Hawaii honeymoon on a budget

[Tara07]

My mom has offered to pay for my honeymoon right around a $ 1000.00 and I would like to know if anyone has any tips for hotels or has been to Hawaii. Please any information would help. Thanks

[jennylou]

Which island are you thinking of going to?

You can cut out a rental car and walk or take public transit if you stay in Wakiki on Oahu.

Is that $1000 including airfare - b/c that might eat all your budget.

How long are you planning on going for?

[Tara07]

Well we are planning to go for 5 days. My mother said that she was going to talk to a travel agent to see if we could get some sort of package deal. But I am not sure how much she is paying for. She said a 1000 but it will be much more than that, and she said that we may need to kick down some of our own money too which is fine, but we also have a wedding to pay for as well!! Plus our wedding is in las vegas but we are only staying there for 5 days too!! So I dont know what to do!! We are wanting to go to The big island Hawaii it self. I think it is Oahu, I am not sure.

[LoveandLaw]

When is your wedding? Airfare to Hawaii is much cheaper in the off season.

[Tara07]

Our wedding is on April 5, 2008. We are planning on leaving on the 7th of April which is a Monday

[jennylou]

Well, depending where you are coming from, $1000 may get just one of you there. Or, you might find a good deal and get both of you there. Do you have any airline rewards you can cash in?

Honestly, you should go to Oahu and stay somewhere in Wakiki, to cut out the need for a rental car.

When booking your hotel, try to find one that offers a small kitchen. Then, you can buy some food at the grocery store to keep down your food budget. One good thing about staying in Wakiki is that there are plenty of restaurants to chose from - including just eating fast food if that's all you can afford.

[Tara07]

Well we are planning on leaving from Vegas because that is where our wedding is going to be held. So that might cut down on some of the cost I just want to get them purchased ahead of time so they wont be so expensive. I agree with you about Waikiki or Oahu, I would rather walk everywhere than drive. Any recommendations on where to stay or things to do there that may be rather inexpensive? Thanks Jennylou

[junkinmytrunk]

Oahu has a ton of free things to do. All the beaches are free if I remember so there's that!

We did rent a car for one day and drove around the island. We made an itinerary of where we wanted to go and we started at Diamond Head (I know there was a fee but it wasn't too high) and worked our way around to free stuff.

We stopped at:
~ A variety of gorgeous beaches all around plus
~ Byodin Temple - so lovely and free
~ Chinaman's Hat - free
~ Macadamia Nut Farm - free and you get to sample coffee, nuts, etc
~ North Shore - we got that famous shave ice and slices of pizza so that was about $10 for 2 of us
~ Dole Pineapple Farm - free

In total, with lunch and the rental we did TONS for about $40. The rental for the car was about $25 for the day.

Was totally worth it.

Waikiki is a total walking part of the island and at night, it's really hopping. You can find entertainment on street corners - people playing music, all sorts of stuff.

*Don't* do the cheapo buffet on Kuhio - I think it's called Perry's -- it was sooo gross. It seems like an economical way to go at about $10 a head but the food was awful.

Oh, we did visit Pearl Harbor. Can't remember how much it was but it rained that day so it seemed not worth it -- am I awful to say that? We took the bus from our hotel and that took forever and the lines to get in were forever and there's not much to do while you are waiting.

Good luck to you.

ETA we got our package from Pleasant Holidays and for the 2 of us with an ocean view room the total was about $1400 which was out of LAX. It included free breakfast buffet and some other stuff that PH throws in. Check them out - their prices are really good.

[Tara07]

Thanks junkinmytrunk!! that is really helpful!! We will be flying out of Las Vegas so hopefully not to expensive. How much was your hotel stay and where did you stay ( if you dont mind me asking?)

[jennylou]

In Wakiki there are beaches - which as junk pointed out are free. :)

Remember though, you'll be staying in a crowded city. This won't necessarily be a "relaxing" time.

Skip the drinks (including sodas as most don't have free refills) and drink water anytime you're drinking out.

[jennylou]

Thanks junkinmytrunk!! that is really helpful!! We will be flying out of Las Vegas so hopefully not to expensive. How much was your hotel stay and where did you stay ( if you dont mind me asking?)

I think she was saying she got a combo deal - flight and hotel for that much. ;)

I have heard good things about Pleasant Holidays.

I'd say just start researching on the web. You know your location and you know the time you'd be leaving, so it shouldn't be hard for you to find out about airfare and hotels at this point in the game. :)

As for food, etc - remember you'll likely receive gifts of cash at your wedding, so you might want to take some of that and splurge on some nice dinners (or at least one night out!).

[junkinmytrunk]

Jennylou's right -- the package was a combo of hotel/flight/transfers so I'm not sure of the breakout for pricing. We stayed at the Radission on Prince Kuhio. I know it was closed for renovations for a short while and I *think* they are in the process of changing hands. It was fine - a typical Radisson - but the view was great. I do know hotels on Kuhio are slightly cheaper than the beachfront. We were a long block back from the beach but that was no big deal to us. It enabled us to have an oceanfront view which was spectacular.

[Tara07]

My best kind of deal is FREE!! LOL!! We plan on buying some stuff to munch on that way it will cut down on costs like you said. I will try to find a place with a kitchen so that we can cook our breakfast and possible lunch meals. I would also like to go out and eat too!! Have you found a reliable websites that are helpful??

[Tara07]

Ok girls girls sorry I did not read the posts before replying earlier. What a dummy!! I will look into Pleasant holidays and see what I can find hopefully if I am booking it this far in advance I may be able to save a lot more money. I just want to find a nice hotel and be able to enjoy my honeymoon with my honey!

[Tara07]

Well girls you are right all the places I have looked at want right around $700-$1000 per person. I talked to my mom earlier and from what I understood she is only going to pay a $ 1000.00 towards the honeymoon. So I am just not sure on what to do, I have looked a pleasant holidays, orbitz, travelocity, expedia and it is really hard to find something in my budget. So now I am just going to keep looking till I find the right place and price! Thanks for your help

[Hello Kitty]

You could also take the next year to save up your money and then have the honeymoon you wanted. For work and financial reasons, that's what we did, and we really enjoyed it. It made our first anniversary extra special and we were able to take an amazing trip and do the places we were seeing justice. :)

We recently tried to plan a getaway to hawaii and keep it under $2k, and we just couldn't do it. The flights alone are such a large part of the cost.

[PinkMartini]

You could also take the next year to save up your money and then have the honeymoon you wanted.

That's a good idea! Since you'll be in LV I'm sure you could find something to do for a 'mini-honeymoon' and then go to Hawaii next year :)

I also looked into a trip to Hawaii next year and there's NO WAY we could keep it under $2k, the tickets were almost $1k each :eek:

[wendalah]

Can you cut something out of your wedding budget to make up the extra few hundred dollars you'll need? 400-500 bucks should be fairly easy to raise if you have your heart set on going to Oahu...

[cari2]

Maybe you can use miles for the flight, hotel or rental car...

[Amuse Bouche]

We took our honeymoon 6 months after the wedding and it was fantastic.

Things you can do to save money are to try to priceline a hotel (we got the Sheraton in Maui in August for about $210 a night, which is a great deal), to use Pleasant Holidays as others have suggested (we did this for the rest of our trip) and if you're an AAA member, you can book on PH through the AAA website for a 5% discount, look at budget hotels (we stayed at the Aqua Palms for a couple of nights in Oahu and it was very nice. About a block from the end of Waikiki, with kitchenettes in the rooms). Still, the flights are going to kill you, and those are a lot harder to find negotiable costs for. We went to Hawaii last August (which is a peak season for travel) and spent about $3K on airfare (LAX to Honolulu to Maui back to LA), rental car in both Oahu and Maui, and hotels. The airfare was about half of that though.

[villanelle75]

I think Wendy's ideais a good one. Depending on the scale and budget of you wedding, many times $500 or $750 or even more makes very little difference in a weddign but cna go a long way towards a honeymoon. Take a few flowers out of each of the bouqets; cut back on cake decorations, filling, and even size; close an open bar a half hour earlier and/or switch to wine and soda only; buy cheaper shoes for yourself; print your own invites and programs (or skip orgrams altogether; drive yourself instead of taking a limo; skip the favors. If you do all those things (assuming you haven't already), that's easily $1000 and it is all things you porbably won't ever miss.

[jennylou]

Yeah, unfortunately, when you add airfare and hotel $1000 just doesn't do much - no matter where you are going.

I think some of the other suggestions are great - hopefully, you can find a way to have a great honeymoon. :)

[Rosebud]

Pleasant Holidays is great. I've used them a number of times. Also, be sure to check the Hawaiian Airlines website for deals. DH and I booked a special from their website in 2005-- airfare to Kauai, 7 nights hotel (3 star), 7 days rental car for $2050 total. AMAZING deal. Generally, booking a package like this will bring down your overall costs (as opposed to booking each item individually).

I agree with everyone else who's suggested finding a way to save up just a little more so you can make this trip happen. You can cut wedding costs, delay the honeymoon until its more affordable for you, use miles for airfare... whatever makes it work for you. Good luck!

[Tara07]

Thank so much. I was thinking the same thing about just staying in Vegas after my honeymoon. My mom is the one that suggested that we go on a honeymoon after the wedding. She is the one that said she would give me money so that is why it is making it stressful because I know that could that money for the wedding instead of the honeymoon. I think it is a great idea that we go a year later. I will have to talk to my FH and see what he thinks. Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions!!

[JenInAZ]

You could always take that $1000 and splurge on a fancy room/dinner/shows in Vegas :D

[Tara07]

JenInAZ That is what I was thinking too, but my mom wants us to get away!! Because she never got to have a honeymoon and she doesnt want me to make that same mistake. So I am not sure what our plans are. I would love to just stay in Vegas because I love being there, but all of our family will be there too which is nice and they are staying for the entire week that we are there. I just was thinking to about taking it next year on our anniversary like much of the other girls have said that way we can have the money saved up and can actually enjoy ourselves, instead of feeling like we are pressured to go, when we are trying to buy a house and we are also wanting to have a baby sometime next year so I am not sure. :confused:

[May27JnJ]

We did not have a honeymoon. But this weekend is our 1 year anniversary. We're going on a trip for 4 days. It's good enough for us. I think it would be a great idea to wait. Maybe you can make a baby on your anniversary!! :D

[Tara07]

Thanks May27JnJ I think that is what we might do. I still need to talk to my FH and see what his take is on it.

Thanks girls for all of your imput!! :)

[PinkMartini]

We didn't have a honeymoon either and our 1 year anniversary is coming up in a few weeks... We won't even be doing anything this year either... Sucks but unfortunately life comes before vacation.

Honestly, I would've even loved to have done a 'mini honeymoon' after our OOT wedding, but DH couldn't take the time off of work. We were back home at work 2 days after we got married :rolleyes:

A 'honeymoon' on your 1 year anniversary sounds great! That way you guys can save up the $$$ and do it the way you want!