A Great Alternative To Waikiki And Honolulu : Hawaii Travel Podcast Show 27

The Hawaii Travel Podcast, show number 26 for Tuesday June 4th, 2013. Today we’ll discuss a holiday fit for a king, King Kamehameha and King Kamehameha Day. And, can you explore four islands in just eight days? You bet, find out how on this episode of The Hawaii Travel Podcast.

We received a great email from David, Georgia and Richard...

Just got back from our Hawaii vacation and wanted to thank you for your informative program. In case anyone else asks a similar question (or you do a show about how to manage mad scrambles around multiple islands – in this case four islands in eight days), here is what we ended up doing:

We rented a car on each island and made all of our arrangements independently. We decided this was much more time-efficient and was as cheap or cheaper than the excursions offered through the ship.

We flew to Honolulu (from LA) on a Friday on Hawaiian Airlines. (Note: it might be worth mentioning the jet lag – in our case, 3 hours, but for others we talked to, from 5 to 8! It made our early mornings easier, but we were all ready for bed by 9pm or so the entire week.)

OAHU

We arrived by 8am at each new port on the cruise. We booked a car from Hertz, where there was a long line/long wait for the car despite our reservation and got stuck in Waikiki traffic (worse than usual due to a bomb threat that day). Eventually we made our way to the Waikiki Beach Marriott, which had an extraordinary view of the beach. (Note: The Diamond Head end of Waikiki Beach seems a little more laidback and less like an upscale mall than the Royal Hawaiian end of the beach – at the end of the trip we stayed at the Aqua Waikiki Wave, where we had the same issue with sink in bathroom, and found the Las Vegas-like streetscape pretty exhausting.) We had dinner at Lulu’s – thanks for the tip! Great food and beachy ambiance – then back to our hotel balcony to watch the Hilton Hawaiian Village fireworks at 7:30.

Next morning, we went to Leonards for malasadas. They were incredible – particularly the mango filling (so good we came back our last day for more)! Then we drove up to the Diamond Head Farmers Market then over to the Pali Lookout for our own modified Circle Tour. We boarded our cruise ship, the Pride of America , in the afternoon and enjoyed the view from our corner suite, which had a large balcony with great views from ocean of each island though the port locations were not always scenic.

MAUI

The ship made the overnight trip to Kahului, Maui and the next morning we picked-up car at Kahului Airport then drove to Maui Tropical Plantation where we tried the zipline, which was fun but not necessarily a must-do for Hawaii. For lunch, we tried the Don Ho Burger at the Cool Cat Cafe in Lahaina, before boarding the Atlantis Submarine , which was a fun way to get underwater without getting wet (one in our party doesn’t swim). After the submarine ride, we wandered up and down Front Street stopping at Ululani’s Shave Ice , which was extraordinary. In the evening, we went to the Feast at Lele, a food-centric luau with a beautiful oceanfront location, good food and great show. The next day we visited the Iao Needle, walking the paved 1⁄2 mile loop up, then drove up to the Surfing Goat Dairy where we sampled some of their delicious cheeses and visited the kids. We returned to Kahului and overnight the ship continued to Hilo on the Big Island.

BIG ISLAND

We picked-up a rental car at Hilo Airport (note: there was a shuttle available at each port to the car rental places and shuttles back to the ship from the rental place). We drove through Queen Liliuokalani Gardens to Rainbow Falls/Pe’epe’e Falls & Boiling Pots and Akaka Falls before returning to the airport for our Safari helicopter tour over Kalapana and Volcanos National Park, a stark and awe-inspiring landscape. Next we drove to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory for the self-tour and lunch, then to Lava Tree State Monument and along the often one-lane road to Kalapana. On the way we stopped at the MacKenzie State...