Hawaiian Tips Needed: Mr & Mr DMark Celebrate 25 Years

In My Humble Opinion
1

Yes, my SO and I have been together 25 years on February 28th, and are finally going to Hawaii for the first time…I guess that makes us Hawaiian virgins? At any rate, I have been shopping at Ross for grass skirts (no luck, nothing in my size) and have been trying to find accessories to go with leis so we will not look foolish upon arrival.

We are spending three nights in Honolulu at the Pacific Beach Hotel, and then off to Maui for seven nights at Kaanapali Villas (condo apartments).

So, in both locations, any suggestions for “must-see/must-do” things?

Would like to go to Hamburger Mary’s in Honolulu – supposedly quite fun.
Have heard on Maui they have dinner cruises, sounds interesting.
Other than that, we ain’t got a clue…I am assuming just roaming around will be sufficient, but if anyone has any restaurant tips, any specific points of interest…we are not exactly the type of guys who want to hike up volcanos for a day, nor do we want to spend five hours driving anywhere…but we do like to walk, and we walk fast and fairly far (having lived in NYC, we can walk for hours on autopilot).

So – if you have any insider tips, let us know!

Our flight leaves Las Vegas at 2:30 AM (yes, that is 2:30 in the morning!) on Feb 24 and we get in at 7:50 AM and have about six hours to kill until we can check into the hotel…so we especially need some tips that first day as we will be a tad sleepy I would imagine. Any nice cafes near the hotel where we can have 46 cups of coffee while we wait to check in?)

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I presume you meant Hamburger Mary’s in Maui. the one in Honolulu bit the dust ten years ago.

Go to Diamond head.
Walk along Waikiki Beach.
See a corny Hula show like the one at the Princess Kaiuilani Hotel.

Visit http://www.visit-hawaii.com/ or http://www.visitmaui.com/ and they can send you an itinerary you can follow for each island

3

Your hotel has a few good restaurants. The Aloha Cafe is a great place to laze around.

4

I know nothing about Hawaii (I hear it’s an island, but don’t quote me), I just wanted to say congratulations!

5

Yep. Same here. Congrats, DMark, that’s a heckuva lot of years.

6

:smack:

Oh, yeah!

Congratulations!!

7

On Maui, you can try out Cheeseburger In Paradise in Lahaina. Pretty good food.

Get up early one morning and make the drive up Haleakala to see the sunrise.

I really enjoyed the Old Lahaina Luau.

Do the drive to Hana, making plenty of stops to see the waterfalls.

Buy this book and this book and study them. Everything you wanted to know about things to do and how to do them on the islands.

8

First off, congratulations to the both of you.

I’ve never been to Honolulu, but I have been to Maui.

With Maui, a question, before I give advice: Do you have any interest in learning local history, or in engaging in athletic activity?

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I just came back from Maui yesterday. ( I celebrated my one year wedding anniversary there.) Things I recommend that we did, which were fun were the Old Lahaina Luau, it was pretty good, the food was tasty, you get free leis. You can book online ahead of time and request a table seating or sitting on the ground on cushions. We took the Hana Hwy. to Hana. It is a long drive, takes pretty much all day to drive there and back, and very windy and very beautiful. The opening part of Jurassic Park was filmed there. But I was getting pretty car sick by the time we reached Hana, ate lunch and wanted to head back before it was too dark to drive. Driving through Hana Hwy was really really suck in the dark because of the roads. The best part of going in the winter time to Maui, is seeing the humpback whales which are there off of Lahaina. And by the Maleea Harbor, just outside of it if you take a tour snorkeling boat out of there you can see sea turtles which seem to hang outside of the harbor entrance. We went up this mountain near the airport, that was fun and landed at a beach. Also snorkeling through a dive company was amazing. It was my first time snorkeling and they outfit you with everything, and even go out whale watching after that. And we took a separate whale watching trip, which was a lot of fun. But you can see breaches and blows from everywhere. Just driving I saw 4 breaches in the distance at different places. It was the most amazing part of the trip.

10

Congratulations!

Don’t know if you’re planning to rent a car while you’re on Oahu, but you ought to visit Hanama (sp?) Bay on the windward side of the island - it’s a volcanic crater open to the ocean on one side and the fish are beautiful!

Pearl Harbor is another place I recommend - sobering and inspiring at the same time.

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I spent 2 wks on Oahu this summer.
I suggest snorkeling (Hanauma Bay), Atlantis submarine dive (we went from Waikiki beach, but they say the one on Maui is much better), Polynesian Culture Center on the North Shore (excellent night show, Horizons), Pearl Harbor, and walking the North Shore. There were tons of creatures in tidepools along the northern coast. Surfing should be good on the north shores as well this time of year.
Hope you have a great time!!!

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I don’t know Maui, but I have lived in Honolulu.

Hanauma Bay is a must, but it’s closed on Tuesdays and if you don’t get there right when it opens, you won’t get parking. It’s been known to “close” at 10 a.m.

Pearl Harbor is also cool, but remember not to bring a bag or a purse, because they won’t let you bring it in, and you don’t want to leave it in a rental car.

The best burger in Honolulu is Teddy’s Bigger Burgers. It’s right on Kapahulu in Waikiki, about a block from your hotel.

Don’t forget to stop at Leonard’s Bakery for the best malasadas in the world.

If you’re into it, you can take surfing lessons on Waikiki Beach for about $35. There’s plenty of parasailing available, too. If you love to fish, take a charter out for a day’s fishing. Your hotel can direct you.

Hike Diamond Head, swim at Ala Moana Beach Park (but only on a weekday; it’s a zoo on Saturday and Sunday), visit the Ala Moana Mall and stop at the food court for lunch, have cocktails in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (big pink hotel), and cook your own steaks at the Shorebird Restaurant and Beach Bar, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

Please don’t eat at Duke’s, as they don’t hire wait or bar help over the age of 27.

You could go north and east and visit the pineapple fields. You could go to Haleiwa and stop at Kua Aina for another great burger.

DON’T drive to Makaha. Just trust me on this.

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As an FYI, the Polynesian Cultural Center is a Mormon/LDS theme park.

I’m sure you will love Hawaii. Pearl Harbor was good to see on Oahu. Be prepared for airport-style security to enter, though. Be prepared to check your bags and possibly remove your shoes :wink:

I don’t remember the name, but we had an incredible meal at the Brazilian place next to Dave & Busters.

14

Thank you all for the tips (and the congrats)!

Sounds like we will be anything but bored while we are there!

Haven’t decided about renting a car - as mentioned, don’t really want to spend hours driving anywhere - was hoping to maybe take shuttle buses if necessary - but we’ll see when we get there.

RE: Hamburger Mary’s in Honolulu - thanks for the tip - would have spent hours looking for the place and will try the one in Maui. Also the other burger places sound good, so will certainly try them.

Any other restaurant suggestions would be good. Also, maybe a day cruise? We are not exactly the rugged hikers, but as mentioned, we do not mind walking (just not straight up a volcano with steep drop offs, etc.). Love to swim and I might try snorkeling (had an embarrassing situation decades ago on the Isle of Crete that I would like to make amends for) but my SO, though a good swimmer, has never been able to put his head underwater so snorkeling is out for him. And learning to surf - sure, why not? Do they have bunny slopes on water for people like me?

As we have a condo on Maui, we will be looking for a supermarket nearby for breakfast and lunch stuff, but for dinner, we don’t mind spending a little more in a restaurant if it is worth it - so keep those suggestions coming.

For clothes, I guess jeans and sneakers and knit shirts will be ok everywhere? Plus of course swim suits and flip flops…don’t need to “dress up” at restaurants in the evening, do we?

Again, thanks for the tips and if you have anything else to add, please do…will be printing this out and taking it along. Would take my laptop, but nervous about leaving it in hotel/condo rooms when I am not there - call me paranoid.

Oh, and everyone keeps telling us food is so expensive there - really? I mean, it ain’t exactly cheap to eat in a good restaurant here in Las Vegas either, so how much more could it be there?

15

Maui will be easier to get around on if you rent a car at least a day or two. There are a lot of great beaches to go to, the drive up the volcano is fun, and I enjoyed the road to Hana a lot. I have a trip report here so you can check out some of what I saw.

Lok

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A word of caution - all my guidebooks (and we’re talking Frommer’s here, not College Kidz Guide to Walking Around the World) called the Diamondhead climb a “moderate” hike that anybody could do except, like, strollers. Also a must-do. So I dragged my mother and her friends into this - they’re all over 60, one of them had had heart surgery a few years back. It is not a “moderate” climb. It is a grueling death march. It is hot, and dry, and the footing is pretty bad. The view is amazing, and if I had to do it over again I would, but don’t believe the descriptions of it!

There was the world’s kindest local guy at the top handing out frozen lychees out of the goodness of his heart. I have never tasted anything so sweet, so wet, so cold, so welcome!

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I lived in Honolulu for 6 years ('94-00). A friend just asked me for recommendations, here’s what I sent him (may be out of date by now):

As to that last one, the place is next to where Hamburger Mary’s used to be (not that that’s much help). It’s hard to see from the street, but it’s there (or at least it used to be there). Also, my wife used to love the all-you-can-eat brunch at the Pacific Beach; there’s a huge fishtank that you sit right next to (and possibly get to see them feed the sharks). As per Large Marge’s suggestion, I totally forgot about Leonard’s. As she says, a local mainstay (malasadas are essentially really good donut holes).

Also, as cheesy as I thought it would be, I was happy to have my expectations be proven wrong about biking down Haleakala – it was excellent. Enjoy!

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Just to be clear – the list may be out of date, as I haven’t been in Hawaii in about 5 years; I didn’t mean the note that I sent my friend (which was just last month). :slight_smile:

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Sorry, but there’s no way you can wear a grass skirt and not look foolish. Even in Hawaii. :slight_smile:

Sneakers, shorts, jeans, t-shirts, and slippers are fine. Maybe a light jacket for going out at night. The Hawaii idea of “dressed up” isn’t a suit and tie or anything like that; a nice button-down shirt and khakis is usually about right for the nicer restaurants that aren’t of the Morton’s caliber.

You might want to rent a car for only the ability to go where you want, when you want. It’s not possible to drive for hours anywhere in Hawaii without either going in circles or drowning anyway.

Congratulations on your anniversary!

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Here is a link to the flat out best guide books to Hawaii These books were suggested to me by fellow dopers when I first went to the islands. They are also available at Amazon, and local book stores.

Breakfast is expensive in Honolulu. My hotel with no view had a buffet for 12.95. Duke’s has a a similar buffet for the same price, and you get a view of the water. Go with the view.
Duke’s also has a band that plays on weekend afternoons. Very crowed, but fun.
Chuck’s Cellar is still owned by Chuck, and has an early evening special.
The Dixie Grill on Ward Ave has great BBQ, and brunch on weekends.
Zippy’s is where the locals go for a cheap bite to eat.
If you can spare the coin, go to Hy’s steakhouse in Honolulu for dinner. one of the best steaks I have ever eaten.

If you are in town on Wed or the weekend, check out the swap meet at the Aloha Bowl. Great bargains, and a lot of fun to walk around. Bring cash and wear walking shoes.

Pearl Harbor is a day all by itself. Even my wife liked it.