Review: Shell Vacations Club at the Holua Resort at Mauna Loa Village

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

Following is an overview of the review that was added:

Large 1 bdr unit with new furnishings, a large TV and surround sound stereo system. Nice sized lanai on upper level unit with partial ocean view.

Please see the review here!

Please use this thread to discuss the review.

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

Holua at the Moana Loa Village

We had two couples use the 2 b/r 2.5 bath units in the September months of 2006 and 2005. The first time, the yard work was a bit odd with piles of cuttings that were left in the same place for the entire week. Last year, the landscaping was amazingly improved. The units at the Holua and very bright and tropical feeling. You hear about the neon green color and that's a pretty good description, but hea this is Hawaii, right? Both times we found the units to be very nice. The first time we came across a huge spider in the kitchen, which the staff immediately responded to(probably by my wife's blood curdling scream,ha). I told the yound man who responded that we mainlanders aren't used to such critters, but the locals probably bbq them for a delicacy, to which he happily shared with his co-worker with the spider harpoon. We became friendly with this gent, who kiddingly said he had the nickname "manimal", for being half man and half animal. We didn't see Manimal the second trip there and figured he bbq'd one too many huge spiders. This complex has a tennis court complex, which I believe is owned and operated by a tennis club. I couldn't tell you if there's a fee to use the court, but I saw a ball spittin machine and a small pro shop. Holua had free internet the first year and a very pricey credit card operated computer the second year. It was something like .35/minute, so my visits were short and sweet. Each visit they had a welcome party with the cutest little girls 5-15years old doing the dancing with the live hawaiian music. We enjoyed it both trips a lot. We did the Shell timeshare presentation and had a nice tour, mini breakfast, and a bit of the usual salesmanship, but we ended up with some good discounts on an airplane ride(2 of 4 of us barfed in our party and about 5 of the 8 on the plane). We had so much upchuck spilling from the plane the volcano was almost extinguished(just kidding). We did the ATV ride out of Koloa and almost got killed in our 2-person mud buggy. My wife wasn't terribly fond of me plowing through the big muddy puddles and driving excessivly close to the cane fronds along the path. She fell in love with an orphaned baby wild boar, which she held all the way back to the office to join other captured boars. Probably all awaiting the next company bbq, but maybe not. We drove over to the Volcano Park and had a nice drive, but didn't walk to the actual lava site. This area is pretty lump bumpy and not an easy walk without good concentration, but there were a lot of cars parked at the end of the road you start the hiking trail at, so a lot of folks take on the challenge. We stopped at black sand beach, which is very close to the parking lot. Saw a big turtle sunning it's self on the sand with warning signs to cut the turtles some slack by respectfully keeping away. We did the Moana Loa Mac Nut visit, but too late for the actual tour. The gift shop and snack bar were both very nice for samples and a bite. Hilo was just a short drive past the mac nut farm, where we had a bite of dinner at an ok pancake house place the kid at the gas station recommended. We got back on the road as the sun was setting and took the road through the middle of the island, through the Parker Ranch property and got back to the Kona area via Waikola. It was a full day of driving this loop around the lower half of the island. We drove up to the north part of the island and saw a pretty, but realistic typical residential area of the island. Back to Holua, the nearby pools were always very clean and enjoyable to cool off in and lay out by and each pool had a hot tub next to it. FYI there's a Walmart in town and a Costco with the best priced gas a short drive south of the airport. The secondary bedroom has twin beds, which the staff was requested 2+ times to put together for our frineds and it took 2-3 days for them to respond. Well we go back to the Moana Loa Village with the bland off white walls in a month and we'll then see how they compare to Holua. Aloha, Gary