Hula Planet:What To Do In Hawaii

Saving Money on Hawaii Vacation Tours & Activities

You can easily spend hundreds of dollars per day on Hawaii tours and activities, but you definitely don’t need to empty your wallet to enjoy the islands of aloha. Here are tried and true strategies that will help you get the most out of your tour time and dollar. 1.  DIY Tours I often see brochures for organized, paid tours to places that are absolutely free for anyone to see.  For example, on Oahu, tours that include going to see the USS Arizona and Punchbowl are very popular, but you don’t have to pay a dime to see these two top spots. So make sure you plan some do-it-yourself (DIY) tours as you make your Hawaii vacation plans. Another example of creating a DIY tour is that Andy and I created our own tour to find sites where the hit TV show LOST was filmed on Oahu. We could have spent nearly $500 for the two of us on an organized tour, but we had a blast on our adventure. 2.  Take advantage of all the free things to do and see in Hawaii. Aloha State offers a playground of inexpensive, but memorable activities. In fact, most of Hawaii’s highlights are free ! With Hawaii’s waterfalls, national parks and hiking trails, there’s no doubt that Hawaii is more than just a pretty beach. I wrote a series of posts on the best free or nearly free things to do on each of the four major islands. Here are links to each of those posts. Maui’s Top 7 Free or Nearly Free Things to Do and See 10 Best Free Activities and Sites on Oahu Best Free Activities on Kauai Best Big Island Budget Activities 3. Plan ahead and book online. There are some things that you simply can’t DIY, like helicopter tours and luaus. Those activities are big ticket items, too. To get the best bang for your buck, I encourage you to do a bit of online research before you go on your vacation. Take that time to comparison shop, read reviews and reserve your spot. Maybe I’m too much of a planning nerd, but I’d much rather spend my vacation time enjoying Hawaii rather than researching tours while I’m there on that treasured vacation time. Another benefit to researching and booking online is that many business offer very good discounts  when you book direct and they aren’t paying a middleman. For example, Safari Helicopters offers a $68 discount (from $229 to $161.20) on their 60-minute Deluxe Waterfall Safari Kauai Tour by booking direct online. Blue Hawaiian Helicopters discounts their 55-minute Kauai helicopter tour , too from $225 to $196.65 – a $28 savings. 4.  Keep your eyes peeled for coupons. In my visits to Hawaii, I’ve come across some very good money saving coupons, but I’ve had to look in lots of places to find them. Here’s where I’ve discovered good tour and activity coupons. The free driving guides and maps that the rental car companies provide a few useful coupons. Flip through the free magazines and guides that you’ll see in the baggage claim area of each Hawaii airport. Bank of Hawaii has some good online coupons from time to time. See both the travel and entertainment categories for tour and activity coupons. Hawaii Entertainment Book offers great luau coupons that recoup the cost of the entire book with just one admission, but this book is only useful for visitors going to Oahu only. Check Oahu (Honolulu) Groupon Deals that offer both restaurant and tour deals. 5.  Take advantage of free entertainment. I’m continually amazed at the excellent quality of free entertainment that’s offered by restaurants, resorts and shopping centers all across Hawaii. It’s so very easy to find, too. I should write a separate post listing my favorite spots. If you have a favorite one, please share it in the comments. —– So, these are my top five ways to save money on Hawaii vacation activities and tours. What other ways have you used to save money on your visits? We’re on facebook! Please click here to join us. © Go Visit Hawaii – Republication of this entire post is prohibited without prior permission. Using extracts of less than 100 words are permitted with full attribution and link back to GoVisitHawaii.com .

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Hawaii Vacation Deals & News: July 8, 2010

Whoa! I’ve got bunches and bunches of Hawaii travel news to share with you today. So, fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take off. * Travel+ Leisure issued their 2010 World’s Best Awards. Kauai (#2), Maui (#8), and the Big Island (#10) made the Top 10 Islands List . You may be interested in seeing the Top 25 Resorts in Hawaii . * Limber up your booking fingers and prepare to snag one of Honolulu’s Ala Moana Hotel rooms at $40/night. This low offer will be available for booking online on July 14, 2010, beginning at 4:40 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time. See this link for more details. * Another Hawaii great is celebrating their 40th birthday this year – the Kona Coffee Festival. This cultural festival takes place November 5 – 14 on the Big Island, of course. See more about the festival here . * Hawaii’s Prince properties have great a room and rental car deal. This limited time deal includes a free rental car on top of a low room rate. It’s definitely worth considering, especially if you are headed to the Big Island. Those are the best Prince properties, in my opinion. See all the details here and book before July 17, 2010. * Readers of USA Today voted Honolulu as the Best American Destination . Congrats Honolulu! * Homespun Honolulu just published a new issue of the Blog Carnival of Aloha . * Hawaii Forest & Trail is offering a new twilight volcano tour that’s perfect for a quick exploration of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and a view of the active lava flow at Kalapana. This Twilight Volcano Adventure is a 12-hour round-trip tour that departs from the Kona side of the Big Island. See more about it here . * I was contacted by the folks from the Entertainment Book telling me that Go Visit Hawaii is among a select group of publishers able to offer the 2010 Hawaii Entertainment Book for only $7.99. This deal is valid through July 14. To order the book, see this special Go Visit Hawaii affiliate link . As we have previously discussed, the Hawaii Entertainment Book can quickly pay for itself many times over if you are going to Oahu. You’ll recoup your money and save much more from the luau coupons alone.To review that discussion, see this post, Hawaii Entertainment Coupon Books – Worth the price? One catch to let you know is that the coupons in the 2010 book expire November 1, 2010. © Go Visit Hawaii – Republication of this entire post is prohibited without prior permission. Using extracts of less than 100 words are permitted with full attribution and link back to GoVisitHawaii.com .

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Strategies for Finding the Lowest Airfare to Hawaii

View of Oahu from the Air One of the most predictably unpredictable expenses of traveling to Hawaii is the cost of airfare. Fares fluctuate so often that it’s difficult to know when to purchase tickets. Finding the absolute lowest airfare is a mix of luck, knowledge,and skill. In the absence of an exact science, we have make use of the available tools and make some calculated guesses. Here are some strategies to help you make a sound decision on when to purchase your flights to Hawaii. Use Flight Search Engine Alerts To make the best decision on when to buy flights to Hawaii, you need to make an informed decision. The best way to start getting helpful information is to sign up for the free email alerts from these flight search engines: Kayak Farecompare airfarewatchdog Another search engine that I like because it’s very easy and intuitive to use is CheapAir, however, it does not include estimated taxes and fees like the others that I mentioned. See this link for a chart comparing all the major airfare alert sites. If you have the option, get the updates daily. Yeah, it’s going to stuff your inbox, but fares can fluctuate daily, so it’s best to be in the know on a daily basis, especially if you are anxious to book. If you are headed to the Big Island, Kauai, and/or Maui, I recommend that you also check airfare to Oahu. Hawaii’s major airline hub is in Oahu’s Honolulu Airport (HNL), so that majority of flights from the mainland go in and out of Honolulu. On top of that, the vast majority of inter-island flights connect  or originate in Honolulu. Let’s say you are going to Kauai, it’s possible that you could save some money by flying into Honolulu first and getting an inter-island flight from there. So, consider all your options. (See my guide to inter-island travel in Hawaii .) If you come across a great airfare, also check directly with the airline to see if you can find the same or better rate. I prefer to book directly with the airline to cut out the middle man. For example, let’s say that airfarewatchdog found a low fare to Honolulu on Expedia. I check the flights and find that they are all on American Airlines. I’d rather book directly with American if I can get the same fare. If a problem happens with the flights and reservation, that becomes American’s responsibility and that eliminates any finger pointing that could happen between Expedia and American. Check the Crystal Ball of Airfare Purchases After educating yourself with the email alerts from the flight search engines, you’ll get to know when airfares lower. If you think you’ve found a good fare, check with Bing’s Farecast . It’s the closest thing we have to a crystal ball. Farecast recommends if it’s best to wait or to pull the trigger now on your flight purchase. Another useful tool to consult is Hotwire’s TripStarter , which shows the historical average airfares for your particular route. You’ve probably heard the phrase that past behavior is an indicator of future behavior. To some extent, that’s true for airfare. There’s certainly some seasonality to airfare prices that tend to be the same year in year out. Be Flexible If you can be flexible with your travel dates, you can get better deals. Use the flight search engines flexible search features to find the cheapest days to travel. You can really save some big bucks by being flexible. Another way to be flexible is to consider flying from alternate airports. For example, Raleigh-Durham (RDU) is my preferred airport. If I found a fare that’s low enough, I’d be willing to drive to Charlotte (CLT) or Greensboro (GSO) for the savings. So, set alerts up for nearby airports. Aim to Fly on Weekdays Weekend travel to and from Hawaii is in highest demand and therefore more expensive. If you can travel weekday to weekday, you tend to get lower fares and the flight may not be as full. Best Time to Buy In this ABC News article , one of the top airfare gurus, Rick Seaney, says, “Typically, airlines start actively managing their cheapest seats about four months before departure….Don’t buy too early; tickets purchased before this four month window will generally be priced at a midtier level. An exception: shopping for busy holiday times (Thanksgiving, Christmas); due to current price hikes and ever-increasing fuel surcharges, you may want to purchase these tickets earlier than usual, to lock in the price.” Act When You See a Deal When you come across a deal, snag it. Aim to make that purchase as quickly as possible as it could be gone the next day or even the next hour. I’ve experienced “purchase paralysis” and lost deals. I still remember a brief fare war a couple of years ago. I could have flown from Charlotte to Honolulu for around $250 round-trip, but I took too long trying to decide what to do, that I lost the chance to get that super low rate. Beware of Sneaky Snake Advertising When you see exceptionally low airfare, be sure to read the fine print before you get excited. Airlines will try to hook you in with a fly to Hawaii for $379. At first, that sounds great, but what they don’t tell you is that the fare is one-way based on round-trip travel and taxes and fees are an additional charge. So the flights to Hawaii that you thought were $379 are going to end up costing over $800 – not exactly the deal you were expecting. Cheapest Isn’t Always Best All flights to Hawaii are not created equal, so know what you’re getting when you book. Andy and I will often choose a slightly more expensive fare because it offers less stops, shorter overall travel time, and a bigger plane. We fly from RDU and most of the cheapest fares have us going through Dallas to Los Angeles to Hawaii. We much prefer to cut out the Los Angeles stop, fly in the larger planes, and save time. So, spend a little time educating yourself on the shortest routes and aircraft sizes to suit your preference. I wish you the best of luck in finding the lowest cost airfare to Hawaii!

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Hawaii Vacation Deals & News: May 5, 2010

We’ve got a bit of news to catch up on, so let’s dive in. * Hawaii Starwoods Resorts are offering some great resort credits deals when you stay 5 consecutive nights. The resort credits vary by property but range from $500 to $1000 for every 5-night stay. Stay ten nights and the credit is doubled. * Prince Resorts Hawaii have a May Day Sale on their Oahu and Big Island properties. The best deal of the bunch is the $169 per night rate at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. That’s a 4-star property on one of the Big Island’s best beaches. For this sale, you must book by May 10, 2010. * 2010 Hawaii Entertainment Book is on sale for $15 (more than 50% off) plus free shipping through May 15h. Click this link to read more and order your book . As we have previously discussed, the Hawaii Entertainment Book can quickly pay for itself if you are going to Oahu. To review that discussion, see this post, Hawaii Entertainment Coupon Books – Worth the price? * The Big Island is getting bigger, again. Lava is flowing to the ocean after a 4-month break. It is flowing near the same area next to Kalapana at the end of Highway 130.

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Maui Coupons and Discounts

In our discussion on the Hawaii Entertainment Coupon Book – Worth the price? a reader asked if the Entertainment Book has many coupons for Maui. While the book has a few coupons for Maui, it’s not really going to bring nearly as much value as it would if you were using the book while visiting Oahu. While the Hawaii Entertainment Book may not be of much help for Maui, there are still some other helpful sources and strategies to help you save money while you’re on your Maui vacation. Bank of Hawaii Coupons This site lists coupons for dining and entertainment in Maui. Best of Maui from Maui News From this link , you can access an online version of the 2009 awards for the best restaurants in Maui. Take note of the ads as you’ll find some coupons as well as restaurant specials, happy hours, and other discounts. I’d also add that it’s worthwhile to pick up a copy of the Maui News when you are on the island and look for their current ads and coupons. eCouponsHawaii.com This site lists coupons for Maui activities and dining . At the moment, there aren’t any earth-shattering coupons, but the site is updated as offers come and go. Other Money Saving Strategies - Some very good restaurants offer discounts if you are seated either early or late. For example Pineapple Grill in Kapalua offers an excellent 3-course dinner (Sunset Dinner Special) for $32 per person plus tax and tip if you are seated before 6pm. Sansei in Kapalua and Kihei usually offer special discounts if you are seated either before 5:30pm and then again for late-nite seating. Leilani’s at Whaler’s Village in Kaanapali offers an early dinner special between 5pm and 6pm with $15.50 entrees. - Most activity companies offer a discount if you book online. - With the current economy, I’ve noticed that many spas are offering some sort of daily special. So, check in with the spas for their current deals when you are on the island. - There’s plenty of attractions that are either free or very low cost. See my article Maui’s Top 7 Free or Nearly Free Things to Do and See . Do you know of other Maui coupon sites? What other strategies have you used to save money when you’re on vacation on Maui? © Go Visit Hawaii – Republication of this entire post is prohibited without prior permission. Using extracts of less than 100 words are permitted with full attribution and link back to GoVisitHawaii.com .

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Why You Should Book A Stay At A Hawaii Beach Rental

Are you gearing up to make your Hawaii vacation reservations? Before you go ahead and make those reservations, you are advised to take a minute and make sure that you thoroughly examined all of your options. Although there is a good chance that you thought about Hawaii vacation resorts and Hawaii hotels, did you think [...]

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Waikiki Christmas 2009

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Going to Waikiki this Christmas?

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