Size of units at Ko Olina

[wbrown]

I've secured a 2 BR unit at Ko Olina for this January:whoopie: I had a request with II using my NCV unit and it came through in less than 30 days, pleasantly shocking. This will be great for my family.

I'm wondering what the square footage of these 2BR units are as this will help me plan our stay better.

 

[calberry]

I've secured a 2 BR unit at Ko Olina for this January:whoopie: I had a request with II using my NCV unit and it came through in less than 30 days, pleasantly shocking. This will be great for my family.

I'm wondering what the square footage of these 2BR units are as this will help me plan our stay better.

Scroll down to post #21 in this thread, and you will see my slideshow of our 1BR. I don't have measurements, but you will see it is quite large
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72244.

I took some pix of the 'display' lockoff, but they are not in this slideshow. It is about the same width as the bedroom in the 1BR, but not as long (doesn't have the 'sitting' area at the end, but does have a small lanai). It also has a frig, sink, micro, 1 bed, and a fold out couch.

Steve

 

[wbrown]

Thanks for the info. The units look to be very spacious, probably about the same size as the units at NCV. Nice view out the window too from your pics.

Looks like Ko Olina was built from scratch to be a timeshare and not converted hotel rooms. Should be a nice stay.

One more question... If I added another Ko Olina week to my Hawaiian vacation, do you think it would be too boring being there so long or would it be better to add a second week elsewhere such as Maui?

 

[calberry]

One more question... If I added another Ko Olina week to my Hawaiian vacation, do you think it would be too boring being there so long or would it be better to add a second week elsewhere such as Maui?

I was just starting to 'chill out' by the time we had to leave, and we had been to Hilo for 3 nights, and Waikiki for 2 nights prior to our 7 days at Ko Olina. We had a whole list of restaurants, activities, drives (we even rented a convertible for the week), etc., and got SOOOO relaxed we hardly 'did' anything (one trip to North Shore, and one down to the big swap meet at Aloha stadium). And I BBQ'd every night except the last when we went to Chucks's.

We enjoyed our stay so much (after 2 days) that we bought a EOY week just knowing all these things will still be there for us to plan to do next time...or the time after (and probably still won't).
Steve

 

[Stefa]

If I added another Ko Olina week to my Hawaiian vacation, do you think it would be too boring being there so long or would it be better to add a second week elsewhere such as Maui?

Two things to consider are how often you plan to visit the islands and the cost of inter-island flights. If you don't plan to go very often, I'd at least consider visiting another island. On the other hand, the cost of inter-island flights has gone up since Aloha quit flying earlier this year and can add quite a bit to your total trip cost, so if you plan on goint to Maui in a few years, it might make more sense just to wait.

 

[wbrown]

Two things to consider are how often you plan to visit the islands and the cost of inter-island flights. If you don't plan to go very often, I'd at least consider visiting another island. On the other hand, the cost of inter-island flights has gone up since Aloha quit flying earlier this year and can add quite a bit to your total trip cost, so if you plan on goint to Maui in a few years, it might make more sense just to wait.[/QUOTE

My inter-island flights will all be covered by Hawaiian Airlines FF Miles for all four of us. So are the flights for us from LA. I use an American Airlines credit card that I do most of my purchases with so I'm able to rack up miles for things I would buy anyway. Of course this is assumng the AA doesn't start screwing the customers by charging more FF miles for the same thing. It's really annoying that they're nickel and diming customers to death.

 

[Stefa]

In that case I would at least consider adding Maui. My kids (2 and 5) were getting kind of bored with the pools/lagoon at Ko'Olina after one week. (I'd still rather be there than on the mainland.)

 

[wa.mama]

If you stay strictly at Ko olina you will be bored after one week. However, Oahu as an island has more to offer than any of the other islands. Like shopping? Ala Moana and Waikele outlets are great. Like surfing? Northshore, Ewa Beach (few miles from Ko olina) and Waikiki. Like snorkeling? The best snorkeling I've EVER done is just a mile from Ko Olina, and I've snorkeled all over the world, including australia and the caribbean. Like eating? The Ihilani has a wonderful restaurant, and Kapolei has lots of local food. Got kids? There's a water park a few miles away, the Dole plantation with it's train and maze, parks everywhere, the zoo and aquarium.

Don't just hang at Ko Olina. Sure, it's beautiful and has nice pools, but there's so much more to Oahu. Oh, and the units are quite large and have a wonderful layout for families. The keiki activities are plentiful and the beach hut has lots of sand toys and board games. Have fun!

 

[mjkaplan]

Where was this wonderful snokeling a mile from Ko'Olina?

 

[calberry]

Where was this wonderful snokeling a mile from Ko'Olina?

Just off shore of the power plant. When you get on the hwy heading north from Ko Olina, the parking lot is literally the 1st possible left turn as you enter the next little town. There is a sandy beach access to the right (as you face the ocean), with restroom and shower (outside).


Steve

 

[GrammyR]

Internet access at Ko Olina

I had been told that there was a fee for internel access at Ko Olina. Can someone who has been there please let me know. We are going there on June 23 and are trying to decide whether to take a laptop.

 

[MikeM132]

I had been told that there was a fee for internel access at Ko Olina. Can someone who has been there please let me know. We are going there on June 23 and are trying to decide whether to take a laptop.

Not true. Internet is free (wired and wireless--combo). It is very slow at KoOlina, however, but works.
I agree that staying within the KoOlina resort for 2 weeks would be a little boring, but if you travel around Oahu at all there is way too much to do for a 2 week vacation. We have been there twice in 2 years and this trip we only duplicated the USS Arizona/Missouri thing. Everything else was new and we still have a long list of stuff to do. Oahu is great! We have also spent a week in Maui twice. While that is really nice, too, there is nowhere near as much to do as Oahu. We also (all 3 of us) liked the scenery better on Oahu, even though the southern shore is very built-up.

 

[GrammyR]

Internet access

We are staying at Ko Olina on a promotional package, not an exchange. Is it possible that internet access is only free for owners and exchangers?

 

[calberry]

We are staying at Ko Olina on a promotional package, not an exchange. Is it possible that internet access is only free for owners and exchangers?

On our stay last month (an exchange) there was no mention of internet (fee, free or otherwise) at all as we checked in (and/or out), and in the room there was both wired and wireless access (just like in some hotels/motels...free or fee based systems). There was a card with instructions, and a number (toll free) to call an outside vendor if there were issues. I did have problems the 1st morning and spent 32 minutes on the phone with an IT person that literally took down the internet access to the whole resort while she tried to fix a firewall issue. Worked good (for a while) after that.

The big problem I had was that it seemed like the connection (wireless) would be intermittent (at best). When I was on it was great (in spurts), but when I tried to upload (or download) files (and yes, I did need to do some work) it would time out on me now and then...and then auto-reconnect (very frustrating!). And this happened at 5:30 am (all week) when I figured there probably weren't too many other users slogging down the system.

Steve

 

[MikeM132]

We are staying at Ko Olina on a promotional package, not an exchange. Is it possible that internet access is only free for owners and exchangers?

It's free for you, too. Slow, but free. I never tried to wired connection, using strictly wireless. Some times of day the speed was reasonable, most times pretty slow (like a good dialup). It is a typical Marriott service where you go to a web page and agree to their terms, then you can connect to all your regular intenet stuff and email. No secret password or owner's handshake or anything!