Vacation Advice - Reputable Travel Agent for Hawaii

[scottmitchell74]

My 25th is coming up in 2024 so it's about time to plan. Here are my parameters:

1. Three weeks
2. Three or Four Islands - Oahu, Maui, Big Island, Kauai (If only three I don't know!)
3. Car Rental
4. I'll figure out my own tours/excursions.
5. This is a one-and-done: we usually don't repeat biggies as there is only so much time and $$ but the world is so big so this is our only Hawaii trip. The dilemma is do we visit more islands or do we hit less islands but spend more time per island.

My big issue is trying to arrange the flights from island-to-island and this is a nightmare. I hate using travel agents and have always organized my own trips but this one might be one for an agent.

Or!


Simply help me unlock the secret code of which island to go to in which order. When I try American Airlines (what I have access to in my neck of the woods) I keep getting "error" messages but they won't say what the error is.

If I can still arrange the flights I would, I just can't unlock the secret.


I have fiddled with Tripmaster.com as they have cool customizable itineraries but I'm nervous using their service as I know nothing about them.

[lonewolf]

Scott, several years ago, I took a Hawaii ship cruise as a geological lecturer. We sailed from San Diego, five days crossing, docked at Hilo Hawaii), Kona (Hawaii), Lahaina (Maui), Lihue(Kauai) Honolulu (Oahu), cruised between ports overnight, had a full day to explore each island, flew home from Honolulu. You could probably stay longer in Honolulu if you wanted more beach time.
I was able to photograph every county courthouse, state house, palace and government building in Hawaii.

[scottmitchell74]

Scott, several years ago, I took a Hawaii ship cruise as a geological lecturer. We sailed from San Diego, five days crossing, docked at Hilo Hawaii), Kona (Hawaii), Lahaina (Maui), Lihue(Kauai) Honolulu (Oahu), cruised between ports overnight, had a full day to explore each island, flew home from Honolulu. You could probably stay longer in Honolulu if you wanted more beach time.
I was able to photograph every county courthouse, state house, palace and government building in Hawaii.

Interesting...🤔👍 A one way cruise.

[mcgato]

Since there haven't been many replies yet, I'll tell of my trip there in 2018 with some family.

Flew into Lihue, Kauai, from Phoenix (started in Philadelphia). My sister had rented a condo near Poipu beach. She said that there are tons of condo rentals in Hawaii, through places like AirBnB or VRBO. While Kauai was nice, there was not all that much to do. I would recommend a few days there at most.

Next to the Big Island, and small rental house south of Hilo. After getting there, we were told that is the rainy side of the island, and it rained a lot. Only spent a few days there, and I would have liked to have spent more time there. I did not get to half of the island. The volcano was quiet at that time, so there was not much to see. The difference between Kauai and the Big Island is pretty interesting. The Big Island still has very active volcanoes, and is still growing. Kauai stopped with the volcanoes long ago, and is slowly eroding into the sea.

It seemed like there were island planes every hour or so between Honolulu and any of the other islands, so island hopping is very easy.

As a follow up, the things that happened in the month or so after I left:
--Huge rain on the north end of Kauai. Something like 48 inches in 24 hours that brought huge floods.
--A shark attacked a surfer off of Poipu beach, which is where my nephew had done some surfing.
--The volcano awakened in a big way, and the lava flow appeared to be about two miles south of where I was staying. Most of the TV reporters were in the small town that I went to dinner on the first night there.

[scottmitchell74]

Thanks mcgato!

[jc203]

My view is that you are looking at too much inter island travel. Add airport and flight time (air fare between islands is sorta pricey by the way) land transport, checking into and out of hotels, unpacking and packing up again...to me all those logistics for 4 islands cut way too big a swath of time out out a 3-week stay.
From my point of view even 3 islands would be a pretty frenetic tour.
Also, from my perspective, unless you have some special interest @ Oahu like touring Pearl Harbor, there is no reason to spend time there. Urban sprawl, traffic jams... Kinda like Las Vegas.
Big Island, Maui and Kauai are my preferences with the least time time devoted to Kauai.

[scottmitchell74]

My view is that you are looking at too much inter island travel. Add airport and flight time (air fare between islands is sorta pricey by the way) land transport, checking into and out of hotels, unpacking and packing up again...to me all those logistics for 4 islands cut way too big a swath of time out out a 3-week stay.
From my point of view even 3 islands would be a pretty frenetic tour.
Also, from my perspective, unless you have some special interest @ Oahu like touring Pearl Harbor, there is no reason to spend time there. Urban sprawl, traffic jams... Kinda like Las Vegas.
Big Island, Maui and Kauai are my preferences with the least time time devoted to Kauai.

Great advice. The kind of insider thing I'm looking for. You're right about Oahu: me and wife are not city, eating out, nightlife people at all.

[DrJay]

Spent three night in Honolulu and three or four on Maui spring break 2019. Visiting Diamond Head and hiking to the top was kind of interesting. Touring the USS Missouri was worth it if you're on O'ahu. We couldn't go onto the USS Arizona memorial, the little bridge from the platform where the tour boats dock to the actual memorial had a crack in it and it took like 18 months to fix. Drove to the north shore of O'ahu for a day. On Maui, drove to the top of Kalahaku and that was worth doing. Went to one luau and I guess that is de rigueur. I'm never going to scuba dive and have done only a little snorkeling in the Yucatan so a snorkeling day trip to the Molokini Crater was fun. Maybe a hour boat ride to the crater, 90 minutes of time to snorkel, lunch on the boat, an hour back to the dock. Can't recall which guide company we used but we left from Maalaea (stayed at a VRBO down in Wailea area.)

https://molokinicrater.com/

[bad hammy]

Having been to Hawaii a few times in the past two decades, including getting married there 10 years ago, I agree with folks who say don't spend much time on Oahu - it's a very crowded caricature of island living. For your one and only time in the islands you should consider narrowing it down to two or maybe three non-Oahu islands max. When you fly inter-island to get from one to the other you will almost assuredly fly through Honolulu, so you could arrange a one-day tour of Oahu to catch anything (Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, etc.) that might be bucket list items.

My favorite places are the north shore of Kauai, the west shore of the Big Island, and Hana in Maui. Hana & Kauai are very sweet & quiet - island living at its relaxed best. The west coast of the Big Island is good resort country and is comparatively dry, which helps if mosquitoes love you as much as they do me. Maui & the Big Island definitely have more touristy things to do than Kauai, which can be good (lots of choices) or bad (crowds) depending on how you look at things.

If you don't have a decent discount at a resort I'd go with an airbnb kind of place. Our trip last year was highlighted by a week at a 3-acre vrbo in Kauai on the edge of a cliff with a river below it and a view of the ocean. It helped that we had a family group of six to cover costs.

[Davidokun]

Passing along some advice from friends of a friend who lives in Honolulu:

• Best way to fly from island to island is via Hawaiian Air. Standard fare for a one-way ticket is $75, and they sometimes offer discounts.
• If you do decide to use a travel agent, try Panda Travel or Travel to Paradise.

My friend recommends visiting the Big Island and Oahu. Save by booking accommodations with Airbnb; they have unique locations near Volcanoes National Park and the north shore of Oahu.

Like DrJay, we have hiked Diamond Head. If you want to meet LOTS of Japanese, try starting early in the morning, so you reach the summit just before sunrise. Another popular hike on Oahu is the Kaiwa Ridge Trail, also known as the Lanikai Pillbox Hike.

[scottmitchell74]

This is all gold!

[schigh]

My view is that you are looking at too much inter island travel. Add airport and flight time (air fare between islands is sorta pricey by the way) land transport, checking into and out of hotels, unpacking and packing up again...to me all those logistics for 4 islands cut way too big a swath of time out out a 3-week stay.
From my point of view even 3 islands would be a pretty frenetic tour.
Also, from my perspective, unless you have some special interest @ Oahu like touring Pearl Harbor, there is no reason to spend time there. Urban sprawl, traffic jams... Kinda like Las Vegas.
Big Island, Maui and Kauai are my preferences with the least time time devoted to Kauai.

Agree with this. I would favor Big Island and Maui. Plenty to see and do and each side of both islands is quite different, so it will almost feel like 4 islands.