Marriott Maui Ocean Club - Common Area Kitchen

[crf450x]

We are currently staying at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club in the Lahaina & Napili Villas but was originally booked into the original side which has the limited kitchen. I haven't seen any pictures of the new Common Area Kitchen so I stopped by yesterday and took a few pictures of it. It is called Lumi Kuke, Gourmet Center.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/109102949@N03/sets/72157637814295996/

There are Three (3) electric stove tops with Two (2) burners each and two sinks. No oven.

The last two pictures are from our balcony on the 8th floor of the Lahaina Tower. Weather has been great so far with little to no trade winds which is unusual.

We were walking around the property Sunday morning and noticed all of the koi ponds and water features were purple. It looked very strange and we inquired with one of the gardeners working and he told us that it was sometype of algea/moss preventer and that the water color would go back to normal later in the afternoon. True enough, the water was clear in the afternoon and apparently does not affect the koi fish.

 

[bobmcgraw]

Thanks for posting! It looks nice. Will make boiling water for my son's hot dogs and mac and cheese much easier!!

 

[SueDonJ]

Are there outdoor grills nearby the indoor kitchen? That would make it very convenient to cook some meals onsite, which we like to do quite a bit.

{ETA} Oh! And thank you for posting - there've been a few questions about this new amenity and yours is the first set of pics.

 

[jtp1947]

Thank you for posting. Are pots, pans, and utensils in the kitchen or available for check out?

 

[crf450x]

Are there outdoor grills nearby the indoor kitchen? That would make it very convenient to cook some meals onsite, which we like to do quite a bit.

Thank you for posting. Are pots, pans, and utensils in the kitchen or available for check out?

Didn't forget about you guys. Will get the answers later today if we can tear ourselves away from the beach and pool, ha ha...

I must say, we come to Maui at least twice a year, as well as the other islands, and the past few days have been the best weather we have experienced, ever!!! Sunny all day, not too humid or hot and all around PERFECT!!! We are staying in the Lahaina Tower and there is ZERO breeze between this tower and the old section. None at the beach or pool. In fact I am looking out at the palm trees from our 8th floor ocean view and the palm frawns are not moving at all. If you go further north, there are some slight trade winds but nothing like the past when we were aways fighting to keep our umbrella from flipping inside out (although that has been solved by the recent purchase of http://thenoblo.com/ which I have no affiliation with but found out about on here from another tugger).

One thing that is perhaps a downside of the beach in front of the Lahaina tower is that the beach is very shallow. Even 70' from shore it is barely thigh high and the surface is covered in sharp rocks and corral. Not the ideal place to boogie board with the kids or snorkel. Didn't see much fish and thought the snorkeling in front of the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villa (WKORV) was much better. Then yesterday we parked ourselves where the beach forms a point in front of the Napili tower. There are some trade winds you can feel here and the snorkeling is much better. In fact, we saw more variety of fish here then we ever did at WKORV. We even saw a HUGE Honu (turtle) that was over 5' long that swan right up to us and next to us for over 10 minutes. Something my daughter and I will never forget. We have seen many turtles on the islands but never swam with one and they are so graceful under water. There are a number of sharp rock/corral formations in this area and one has to be very careful snorkeling in this area because as the waves come a go, if you are directly on top of one of these sharp rocks/corral, you are likely to get smashed down onto one or scrape your body or legs on it. It is still very shallow in this area as well and at 80' out is still only about 5' deep but there are lanes where you can go to avoid the rocks/corral and the variety and quantity of fish are much more plentiful.

Off to explore more parts of the beach today.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Didn't forget about you guys. Will get the answers later today if we can tear ourselves away from the beach and pool, ha ha...

I must say, we come to Maui at least twice a year, as well as the other islands, and the past few days have been the best weather we have experienced, ever!!! Sunny all day, not too humid or hot and all around PERFECT!!! We are staying in the Lahaina Tower and there is ZERO breeze between this tower and the old section. None at the beach or pool. In fact I am looking out at the palm trees from our 8th floor ocean view and the palm frawns are not moving at all. If you go further north, there are some slight trade winds but nothing like the past when we were aways fighting to keep our umbrella from flipping inside out (although that has been solved by the recent purchase of http://thenoblo.com/ which I have no affiliation with but found out about on here from another tugger).

One thing that is perhaps a downside of the beach in front of the Lahaina tower is that the beach is very shallow. Even 70' from shore it is barely thigh high and the surface is covered in sharp rocks and corral. Not the ideal place to boogie board with the kids or snorkel. Didn't see much fish and thought the snorkeling in front of the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villa (WKORV) was much better. Then yesterday we parked ourselves where the beach forms a point in front of the Napili tower. There are some trade winds you can feel here and the snorkeling is much better. In fact, we saw more variety of fish here then we ever did at WKORV. We even saw a HUGE Honu (turtle) that was over 5' long that swan right up to us and next to us for over 10 minutes. Something my daughter and I will never forget. We have seen many turtles on the islands but never swam with one and they are so graceful under water. There are a number of sharp rock/corral formations in this area and one has to be very careful snorkeling in this area because as the waves come a go, if you are directly on top of one of these sharp rocks/corral, you are likely to get smashed down onto one or scrape your body or legs on it. It is still very shallow in this area as well and at 80' out is still only about 5' deep but there are lanes where you can go to avoid the rocks/corral and the variety and quantity of fish are much more plentiful.

Off to explore more parts of the beach today.

We had a fun turtle experience at Black Rock our last trip.

 

[dioxide45]

There are Three (3) electric stove tops with Two (2) burners each and two sinks. No stoves.

Thanks for the photos. I think you meant that there are no ovens. A stove (otherwise considered a range) consists of the burners and the oven.

I find the new common area kitchen to be rather strange. There is really no reason they couldn't have added two burner cook-tops to each unit. Though at a higher cost given pots would also have to be purchased for each unit. Why not include ovens? There appears to be room for them. It seems that they would probably get a lot more use if they had included ovens.

 

[crf450x]

You are absolutely right. I meant no ovens. So no baking cookies and brownies...

 

[Chrispee]

There is really no reason they couldn't have added two burner cook-tops to each unit.

I suspect the real issue wouldn't be the cook-tops, it would be the required installation of proper hood venting.

 

[dioxide45]

I suspect the real issue wouldn't be the cook-tops, it would be the required installation of proper hood venting.

Perhaps, but looking at the photos of the common area kitchen it appears that only one of the three cooktops has a hood vent. Also, hood vents don't always vent outside. They just push the air up to the ceiling.

 

[suzannesimon]

I also thought it was strange they would make a large common area kitchen without ovens. If you are there on a holiday (Thanksgiving), some might want a turkey. I cooked a full dinner at Oceana Palms a couple years ago.

 

[Michigan Czar]

Thank you very much for posting the photos. I have been interested in seeing the community kitchen since it was first reported on TUG. I am disappointed they didn't install any ovens.

 

[MOXJO7282]

To me this is a waste of money. I would have preferred to see enhanced BBQ grills with side burners instead of these stove tops that I don't think bring as much use and value.

 

[dioxide45]

To me this is a waste of money. I would have preferred to see enhanced BBQ grills with side burners instead of these stove tops that I don't think bring as much use and value.

That would have made more sense.

 

[crf450x]

Are there outdoor grills nearby the indoor kitchen? That would make it very convenient to cook some meals onsite, which we like to do quite a bit.

The closest BBQ grills are down the steps towards the pool.

 

[crf450x]

Thank you for posting. Are pots, pans, and utensils in the kitchen or available for check out?

Stopped in this morning and there aren't any pots, pans or utensils in the cooking room. Strange. I wonder if they check them out at the front desk? We didn't need to use the common area kitchen because we are staying in the Lahaina Tower. I wonder if the old tower has pots and pans in the room. Will try to stop by the front desk and inquiry about the lack of cooking equipment in the common area kitchen.

 

[crf450x]

Please excuse the picture quality. I tried to take a surround picture of the kitchen with my new Samsung Note 3 phone and the island got a little tweaked.

 

[crf450x]

We took a walk this morning to the Hyatt and beyond and noticed that their beach or what little is left of their beach is getting smaller and smaller. It seems like the tides are getting higher and higher here such that it is undermining the grassy area and walkway. See this picture of a big section of the grassy cliff that collapsed.

Also here is a progress picture of the Hyatt timeshare property.

I imagine that when this project is completed, the view from the adjacent Lahaina Tower rooms is going to be severely impacted.

 

[dioxide45]

We took a walk this morning to the Hyatt and beyond and noticed that their beach or what little is left of their beach is getting smaller and smaller. It seems like the tides are getting higher and higher here such that it is undermining the grassy area and walkway. See this picture of a big section of the grassy cliff that collapsed.

I think this is just seasonal patterns. I remember back to our honeymoon in October 2010 when we walked the beach to the Hyatt from the Westin hotel. There was no beach out of front of the Marriott. We had to walk in water because the Maui Marriott was under complete renovation to become what is now the Maui Ocean Club.

 

[taffy19]

Thank you so much for posting these pictures. The Hyatt tower is going up fast but it looks to me that the Marriott condos will keep their views and that is good news for everyone who bought ocean view in the two new towers.

The beach erosion is constant but the sand comes and goes during the year in front of the Marriott Lahaina tower and the Hyatt Resort also because it goes around the corner so to speak.

The beach erosion is scary to see but the State will not do anything about it. They brought lots of sand to Waikiki beach but are not doing this on Maui.

You can see the wave action where the bend is and the new Hyatt tower goes around the corner even further than the Lahaina tower (see picture) is so this may be why there is so much erosion right here. I wished they would try to stop it.

 

[dioxide45]

If you look at the top of the first photo. It looks like the erosion is undercutting the beach walk pathway that goes along the beach front at Ka'anapali. I am wondering what they will do to fix that as it looks like it could quickly be a hazard.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Definitely seasonal erosion at play.

 

[taffy19]

If you look at the top of the first photo. It looks like the erosion is undercutting the beach walk pathway that goes along the beach front at Ka'anapali. I am wondering what they will do to fix that as it looks like it could quickly be a hazard.

We had the same problem in front of our tower too and it took more than a year to fix it.

The resort blames the State so they made a temporary path around it and cordoned it off limit. We are losing the grassy area inch by inch so the new path is closer to the tower now.

I don't know why Maui will not act faster and issue the proper permits as they charge us real estate tax AND a transient occupancy tax also. They are not friendly towards us visitors on Maui so think twice before you buy a timeshare condo on Maui. JMHO.

 

[slum808]

It is not mistreatment of visitors. The state treats all the same. There is a residential house on Oahu's North shore that is in danger of collapsing for the same reason.

The State will not issue him a building permit to correct the situation. Many of these structures due not conform to our modern setback rules. They are grandfathered in but can not be rebuilt.

As the sea level slowly rises Hawaii will have more and more of these problems.

 

[GaryDouglas]

Man is the primary problem here, and I don't mean pseudo anthropogenic global warming

There are multiple forces at play here. It's been over 40 years since my geomorphology class in college, but this isn't rocket science here and anyone who's spent the last 10 years at this resort can start to piece together the variables.

There have been many conversations on this forum about the shifting sands of Ka'anapali Beach. At one end of the season, most of the sand has moved up to the Sheraton location. At the other end of the season, the sand’s center of gravity is all the way down at the Ali'i/Marriott location. The main influence here is, when the sands go away, so does the protection it gives. So the areas that have less sand some or all of the time is where most of the protection needs to be addressed.

I have been taking note of the erosion along the length of the Marriott property, since that’s my home away from home. Most of it occurs from the area just in front of the Moloka’i building to the southern border of the property. And yes, this is the area less protected by the shifting sands. Most damage occurs at the combined times of high tide AND storm surges.

Now, how is man (in this case, our resort and the government) making things worse? Look at all the areas that are in front of the cabana rentals at Marriott. There are no controls over ingress/egress to the beach. This is causing all the ground cover plants and even trees that help stop erosion to be effectively destroyed. The only solution is to limit direct access to the beach to just two or three locations at those locations and put in more plants and rocks at all affected areas. It's my understanding that the state of Hawaii and County of Maui is less than helpful when anyone tries to protect their property, so our biggest obstacle is not Mother Nature here, but government.

One of my goals for the New Year to is approach the general manager of MOC who probably already feels like he knows me all too well, and the president of the owner’s association who probably feels the same way, on this subject. On my last visit, I took enough video to help support my suppositions. I plan on acting like a bulldog on this issue, since it could substantially undermine the Moloka’i building and the resort in general in the all-too-near future.

It doesn’t take a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing…