Oahu is not working for me - - Detailed Analysis

What a mess!

Kuai - Great.

Maui - Great.

Oahu - just not right. Here%26#39;s why:

1) Only one great hotel, but it has major issues. Will go into those later.

2) Only one significant area in town and the rest is one hour away. Lua%26#39;s are 45 minutes to one hour and 20 minutes away.

3) The north shore is over an hour away.

4) Traffic is bad.

So if you%26#39;re going to stay in Oahu you probably want to stay at a hotel with a beach like the Mohana Surfrider a westin hotel but here is the problem:

Bad service!

I even met the GM of the hotel and he really mailed it in. The sheets are horrible the rooms are small and their private beach has issues with too many customers all fighting for the umbrellas. Which they have a weak policy to resolve disputes. So here you are in the best hotel in Oahu, an hour away from all of the action, can%26#39;t sleep and when you%26#39;re up looking at the amazing beaches, you%26#39;re not really being treated that well.

The Hyatt Regency - - huge mess. Great hotel rooms with great views, but it%26#39;s such a huge complex of useless expensive stores. No real beach front and the sand is very (shelly) - - so many shells. The Mohana Surfrider with less service and poor rooms has premium sand that%26#39;s great.

So what do you do? Try another hotel that I have not mentioned? Sure. But I would just go to Kaui and Maui and bypass Oahu. Besides Trump is now in town with his gaudy complexes which totally ruins it.

BTW: Oahu shuttle companies are very dangerous, crazy people behind the wheel.

Bypass Oahu - just fly through it.

Oahu is not working for me - - Detailed Analysis

There are many Waikiki shows that are entertaining. Some have Polynesian dancing including the best Polynesian dancing at Creation: A Polynesian Journey.

Hilton Hawaiian Village has a luau in Waikiki twice a week if you don%26#39;t want to leave Waikiki.

Rent a car for the entire time %26amp; get out %26amp; see the island. Best time to leave the hotel to tour the island is around 8am. It is right after rush hour is over %26amp; before most tourists get out.

Oahu has the most %26amp; many of the best beaches in Hawaii. Some beaches like Waimanalo Bay Recreation Area is a really nice beach %26amp; does not have many visitors. It is the same strand of white sand beach that Kailua %26amp; Lanikai Beaches are on.

Try Kahala Hotel %26amp; Resort or JW Marriott Ihilani or Turtle Bay Resort. They are all isolated away from the city.

Waikiki Beach is 2 miles long. Surely you can find an area that suits you even if you have to walk a little from your hotel.

Lots of info including a couple of driving tours:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g29222-i37-k647862…

Oahu is not working for me - - Detailed Analysis

Too bad for you

I just returned from Oahu/Maui (Oahu-4th visit, Maui - 2nd) and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki and Moana Surfrider as well (before finishing my trip up at the Halekulani). Fine stays...prefer the historic Surfrider way above the Hyatt.

I wouldn%26#39;t generalize about rooms at the Moana Surfrider. You were probably in a Banyan Wing (historic building) room which are smallish but charming. As a SPG platinum, they upgraded me from the lowest category (city view) to a deluxe ocean view (x94) room in the Tower Wing, which was comfortably sized and was practically on top of the beach. Now that%26#39;s service!!! If you don%26#39;t like the small beach area, then just walk over to the larger Royal Hawaiian (currently closed for renovation) beach area, which is less than 100yds away.

';An hour away from all the action'; - Huh? Most people would consider the Moana Surfrider to be in the HEART of all the action! Puzzling comment.

';Only one great hotel, but it has major issues'; - Sorry (although I love it) but the Moana Surfrider isn%26#39;t even close to being the ';one great hotel.'; That would be the Halekulani (';House Befitting Heaven';) and there%26#39;s also the Kahala...making it two great hotels on Oahu. A renovated Royal Hawaiian (reopening in Jan 09) would make it 3. And some people might even include the JW Marriott Ihilani at Ko Olina and the Turtle Bay Resort in the great category.

If service is what you desired, then you missed out by not staying at the Halekulani, which is famed for its service and which I can personally attest to. Their personnel will fulfill just about any request you may have. The only disadvantage is their lack of a beach, but I already had my fill on Oahu and Maui ;-). Sunset drinks and entertainment at the House Without a Key seeing Kanoe Miller performing was a perfect ending to a wonderful Hawaiian trip.

';North shore is over one hour away'; - Jeez! Wailea and Lahaina on Maui aren%26#39;t one hour apart? And don%26#39;t forget Hana. Poipu and Hanalei on Kauia aren%26#39;t one hour apart?

I too think Kauai (still my fav) and Maui are great. But I don%26#39;t buy your arguments that Oahu isn%26#39;t. You probably didn%26#39;t even make it to Kailua (less than one hour away) with its fabulous beaches...my favs in all the Hawaiian islands.

Then again, I disliked Oahu the first time I visited too...so I can understand your views. But possibly like me, you may eventually find that the more you visit (even as a long stopovers to the other islands), the more you%26#39;ll appreciated all the wonderful offerings of the island, including Waikiki.

Before one critiques a hotel they should get to know it well enough to be able to spell its name correctly.

Such general comments (all negative) about a particular area as eclectic as O%26#39;ahu is do not warrant any serious responses, in my opinion.

I recently experienced by 1st trip to Honolulu and although it was not quite what I expected (so big!) for an island city, it was like no other city I%26#39;ve ever been to - and if you look at my travel map, I%26#39;ve been to quite a number. There were tons of %26#39;significant areas%26#39; I found not only in the city but around the island. If you really dislike it, at least you can now say ';I%26#39;ve been there'; and you don%26#39;t have to go back!!

Ok, you%26#39;re from L.A. and you have the nerve to talk about traffic?!!!! Please. Oahu has some of the most natural beauty going, but hey, once again, you are coming from a place that hasn%26#39;t seen ';natural beauty'; in quite some time.

The sandy shoreline IS narrow at Halekulani but I never have any trouble walking a few dozen yards to the left....:-)

One post? This is your 1st post?

everyone has their opinion but Waikiki has the best service of any place I have ever been. All the help go out of the way to super freindly, that is one of its best points. On a recent trip we ate a few meals at the Dukes bar, the bar tenders made a point to introduce themselves to every guest and would remember each guests name when checking on their orders. Never seen that before. The bar tenders at the moana play the match game, if someone is from Oregon, they will point out all the other Orgoneons at the bar, also they will mix the singles. Service is one of the things that separates Hawaii from the other tropical destinations.

I will say that one thing that Hawaiians do not respond to well is the irate customer, you are in Hawaii you need to chill out. Leave the screaming back in Los Angeles

Everybody is entitled to his opinion. And it seems to me you were looking for an outdoor type of vacation, and you have to go outside Waikiki to experience that.

Just want to point out that Halekulani is hands down number one hotel on Oahu. I was wondering how bad it could be from your summary, and realized when I read the detail that you are refering to Moana Surfrider.

Just curious as to what lodging you used on Maui and Kauai.

I think you might not have done proper research on Oahu... It%26#39;s ok, Oahu is not for everyone.