Live from North America
- Thread starter Petri
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MIke R
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Petri
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Ah, the brilliant idea of staying at the airport hotel for a good night sleep instead of taking an red-eye flight.
Too bad after a very nice Four Seasons in Lanai one ends up in the worst hotel I can remember, Best Western The Plaza Airport hotel in Honolulu.
On the positive side, one can see the airport but not hear it. Because the highway next to the hotel makes a way more noise. More 24h noise than the ear plugs can handle. And it's f'king freezing here. When we walked here, we thought they had left the window open. Hadn't. I even checked if we could change our tickets or if some other had a last-minute price. Thought that one night would be fine with the ear plugs.
Now I should sleep fine on the quiet plane, though. I'll recoup the $170 for this dump from the future tips. If the hospitality industry doesn't care about me, I don't care about them.
Too bad after a very nice Four Seasons in Lanai one ends up in the worst hotel I can remember, Best Western The Plaza Airport hotel in Honolulu.
On the positive side, one can see the airport but not hear it. Because the highway next to the hotel makes a way more noise. More 24h noise than the ear plugs can handle. And it's f'king freezing here. When we walked here, we thought they had left the window open. Hadn't. I even checked if we could change our tickets or if some other had a last-minute price. Thought that one night would be fine with the ear plugs.
Now I should sleep fine on the quiet plane, though. I'll recoup the $170 for this dump from the future tips. If the hospitality industry doesn't care about me, I don't care about them.
Which Four Seasons were you at in Lanai? The one at the beach or the one up in the hills?
Did you get to play golf at either of them?
By the way, when swimming there, for some reason my "shark-dar" kept going off. I repeatedly had an uneasy feeling that there were big fish in the water.
Ironically, it happened much more there than off Wailea, where there were actual attacks shortly before we were there.
Strange feeling.
Did you get to play golf at either of them?
By the way, when swimming there, for some reason my "shark-dar" kept going off. I repeatedly had an uneasy feeling that there were big fish in the water.
Ironically, it happened much more there than off Wailea, where there were actual attacks shortly before we were there.
Strange feeling.
Petri
Senior Insider
We were staying at the FS on the beach (Manele Bay) but did have one dinner at the Lodge as well. But our favourite restaurant was the new Nobu at Manele Bay. We got a decent deal with their own 5-night-for-4 deal combined with Amex's free breakfast and room upgrade benefits. Unlike the other places on Hawaii, they didn't charge any resort fees and their oceanview was real.
We had sunshine for most of the time but on the other side of the island they were less lucky, causing our trials for 4WD driving to fail as the roads to the more interesting places were closed.
Unfortunately we don't golf (nor dive) although I've thought that some basic skills on both could be useful, just to enjoy some places a bit more.
We had sunshine for most of the time but on the other side of the island they were less lucky, causing our trials for 4WD driving to fail as the roads to the more interesting places were closed.
Unfortunately we don't golf (nor dive) although I've thought that some basic skills on both could be useful, just to enjoy some places a bit more.
That is also where we stayed. We also enjoyed a meal at the Lodge.
I wasn't as wild about Lanai because other than golf, there did not seem like much to do.
We did play the course at the Lodge. I'm a terrible golfer, but we enjoyed the views from the course. Plus, we were there on business and it was one of the few times that my wife and I could hang out together without anybody bothering us. Getting four hours of peace was a great .
I wasn't as wild about Lanai because other than golf, there did not seem like much to do.
We did play the course at the Lodge. I'm a terrible golfer, but we enjoyed the views from the course. Plus, we were there on business and it was one of the few times that my wife and I could hang out together without anybody bothering us. Getting four hours of peace was a great .
Petri
Senior Insider
Agree, there's pretty much nothing to do on Lanai. They could open some hiking trails and add some more activities, or perhaps the weather is a common issue. We saw quite a few hunters on our way out.
We heard that there is a plan to open a third, more upscale resort on the island, as part of the Ellison's plans to make something out of Lanai.
I think we enjoyed Lanai more than usual because the weather had been unreliable over the previous week(s) and plenty of small quirks en route, especially with the accommodation. One started to think that "aloha spirit" is all about the ways you can be fooled..
We heard that there is a plan to open a third, more upscale resort on the island, as part of the Ellison's plans to make something out of Lanai.
I think we enjoyed Lanai more than usual because the weather had been unreliable over the previous week(s) and plenty of small quirks en route, especially with the accommodation. One started to think that "aloha spirit" is all about the ways you can be fooled..
By the way, the flight from Honolulu to Lanai was ten times worse than the flight from St. Maarten to St. Barth on a bad day. We bounced like crazy going both there and back and it seemed like a relatively long flight in context (45 minutes?).
The airport at Lanai was terrible and of course our luggage was lost (Vickie's -- luckily FS is amazing. They helped her stock up on some of the basics to get us through the night until the bag arrived the next day).
The resort is nice enough, staff is amazing (typical of Four Seasons), and the beach is decent. We could imagine going to the islands for 10 days and putting Lanai in for a day or so just to play the courses. They are really beautiful to walk.
Of the places that we've traveled to for her business -- Aruba, Lanai, and Costa Rica, it was in the middle. I will never complain about spending time at any Four Seasons, but again I don't see us going for more than a day or two.
Not to digress, but the Four Seasons in Costa Rica is really beautiful.
The airport at Lanai was terrible and of course our luggage was lost (Vickie's -- luckily FS is amazing. They helped her stock up on some of the basics to get us through the night until the bag arrived the next day).
The resort is nice enough, staff is amazing (typical of Four Seasons), and the beach is decent. We could imagine going to the islands for 10 days and putting Lanai in for a day or so just to play the courses. They are really beautiful to walk.
Of the places that we've traveled to for her business -- Aruba, Lanai, and Costa Rica, it was in the middle. I will never complain about spending time at any Four Seasons, but again I don't see us going for more than a day or two.
Not to digress, but the Four Seasons in Costa Rica is really beautiful.
Petri
Senior Insider
I think the flying time from Honolulu to Lanai is about 20 minutes. But Island Air and Go! do make anything feel like it takes forever.
I enjoyed the Lanai airport, felt much less like a ruin like all the other airports in Hawaii. No services, though.. and I can sympathize for loosing the luggage, never fun, especially in a place with no options to get the necessities. I once had luggage delayed on BA flight to NYC and the worst part was that it took two days for the bag to arrive from JFK to the hotel.
We spoke with some people and staff on the islands and most people tend to spend very little time anywhere, or just visit a single island. Plus the amount of corporate events here -- at the Fairmont on Big Island we were amazed how ignorant the staff was to us as we were not from Japan nor part of a corporate group. I'm mostly concerned about getting value for money but when she noticed the service, it's pretty bad.
I'll try sum up Hawaii in a few days.. we're back on the continent and even our car speaks mostly spanish
I enjoyed the Lanai airport, felt much less like a ruin like all the other airports in Hawaii. No services, though.. and I can sympathize for loosing the luggage, never fun, especially in a place with no options to get the necessities. I once had luggage delayed on BA flight to NYC and the worst part was that it took two days for the bag to arrive from JFK to the hotel.
We spoke with some people and staff on the islands and most people tend to spend very little time anywhere, or just visit a single island. Plus the amount of corporate events here -- at the Fairmont on Big Island we were amazed how ignorant the staff was to us as we were not from Japan nor part of a corporate group. I'm mostly concerned about getting value for money but when she noticed the service, it's pretty bad.
I'll try sum up Hawaii in a few days.. we're back on the continent and even our car speaks mostly spanish
You may be right. It may have been 20 minutes. It seemed far longer.
My recollection of Lanai's airport was huge waits (arriving and departing), and I can't remember why. Part of it was the missing bag but I seem to recall actually waiting in some line.
The other funny thing about trip, and I don't know if was a bad day or if it typical for the island-hoppers, but the bar in the Honolulu airport waiting for the flight to Lanai was right out of Casablanca. Flights were delayed, and the conversation was like "Will the 3:00 flight ever depart?" "Perhaps we will be on the next one. . ."
The FS resort itself was on Lanai very nice, and that was typical of FS. We were there with a group and were treated well. In Maui when we went alone we were always treated extremely well. We never had any negative experiences at hotels in Hawaii, but again, we chose FS.
My recollection of Lanai's airport was huge waits (arriving and departing), and I can't remember why. Part of it was the missing bag but I seem to recall actually waiting in some line.
The other funny thing about trip, and I don't know if was a bad day or if it typical for the island-hoppers, but the bar in the Honolulu airport waiting for the flight to Lanai was right out of Casablanca. Flights were delayed, and the conversation was like "Will the 3:00 flight ever depart?" "Perhaps we will be on the next one. . ."
The FS resort itself was on Lanai very nice, and that was typical of FS. We were there with a group and were treated well. In Maui when we went alone we were always treated extremely well. We never had any negative experiences at hotels in Hawaii, but again, we chose FS.
Petri
Senior Insider
The waiting area for connecting go! flights in Honolulu was great fun. People who check-in at HNL come to the plane from a different gate.
The security person joked that there aren't any facilities here any longer, not even restrooms (one had to walk to the area where Hawaiian Airlines flights depart).
Our (delayed) flight to Big Island departed before another flight to Big Island, which was originally scheduled to leave earlier. The monitors were showing the scheduled times only. Somehow go! reminded me of Winair in the caribbean..
A quote from american passenger at the gate, "Nobody here knows anything". Which was kind of understandable as the only staff member in the area was the security guard and airline employees only appeared to open the gate door when a plane happened to depart.
And people complain about SXM
The security person joked that there aren't any facilities here any longer, not even restrooms (one had to walk to the area where Hawaiian Airlines flights depart).
Our (delayed) flight to Big Island departed before another flight to Big Island, which was originally scheduled to leave earlier. The monitors were showing the scheduled times only. Somehow go! reminded me of Winair in the caribbean..
A quote from american passenger at the gate, "Nobody here knows anything". Which was kind of understandable as the only staff member in the area was the security guard and airline employees only appeared to open the gate door when a plane happened to depart.
And people complain about SXM
Petri
Senior Insider
Thanks, one evening seems to be fine but not sure how I feel after 6 more.. not bothered with being on a ship yet
A lot of people from Europe and Asia, more than expected and the average age is well below retirement.
From american perspective this feels a bit like "Freedom of the Seas"; booze is flowing, quite a few drunken americans, people can smoke in bars, etc. They certainly try to get you drink more.
We do plan to order breakfast to the room every morning, although it wasn't that good in quality. The Junior Suite is quite fine, the finns know how to design these things
I booked in advanced four dinners in different $ restaurants (no plans for buffet, perhaps we'll check it once), they seem to be ok from the information I gathered. We had late lunch at the tapas place, bought a above-your-usual-daily-wine-price-range bottle to go with, and it was quite decent in quality, portions 4x compared to Spain. We were a bit late for some dinner snack and it was mostly bars open; ended up buying a Veuve Cliquet from the champagne bar, being the only customers chatted with the bartender from the philippines and he kept bringing us food "because no one should be hungry on a cruise ship".
KevinS, we're doing the Western Caribbean. Our choice of ships was obvious (Oasis or Allure) and I rather go to countries less interesting on a cruise ship; even knowing that I won't be seeing much of Haiti, Jamaica on Mexico this way.
A lot of people from Europe and Asia, more than expected and the average age is well below retirement.
From american perspective this feels a bit like "Freedom of the Seas"; booze is flowing, quite a few drunken americans, people can smoke in bars, etc. They certainly try to get you drink more.
We do plan to order breakfast to the room every morning, although it wasn't that good in quality. The Junior Suite is quite fine, the finns know how to design these things
I booked in advanced four dinners in different $ restaurants (no plans for buffet, perhaps we'll check it once), they seem to be ok from the information I gathered. We had late lunch at the tapas place, bought a above-your-usual-daily-wine-price-range bottle to go with, and it was quite decent in quality, portions 4x compared to Spain. We were a bit late for some dinner snack and it was mostly bars open; ended up buying a Veuve Cliquet from the champagne bar, being the only customers chatted with the bartender from the philippines and he kept bringing us food "because no one should be hungry on a cruise ship".
KevinS, we're doing the Western Caribbean. Our choice of ships was obvious (Oasis or Allure) and I rather go to countries less interesting on a cruise ship; even knowing that I won't be seeing much of Haiti, Jamaica on Mexico this way.
Petri
Senior Insider
It's amazing how easily all the ~5000 people can disappear on the ship. At the Labadee, Haiti, beach resort one realized how much people there's on board.
Went to the fence, the locals waved behind it -- took a photo of some school children on RCI shirts and haitian license plate. Now in Falmouth, Jamaica, walked through all the hasslers to the quieter parts of the town where the locals didn't try to sell anything any longer. Reminds us of Cuba, the buildings, rhum, music, quite a bit like Santiago de Cuba which isn't that far away.
Enjoying the ship from engineering perspective a lot more than anything else All Access tour tomorrow.
Went to the fence, the locals waved behind it -- took a photo of some school children on RCI shirts and haitian license plate. Now in Falmouth, Jamaica, walked through all the hasslers to the quieter parts of the town where the locals didn't try to sell anything any longer. Reminds us of Cuba, the buildings, rhum, music, quite a bit like Santiago de Cuba which isn't that far away.
Enjoying the ship from engineering perspective a lot more than anything else
All Access tour tomorrow.
Petri
Senior Insider
It's always a great surprise to receive a letter from the captain himself.
"Dear Allure of Seas Guest,
During this sailing, there have been a small percentage of guests onboard who have experienced gastrointestinal illness, thought to be Norovirus. ..."
Also while on the jogging track got "captain's order" to throw my shirt away and replace it with a golden-green one.
I was wearing an All Blacks shirt.
"Dear Allure of Seas Guest,
During this sailing, there have been a small percentage of guests onboard who have experienced gastrointestinal illness, thought to be Norovirus. ..."
Also while on the jogging track got "captain's order" to throw my shirt away and replace it with a golden-green one.
I was wearing an All Blacks shirt.
