Hawaii Honeymoon Advice

[goskis2018]

Good Morning Boneyard!

I'm getting married this October and recently cancelled mine and my Fiancée's Paris honeymoon plans. I'm now pivoting to booking a 2 week stay in Hawaii during the second half of October and am finding the task more daunting than first expected. Can any of you guys share any advice as to which island would be best suited for a romantic getaway? Any tips or lived experiences would be much appreciated as I scramble to get this organized. Thanks!

 

[Peacefrog]

I honeymooned there but it was a while ago. The best island for you will depend on your interests. Oahu is the most metropolitan and has the most shopping (which is of no interest to me but I actually know someone that likes Oahu the best because of the shopping. Who travels to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to shop? But I digress...). I wanted to go to Oahu to see the Arizona Memorial but we spent much of our time on the north shore which was more quiet and laid back. Kauai is probably the most scenic. We did a helicopter ride that was awesome (although there are some safety concerns) went four-wheeling and some short hikes. If you were to only go to one island Maui might be the best one. It's got everything from hiking/nature, water sports, excellent dining, golf, you name it. I hope to get to the big island one day as I'd like to see an active volcano.

In similar threads in the past there were posters with abundant experience and probably more recent than mine. You'll get some good input.

 

[Jay-Bone]

I've only been to Oahu and the Big Island. Oahu is the trendy hub with Waikiki Beach. The Big Island is all about adventure. Hiking volcanos and snorkeling. We did the Manta Ray night snorkel which was really cool. Also walked right up to flowing lava.

Kuai is supposed to be the most scenic and Maui beautiful as well.

Enjoy.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Reserve Boneyard time to when your wife is also putzing around on her phone.

 

[Dove]

Rent a convertable.

 

[huskymedic]

A few previous threads here to check out as well: Hawaii Tips & Hawaii help

 

[CL82]

I’ll second Maui as a choice. There is a temptation when you’re in the Hawaiian islands to fly to all of them as they all have something to offer. I’d fight that, especially for a honeymoon.

We vacationed on Maui and took the flight over to see the Arizona on Oahu, but bailed on seeing the volcano and hitting the other islands. If you do end up on Maui make sure you get a reservation at Mamas Fish House timed to catch the sunset. The food is very good and the view is spectacular.

One other thought is I might take a day in San Francisco either on the way there, or on the way back. Maybe both. It’s a very nice city and breaks up what would otherwise be a lot of time flying. You were likely to have to change there anyway.

 

[NatiHuskiFan]

I would stay away from Oahu if you are wanting to avoid large crowds…… but having said that all of the islands are getting overcrowded with tourists at the moment. You are going to have a tough time really getting a feeling for being secluded with your wife. Places like somewhat hidden waterfalls where you could end up the only two there now look like amusement parks. I took my wife to Maui for our honeymoon and stayed at the Ritz in Kapalua. I think this would be your best bet to not feel like you’re in a giant crowd. Stick to Maui or Kauai. If Maui stick to Kapalua and avoid Wailea/Kihei and Lahaina (overly crowded).

P.S. I also lived in Maui for 3 years. Lived in Kihei/Wailea area and worked in Lahaina.

 

[HooperScooper]

We did 2 weeks in Hawaii in early October for our honeymoon. This was 25 years ago though. I don't think you want to stay in the same place for 2 weeks. We did 5 days in Maui, 3 days on the Big Island and then 5 days in Kauai. I think that was a good amount in each place. Maui has lots to do and is beautiful, the Big Island had some cool stuff also but it's not as built up as Maui, and Kauai is absolutely gorgeous but pretty quiet. Gotta check out the Na Pali Coast and Wai mea Canyon on Kauai. I guess the only issue is packing up and unpacking so much but it was worth it. I don't think I could have stayed in one place that long. If you really want to stay on 1 island the whole time then it would have to be Maui. Plenty to do there.

We used a travel agent to plan everything. Obviously this was before the internet so I'm sure you could do it on your own today and research what to do on each island.

We stayed in all 5 star resorts. That trip cost us $7,000 back then and I bet it's close to $20,000 today.

The Hawaiian Airlines flights between islands are quick and pretty inexpensive.

People told us not to stay on Oahu but if you want to stay there for 2-3 days you could and take out one of the 3 islands we went to. We did do a half day on the way home (before our 5:00 flight home) on Oahu just to see Pearl Harbor.

Let me know if you want any more specifics.

 

[husky429]

Reserve Boneyard time to when your wife is also putzing around on her phone.

My fiance pretty much exclusively refers to me checking the yard as "texting my boyfriends."

 

[UCSouth]

Personally, I'd put the Honeymoon off until November and go to The Bahamas. But that's just me...

 

[HooperScooper]

Personally, I'd put the Honeymoon off until November and go to The Bahamas. But that's just me...

Why? Curious. Besides the shorter travel time there's not even a comparison.

 

[UCSouth]

The Bahamas or Hawaii? Hmmm, besides the shorter travel time there's not even a comparison. Ugh.

I'm not sure, actually I'm positive that we won't be playing basketball in Hawaii in October.

 

[CL82]

My fiance pretty much exclusively refers to me checking the yard as "texting my boyfriends."

"Dad's Snapchat"

 

[uconnfan68]

Why? Curious. Besides the shorter travel time there's not even a comparison.

Except that UConn is playing there…

 

[HooperScooper]

I'm not sure, actually I'm positive that we won't be playing basketball in Hawaii in October.

Ah, got it. They can do both.

And then go back to Maui again when UConn is in the Maui Invitational.

 

[cordeodato]

My wife and I have only been on one cruise, that was on our honeymoon in Hawaii 30 yrs. Obviously we are not big cruise people.
However this cruise turned out to be very practical as we cruised from from island to island over night. Basically this was a floating hotel
for us, and each day or so we were at a new port . Great food and when you arrived at a new island the ship staff had a multitude of land excursions
you could choose from. So we cruised one week and did another week on Maui. If you want to see various islands this saves you a lot of time and stress running to the airports and hopping on those small planes. But as I said this was 30 yrs ago, so do some research if you go this route. I don't even know if they have that type of cruise available now.

 

[bendm]

i hear a u-haul van makes for a great rental car option

 

[goskis2018]

Personally, I'd put the Honeymoon off until November and go to The Bahamas. But that's just me...

Believe me, that crossed my mind

 

[jleves]

Hopefully you clicked the links that @huskymedic posted - tons of information in there.

We went to Kauai for our honeymoon and it was great for just hanging out with some cool day trips - definitely take the raft/boat trip to the Na Pali Coast (can recommend Capt Andy's) and the helicopter tour is great (get a polarizing filter and bring long sleeve dark shirts). Probably best in my book for the romantic getaway.

Maui is our favorite place to go at this point - we'll be spending three weeks in October in Kaanapali. As mentioned above, tons to do there. @CL82 mentioned Big Mama's which is a great suggestion, but I tried to book dinner there a month ago for an October date and all I could get was 3pm, so it's unlikely you'll find that sunset dinner.

I avoid Oahu at all costs. Honolulu is like a big city with terrible traffic, crowded and just kind of unfun. Other than going to Pearl, it's not worth the expense in my book.

Big Island is interesting, but the resorts and options are not nearly as good as Maui or Kauai. You have to get lucky to see any cool lava and if it's too active, you really can't get very close the volcano. It got pretty boring there after a week for me.

 

[baako1]

Good Morning Boneyard!

I'm getting married this October and recently cancelled mine and my Fiancée's Paris honeymoon plans. I'm now pivoting to booking a 2 week stay in Hawaii during the second half of October and am finding the task more daunting than first expected. Can any of you guys share any advice as to which island would be best suited for a romantic getaway? Any tips or lived experiences would be much appreciated as I scramble to get this organized. Thanks!

Wife and I went in September 2018 on our honeymoon. We split between the big island, Oahu, and Kauai. All were fantastic in their own ways. I think Kauai was probably our favorite on balance - we split our time between the north and south sides of the island, the hiking is just the best (in Waimea Canyon). Also great food and more of a laidback vibe, with lots of smaller secluded beaches. Our stay on the big island was also great, but probably our least favorite of the three -- we had some tough luck with timing and the volcanoes had just gone off, so we couldn't do volcanoes nat'l park. it was still a great stay, though, and where we started the trip (in hindsight, i think we would have done Maui instead). We loved Oahu - more than anticipated. While it is definitely the most "miami" vibe of the three, it still felt like Hawaii and there was some amazing sightseeing and hiking / beaches. The food scene on Oahu is also fantastic. If we could do it again, we probably would have spent a few nights on the north shore (at Turtle Bay resort) and a couple nights in Waikiki, too. We stayed at a hotel called the Kahala, which was really nice, but it was a little far from Waikiki proper and the beach / pool area was not amazing, so I would probably choose a diff property next time.

Anyway, definitely DM me if you have other questions - happy to help. We absolutely loved it and hope to return once the world is back to normal.

 

[Tenspro2002]

We did our honeymoon on Hawaii in early September 2015 -- 6 days on Kauai and 3 days on the Big Island near Volcanoes National Park.

I'd highly recommend Kauai, especially if you're more into the scenery and outdoorsy stuff. A lot of good hiking. Boat tour of the Na Pali coast. Some nice beaches. Some good restaurants. It's definitely on the quieter side.

The Big Island was neat, again we largely did it for adventurous outdoorsy stuff.

If you're doing 2 weeks, definitely split it up among multiple islands. A week on Kauai will cover all the top sites. You could probably fill another week on the Big Island (if I had to do it again, I would have taken another day and gone to Mauna Kea observatory). I can't speak to the others.

 

[HuskyAlum012]

If you do Hawaii, you must include Maui into your plans, anything else and you are doing yourself a disservice. Food is fantastic, excursions are plentiful and some great beaches. For excursions, look into Road to Hana (this is an all day trip with various small acitivities along the way) , sunrise bike tour at Mount Haleakala, helicopter tour (probably similar at any island tho tbh), and plenty of snorkeling off many of the beaches. I did 8 day vacation there with my family and its the best vacation I've ever been on. I would probably do a week in Maui, and another week somewhere else. Wouldnt think 2 full weeks are necessary for any of the Islands tbh. And yes, book Mama's Fish house now.

 

[CL82]

Road to Hana (this is an all day trip with various small acitivities along the way)

Second this. Bring swim gear, hiking gear.

 

[Zionn]

Been lucky to go multiple times - highly recommend visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center if you have a chance.