Aulani: How Many Days?

Dopeyrunr48.6

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 19, 2018
Good Morning! We are going to Hawaii next summer for our first visit and staying about 3 1/2 weeks. I have booked a week at a beach front property in the North Shore area of Oahu recommended by Hawaii Revealed and plan to sightsee from there, and we have booked a week at a resort in Kauai. We are also taking the Pride of America cruise in between our two weeks in Oahu and Kauai. My question is about adding a few days at Aulani just to relax at the resort? My husband and I have wanted to see it since it was built! It will just be my husband and I traveling as our children are adults. Should we stay 3 or 4 nights? Thanks so much!!
 
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if the 3 days include a weekend...you might want 4 instead as weekends can be fairly crowded at any time of year.

other than that 3 days is likely to be more than enough unless you wanted to do multiple things like the luau and character dinner which aren’t every night/day.
 
Thanks- I appreciate the input! I put my request for 4 nights in with David's DVC- we are 11 months out so now to hope we get something! I booked direct as well in case we don't but can only afford the three nights that way.
 


I personally think you're going to want more time on Maui. I know there are posters here who disagree with me, but I think I'd get bored with a week on Kauai, even though I think overall it's the most beautiful island. You will only get two Maui days on the cruise, plus another day and a half on Kauai. Maui is so big and so physically diverse, I definitely feel I didn't see enough of it (we did the road to Hana and Haleakala). I do think you can easily do something different every single day for over a week on Oahu, and I'd do all my sightseeing from there, and just do Aulani on the days you stay there. We did two days in Waikiki, the cruise, then 5 at Aulani, and we were definitely ready for a rest by then!!

So this is just me, but I personally would skip the cruise and just do a week on Kauai, a week on Maui, and a week on Oahu, plus your 3/4 days at Aulani. I really don't see the value in the cruise with your other plans. It would probably cost less too. We enjoyed seeing the other islands, and our plan for our next trip is Maui and Kauai only (although I swear I'm not sure I can go that far and not go back to Aulani too!).
 
I personally think you're going to want more time on Maui. I know there are posters here who disagree with me, but I think I'd get bored with a week on Kauai, even though I think overall it's the most beautiful island. You will only get two Maui days on the cruise, plus another day and a half on Kauai. Maui is so big and so physically diverse, I definitely feel I didn't see enough of it (we did the road to Hana and Haleakala). I do think you can easily do something different every single day for over a week on Oahu, and I'd do all my sightseeing from there, and just do Aulani on the days you stay there. We did two days in Waikiki, the cruise, then 5 at Aulani, and we were definitely ready for a rest by then!!

So this is just me, but I personally would skip the cruise and just do a week on Kauai, a week on Maui, and a week on Oahu, plus your 3/4 days at Aulani. I really don't see the value in the cruise with your other plans. It would probably cost less too. We enjoyed seeing the other islands, and our plan for our next trip is Maui and Kauai only (although I swear I'm not sure I can go that far and not go back to Aulani too!).

Thank you for that idea! I just posted our itinerary in a separate question wondering these exact things. I will really consider what you've said and at the least look into the price comparison of a week in Maui vs. the cruise. Maui is my sister in law and brother's favorite island. They go to Hawaii and just stay there. I really wondered if we'd be missing out by not seeing more of it.
 
Thank you for that idea! I just posted our itinerary in a separate question wondering these exact things. I will really consider what you've said and at the least look into the price comparison of a week in Maui vs. the cruise. Maui is my sister in law and brother's favorite island. They go to Hawaii and just stay there. I really wondered if we'd be missing out by not seeing more of it.
My old boss and his wife do the same; they love it. The different areas of the island look so different, so I think you could stay a long time and not get bored. Feel free to ask anything about the cruise.
 


My old boss and his wife do the same; they love it. The different areas of the island look so different, so I think you could stay a long time and not get bored. Feel free to ask anything about the cruise.

Thank you- we are really considering now just dropping the cruise and replacing it with Maui. I posted my question on Trip Advisor as well and everyone said the same thing. We LOVE cruising and have taken cruises in the Baltic, in the Med, in the Caribbean and in Norway, but this one sounds different maybe. I probably would feel like I'm missing out at night when we are on the ship rather than enjoying walking around an island?? It looks like you have to be back on board by dinner most evenings. Was there a good view from the ship at all? I was wondering about the Napali Coast primarily I guess, but we are planning to take a helicopter flight while staying on Kauai that may cover that.

I am a little concerned about our Oahu segment and wondered if you had any thoughts- we have the 4 Aulani nights where I honestly just planned to adjust to the time difference and enjoy the resort, not sightsee in particular. After that, we have 6 nights at Ke Iki Beach Bungalow in the North Shore area. Someone brought to our attention that they noticed we hadn't picked a hotel near Waikiki at all during our Oahu segment. I am wondering if that will be a problem. We rented a car and figured we'd just drive for the few days that we were going to sightsee in that area. We know traffic will be bad, but I wonder if that will work out okay?
 
We only stayed in Waikiki because we wanted to surf at Waikiki Beach once and because it was convenient to Diamond Head. I personally have no desire to go back there; I didn't go to Hawaii to be in a city, I went for the beautiful natural elements.

We'd only been on Disney Cruise Line when we did POA, and after reading many hundreds of reviews, my expectations were tempered. The cruise was a fun way to get from place to place without schlepping our stuff four times, but if I had a week at each island, the moves wouldn't seem as bad. With the insight into each island that I have now, i personally would not do the cruise again, but I'm glad I did it once. If I'd had three weeks instead of two, I doubt I would have done it. And with the situation on the big island right now, I would avoid it too. With three weeks to spend, you're going to have an amazing time no matter what you end up choosing!
 

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