At Westin Ka'anapali, crowded!

[ciscogizmo1]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Time2Ponder
We toured both WKORVN and Lahaina Village. Ultimately, we decided to purchase an OF resale at WKORV. Why? Because Marriott's studio can't compare to Westin's studio. Marriott's is small, lacks basic amenities (washer/dryer; full-size refrigerator; stove-top; dishwasher; hot tub, and large bathroom), and is more like a hotel room than a TS. For us (people who like to do two weeks at a time in Maui due to the amount of time we spend traveling form the Midwest), Marriott's small studio made it a dealbreaker.

And, while you mention Marriott being located on a "prime beach," I'd say otherwise. It's too crowded and reminds me of the Jersey shore on which I grew up. I prefer the calmness of the WKORV area and love the snorkeling there (let's hear it for the turtles!!). If we want to do the "exciting, crowded beach" excursion, we can and do (generally once each trip) go to the "prime beach" area you mention, via the shuttle. It's pretty handy in that they don't care if you get on the bus in a dampened state. In fact, they have loads of towels on the shuttles for that very reason. And a night-time trip down there is similarly easy.

When you get down to it, it's all a matter of preference. Some choose MOC, some choose WKORV. It's Maui: It's all good.

Please spell out the acronym at least once prior to using it.

Mahalo,

Sterling

WKORVN = Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas - North
OF = Ocean Front
WKORV = Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas
MOC = Maui Ocean Club

Hope that Helps...

 

[Time2Ponder]

Please spell out the acronym at least once prior to using it.

Mahalo,

Sterling

Denise L used the acronym way back in post #4.

MOC = Marriott Ocean Club (of which Lahaina Villas is a part)

Also,

WKORV = Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Villas

WKORVN (or "-N") = Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas - North

There! I hope I've covered all the bases!!

 

[Time2Ponder]

Thanks, cisco -- I did forget OF. My bad, apparently.

Also, let's do OV = ocean view.

 

[Denise L]

Maybe I got the buildings mixed up. Isn't that the building if you are standing in the lobby facing the beach it is on the left. The one closest to the cafe & waterslide. It is the building that does not have the gym.

We were in room 3610/3608 and we had no problem seeing the sunset from our room. Another time we were in room 3615 facing the public park and we could not see the sunset at all. Both visits were in the summer.
It must depend on what room you are in, maybe???

I tried searching my photo files for a sunset pictures but I can't find them. The closest thing I could find was my dh sitting on the couch in room 3610/08 watching the sunset.

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We are sunset people so, I'm hoping to get a room with a view of the sunset. We really don't go out to dinner at restaurants because we want to watch the sunset. So, when we were in building 3615 we had to run out to see the sunset on the beach. The whole sunset thing is important to me and I don't know why.

I am a total sunset person, so when we were assigned Bldg 3, pool facing, I knew that we would never see a sunset from our lanai. We are in the unit next to the elevators closest to the ocean. Even numbers are north facing. Not a stitch of sun our on lanai. If you did see a sunset from this side, maybe it was a different time of year and the sun was setting differently? Not sure.

ANTS this morning under the sink and on the countertops. I knew I should have emptied the garbage last night like I have been doing, but it wasn't that full. Now that side smells like minty poison and we have moved our breakfast to the studio side. This is the first year we have had ants in our villa, or any bugs.

 

[hibbert6]

What justifies the price?

OK, I'm confused. Marriott and Westin are two of the most expensive places on Maui (by a long shot) yet, apparently, ocean views are not guaranteed, some rooms are a bit shoddy, there's noise, and even booking 12 months out at 9am EST doesn't assure you the type of unit you request. So, as I have never been to either of these resorts, (and I'm not trying to be cynical here) please tell me what makes owning (or even renting) a Marriott or Westin TS worth 2-4 times the cost of mid-level resorts?

Dave

 

[Time2Ponder]

OK, I'm confused. Marriott and Westin are two of the most expensive places on Maui (by a long shot) yet, apparently, ocean views are not guaranteed, some rooms are a bit shoddy, there's noise, and even booking 12 months out at 9am EST doesn't assure you the type of unit you request. So, as I have never been to either of these resorts, (and I'm not trying to be cynical here) please tell me what makes owning (or even renting) a Marriott or Westin TS worth 2-4 times the cost of mid-level resorts?

Dave

We purchased an OF (Ocean Front) unit at WKORV (the original Westin property) simply because we did not want to have to worry about getting the desired view. Sure, we know there's always a possibility that we might be assigned a less-desirable lower floor; however, we'll always be OF. For us, it certainly was worth that particular premium. YMMV.

 

[DeniseM]

OK, I'm confused. Marriott and Westin are two of the most expensive places on Maui (by a long shot) yet, apparently, ocean views are not guaranteed, some rooms are a bit shoddy, there's noise, and even booking 12 months out at 9am EST doesn't assure you the type of unit you request. So, as I have never been to either of these resorts, (and I'm not trying to be cynical here) please tell me what makes owning (or even renting) a Marriott or Westin TS worth 2-4 times the cost of mid-level resorts?

Dave

I can't speak for the Marriott, but there is nothing shoddy about the Westin. As far as the view, I think that Westin should have labeled more of the minimal ocean view rooms as island view. However, the ocean front units are closer to the water than 90% of the resorts in Hawaii and have fantastic views. If I had it to do all over again, I would buy ocean front and resale, but unfortunately, we bought our OV unit from the developer before we knew about TUG or anything about timesharing.

But we've had fantastic locations all 3 times we've been there with the best ocean view location and we go during high season. We always call at 9:00 am EST at 12 mos. out. The one night we spent with an "air conditioner view" was a rental night before our timeshare stay. We had rented an island view room (substantially cheaper) and were upgraded to a not so great ocean view room - but it was still a free upgrade. However, at the end of our stay, when we rented another extra night, we were upgraded from an island view room to an ocean front room, and that was nice! I know this will never happen again, but our very first visit, they year the resort opened, we were actually upgraded to OCEAN FRONT for the whole week - that was amazing!

Anyway, the resort is very nice, but the whole area is getting too crowded for us, so we bought two ocean front weeks on Kauai instead.

 

[Lindalu]

At Westin Ka'anapali

Hi Denise,
Happy 10th Anniversary! We arrived yesterday and are celebrating 30 years. We are at WKORVN, building 6, top floor and have a partial ocean view.
How much longer are you here?

 

[Denise L]

Hi Denise,
Happy 10th Anniversary! We arrived yesterday and are celebrating 30 years. We are at WKORVN, building 6, top floor and have a partial ocean view.
How much longer are you here?

We arrived back in CA tonight . The weather was lovely today as we were leaving! How I wish we could have stayed another week.

Happy 30th, wow! Have a great week! It should be very peaceful at WKORVN!

 

[Lindalu]

Sorry to have missed you. We're leaving here on Saturday and heading to SFO for a few days before we head back to RI. I'm not looking forward to the cold weather after being in Hawaii for two weeks.

 

[hibbert6]

More explanation, please

OK, I'm confused. Marriott and Westin are two of the most expensive places on Maui (by a long shot) yet, apparently, ocean views are not guaranteed, some rooms are a bit shoddy, there's noise, and even booking 12 months out at 9am EST doesn't assure you the type of unit you request. So, as I have never been to either of these resorts, (and I'm not trying to be cynical here) please tell me what makes owning (or even renting) a Marriott or Westin TS worth 2-4 times the cost of mid-level resorts?

Sorry - I must be missing something. And, honest, I'm not trying to be cynical, just trying to understand. Last time I was on Maui, I stayed at the Paki Maui. Nice place if you're oceanfront (1/2 the units) & pretty miserable in the "garden view" units. But the rent was half the cost of the Westin or Marriott. There was nothing but 50' of lawn between me and the beach. What would be the benefit, next time, of staying at the Marriott or Westin? Or, to put it bluntly, would my wife be happier at one of those? (assuming price was no object!

Dave

 

[ciscogizmo1]

Sorry - I must be missing something. And, honest, I'm not trying to be cynical, just trying to understand. Last time I was on Maui, I stayed at the Paki Maui. Nice place if you're oceanfront (1/2 the units) & pretty miserable in the "garden view" units. But the rent was half the cost of the Westin or Marriott. There was nothing but 50' of lawn between me and the beach. What would be the benefit, next time, of staying at the Marriott or Westin? Or, to put it bluntly, would my wife be happier at one of those? (assuming price was no object!

Dave

For our family... we like Westin's and Marriott's because they offer more of a resort feel. The pool at Paki Maui would do nothing for my kids. They want something with slide. I like that they offer onsite restaurant facilities & a full gym. Not a gym that was an afterthought. The Westin resort offers a lot of things that you would expect to find in a hotel. So, you get the best of both worlds: hotel amenities while staying in condo facilities..

I've stayed at the Paki Maui and it is always a gamble on whether or not you are gonna get a good unit. Most of the units are individually owned so they aren't all up to the same standards. Where with Marriotts & Westins you are definitely gonna get the same standards at each and every resort (majority of the time)...

I know a lot of people don't care what their unit looks like but I do. I don't want to come back to a unit and not like it there. However, I can totally understand that everyone has different tastes and preferences. So, it is great that we have so many hotel/condo options in Maui/Hawaii..

 

[hibbert6]

Thanks!

Ciscogizmo, you must be in my neighborhood! I'm the only one of my group that never worked at Cisco and so never had options. So as nice as the resorts look, (thanks for the gorgeous photos, by the way) I'll have to stay at the regular places or travel less frequently, I'm afraid!

Dave