And I thought Disney was expensive, Hawaii planning

[jacksmom]

Hi! We have just started planning a first trip to Hawaii, looking at 12/26-1/2. Would love any budget ideas. Wondering if Amazon will ship here, have heard meals/food are expensive? Any budgeting tips/ideas appreciated. Any good planning sites? Thanks for any planning help.

 

[CanadianEmily]

I love Hawaii so much! We've gone twice, and it was expensive, but we did stay at a cheaper hotel (compared to others) at the end of the Waikiki strip called Park Shore Waikiki. It's been refurbished since then, so I imagine it's really nice! We loved it even when it was a bit dated. Amazing views on the ocean side, but from other areas you can see Diamond Head, which is also really nice.

As for food, we ate some stuff from ABC stores occasionally. I believe they usually have some prepared things like fruit and salads. I can always survive on trail mix and other snacks for a meal here and there. There's one right beside Park Shore, but there are tons of them all over Hawaii. We also liked to drive up to the North Shore and eat from shrimp trucks. Such good, authentic food, and cheap compared to sit-down meals.

All of this assumes you are 1) going to Oahu and 2) will have a rental car.

 

[hsmamato2]

I thought Hawaii was much cheaper than WDW We made good use of credit card point redemptions for flights and hotel, and mostly ate at the ABC island store(had a decent deli and food selection) next to our hotel,plus a few wonderful food trucks and a local cheap place. We had a blast. Disney is so much more $$$ IMHO. This was Maui.

 

[MillauFr]

We go to Kauai. We stay at the Marriott time share at Poipu. It is a 2 bedroom unit with a kitchen. We save money by eating breakfast and half of our dinners at the resort. We buy our groceries at Costco in Lihue. We use the Alaska Airlines companion passes for airfare.

 

[duffybear32830]

I imagine that is one of the most if not the most expensive weeks of the year to go to Hawaii. I'd look into a condo or some kind of rental like that so you can have a kitchen, full service hotel has got to be a lot more expensive.

 

[Becca1007]

That is the most expensive time to go to Hawaii. Definitely hit up a close by grocery store and stock up on snacks/drinks to keep in your room. If you have a kitchen, then eating in is the way to go and allows you more beach time. I generally check out the lunch menus for places that I want to go as they are often cheaper than dinner and then get a reservation at the last lunch seating time.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

We went to Oahu in July-August 2018. It was a near perfect trip. We were on a budget...and had a fabulous time!

We used airline miles (from credit card churning) for the flights. We ended up paying tax only for three passengers.
We stayed at Aulani on DVC points (thanks to my parents...talk about awesome).
We joined Costco. Thru Costco's website we purchased the 4 day Go Oahu card. On their site it's four days for the price of three. Anything we wanted to do on Oahu was thru this card. We surfed, toured the island for a day, went to Pearl Harbor, several rain forest hikes. a luau, etc.
We rented a car. Cannot imagine going to Hawaii and not having a car. This helped on our meals also. While on vacations we try to not eat at chain restaurants (except one meal at McDonald's...I like seeing what the 'local' meal is like. I think it was the McTeri in Waikiki - lol). Food was expensive...but not as bad as Disney expensive. Except at Aulani...it was Disney expensive. We made a Target run and surprisingly we didn't think Target was anymore expensive than home. Also, Sam's and Costco are on Oahu (not sure which islands they are on). If you have a kitchen, then stock up at one of those stores!

 

[jacksmom]

Thanks for the great ideas!

 

[kymom99]

I’ve never been, but I have tried pricing out trips through delta vacations. They seem to save you a little bit over booking each component separately. If you do look at those packages, they give you the option of choosing your room Category. Upgrading to rooms with kitchen or kitchenette didn’t seem to be that much more than traditional hotel rooms in most cases. So you could save a bunch there, as others have said

 

[Searc]

You are planning to visit the most expensive week of the year. Are you Costco members? They have packages for different places in Hawaii at good prices, though if you stick with that week, plan on paying peak prices for everything.

 

[crystal1313]

We try to pack a bunch of dry food in our carry on, so we don't have to buy that once there. Things like cereal, protein bars, crackers, etc. If my parents go with us (making us a family of 6) we hit up Costco for food and try to eat a majority of our meals in the room. We usually stay are a resort with rooms with full kitchens (Aulani, Kings land and this year Waipouli Beach resort) and take full advantage of having a stove and oven and also use the community BBQs. We usually make our own drinks in our room too and save a lot of money that way vs. going out to eat. This year, it will just be the 4 of us, so we plan to take advantage of the Safeway across from our resort and just go buy food when needed. I am sure we will eat out here and there, but try to limit the amount because of the cost. Plus, we get tired of eating out for an entire week and really enjoy cooking our own meals. We made a budget and have been saving up money every month to go towards food and the hotel. We are almost at our goal!

 

[MomToOne]

Hawaii is expensive as far as airfare, lodging and food goes, but there are tons of cheap activities that help you keep a cost of a trip down.

DD and I just got back from 12 days on the North Shore of Oahu. (I don't like the crowds of Honolulu but love the North Shore.) We rented a 1 bedroom beachfront condo on VRBO in a small complex we've stayed at several time before (DD slept on the futon in the living room). We went out to eat some, but cooked in probably 70% of our meals - it's not so hard to cook when you can see the ocean from the kitchen (I pack things like spices with me, but buy all fresh and frozen items at a local supermarket once we get there.) We had a rental car the entire time - we like to get out and roam on the island and can't imagine not having one. For activities we hit the Pacific Aviation Museum (we had previously done the rest of Pearl Harbor) and a couple of smaller museums, did some hikes, etc. We've been several times before, so we've seen many of the standard sites before and so we tend to hit smaller sites now. We also just spent lots of time on the beach right in front of our condo, snorkeling, swimming and spotting turtles!

Total cost of our trip including everything (incl. things like boarding our cat, Uber to/from the airport, etc.) came in just under $4500.

One thing to look at to reduce costs is the Alaska Air credit card - once you hit the minimum spend, you get a companion pass that allows you to get a second ticket for around $150. That can be a huge cost savings. It also gives you and a companion on the same reservation one free checked bag each. That saves even more.

For rental cars, check all the standard websites for the best rate, plus discounthawaiicarrental.com. Book a refundable reservation for the best rate you can find when you first book your trip, but then keep checking constantly for cheaper cars (at least weekly if you are more than 6 weeks out, then daily if you can remember). My car rental started out at about $500, but it then started dropping about 3 months out and l finally got the best price of under $300 about 10 days out from our trip. I could have gotten it even slightly cheaper that that, but I wanted Hertz specifically because many of the car agencies in Honolulu are offsite, but Hertz is onsite. The time savings picking up and returning the car in this case is dramatic so I'm willing to pay a few more bucks to go with Hertz. Note Hawaii is also a unique rental car market in that compact cars often cost more than the bigger cars. That's because the compact cars (1) don't scream "tourist" quite as much and so don't make you as big a target for theft, (2) are easier to maneuver in tight parking situations, which you will often encounter on the islands and (3) the gas mileage is better, so it is cheaper to really get out and explore whatever island you are on.

 

[MomToOne]

We joined Costco. Thru Costco's website we purchased the 4 day Go Oahu card. On their site it's four days for the price of three. Anything we wanted to do on Oahu was thru this card. We surfed, toured the island for a day, went to Pearl Harbor, several rain forest hikes. a luau, etc.

I've never found the Go Oahu card to be a very good deal - you have to hit a lot of activities in just a few days to have it pay for itself. And that's just not how I generally want my Hawaii vacations to be - I like a more relaxed pace. Or the activities are not things I would do otherwise. But to each his own! Just check carefully whether or not it will really save you money. Be sure to check Groupon for discounts on activities/sites too. This past trip, we also noticed hawkers at the stadium swap meet selling same-day luaus and other activities for dirt cheap, don't think we'd ever seen that before.

And note visiting the museum and Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor are free but you should try and get tickets in advance right at the 60 day mark (they go fast) or else you risk them being out of walk-up tickets for the day when you get there. You can reserve the advance tickets online for a $1 service fee. There are lots of websites that look like the official site that sell more expensive "tours" but this is the website you really want: https://www.nps.gov/valr/planyourvisit/index.htm

 

[holden]

Can't help with budget ideas, but do remember the sticker shock from our Hawaii trip 18 years ago. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. DH was there for work, so the hotel was free. He wanted papaya, a fruit that we couldn't get at home. It was $6 for a thin slice of papaya. I couldn't believe it. I'm talking a 1 inch thick 6 inch long piece of fruit. Crazy.

 

[Donnainnj]

A lot of good tips, Costco, renting a condo, etc. Food trucks can offer good cheaper food (usually plate lunches or Mexican). Thai food was good and in line with prices at home many of the places we went. The Revealed book series (one for each island you plan to visit) offers great suggestions including many free of reasonable activities available. I found the way we did Hawaii very in line with Disney in price per day if we don't factor in airfare, but we do make it a longer trip to make it worth it from the East coast.

 

[MomToOne]

Can't help with budget ideas, but do remember the sticker shock from our Hawaii trip 18 years ago. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. DH was there for work, so the hotel was free. He wanted papaya, a fruit that we couldn't get at home. It was $6 for a thin slice of papaya. I couldn't believe it. I'm talking a 1 inch thick 6 inch long piece of fruit. Crazy.

Resort pricing. Always crazy. Off of the resorts, most food is more expensive than the mainland, but not anywhere near that crazy. And tropical fruit/veggies grown locally are often cheaper than I can get at home.

Gas was even a few cents cheaper than it was here in California last week

 

[ksh1111]

You are planning in a very expensive time of year, but you can minimize costs by the ideas above. We go at least once a year and sometimes twice. Which island? Oahu you really don't need a car if you are staying near Waikiki. Having a kitchen will help the food costs, especially if you pay to check an extra bag and take dry food. We usually go to Maui or Kauai, and hit the Costco, Target, or WalMart on our way to our condo. If no kitchen, you can still save money by bringing cereal, snacks, paper plates, plastic ware, etc. Once you specify which island I may have more suggestions.

 

[FoundMyPrince]

Remember to find Leonard's!!! Malasadas are wonderful!!

www.leonardshawaii.com/home/

 

[jacksmom]

You are planning in a very expensive time of year, but you can minimize costs by the ideas above. We go at least once a year and sometimes twice. Which island? Oahu you really don't need a car if you are staying near Waikiki. Having a kitchen will help the food costs, especially if you pay to check an extra bag and take dry food. We usually go to Maui or Kauai, and hit the Costco, Target, or WalMart on our way to our condo. If no kitchen, you can still save money by bringing cereal, snacks, paper plates, plastic ware, etc. Once you specify which island I may have more suggestions.

We are planning Oahu, Waikiki beach, since you have gone lots is this a good choice for a first trip? It will be 6 adults and 2 13 year old girls.

 

[bibbidibobbidiabcs]

Hawai'i is magical! But yes, expensive. We paid more for a one week trip to Oahu than we did for a month long trip to Peru/Bolivia.

We saved money by taking some dry goods with us. (I took Starbucks lol) We didn't have a kitchenette, but probably wouldn't have used it much as we wanted to experience the local food. We ate breakfast at the hotel (included in our price), ate large lunches (typically cheaper than dinner), and then ate early, lighter dinners. We got snacks and bottled drinks from Costco.

We looked for deals online and purchased some tickets to museums in advance. Look on Groupon!

We surfed, paddle boarded, and snorkeled. We just went right down to the beach and asked for their best cash price for the day. It ended up being cheaper than the prices we saw online. We also asked the locals where they went to eat. We got some great recommendations that I wouldn't have found otherwise.

The best dinner I had in Waikiki was at Barefoot Beach Café. It was right on the beach - amazing view, live music. I had grilled Opah that I still dream about. ​