Review: Mauna Loa Village by the Sea

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Following is an overview of the review that was added:

The unit was huge with two master suites, one on each side of the large living area which also had a half bath. Gas grill 25 feet from the lanai. The grounds are kept in great condition.

Please see the review here!

Please use this thread to discuss the review.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Thanks for the review.

Are there any units that have an ocean view?

Are there any units to avoid?

Are the units pre-assigned?

[garyd210 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close garyd210]

Moana Loa Village review

Aloha! Thanks for your review. I've stayed at the Holua 2 years now with the 2 b/r 2.5 bath. They're like a townhouse with the bedrooms each with a private bath and each with a ground level patio downstairs and the livingroom/kitchen upstairs with the lanai off the diningroom area. We rarely heard anything from neighbors with that kind of configuration. Last September we thoroughly enjoyed watching the tree trimmers shimmy up the palm trees and cut off the dry frans(spellings?). Our other couple took advantage of the tennis courts several times even though it got rather humid both September trips there. Moana Loa doesn't have a computer internet terminal to use, whereas Holua did for a whopping .35/minute. There are some internet coffee places around including the Drysdale restaurant center. In '05 Holua rented us terribly worn beach mats, a broken beach umbrella and some beach chairs for $5 each per day. That really turned me off since the mats were less than $1 at the local Walmart. We really enjoyed the welcome evening with mai tais, finger food and a cute hawaiian show by some young girls as young as 8 and the Holua. We've done 2 presentations with the Shell down the road, which were not terribly pushy and we enjoyed touring the model unit. We go to the Moana Loa for the first time this coming September and actually bought the 2/2.5 sight unseen. From what I understand the Holua has a very colorful blue and green color scheme and the Moana Loa is suppose to be more neutral. Keahou Bay is within walking distance and have taken the Fairwinds snorkel trip, which was a lot of fun. The Sheraton next door has a luau show that We'd like to try some time, which you walk past to get to the bay. Thank you Philfan for your reviews. One last comment is that these t/s's are at the very end of the Kona area and off of the beaten path. So many of the south of Kona t/s's are right on the well traveled Alii Road. There is also a golf course within walking distance if 1/3-1/2 mile is considered walking distance from your front door. Holua has a workout room, but I'm not sure of Moana Loa. While my first impression of Kona was a little unimpressed with all the lava fields, but we've driven to a variety of places and have found the island to be well diversified in vegetation, as probably all the islands are. I'm all excited about going back in September after writing this!!!! Gary

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Did they fix the bug problem? We were invaded by ants in two rooms.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Thanks for the review.

Are there any units that have an ocean view?

Are there any units to avoid?

Are the units pre-assigned?

John, we owned a 1 br unit here but it is quite a while ago now. I remember making reservations and requesting certain unit numbers and I believe they let me know right away if they were available or not but that was before it became FF/Wyndham.

The units are very large but very few, if any, have an ocean view and if so, it is a distant view. Some have a view on the golf course up the hill but most look out on a pool. We did twice and once the golf course too. It is a short walk down to the ocean but that was a launching area for boats. We took a few snorkel tours from here. They were excellent.

We sold because we hated the bugs in the kitchen two years on a row plus we had no ocean view. Our deed or contract said that we had 1 1/2 bath but we got once a unit with one bathroom only which was very inconvenient with friends.

It is a converted condo project with two developers selling here. One is FF/Wyndham and the other one is Shell. The gardens were very attractive in Japanese style with a flowing river and the sound of water. It was very quiet here and there was a parking structure too. You are quite far from the hustle and bustle of Kona proper but it is a beautiful area with lots of greenery because there is a golf course and a very nice resort nearby. We went there a few times to have a meal or drinks. There was a Thai restaurant pretty close by and that was excellent. The ML recommended it highly and I wonder if it is still there?

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Thanks for the review.

Are there any units that have an ocean view?

Are there any units to avoid?

Are the units pre-assigned?

The only possible ocean views are the furthest units from the entrance on the right side of the driveway on the upper floors.

I don't think there are any 'bad' views just not a lot of good ones.

Units are assigned at check-in but my request was honored. I called the week before check-in.

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Did they fix the bug problem? We were invaded by ants in two rooms.

We saw no bugs at all in either unit.

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Moana Loa doesn't have a computer internet terminal to use, whereas Holua did for a whopping .35/minute. There are some internet coffee places around including the Drysdale restaurant center.

From what I understand the Holua has a very colorful blue and green color scheme and the Moana Loa is suppose to be more neutral.

There is also a golf course within walking distance if 1/3-1/2 mile is considered walking distance from your front door.

KHV has wireless internet in the lobby area and the staff recommended we use that if dialup didn't work out.

Those colors are correct, Mauna Loa is light yellow. SVC is neon green.

The golf course is a half mile, the restaurant there is only open Wed-Sun. The hill from the entrance of the resort to the road where the golf course entrance is can be challenging if you are not in reasonably good shape.

[penguinpower Member Find all posts View Profile Close penguinpower]

We just checked out of Mauna Loa yesterday, and into KHV today. We much prefer the Mauna Loa unit we had. As mentioned above, the unit we had there was incredibly huge. Ours was so clean and airy. We did not see any bugs inside the unit. We had the two-story style unit with a small foyer as you walk in, the washer/dryer in a closet down there, and two large bedrooms on that level, each with a full bath. The "master" bedroom included an enormous vanity area.

We loved the landscaping with so many beautiful flowers. We also loved the location which is a bit of a distance to the hustle bustle where the KHV is located, but worked out very well for us since we used that week of our vacation to do a lot of exploring on that section of the island. We fell in love with the Place of Refuge and returned several times to enjoy sunset in the picnic area. Place of Refuge is a National Park which we did not realize until AFTER we had paid our entrance fee -- we already had a National Park pass! But after enjoying the tranquility and beauty of the park, we did not regret buying that one day pass to support the park. If you want to enjoy sunset in the picnic area, just drive onto the sand road to the left of the restroom areas. There's a lovely shaded area with picnic tables and grills. Easy-to-walk-on lava all the way to the ocean, and although I would not risk swimming there (I'm a weak swimmer) we have seen snorklers there twice.

Also as mentioned, you can borrow beach chairs, mats, noodles, coolers, umbrellas and various other things for free. I believe these are mostly left behind by previous vacationers. You do need to sign out for the items and sign back in to show you returned the items. They allowed us to borrow a cooler on our last day since we had to check out by 10 a.m. and could not get into our KHV unit until 4 and had some perishables. The cooler was just what we needed. We returned the cooler on our way to church (if you are Catholic don't miss a chance to attend mass at St. Benedict's Painted Church near the Place of Refuge 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 7:15 a.m. on Sundays. The second sunday of the month is a Hawaiian mass).

If you attend the welcome orientation session (NOT a timeshare sales meeting) you get a nice continental breakfast with yummy pastries and delicious fruit, and they gave away some nice prizes including a Circle Island bus tour and Dolphin Cruise. I won a can of macadamia nuts lol. There is an Expedia concierge in the lobby who tells you about many of the tours that are available, and she will book them for you with some small savings. They will ask you to take a sales tour and offer a $100 discount voucher good for tours or restaurants, but we declined and they did not pressure too much. (Unlike KHV which go to be annoying until I just walked away)

We really enjoyed Mauna Loa.

[JROBIN Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JROBIN]

JThere was a Thai restaurant pretty close by and that was excellent. The ML recommended it highly and I wonder if it is still there?[/FONT][/SIZE]

The Thai restaurant is the Royal Thai and it is in the Keauhou shopping center near the Kona Coast Resort. We always try to eat at the Royal Thai once during our stays on the BI.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Royal Thai was only one of the places we ate out at....the first night we were there. We have been to many many Thai restaurants in So Cal....if the Royal Thai was good once it certainly wasn't when we went two weeks ago. Even the concierge at ML said it was not what it used to be after we gave them our feed back.

[garyd210 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close garyd210]

Drysdale's Restaurant

This restaurant is in the same shopping center, near the grocery market. Reasonably priced food in a fun hawaiian atmosphere. No idea if it's related to the Dodger pitcher of years gone by. If I didn't mention it in my earlier evaluation of Mauna Loa, you must go next door to the Sheraton at night when it's dark for an amazing sight. The turn on bright flood lights towards the ocean, which apparently draws ocean critters, which in turn draw absolutely huge mantarays or whatever they are. The start away from the Sheraton and swim directly towards the light to feed as they swim and then circle around for repeated feedings. The have dive tours to see these beasts in action(at night though). Gary

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

We went to see the Mantarays from the Sheraton observation deck. They are absolutely huge! What a sight!

Sue