Was it crowded? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes.
We left for our Maui 7-day vacation on June 30th on a direct United flight out of LAX, but the vacation planning began months earlier. I reserved a one-bedroom villa at the Westin Nanea in Ka’anapali a year ago. www.marriott.com/westin/lahaina We booked our flights when they were still at Covid-prices on Aug 30, 2020: $418 per person. I secured lunches/dinners/snorkeling/luau 6 weeks in advance. We only got into Drums of the Pacific luau that “close” to our travel date because they were the last luau to open to reservations and they did so the day before I called the Westin concierge to schedule one. https://drumsofthepacificmaui.com My husband booked our rental car through Turo’s car-sharing system 3 months ahead of our trip: $230 per day to borrow someone’s car. www.turo.com
Granted, we vacationed over a holiday, but we took the exact same trip during the exact same time in 2019 and I only had to book more popular restaurants and a luau a few weeks in advance that year. People are flocking to the island for vacations post-pandemic and yet it isn’t fully opened yet…restaurants have limited capacity still and just about every venue has a help wanted sign in the window.
Your airline should have instructions on their app or website, but here is what you NEED to prepare ahead of time:
- Go to www.travelhawaii.gov to create a profile for each traveler and upload either your vaccination card OR a negative Covid test result administered by one of the Hawaii gov’t approved “Trusted Testing and Travel Partners” in your local area. The list of approved testing partners plus travel protocol updates can be found at https://hawaiicovid19.com/travelpartners You must take the Covid test within 72 hours of your Hawaii departure time and have results before you leave. You also MUST fill out the mandatory health form for each traveler on the same website.
- Insurance may or may not cover your rapid test. Ours were $139 per person…As of July 8th, you can submit your vaccination card and avoid this. Children 5 and over must have a negative rapid test or proof of vaccination.
- Get to the airport an hour earlier than you would normally arrive for a domestic flight. Post security, there will be another line for Hawaii travelers to wait in to ultimately show proof the protocols above were met and receive a wristband clearing you for entry into the Hawaiian islands. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS AT YOUR DEPARTING AIRPORT, YOU MUST DO IT WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN HAWAII. And…that line was much worse than the one at LAX Airport. And, you and your kids will have just deplaned after hours in flight and the last thing you’ll want to do is wait in a long line to prove to the Hawaii gov’t that you are vaccinated or neg Covid tested!
We rented a car through Turo because the traditional rental car companies were much more expensive. The car was waiting for us in the Maui Airport (OGG) parking lot with a key in a lockbox. It happened to be a C-class Mercedes, low mileage and in pristine condition.
The Westin Nanea is about 28 miles or 45 minutes from the airport along HI-30 East. We always stop in Olawalu at the General Store to get Spam musubi (an acquired taste) on the way to the resort. In the same retails strip, you’ll also find Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop www.leodas.com and the Olawalu Juice Stand with fresh fruit smoothies and juices. Both worth trying!
We like the Westin Nanea location, villa-style rooms and reciprocity with other nearby Westin pools. And…we happen to have bought into the time share idea (I know!), so we have a two bedroom, two bath every other year available for a week. We split this into two trips: Steamboat one-bedroom for 5 days and Maui one-bedroom for 7 days…hence my blog earlier this year on our Steamboat ski vacation.
Location: there are several hotels and time shares in a row on the beach in Ka’anapali and there is a free shuttle that takes visitors to the Westin Nanea, The Westin Ka’anapali, The Sheraton, The Westin Hotel (next to Whaler’s Village), Lahaina Cannery Mall, the Outlets of Maui (where Pi Artisan Pizza is located: excellent) and ultimately to the area’s main town, Lahaina and back again. It’s SO convenient with kids and, in non-Covid times, means you don’t have to rent a car to travel locally. During our stay, the shuttle only took 10 people at a time and had limited hours.
Villa-style rooms: we appreciate having a full kitchen and 840 sq ft of living space.
Westin pools: the Nanea pool is about 4 feet deep and has a small slide into a sand/rock lagoon kids’ pool. There are jacuzzis and adult pools as well. The two Westins to the south of Nanea have a Pirate Ship pool, steeper slides and additional features…all for the use of hotel guests at the properties. The Pirate Ship pool is a HUGE hit amongst the 7 and under set!
The closest grocery store is Times in the Honokowai Marketplace and it’s actually walkable from the hotel…except that you then have to carry groceries back! Slappy Cakes is a super fun breakfast spot in the same Marketplace with griddles on the tables to make your own pancakes. The toppings to choose from range from fruit to chocolate chips and you can choose chocolate pancake batter. Kind of amazing. www.slappycakesmaui.com Our favorite fish market is in the strip mall next door to Times. You’ll find fresh poke and fish to grill at the hotel. Go in the first half of the day to ensure inventory. You can also order cooked meals there. www.fishmarketmaui.com.
There’s also a Safeway grocery store at Lahaina Cannery Mall with a Starbucks next door. It’s a great option if you don’t rent a car as the Westin shuttle stops there. There is an ABC store to buy everything from Hawaii dresses to sunscreen to pool floaties to Aloha keychains AND a Boss Frog’s next to Starbucks for cheaper snorkel gear rental and for-purchase items like rash guards and flip flops.
The Nanea property has multiple grills available for hotel guests and they are easy to use and clean. Each villa has grilling tools and a kitchen stocked with baking sheets, bowls, platters, etc. Convenient.
They also have a gear rental store and a convenience store where you can find more expensive versions of everything at ABC Store and Boss Frog’s.
When we visited over the 4th of July, the Nanea main restaurant was only open until 10AM, but the bar restaurant with basically bar food was open all day. I keep talking about food, but when on vacation…
Some of our favorite restaurants I haven’t mentioned yet; all in Ka’anapali area:
Star Noodle www.starnoodle.com
Frida’s Beach House www.fridasmaui.com
Duke’s Beach House www.dukesmaui.com
Food trucks in Lahaina (Teppanyaki-2-Go)
Monkeypod in Whaler’s Village www.monkeypodkitchen.com
Favorite Luau on Maui: Old Lahaina Luau www.oldlahainaluau.com Ocean backdrop, multiple activities for attendees to participate in, ample parking, excellent food, VIP seating at long tables in front on the ground…all help set it apart from the others.
Try to avoid luaus on hotel properties. Again, this was an “off year” for us so we had to book whatever was available. Once you attend a luau like Old Lahaina on Maui, Paradise Cove on Oahu or Smith Family Luau in Kauai, going to a hotel luau will be pretty anticlimactic and feel very expensive relative to the benefits.
Lahaina is very touristy and can be crowded. BUT, before kids, the Lahaina bars were our jam! Check out Fleetwood’s on Front Street (high end) or Captain Jack’s (divey). You can also find the best shave ice spot in Lahaina: Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice. Be prepared to wait in line for 20 minutes and get the ice cream on the bottom. www.ululanishawaiianshaveice.com
Snorkel boats will leave out of Lahaina and Whaler’s Village in Ka’anapali. I took our 5 and 6 year old on Sea Maui’s half day (8:30AM-1PM) catamaran snorkel tour this trip. www.seamaui.com We went to Honolua Bay and Kapalua Bay and saw multiple sea turtles and lots of interesting fish. I’ve snorkeled both Bays approaching from the beach before, but the boat allows you to avoid finding parking in these very crowded areas, positions you further out in the Bays to see more sea life and includes rental gear and breakfast/lunch/drinks. The crew was excellent and even watched the girls for a bit when they grew tired of snorkeling so that I could continue to explore. 4 bags of chips and some candy later, I think the girls were sad to see me return! Another very cool area to snorkel is Molokini Crater. This boat didn’t take us there, but plenty do. It’s typically a day trip.
If you love being active on vacation, there are plenty of trails to hike, there’s a giant volcano to bike down (Haleakala), there is Lahaina Crossfit, The Block in Napili Market…plus running on the beach and walking paths, your hotel gym (ours required masks still!), swimming, scuba diving, and on and on.
One thing we did not do and I have no desire to do but will probably have to do at some point with our kids is the ROAD TO HANA. No thank you. Crowded. Hot. Long day. How many waterfalls can you see? Miserable. I have memories of my parents dragging us on this Maui-must-see drive when I was little. No.
After 7 days in Maui, we still weren’t ready to go home. My daughters have decided they’d like to be hula dancers and live in Hawaii when they grow up so…until that happens, we need to go back to the mainland. We had been told to arrive at the airport 3 hours ahead of departure time to avoid missing our flight due to lines. Our family got there 2 hours before and raced to return the car, get luggage through agricultural inspection, etc. only to find that that warning truly applies to people flying Hawaiian Airlines. United’s line was non-existent. Hawaiian’s had to be an hour long just to check in. We are pre-check so we basically walked through security as well. “Normal” security had about a 30 minute line. And we left on a Wednesday…I’m sure it’s worse on the weekend. It took us 30 minutes to check in and go through security. No more lines after that.
We headed home, tanned and relaxed…with two daughters who can’t wait to go again!
We Don’t Sit Still 