2 weeks on Kauai or wait?.........

[DorotaG Member Find all posts View Profile Close DorotaG]

I booked our air (with United FF points!) for June 2008, to HNL. Still have to purchase one more ticket or book SkyChoice Delta ticket (70,000 miles!!!). Now I am looking for accommodations, hopefully using RCI points. Currently the only resorts available for the period I am interested in (June 8-22) are on Kauai. What do I do:
* Book both of the weeks on Kauai (one south end and one north side)
* Book one week on Kauai and wait for something to show up later
* Book 10 days on Kauai and rent 4 nights, possibly in Honolulu (maybe 2 days on arrival and 2 days before departure)
What you think?
This will be our 1st visit and I was hoping to visit more then one island. We will be traveling with two kids (14 and almost 8 next summer) and most likely it will be myself with kids for whole two weeks and my husband arriving separately (one day late most likely) and leaving 3 days ahead of us (he is the one without the ticket as of right now). He is not very travel savvy, always relays on me to make all the arrangements, so I don't want to complicate things for him too much too.

Currently available in points:

PAHIO at Bali Hai Villas (#3031)
Lawai Beach Resort (#5080)
PAHIO at Kauai Beach Villas (#3681)
PAHIO at Ka'Eo Kai (#1376)
Pono Kai Resort (#2491)
Banyan Harbor (#0266)
The Makai Club Cottages (#1580)
The Makai Club at Princeville (#1254)

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

"* Book both of the weeks on Kauai (one south end and one north side)".....this is what we would do but we go to Hawaii regularly. It really depends on what you want to do.

A couple things to consider are what you may want to do in Oahu and how important they are.....Pearl Harbor...etc.

Moving between islands will take up more of your vacation time and is more challenging with kids.

Kauai has more than enough things to do for two weeks...it depends on what you like to do.

You can always come back and go to the other islands...unless this is a once in a lifetime trip.

Don't worry too much about it....no matter what you decide it will be the right decision because you will be in Hawaii and that is all good.

Good luck with your decision.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

If you are only going to do one week on Kauai, take Kauai Beach Villas (or Pono Kai). It's midway between North and South so a good point from which to explore both.

I can't help with the decision about whether to try a second island, but would suggest, if you decide to do it, that you consider either Maui or the Big Island.

Watch out for lack of air conditioning at many of the resorts you have listed. We were in Princeville in July and it was HOT. I am pretty sure Kauai Beach Villas has A/C, but the other Pahios do not, nor does Lawaii Beach Resort. Maybe June temps will be cooler, check the weather histories. It does get a little cooler at night.

[aliikai2 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close aliikai2]

In June the best bet would be

The Makai Club Cottages (#1580) , these are in Princeville, closer to the great beaches in Hanalei and north. Plus these are the best buy in points, These units are huge at over 2200 sq ft.

As others here and oy have said, moving resorts let alone moving islands is really a pain.

1st, you need to check out at 10 or 11 am.

Now that means repacking, get a cooler to move what ever you have in the fridge. Then trying to put all that stuff and you 4 in a car until check in at 4 or 5 pm

Now if you changing islands, you will need to add in the rental car return, and re-rent, the check in hassles, the inconvenient flight times. Throwing away what you have in the fridge.

You may hear a Maui file tell you that Kauai is too quite for teenagers, and I guess if your kids are amped up SoCAl or NYC then maybe they are right.

But if your kids are like my grandkids, they love the beach, they love Hawaii, they are always asking when were are taking them to Kauai again.

As someone posted oy, be sure to get the Ultimate Kauai book ,
Buy Our Books

Amazon has it, so do many Costco's.

If you have any other questions about Kauai, feel free to email me.

Greg

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

Hi...I think it's pretty difficult to advise you about what to do. They all have good points. We happen to prefer Kauai, and feel fortunate to have scored 2 BTB weeks at the Kauai Coast resort in June.
If you might not get a chance to go back again, I think I'd try for one week on Oahu, and one on Kauai. It would give you two different flavors of the islands. Wherever you go, you can't go far wrong. It IS Hawaii, after all.

I booked our air (with United FF points!) for June 2008, to HNL. Still have to purchase one more ticket or book SkyChoice Delta ticket (70,000 miles!!!). Now I am looking for accommodations, hopefully using RCI points. Currently the only resorts available for the period I am interested in (June 8-22) are on Kauai. What do I do:
* Book both of the weeks on Kauai (one south end and one north side)
* Book one week on Kauai and wait for something to show up later
* Book 10 days on Kauai and rent 4 nights, possibly in Honolulu (maybe 2 days on arrival and 2 days before departure)
What you think?
This will be our 1st visit and I was hoping to visit more then one island. We will be traveling with two kids (14 and almost 8 next summer) and most likely it will be myself with kids for whole two weeks and my husband arriving separately (one day late most likely) and leaving 3 days ahead of us (he is the one without the ticket as of right now). He is not very travel savvy, always relays on me to make all the arrangements, so I don't want to complicate things for him too much too.

Currently available in points:

PAHIO at Bali Hai Villas (#3031)
Lawai Beach Resort (#5080)
PAHIO at Kauai Beach Villas (#3681)
PAHIO at Ka'Eo Kai (#1376)
Pono Kai Resort (#2491)
Banyan Harbor (#0266)
The Makai Club Cottages (#1580)
The Makai Club at Princeville (#1254)

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

If you are only going to do one week on Kauai, take Kauai Beach Villas (or Pono Kai). It's midway between North and South so a good point from which to explore both.

I can't help with the decision about whether to try a second island, but would suggest, if you decide to do it, that you consider either Maui or the Big Island.

Watch out for lack of air conditioning at many of the resorts you have listed. We were in Princeville in July and it was HOT. I am pretty sure Kauai Beach Villas has A/C, but the other Pahios do not, nor does Lawaii Beach Resort. Maybe June temps will be cooler, check the weather histories. It does get a little cooler at night.

Pono Kai does have air conditioning.

[Faust Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Faust]

I would do one week in the north and one week in the south. We did this a few years ago and found out it is the best way to do Kauai.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I would do one week in the north and one week in the south. We did this a few years ago and found out it is the best way to do Kauai.

That's what we're doing when we go back

[bevvy5 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close bevvy5]

Is there a way online that you can see where the various resorts are on an Island? I always chuck my RCI directory which I think has a map like that in it. Guess I should keep it next time as we'd love to do the north/south Kauai thing in 2010, our next trip to Hawaii after our upcoming '08 one.

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread. I gave my comments to this question OY - we did the two island thing our last trip - I won't do it again, just too much stress in the middle of a vacation.

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

I would do one week in the north and one week in the south. We did this a few years ago and found out it is the best way to do Kauai.

It saves a lot of driving. One week is really not enough to see this island and have a relaxed vacation too. It is better to go again later and visit another island.

I have no idea how hot the summers are so don't know how necessary A/C is.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

I would do one week in the north and one week in the south. We did this a few years ago and found out it is the best way to do Kauai.

Glitter

That's what we're doing when we go back

I can't do two weeks on the island, at this point. We will be on Maui, for the first week. Would it pay for us to split the second week, half on North, and half on South? I'll be staying at the Marriott Kauai Bch Club.

Hey, maybe I could trade some days with anyone who'd also like to stay on both sides. I'll be there April 27- May 4th, 08.

If not, I have a number of studios, and an AC that I could probably grab something with, especially last minute.

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

Angela
Keep your week at KBC. It's too much of a hassle to move from 1 resort to another. KBC is centrally located on Kauai so driving to the different ends is easy. Keep in mind this is a small island & you can get to everything in a relatively short time. You can't even drive all the way around like on the other major islands. So just keep it as you have it. Your location is ideal for a 1 week visit.

To the OP
Because this is a first visit, I'd suggest 1 week on Oahu (or Maui) & 1 week on Kauai choosing Pono Kai because it is centrally located and a nice resort for families. I suggest Oahu because it would minimize the hassle of airline travel, etc. with only one interisland flight needed. And there is lots to see on Oahu for a first timer. And the 2 islands are soooo different.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

barndweller

Angela
Keep your week at KBC. It's too much of a hassle to move from 1 resort to another. KBC is centrally located on Kauai so driving to the different ends is easy. Keep in mind this is a small island & you can get to everything in a relatively short time. You can't even drive all the way around like on the other major islands. So just keep it as you have it. Your location is ideal for a 1 week visit.

OK, thanks. I'll keep things the way they are. Plus, we'll be staying in CA for a few days in both directions, so we are already moving around quite a bit.

[DorotaG Member Find all posts View Profile Close DorotaG]

Thank you everybody! It seems that general agreement is to stay on one island and Kauai should work for us. We enjoy nature, beach, in general everything that Kauai has to offer. We do not go on vacation to shop or enjoy night life. We were all perfectly happy in Morritt’s (Grand Cayman) this year and everybody who has been there knows that it is not a place bursting with night life. Both children loved it there and think that it was best vacation yet.
Now, I need to resolve some of the RCI Points issues I didn’t know I had, and I should be all set. I already booked Pahio Ka’Eo Kai for our second week and was hoping to book Lawai Beach for the first week when I run into RCI issues, hopefully can resolve them soon.
Thank you for all your wonderful advise.

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

We went to Maui for one week and Kauai for one week for our first trip ever to the islands this summer. We will go back in two years and spend 2 weeks on Kauai. It took a full week to explore the beaches on the north end of the island. I have heard you can easily spend a full week at the south end of the island as well.