conkyjoe
TUG Member
Greetings,
It's been awhile since our last post on TUG but thought we'd share our recent 2 week trip to Hawaii with all the cool Starwood owners on TUG!
As owners at Harborside for two years now, we missed our window this year to book our August Hurricane week and were sweating whether we could swap our 2BR LO for WKORV at the last minute. Low and behold we got the week we wanted and swapped our 2BR LO for seven days plus one in Building 3 Room 415. That would be overlooking the Public Parking lot of the Public beach with both an Island and Ocean view. More on that later....
Our 12 yr old daughter would be going solo this year with Dear Dad and Dear Mom to Hawaii instead of the usual hanging out with a lucky cousin at Atlantis. Boring!!!
Since we had two weeks off we had to decide what to do with the first week. How about Waikiki? How about burning threw some of those precious Starpoints and staying at the Moana Surfrider for a week? How about teaching our daughter how to surf for the first time in Waikiki where Duke and the beach boys hung out? How about taking a glider ride at Dillingham Airfield on the North Shore for about 30 minutes? How about renting a Jeep and touring the Northshore and Windward side of Oahu? How about visiting the only Royal Palace in the United States? How about just enjoying all the shopping and entertainers in downtown Waikiki? Not to mention all the history, good and bad.
We did all that and more and loved the Westin Moana, beautiful, perfect location right on the beach and a short walk to our room. No long walks from the beach, down long paths, down long corridors, just a short walk to the lobby, up the elevator with a quick right to our room on the third floor. Nice! We stayed in the original hotel and not in the tower. What a wonderful property.
Before leaving Oahu, one person above all others within the Starwood system to meet if your ever in in Waikiki, would be Mrs Thelma Kam. Thelma personifies the spirit of "Aloha"
, the Director of Cultural Affairs supporting the Waikiki Sheraton, Moana, Princess and Royal. Be sure to look Thelma Kam up if you have a moment. She is the "Queen" and made our trip truly incredible. Starwood is blessed to have her. She's been at Starwood for decades.
Bye, Bye Waikiki. So off to Maui for week two at WKORV.
We didn't rent a Jeep this time around in Maui; we rented the standard converible Mustang that you see all over Maui. Fun car to ride in with the top down. DW and daughter sat down in the lobby on Sunday at 3pm while I checked in, the lines were short and we immediatly were presented with one choice. The one BR Deluxe overlooking the public parking lot near the elevators. This initially didn't sound like a really great location, but after being in it for a few days we began to appreciate everything it offered. Close to the elevators with a great view of the island side facing south and a very nice ocean view. Gee, just think we could have been looking over the pool instead?
Surely, the Pool view rooms are great also.
Notables while on Maui...
1. Trilogy sunset cruise to Launi (exceptional)
2. Menendez Horse Ride (super staff and facilities, but the day after, ouch!)
3.
Goofy Foot Surf Lessons in Lahina (got to meet Tim Sherer the owner from S.Cal)
4.
Westin SPA treatment for DW (she was jello after the treatment and loved it)
5. Lahina CheeseBurger in Paradise (12yr old loved it there)
6. Snorkeling right off the beach at WKORV
7. Plantation House Sunset Dinner
8. Walking under the Banyon Tree with all the birds singing at dusk in Lahina
and the list goes on. Overall the weather was perfect, no hurricanes, great Aloha spirt.
Suprisingly, the only place we heard the "big aloha" during the entire week was of all places WKORV. The Westin recrecational staff at the morning owners orientation must have thought we were all asleep! Oh well, I'll get over it. "Take a chill pill, Dan!"
Great property, can you find the big waves at Harborside? Who knows, that might be the next attaction at Atlantis in 2010 or the next hurricane coming up! Kowabunga!
Surely not a Boring vacation afterall!
Namaste!
It's been awhile since our last post on TUG but thought we'd share our recent 2 week trip to Hawaii with all the cool Starwood owners on TUG!
As owners at Harborside for two years now, we missed our window this year to book our August Hurricane week and were sweating whether we could swap our 2BR LO for WKORV at the last minute. Low and behold we got the week we wanted and swapped our 2BR LO for seven days plus one in Building 3 Room 415. That would be overlooking the Public Parking lot of the Public beach with both an Island and Ocean view. More on that later....
Our 12 yr old daughter would be going solo this year with Dear Dad and Dear Mom to Hawaii instead of the usual hanging out with a lucky cousin at Atlantis. Boring!!!
Since we had two weeks off we had to decide what to do with the first week. How about Waikiki? How about burning threw some of those precious Starpoints and staying at the Moana Surfrider for a week? How about teaching our daughter how to surf for the first time in Waikiki where Duke and the beach boys hung out? How about taking a glider ride at Dillingham Airfield on the North Shore for about 30 minutes? How about renting a Jeep and touring the Northshore and Windward side of Oahu? How about visiting the only Royal Palace in the United States? How about just enjoying all the shopping and entertainers in downtown Waikiki? Not to mention all the history, good and bad.
We did all that and more and loved the Westin Moana, beautiful, perfect location right on the beach and a short walk to our room. No long walks from the beach, down long paths, down long corridors, just a short walk to the lobby, up the elevator with a quick right to our room on the third floor. Nice! We stayed in the original hotel and not in the tower. What a wonderful property.
Before leaving Oahu, one person above all others within the Starwood system to meet if your ever in in Waikiki, would be Mrs Thelma Kam. Thelma personifies the spirit of "Aloha"
, the Director of Cultural Affairs supporting the Waikiki Sheraton, Moana, Princess and Royal. Be sure to look Thelma Kam up if you have a moment. She is the "Queen" and made our trip truly incredible. Starwood is blessed to have her. She's been at Starwood for decades.
Bye, Bye Waikiki. So off to Maui for week two at WKORV.
We didn't rent a Jeep this time around in Maui; we rented the standard converible Mustang that you see all over Maui. Fun car to ride in with the top down. DW and daughter sat down in the lobby on Sunday at 3pm while I checked in, the lines were short and we immediatly were presented with one choice. The one BR Deluxe overlooking the public parking lot near the elevators. This initially didn't sound like a really great location, but after being in it for a few days we began to appreciate everything it offered. Close to the elevators with a great view of the island side facing south and a very nice ocean view. Gee, just think we could have been looking over the pool instead?
Surely, the Pool view rooms are great also.
Notables while on Maui...
1. Trilogy sunset cruise to Launi (exceptional)
2. Menendez Horse Ride (super staff and facilities, but the day after, ouch!)
3.
Goofy Foot Surf Lessons in Lahina (got to meet Tim Sherer the owner from S.Cal)
4.
Westin SPA treatment for DW (she was jello after the treatment and loved it)
5. Lahina CheeseBurger in Paradise (12yr old loved it there)
6. Snorkeling right off the beach at WKORV
7. Plantation House Sunset Dinner
8. Walking under the Banyon Tree with all the birds singing at dusk in Lahina
and the list goes on. Overall the weather was perfect, no hurricanes, great Aloha spirt.
Suprisingly, the only place we heard the "big aloha" during the entire week was of all places WKORV. The Westin recrecational staff at the morning owners orientation must have thought we were all asleep! Oh well, I'll get over it. "Take a chill pill, Dan!"
Great property, can you find the big waves at Harborside? Who knows, that might be the next attaction at Atlantis in 2010 or the next hurricane coming up! Kowabunga!
Surely not a Boring vacation afterall!
Namaste!