While not officially booked yet, our upcoming 4th trip to Maui is just 100 days away!
At the moment, our plans are for two weeks in Maui, leaving February 15th and returning on March 1st. How exciting is Valentines Day going to be knowing that we’re leaving for the Valley Isle the next morning? For now, we have to bear down for 3 months of a cold and snowy Chicago winter.
Ultimately, I think we’re going to end up going with the Sheraton again like our past trips, but it wasn’t the only option this time. About a month ago, my aunt made us an offer to use their timeshare for our trip, which would have saved us a ton of money. Unfortunately, the availability didn’t work out for us. In the process, however, we started looking at a few different resorts, such as the Westin Maui. But in the end, we’re sticking with the Sheraton and our favorite ocean front rooms.
The Plans
I’ll post more details on the following activities as well as others when the time approaches, but here are a few of the bigger ones:
- Seeing HAPA at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (again)
- Making the trek for our first Haleakala Sunrise (finally)
- Taking an overnight trip to Hana
- Checking out the Iao Valley
- Trying out the new Spa at Black Rock (that one’s for Cindy)
- Attend the festivities at the Whale Celebration Day (and the Regatta Race)
- See more whales than we can count (or photograph)
And that’s only the tip of the volcano. We’re really looking forward to this one.
What’s Next
Over the next week or two, we’ll be making an appointment with our new travel agency and officially book these plans. Our previous travel agent (himself a big fan of Maui) decided to close up shop and retire this past summer, and all of his clients were moved over to The Travel Gallery. If they’re half as enthusiastic about Maui as we are, it should be fine.
Even though we weren’t able to take advantage of a very sweet deal at the Sheraton in December, I have been keeping an eye on rates and flights for February. So far it’s looking pretty good, and the nightly rate for our usual room dropped $30/night earlier in the week. This is also going to be our first trip during the busy season, although tourism in Hawaii hasn’t been as busy as it normally is. During the off season, we take advantage of a 6th night free promotion, and getting 13 nights for the price of 11 saves a lot of green. Especially when you’re talking about an ocean front room (and a private lanai with views like this).
Aloha for now, and stay tuned for more details as these plans are finalized.
Ooooo! I’m really excited for you two!
Looks like you have a great line up of things to do. One day I hope to stay overnight in Hana, too.
I’m glad you’re finding better rates for your hotel.
I’m sure a break from the frigged Chicago February will be a nice break for you.
The overnight in Hana was something I came up with when we were looking at using my aunt’s timeshare and saving a ton of money. The thought was since we wouldn’t be paying a nightly rate for a room at the Sheraton, we could find a room elsewhere and not be paying twice for one night (the Grand Wailea was also another option for an overnighter). But even though the timeshare option seems to be falling through, going to back Hana is already stuck in my head and we’re going to try and do it anyway.
On our Road to Hana tour this past April with Discover Hawaii Tours, we stopped for lunch at the Hotel Hana-Maui and had time to walk around a little bit. It seemed like a nice resort, so thought we’d give that place a try. By planning to stay overnight, we not only get to watch the sunrise from the Eastern most part of Maui, we also get two full days to drive the Road to Hana ourselves. That gives us a lot more time to stop at all the different sights and take a lot more pictures. That reminds me, I’m going to need a few more memory cards.