Is HGVC Legacy Elite Premier Status worth it? (? Being devalued or useless now with Max)

[mountainboy]

The manager who helped us was David.

I recall discussions in older threads that BC owners elected not to participate in HWV access because it was additional MF cost, they preferred that folks pay the $150 if they wanted access.

If you have a few hot tub discussions you may find there are a lot of BC owners that are not enrolled in HGVC points and prefer it that way, use their units or trade in RCI, that saves them club fees also.

Spoke to David who said the same thing...
The main Pool at Kohala Suites (at Clubhouse) is currently closed for emergency repairs, fwiw...
Glad it was open for your recent long stay @JohnnyO as it looks a bit weird to have orange cones & a mostly drained pool at the clubhouse!
(The pool complex at KL is very nice. The one at the Clubhouse at Bay Club is small. The family pool is quiet (at least on weekdays in current shoulder season)...
Mahalo!

 

[SmithOp]

Spoke to David who said the same thing...
The main Pool at Kohala Suites (at Clubhouse) is currently closed for emergency repairs, fwiw...
Glad it was open for your recent long stay @JohnnyO as it looks a bit weird to have orange cones & a mostly drained pool at the clubhouse!
(The pool complex at KL is very nice. The one at the Clubhouse at Bay Club is small. The family pool is quiet (at least on weekdays in current shoulder season)...
Mahalo!

We like the pool between building 9 and the villas, catch the morning water aerobics class. There is also a nice hot tub between buildings 3-4.

 

[JohnnyO]

Spoke to David who said the same thing...
The main Pool at Kohala Suites (at Clubhouse) is currently closed for emergency repairs, fwiw...
Glad it was open for your recent long stay @JohnnyO as it looks a bit weird to have orange cones & a mostly drained pool at the clubhouse!
(The pool complex at KL is very nice. The one at the Clubhouse at Bay Club is small. The family pool is quiet (at least on weekdays in current shoulder season)...
Mahalo!

We didn't use the pool nor hot tub at Kohala nor BC. We mostly went to KL and twice to HWV. The adult pool at KL was fairly quiet. We stayed away from the crazy family pool. Used the Kohala grill next to our building plenty of times. They were usually clean and unused. Have a blast.

 

[mountainboy]

The adult pool at KL was fairly quiet. We stayed away from the crazy family pool.

*Yup; heading there this am shortly...

Used the Kohala grill next to our building plenty of times. They were usually clean and unused.

Have one right outside our Patio; nice Weber Genesis Grill; worked beautifully for our marinated chicken & sweet potatoes last night!
Nice produce at KTA in Waikoloa (cheaper and better produce for many things than CSTCO)... Cute chickens/hens roaming the parking lot this morning!
Mahalo!

 

[JohnnyO]

*Yup; heading there this am shortly...

Have one right outside our Patio; nice Weber Genesis Grill; worked beautifully for our marinated chicken & sweet potatoes last night!
Nice produce at KTA in Waikoloa (cheaper and better produce for many things than CSTCO)... Cute chickens/hens roaming the parking lot this morning!
Mahalo!

We bought our meats, produce and many of our groceries at Island Naturals in Kona. But next time we are going to check out the markets @ScoopKona recommended.

 

[HuskerATL]

We bought our meats, produce and many of our groceries at Island Naturals in Kona. But next time we are going to check out the markets @ScoopKona recommended.

We bought at Safeway in Kona but there is also a Costco.

 

[JohnnyO]

We bought at Safeway in Kona but there is also a Costco.

We don't buy meats nor produce from Costo anymore. We do get other stuff ... especially gas. We also bought some Kona Coffee from the coffee lady who parks on the street outside of Costco (hours Wed-Sun noon-three but not always there). We haven't tried it yet but it was $23 a pound. Ahi Wai Farms.

 

[ScoopKona]

We bought at Safeway in Kona but there is also a Costco.

Costco is the rookie mistake tourists make until they learn where the good food is sold. And the only thing worth buying at Safeway is gas.

 

[HuskerATL]

Costco is the rookie mistake tourists make until they learn where the good food is sold. And the only thing worth buying at Safeway is gas.

Basic groceries are basic groceries... Price is all that matters and then you are more picky about where to eat out.

 

[geist1223]

1.5 years ago we found the prices for regular groceries was much better at Walmart than Safeway. Talking to locals we were told many do not go to Safeway except on $5.00 Fridays.

 

[ScoopKona]

Basic groceries are basic groceries... Price is all that matters and then you are more picky about where to eat out.

90% of all the food in Hawaii is imported from the mainland. Most of that is utterly flavorless. There are only a handful of restaurants where you can reasonably expect to eat local produce. The rest sell AgriCorp garbage at Hawaii prices. Point blank: Golden Corral slings better food than most Hawaii tourist trap restaurants. ("Home of the $30 Tater Tot appetizer." That is neither sarcasm, or hyperbole. $30 for a bowl of tater tots with some sauce and protein.)

Local produce is not just good. It's revelatory. "Did you try the tomatoes?"

Coming to Hawaii and eating Costco/Safeway/WalMart food is like traveling to Paris and eating McDonald's three meals a day. It's mediocre food. And it's not even the cheapest option.

 

[mountainboy]

Amazing Papayas from KTA today!
Fragrant, aromatic, yummy + small, ripe, RTE (ready to eat); 3 different cultivars/varieties (Rainbow, Kapoho Solo & Red Flesh).
Sorry, @JohnnyO , looks like Mods have blocked further replies on a different thread (presumably to keep that focused on HGVC resort info , so will reply here.
No OU for me (been there, done that) but love your journey to Multi-MM HH pts!

 

[mountainboy]

Coming to Hawaii and eating Costco/Safeway/WalMart food is like traveling to Paris and eating McDonald's three meals a day. It's mediocre food. And it's not even the cheapest option.

CSTCO had lots of local Hawaiian produce; prices significantly higher than mainland (or our multiple prior HI trips)
They had HI grown apple bananas, tomatoes ($12 for 2 lbs), Purple sweet potatoes & other produce.
Obviously getting from a local farmer/farmers market/farmstand would be next level (& may be cheaper, or not) and appreciate @ScoopKona 's sharing insights into local places for more authentic, locally grown produce/food.
Mahalo!

 

[ScoopKona]

CSTCO had lots of local Hawaiian produce; prices significantly higher than mainland (or our multiple prior HI trips)
They had HI grown apple bananas, tomatoes ($12 for 2 lbs), Purple sweet potatoes & other produce.

Costco doesn't have all that much local produce. And what they have was all grown on the largest farms in the state. (Necessarily -- quotas.)

People go there because it's cheap and convenient. I shop there, too. Because when Costco is the best value, it is far-and-away the best value. We don't have much of a dairy industry (at least not that visitors are going to find). So we don't have much local cheese. We're also not growing all that much wheat. So 50-pound sacks of flour make more sense at Costco.

Tomatoes, on the other hand, are best sourced from Waimea. (Same with asparagus and watermelons. Best there is. The cherry tomatoes I grow are tasty. But they can't hold a candle to a Waimea-grown beefsteak. These tomatoes are so sweet they'd make sense if added to a fruit salad.)

And it makes no sense to buy sacks of Mexican avocados when higher-quality local avocados may as well be free. I never pay for avocados, papayas or bananas. They're always around.

 

[JohnnyO]

Amazing Papayas from KTA today!
Fragrant, aromatic, yummy + small, ripe, RTE (ready to eat); 3 different cultivars/varieties (Rainbow, Kapoho Solo & Red Flesh).
Sorry, @JohnnyO , looks like Mods have blocked further replies on a different thread (presumably to keep that focused on HGVC resort info , so will reply here.
No OU for me (been there, done that) but love your journey to Multi-MM HH pts!

View attachment 115836

I understand why. This thread has been derailed too. It deserves its own thread or to be added to a Hawaii or BI info thread. Some great info.

 

[mountainboy]

This thread has been derailed too. It deserves its own thread or to be added to a Hawaii or BI info thread

@GT75 & other Mods/Gurus, maybe move some of these HI food specific discussions to this new thread?
Mahalo!

Locals & Experts recommendations for Hawaii Local fresh produce & Grocery Options?

Aloha! Would appreciate locals & travel Gurus share their tips for best places to get fresh local produce or grocery while in Big Island Hawaii! inspired by a recent ongoing discussion which started at HGVC EP thread. Request folks to pls share your kind tips/recommendations without...

tugbbs.com

 

[mountainboy]

Costco doesn't have all that much local produce. And what they have was all grown on the largest farms in the state. (Necessarily -- quotas.)

People go there because it's cheap and convenient. I shop there, too. Because when Costco is the best value, it is far-and-away the best value. We don't have much of a dairy industry (at least not that visitors are going to find). So we don't have much local cheese. We're also not growing all that much wheat. So 50-pound sacks of flour make more sense at Costco.

Tomatoes, on the other hand, are best sourced from Waimea. (Same with asparagus and watermelons. Best there is. The cherry tomatoes I grow are tasty. But they can't hold a candle to a Waimea-grown beefsteak. These tomatoes are so sweet they'd make sense if added to a fruit salad.)

And it makes no sense to buy sacks of Mexican avocados when higher-quality local avocados may as well be free. I never pay for avocados, papayas or bananas. They're always around.

@ScoopKona Maybe post more of your excellent advice re specific places in Waimea for the beefsteak tomatoes or papayas or others in this new thread?
Mahalo!

Locals & Experts recommendations for Hawaii Local fresh produce & Grocery Options?

Aloha! Would appreciate locals & travel Gurus share their tips for best places to get fresh local produce or grocery while in Big Island Hawaii! inspired by a recent ongoing discussion which started at HGVC EP thread. Request folks to pls share your kind tips/recommendations without...

tugbbs.com

 

[ScoopKona]

@ScoopKona Maybe post more of your excellent advice re specific places in Waimea for the beefsteak tomatoes or papayas or others in this new thread?
Mahalo!

Locals & Experts recommendations for Hawaii Local fresh produce & Grocery Options?

Aloha! Would appreciate locals & travel Gurus share their tips for best places to get fresh local produce or grocery while in Big Island Hawaii! inspired by a recent ongoing discussion which started at HGVC EP thread. Request folks to pls share your kind tips/recommendations without...

tugbbs.com

You can go to Waimea for one of their farmers markets: Hamakua Harvest on Sundays, the Town market on Saturdays, and the Kekele Farm Market (not a farmers market -- one farm, you can buy their stuff. Tues. & Sat.)

The Keauhou market on Saturday and the Captain Cook market on Sunday are also good.

And then there's Farm House in Kainaliu. But all I saw today were cherry tomatoes (still good but not amazing). And they have Waimea watermelon -- at least they did this morning. They also reliably have local poultry, eggs, pork and fish. (I prefer the roadside fish girl for ahi, shrimp and mahi. But I can't give specifics because every time one of the fish girls becomes too successful, code enforcement runs them off their "spot." Just ask around about the fish girl. She sells fish from under a canopy. And there's another fish girl on the other side of the island. We had a fish-dude for the longest time in Keauhou. But he became successful so he was run off.)

 

[ljmiii]

And there's another fish girl on the other side of the island….

We always spend a few nights in Hilo or Volcano when we visit Waikoloa and so follow Ellie Girl Fishing to see where she’s set up shop that day.

(But only HGVC Legacy owners get to know this critical piece of information )

 

[ScoopKona]

We always spend a few nights in Hilo or Volcano when we visit Waikoloa and so follow Ellie Girl Fishing to see where she’s set up shop that day.

(But only HGVC Legacy owners get to know this critical piece of information )

The best food is sold out of the backs of pickup trucks and under canopies. I don't stop for sweets. But everything else, I'm pulling over and getting whatever they're selling -- and hoping for shrimp, smoke meat, white pineapples, lau-lau and similar.


I get it that they aren't licensed. But they're putting out better food than most of the island's restaurants. (And anyone paying attention to restaurant closures of late knows that the license often isn't worth the paper its printed on.) So I hate seeing them run off by code enforcement. They're doing the community a service, after all. I'd like to see more fish girls and kalua pig dudes, not less.

 

[brp]

We don't buy meats nor produce from Costo anymore.

We actually do buy meats at home from CostCo. Their Prime is actually very good. We don't in Waikoloa because their volumes are more than we need. Usually KTA in Waikoloa.

Cheers.

 

[JohnnyO]

EP pays off again. Need to use our Lyft credits before the end of year. And able to arrange a ride for our son. Saved us two hours of driving. Maybe I just couldn’t figure it out but couldn’t change rider and schedule a ride at the same time. Tried to get help but stuck in a constant loop. View attachment 114697

Found out Lyft rejected our credit and charged us for the full ride. They said the EP Lyft credit isn’t good for other riders. I sent them a message, got escalated, and went back and forth with Lyft’s business rep. We had emails and the app confirming the ride was under the credit. How can they justify their bait and switch? I asked them to reconsider before I elevated the matter further. They charged back the ride (one time exemption) and didn’t even take it out of our HGVC Lyft credit. That’s fine and we’ll take it, but I would have been fine with them just using our Lyft credit as we had approved for the ride on their app. They need to get their act together. Be warned.

 

[HuskerATL]

I have had my son and wife just use the same account as me so they wouldn't know that it wasn't me using it.

 

[JohnnyO]

I have had my son and wife just use the same account as me so they wouldn't know that it wasn't me using it.

We were ready to do that until I was finally able to get the app to approve our son as the other rider and have the Lyft app apply the credit. They changed their mind after the ride. Next time we will do it that way for sure. Also Lyft sent out an update regarding the Zones in Maui and they reduced the area of coverage so that the Westin Nanea no longer falls into the HVC KBC zone.

 

[HuskerATL]

We were ready to do that until I was finally able to get the app to approve our son as the other rider and have the Lyft app apply the credit. They changed their mind after the ride. Next time we will do it that way for sure. Also Lyft sent out an update regarding the Zones in Maui and they reduced the area of coverage so that the Westin Nanea no longer falls into the HVC KBC zone.

that stinks...but doesn't surprise me.