a different experience on Maui plus we wanted to be centrally-located so we could explore all parts of the island. This location was absolutely ideal and the Cottage was also one of the best places we’ve ever stayed in. I couldn’t recommend this ‘B&B’ any higher for couples or for families.
The Maui Tradewinds property consists of the main house where the owners (Bev and David) live, with a 'suite' on the bottom floor which is available for rent, and then a separate cottage just in front of the main house (but very secluded with thick vegetation) which has a full kitchen, nice dining/living room, 2 bedrooms (each with a queen bed, but inflatable mattresses available so that the cottage accommodates up to 6 people). A full bathroom adjoins the master bedroom but the 2nd bedroom has a half-bath plus a door leading outside to an outdoor shower so the cottage really functions as a full 2-bathroom unit. A beautiful deck (with immaculate hot tub!) spans the entire front of the cottage, with views of Haleakala in one direction and the not-too-distant ocean in another direction. Both bedrooms have AC but the main living area does not (we used the AC when sleeping but the breezes during the day did not make us miss AC in the main living area). There is a washer/dryer on the bottom floor of the main house which is open 24/7 and is accessible for both the suite and the cottage. It's literally 50 paces up the steep driveway. There is also a fridge outside the main house with extra beverages which you're welcome to take back to the cottage.
Being on east coast time, we were tired so went to bed knowing we’d be up early to start our exploration of the island.
MAUI – Day 1
Left our cottage before 7am and drove one hour to west Maui through Lahaina to Kaanapali and parked at the Sheraton Resort. All beaches in Hawaii are public and each hotel is required to set aside a small number of parking spaces for day visitors so we parked for free and walked to the beach, took pictures of Black Rock (famous for cliff diving) and spent some time on the beach, then drove north to Kahekili Beach (aka Airport Beach) which had ample parking, restrooms, etc. and a very nice beach with a view of Black Rock.
Didn’t want to get too much sun on our first day so drove back to the north shore and stopped in Paia for an early lunch at Café des Amis, a great place for Mediterranean food and people watching. After lunch, did some shopping in Paia, then visited the Ali’i Lavender Farm in Kula before returning to the Maui TradeWinds to rest. We had dinner reservations at Mama’s Fish House (very famous place) and the food was excellent, the location on the beach is perfect, and the bill was substantial (hey, it’s Hawaii).
MAUI – Day 2
Departed for Haleakala at 7am and arrived at park HQ at 8am. Chose not to make reservations for sunrise viewing which everyone says is not to be missed, but we wanted to pace ourselves and take a more leisurely approach and so glad we did. Even though it was overcast near the coast, the weather in the park was sunny and mid 50s which is about as good as it gets, and the sunrise crowd had mostly departed so we felt like we almost had the park to ourselves and enjoyed lots of scenic views, short hikes, and many photo opportunities.
Had lunch in Makawao at Polli’s Mexican which was very tasty, then shopped for a while before returning to our cottage to rest. Later that afternoon, we drove one hour to South Maui through Kihei to Wailea which is an upscale resort area on a beautiful beach. We parked at the Four Seasons since we had dinner reservations at Ferraro’s Italian restaurant at the resort. We enjoyed the ‘beach walk’ connecting the resorts along the shore, then had an excellent dinner at Ferraro’s outside overlooking the ocean. Almost as expensive as Mama’s, but probably a better overall meal.
MAUI – Day 3
Road to Hana! Although we had rented an SUV and I’m not shy about driving, I wanted to enjoy this trip without having to watch the traffic, and also wanted to make sure we saw all the best places including those less known to tourists, so we booked a private tour with Holo Holo Maui Tours. Not to be confused with other tour companies with Holo Holo in the name, this is a small, family-owned business on Maui and I only discovered them because they were linked on the Maui Tradewinds website. This turned out to be a great choice and worth the $500 total cost. It was just the two of us in a minivan driven by our guide Sammy, a 32-yr old native who brought us to all the best sites including water falls, black sand beaches, sea arches and blow holes, as well as great places for lunch, ice cream, fresh coconut, and shopping. Unlike taking a group tour, we were able to customize the tour to our liking, and we were never rushed to leave a certain spot or to stop somewhere we weren’t interested in. Sammy was an excellent driver, a great story teller with a wonderful laugh and personality. She treated us like family and we absolutely adored our time with her. The tour was also super convenient because their default pick-up point is the Park & Ride near the airport, but because we were already staying in Haiku at the start of the Road to Hana, Sammy picked us up right at our cottage so we truly had door-to-door service. Highly recommended!
MAUI – Day 4
Our last full day on Maui with an early scheduled departure to the Big Island the following morning, so we planned this as a relaxing day. We spent the morning on Baldwin Beach which is only ~20 minutes from the Maui TradeWinds. A beautiful, uncrowded beach with lifeguard, bathrooms/showers, etc. Note that if you stray a bit to the right from the guarded area you will come to a section which is ‘clothing optional’ and we did see a couple nude sun bathers although they did cover up once more people began to arrive later in the morning. On our way back to our cottage we stopped briefly at Ho’okipa Beach which is famous for wind surfing and there were quite a few surfers there every afternoon as the breeze picked up. After cleaning up and changing, we headed ‘upcountry’ to Kula and arrived at Maui Winery to enjoy some wine tasting (including pineapple wine!) Our plan was to buy a bottle and go across the street to Ulupalakua Ranch Store for a late BYOB lunch since I had seen reports on TripAdvisor that folks have done this. However the winery was very specific that you could NOT drink their wine at the Ranch Store and the store itself had signs saying that you couldn’t consume alcohol on their property. Oh well, the food was great and the view of the south Maui coast was awesome, and after the wine tasting I was better off not drinking any more since I was driving back to our cottage to begin packing (and one more night in the hot tub!)
MAUI – departure
We were truly sad to leave the StarWind Cottage, but excited to embark on the next leg of our trip. We filled-up the SUV at the Costco just outside the Kahului airport (best gas price but membership card required at the pump) and the return process was quick and easy so we had plenty of time prior to our 9:18am flight to the Big Island.
I will continue with The Big Island later today.....
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