Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip to Maui (2008)--Day 1
3/17/2008
About These Pictures
Most of the pics you'll find in this review were taken with a Nikon D50. The rest were taken with a Nikon Coolpix S500, which is a great little camera, perfect for sticking in your pocket and carrying around. Some were shot using a circular polarizing lens. By clicking an image, you'll find a larger version of that picture.
Restaurants
To view our ratings for the Maui restaurants we visited, click here.
Prologue
For this, our fifth trip to Hawai`i, we decided to stick to just one island. Our choice was obvious...Maui! Being the island we were married on in 1996, Maui is both our sentimental and overall favorite. Maui presents a nice mix of activities and relaxation for visitors. If you want to knock yourselves out doing activities every day, you'll find more than you can possibly do in a month. If you want to relax, kick back and watch the ocean, you can do this, also. We chose to do mostly the latter, but we included some fun activities during our stay.
Getting There
I know I've taken Northwest Airlines to task in previous trip reports, but on this trip I found nothing even slightly displeasing. Every flight left on time and arrived on time with the sole exception being the Twin Cities to Seattle flight, which left an hour late. However, this was due to the weather and the required wing de-icing.
After arriving in Minneapolis just after 7 a.m., we had a 3 3/4 hour layover before our 11:45 a.m. flight to Seattle. We arrived in Seattle a bit late, but since all they did was refuel the plane and take on more passengers there, this was no big deal.
You can always feel the excitement building on a cross-Pacific flight into Hawai`i, and you can see it in the actions of the other passengers. The talking tends to get louder as you approach the islands, and there is more movement about the aisle of the plane, although part of that might just be restlessness from the six-hour flight. We were certainly filled with excitement. Getting off the plane in Kahului, that warm tropical air hits you when you step into the concourse and it hits you...we're here once again!
Always exciting to see the Maui coast approach!
Sun about to set as we land
By the time we had claimed our luggage and secured a car (a Chevy Cobalt LT) from Alamo Rent-a-car and were on the road toward Lahaina, it was dark. I'm not a fan of driving at night and was already tired by now, having been up for 21 hours. All I wanted to do was unpack a few things, take a quick dip in the hot tub and crash out. But first, we had to trek up to the Safeway supermarket at the Cannery Mall to buy food and beverages. This set us back $100 despite now buying that much. A similar list here in Duluth would have cost roughly $60-65. It's not a shock, as we're used to food prices in Maui. Shipping costs contribute greatly to the disparity in costs between Hawai`i and the mainland.
Our first night ended with what would become a customary visit to the hot tub. We were dead tired and both asleep by 11:00.
Lahaina Shores Beach Resort
The first impression when you walk into the lobby at the Lahaina Shores is an impressive one. It's not a particularly ritzy place but there is always a breeze passing from the ocean through the lobby; it's a wonderful feeling! This was our fifth trip to Maui and Lahaina Shores has been the only resort we've stayed at on this island. There just has never been any compelling reason to stay elsewhere. The rates are reasonable (just over $200/night taking into account the seventh-night free), we have a excellent view of the ocean from our lanai and we're close enough to fall asleep to the sound of the waves. It's a great atmosphere. There is a strip of sandy beach which runs about a half mile in front of the hotel, perfect for walking every morning (more on that later). An outside pool and hot tub remain open until 10 p.m., making for a nice place to gather with other guests after dinner to "talk story".
The room we had on this occasion (Room 531) wasn't as nicely furnished as the room we'd had last year (room 609), but it was more than acceptable. The appliances were all in good working order; there wasn't a sliding glass door in the shower as 609 had, and the bed was only a double bed (as opposed to the Queen bed in 609), but these were minor points. While we would have preferred last year's room, one advantage 531 had was that we rarely smelled cigarette smoke from other rooms. This had been a constant issue last year, and we're still waiting for Lahaina Shores to deal with this problem. This resort needs to be completely smokefree as many hotels are elsewhere in Hawai`i.
Overall, this was an very nice room in what we consider an exceptional hotel. Rating: 9.
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