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5 Weeks at Marriott Ko'Olina

TheTimeTraveler

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Hawaii should be thankful for the Timeshare industry in their state. The Timeshare industry is directly responsible for restarting the airline and hospitality industries in our 50th state. After all, if folks didn't have ownership reservations then they likely wouldn't be pushing so hard to get over there to utilize them.


.
 

NiteMaire

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Frank, what was your route from HNL to MCO? I am always looking for new ideas to get from FL to HI. Which airline did you fly?
I realize I'm not @frank808 but we lived in FL prior to moving here and traveled to HI 2-3 times a year. We've flown AA, United, and Delta (when an issue occurred with our United outbound flight). I'll answer this in reverse. For the flights back, I prefer the evening flights from HNL to IAH/DFW to FL. It gives you nearly the full day in Hawaii. I also prefer it since I'm able to sleep on planes. For return flights we've only flown AA and United.
For flights from FL to HI, DW preferred to break it into several segments. Depending on the airline we'd go to IAH/DFW to LAX/SFO/SAN to HNL. There are some flights from Phoenix, but we haven't taken. While DW prefers breaking the flights into many segments, I'm fine non-stop flights from IAH/DFW to HNL. I think in the end I like FL-TX-CA-HI (pick your airline and route) to go and HI-TX-FL for the return. Although one good thing about the direct flights from Texas is that you arrive early afternoon. We've only flown Delta once. We were supposed to go direct from Atlanta to Honolulu, but the latrines stopped working and we had to divert to LAX. Chaos then ensued. We were supposed to arrive at 4PM, ended up arriving at 10PM.

On a slightly related note. If you're like us and wake up very early on the first day (we'd usually wake up between 3-4), make a pot of coffee or your favorite morning drink, hop in a car, and drive to the windward side to watch the sunrise. Then stop at Cinnamon's in Kailua and have a great breakfast.
 

frank808

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How is the IAH-SFO connection time, assuming no significant delays? Are the gates close to each other? Comfortable amount of time between flights? IAH is our departure airport, and I’m always hesitant to book connecting flights. Of course, we wouldn’t have to wake up as early to catch the IAH-HNL flight as you would to fly MCO-IAH-HNL!

Fly though IAH at least 6 times this year. Connections with united are 55 min. Have not had close connections this year. But once a few years ago we came into Term C and had to get to Term E which is on the other side of IAH. Made it with 10 minutes before closing of doors. GA was a little snippy and commented to me that they are holding the door open because we were the last ones. I told her that you might want to blame tower because we were originally assigned the gate next door. But because of something tower parked us at another gate.

But usually they assign you same terminals if possible. If not, I have had minimum 1hr to get between terminals. IAH-HNL is pretty good at about 7 hours flight time. Since you are flying out of IAH I would take the 11am direct and get into HNL about 3pm. Perfect flight to me. One shot to Hawaii and arrives at 3pm. Get lugguage and car arrive at MKO just in time for 4pm check in. Have a few cocktails on lanai and watch sunset!

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frank808

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I realize I'm not @frank808 but we lived in FL prior to moving here and traveled to HI 2-3 times a year. We've flown AA, United, and Delta (when an issue occurred with our United outbound flight). I'll answer this in reverse. For the flights back, I prefer the evening flights from HNL to IAH/DFW to FL. It gives you nearly the full day in Hawaii. I also prefer it since I'm able to sleep on planes. For return flights we've only flown AA and United.
For flights from FL to HI, DW preferred to break it into several segments. Depending on the airline we'd go to IAH/DFW to LAX/SFO/SAN to HNL. There are some flights from Phoenix, but we haven't taken. While DW prefers breaking the flights into many segments, I'm fine non-stop flights from IAH/DFW to HNL. I think in the end I like FL-TX-CA-HI (pick your airline and route) to go and HI-TX-FL for the return. Although one good thing about the direct flights from Texas is that you arrive early afternoon. We've only flown Delta once. We were supposed to go direct from Atlanta to Honolulu, but the latrines stopped working and we had to divert to LAX. Chaos then ensued. We were supposed to arrive at 4PM, ended up arriving at 10PM.

On a slightly related note. If you're like us and wake up very early on the first day (we'd usually wake up between 3-4), make a pot of coffee or your favorite morning drink, hop in a car, and drive to the windward side to watch the sunrise. Then stop at Cinnamon's in Kailua and have a great breakfast.
I always fly redeye leaving HNL if possible. Usually through IAH so we have only 1 stop to east coast. Leave 9pm to 11pm HNL and arrive in Florida by 2pm. Coming back west we leave Florida as late as possible which usually means 2 stops.

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amy241

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Marriott Ko ‘Olina
I realize I'm not @frank808 but we lived in FL prior to moving here and traveled to HI 2-3 times a year. We've flown AA, United, and Delta (when an issue occurred with our United outbound flight). I'll answer this in reverse. For the flights back, I prefer the evening flights from HNL to IAH/DFW to FL. It gives you nearly the full day in Hawaii. I also prefer it since I'm able to sleep on planes. For return flights we've only flown AA and United.
For flights from FL to HI, DW preferred to break it into several segments. Depending on the airline we'd go to IAH/DFW to LAX/SFO/SAN to HNL. There are some flights from Phoenix, but we haven't taken. While DW prefers breaking the flights into many segments, I'm fine non-stop flights from IAH/DFW to HNL. I think in the end I like FL-TX-CA-HI (pick your airline and route) to go and HI-TX-FL for the return. Although one good thing about the direct flights from Texas is that you arrive early afternoon. We've only flown Delta once. We were supposed to go direct from Atlanta to Honolulu, but the latrines stopped working and we had to divert to LAX. Chaos then ensued. We were supposed to arrive at 4PM, ended up arriving at 10PM.

On a slightly related note. If you're like us and wake up very early on the first day (we'd usually wake up between 3-4), make a pot of coffee or your favorite morning drink, hop in a car, and drive to the windward side to watch the sunrise. Then stop at Cinnamon's in Kailua and have a great breakfast.

Thank you! This is all great information!
 

TheHolleys87

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Fly though IAH at least 6 times this year. Connections with united are 55 min. Have not had close connections this year. But once a few years ago we came into Term C and had to get to Term E which is on the other side of IAH. Made it with 10 minutes before closing of doors. GA was a little snippy and commented to me that they are holding the door open because we were the last ones. I told her that you might want to blame tower because we were originally assigned the gate next door. But because of something tower parked us at another gate.

But usually they assign you same terminals if possible. If not, I have had minimum 1hr to get between terminals. IAH-HNL is pretty good at about 7 hours flight time. Since you are flying out of IAH I would take the 11am direct and get into HNL about 3pm. Perfect flight to me. One shot to Hawaii and arrives at 3pm. Get lugguage and car arrive at MKO just in time for 4pm check in. Have a few cocktails on lanai and watch sunset!

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Thanks! We’ll probably continue to fly nonstop IAH to HNL, but I was wondering about the connections in SFO, in case we decided to break it up for some reason.
 

frank808

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Thanks! We’ll probably continue to fly nonstop IAH to HNL, but I was wondering about the connections in SFO, in case we decided to break it up for some reason.
SFO to HNL is usually later in he afternoon. If you do direct it is about 7 hours to get to hawaii. If you go through SF you are looking at a 9-10 hour flight day. Unless price or time warrants flying through SFO, I would not want to give up a direct flight.

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Tamaradarann

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Hawaii should be thankful for the Timeshare industry in their state. The Timeshare industry is directly responsible for restarting the airline and hospitality industries in our 50th state. After all, if folks didn't have ownership reservations then they likely wouldn't be pushing so hard to get over there to utilize them.

It would be interesting to find out what percentage of the visitors that are coming to Hawaii are timeshare owners, vacation renters, and hotel guests.
 

controller1

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It would be interesting to find out what percentage of the visitors that are coming to Hawaii are timeshare owners, vacation renters, and hotel guests.

Not sure anyone captures that data. Even the form filled out as you arrive Hawaii simply asks where you are staying. If you name a timeshare there is no way to know whether one is an owner or a renter.
 

JanT

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Spent the day yesterday traveling over to the North Shore. Put the top down on the convertible, let the wind completely mess up our hair, and soaked up the sun.

We were so happy to see one of our favorite little restaurants was open - North Shore Tacos. They have wonderful fish tacos. Spoke with the staff for a few minutes and they said they have managed to weather the storm of Covid-19 because of loyal locals. We ate outside and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

We made a few stops along the way and took a few pictures. It’s so beautiful here and after 2 weeks here I’m finally relaxing.

We stopped at Walmart and found two lawn/beach chairs so we could go down to the lagoons and have chairs. All the lounge chairs have been removed until they can sanitize them and get the hut opened back up. So, we went down this morning and oh my gosh - just relaxed and soaked up the sun. It was so beautiful that I literally got tears in my eyes. It was fairly empty (compared to normal times). I can still feel the heat of the sun on me and just feel so recharged.

Good news!! Longboard’s will be reopening on 1 November!!! I think it will initially be takeout only but that’s a step in the right direction. We passed one of the staff on our way back to our unit and he was carrying a big sign announcing their reopening. I’m soooo glad - so, so happy for the employees. ❤❤ It will be nice to be able to get cocktails from there while we’re on the beach, too.

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Theiggy

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@JanT I just loved your update. I hope we can make it there in February.


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Tamaradarann

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Not sure anyone captures that data. Even the form filled out as you arrive Hawaii simply asks where you are staying. If you name a timeshare there is no way to know whether one is an owner or a renter.

While it is true a timeshare occupant could be a renter not an owner it would be interesting to see where the majority of tourists are staying. Historically hotels were the accomodations for tourists but with timeshares being such a large part of the accommodations for tourists in Hawaii it would be interesting to see what part they are playing in the restoration of this most important Hawaii industry.
 

klpca

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Spent the day yesterday traveling over to the North Shore. Put the top down on the convertible, let the wind completely mess up our hair, and soaked up the sun.

We were so happy to see one of our favorite little restaurants was open - North Shore Tacos. They have wonderful fish tacos. Spoke with the staff for a few minutes and they said they have managed to weather the storm of Covid-19 because of loyal locals. We ate outside and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

We made a few stops along the way and took a few pictures. It’s so beautiful here and after 2 weeks here I’m finally relaxing.

We stopped at Walmart and found two lawn/beach chairs so we could go down to the lagoons and have chairs. All the lounge chairs have been removed until they can sanitize them and get the hut opened back up. So, we went down this morning and oh my gosh - just relaxed and soaked up the sun. It was so beautiful that I literally got tears in my eyes. It was fairly empty (compared to normal times). I can still feel the heat of the sun on me and just feel so recharged.

Good news!! Longboard’s will be reopening on 1 November!!! I think it will initially be takeout only but that’s a step in the right direction. We passed one of the staff on our way back to our unit and he was carrying a big sign announcing their reopening. I’m soooo glad - so, so happy for the employees. ❤❤ It will be nice to be able to get cocktails from there while we’re on the beach, too.

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View attachment 28108View attachment 28109
Looks absolutely perfect!
 

NiteMaire

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Marriott brought out the wooden loungers. I don't know if they are charging to use them.

It's free time for swimming (7-9am) at the pools, but not a soul in sight.
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PearlCity

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Does anyone knkw if the showers for use after checkout reopened? I uad a friend check out yesterday and he told me about it but he didnt use them and i thought they were closed.

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NiteMaire

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Does anyone knkw if the showers for use after checkout reopened? I uad a friend check out yesterday and he told me about it but he didnt use them and i thought they were closed.

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The showers are not open, but you can use the changing room and toilets.
 

NiteMaire

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Great start to the day...with the brown water advisory here, it's a good day to go to the North Shore!
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luv_maui

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Getting excited about arriving at MKO for the first time, 12/4, and would love to Meet (safely of course) as many TUGGERS still there. Still need to figure out which covid test to do, but have a month to figure it out. Really enjoying all the updates at MKO!
 

frank808

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Did the CVS test in Orlando today. $139 per person.

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NiteMaire

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Marriott started putting chairs back out. Limited number, all tied to the umbrella poles. While people are using the loungers, no chairs are in use.
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controller1

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Marriott started putting chairs back out. Limited number, all tied to the umbrella poles. While people are using the loungers, no chairs are in use.
9054495163bf0d2f9565fd2f9b45aad9.jpg

Can people even use the chairs the way they are tied to the poles?
 

NiteMaire

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Can people even use the chairs the way they are tied to the poles?
No, and it's on purpose. I imagine they'll rent and unlock them at some point.
 

frank808

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Attend a TS presentation for one day use of an umbrella and two loungers!

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frank808

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Above was meant as a joke but I remember they did have this as one of the gifts.

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