<p>So with the passing of both of my parents last year…my brother and I are considering taking our families on a joint vacation. Have only spent 1 holiday together in the last 10 years, and have never vacationed together.
We want the cousins to spend a bit of time together … as for family, my brother and I have each other (I am married with 2 kids, 21 and 18) Brother is recently divorced with 2 kids almost same age as mine 21. 16) We realize we have to do a better job of making time to be together as family.</p>
<p>Brother suggested HI. We are all east coasters…and haven’t been. </p>
<p>Thoughts on where? When/ ? Time of year? </p>
<p>We were thinking an all inclusive resort where the “kids” can enjoy the run of the place (ages 21, 21, 18 and 16)
and there is plenty to do–and maybe rent a car and see something…</p>
<p>We don’t do all inclusives as we like to have the kitchen in the condo to make breakfast/lunch. (We head out on daily adventures to points of interest, so packing a cooler is convenient and a huge money saver. Food is Very expensive on the islands. Beware!). We’ve also found that there is no better view than the one from our rental condo ( <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube; ) and no long wait at the crowded eateries in town. We do treat ourselves to a couple nice dinners out though. Love, love Maui, but don’t go in the later summer…unless you get a unit with a/c. Ours did not have it, but for many many years, Aug was the only time we could go. Spent lots of afternoons bobbing on the private beach, with the other 5-10 folks we’d see around the property. This complex is 50% owner occupied, so it’s not loud/busy. I only wish we had bought a unit 15 years ago when we first started going there! If I had to pick the perfect time to go, I’d say May or October. Aloha!!</p>
<p>Eta: my profile pic is from the beach in front of our condo. Saw turtles everyday. On three days, a huge turtle came up on shore to rest for a couple hours, and then slowly retreated to the sea. Priceless!</p>
<p>Depending on what you “want” to do…Oahu (Waikiki Beach) is very busy and not a bonding island. It is a wonderful place for sightseeing. Pearl Harbor (take the government tour…they only tour that lets you go to the memorial), Punchbowl, )the Pali Lookout…</p>
<p>Maui: beautiful, lots of golf courses…they have timeshares that are for rent…lots of things to do…parasailing…Wailea, Kaanapali, Lahaina…Paia</p>
<p>The Big Island, Hawaii…golf, tennis, fishing</p>
<p>Lanai…we’ve never gone there.</p>
<p>This is whale watching time…The only time I wouldn’t go (because our children are older is the summer. Lots of crowds. I don’t prefer this time of the year, but many do. </p>
<p>Waikiki is just a tiny piece of Oahu and is by no means representative of the entire island. What do the “kids” like the most? Nightlife? Nature? Adventure? </p>
<p>I’m not aware of Hawaii having many all-inclusives. If you really want one, I suggest the Caribbean. Hawaii is wonderful though. I think Maui has something for everyone. I’d recommend you getting a couple of condos in the same development or a house. </p>
<p>Hawaii is beautiful, but a really long way from the East Coast. I second the idea of an all-inclusive (or rent a house) in the Caribbean. You can be in a different world in a few short hours!! I like Grand Cayman, BVI, USVI, Turks and Caicos (which has a huge all-inclusive). Have also been to Anguilla (too quiet for kids), St. Lucia and Atlantis (on Paradise Island, Bahamas). Bermuda is nice too, and even closer to you. </p>
<p>Have fun! I love vacationing with my brothers and their families. </p>
<p>I would also recommend the Caribbean over Hawaii for you. Love Hawaii, but the travel is brutal and the time zone difference has ruined many people’s vacations. It can be a very tough adjustment.<br>
Our family loves St. John (USVI). The Dominican Republic has some great all-inclusives.</p>
<p>I’m not a parent, but I saw this on the front page and couldn’t resist giving some feedback because it’s not everyday that you see Hawaii as the title thread.</p>
<p>“Thoughts on where? When/ ? Time of year?”</p>
<p>I’ve been to the big island (Hawaii), Maui, and live on Oahu. There is definitely more to do on Oahu than any other island, but I’d argue the more interesting things are located on Maui and Hawaii. Which island you should visit probably depends on what you want to spend doing. If you want the normal tourist experience, Oahu is the best bet. If nature’s your thing, I think the outer islands have more native and interesting wildlife (We’ve seen nene, the endangered Hawaii state bird while driving up Haleakala on Maui, and Hawaii is far less urban than Oahu). All islands have fabulous beaches (Waikiki is not a fabulous beach – you can go to basically any other beach on Oahu and it’ll have similar quality with far fewer people). </p>
<p>Time of year is harder. Summer is the most expensive, most humid time of the year. There will often be discounts on attractions when it’s not summer. But winter’s a sketchy time, too. It was raining about three minutes ago, and things in Hawaii just aren’t very fun when it’s rainy (esp the beach). Of course, there are plenty of awesome things about winter, like very good temperatures (nothing is better than mid-70s to mid-80s) and whales in the ocean. Fall and spring are both basically summer lite in terms of temperature, and I’d call them the optimal time to visit.</p>
<p>“We were thinking an all inclusive resort where the “kids” can enjoy the run of the place (ages 21, 21, 18 and 16)
and there is plenty to do–and maybe rent a car and see something…”</p>
<p>Parking is hard in Honolulu, but pretty easy elsewhere. I can’t speak for Maui and Hawaii, but the bus system is not bad for the days you’re staying in the more urban areas, but though scenic, is horrid if you’re looking to go to the North Shore (it’d probably take 4 hours on transportation getting around the island). </p>
<p>We do one family (extended) vacation a year. We’ve been to HI, cruise, Europe…For the last 10 years we have settled on Club Med around the Caribbean and Mexico. We have 6 young adults about 2 years apart, grandparents, adults with different sports interest. This year we are going back to Cancun Club Med. Kids in college with more time are going to be there for a whole week, kids who are working are going to join us for a long weekend.</p>
<p>HI is expensive and I don’t know any all inclusive clubs there. We have rented great houses in Maui and Kauai. Our kids learned to surf there. We used to go there for 2 weeks from East Coast because the flight was ~10 hrs. </p>
<p>When S graduated from HS, we went on a road trip. He was 22, D was 20, and H & I. We caught Amtrak from LA to Seattle & then drove to Rainier, Crater Lake, Coastal Redwoods, SF, and Sequoia National Forest. We had a great time and the internet was intermittent. We love the great outdoors and Amtrak train was quite fun; food was surprisingly good as well.</p>
<p>We have also taken the kids to DC & Williamsburg, which are closer to you. We really enjoyed Williamsburg and everyone could find something they enjoyed there, but my sibs and folks hated it & found it awfully boring. </p>
<p>What about a cruise ship? Some of those are all inclusive and you can let the kids roam.</p>
<p>The new Aulani Disney resort is pricey but said to be nice. Ko Olina is nice but remote many of the other attractions. Much depends on what the folks like and want.</p>
<p>Hmmm, didn’t seem so to me, but I didn’t stay in Waikiki or eat at fancy restaurants.</p>
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<p>Agree with The Bus on Oahu; for shorter trips, it can be more convenient than driving and parking. The relatively slow speed due to the stops means that longer trips can take a while. The Bus does have routes from HNL to the Ala Moana / Waikiki area, but it does not allow baggage larger than airline carry-on size.</p>
<p>In our five or six trips we’ve found that the food in grocery stores was markedly higher in Maui, compared to So Cal. While in Maui, we tended to shop at the nearby local market, not the Safeway/big chain store ten minutes away. Dining out is pricey, as expected in a tourist hot spot. Then again, our family tends to shop and eat well…fresh fish, lots of produce, etc so that could account for some of our experience. I did love the little side of the road farmers markets though. Got some yummy papayas and pineapples that were the best we’ve ever eaten. One time our hosts left us a pink fleshed pineapple that we were never able to find again, in subsequent visits. Apparently grown on Kauai, and is a hybrid of pineapple/strawberry. All this talk makes me ready to go back again!</p>
<p>…in advance I am NOT trying to sound snarky and/or privileged. I have been to Hawaii 30 times with my parents and then with husband and our children. There are some timeshares that can be rented The OPs family is, in my opinion , too old (the kids not the parents to stay at a Disney resort. We have stayed on Kaanapali because we had younger kids and they enjoyed the kids’ pools. Later on we stayed on Kaanapali because for teens there were other young adults to meet. (Silly us, our kids weren’t interested with meeting other kids. They have each other and for them that’s good enough for them.)</p>
<p>The Kahala Mandarin on Oahu is quieter but quite expensive. We went there a few times. It did become (for us) an all inclusive because we didn’t want to go elsewhere to eat.</p>
<p>All in all, we love Maui…if you go there Paia is really a fun place. </p>
<p>bevhills, 30 trips to Hawaii!?! You clearly ARE privileged and very, very blessed!!! I’ve been once and doubtful will ever be fortunate enough to go again, but we had a FABULOUS time.</p>
<p>We loved Maui, even though there once (it is a long trip from FL). We stayed at the Sheraton for a week, because of the pools and beach. The Weston was same price, but beach not as good. Also, we didn’t need or want a full floor of stores. we had friends at more expensive, southern part of island, but we were more than satisfied. We had a daily adventure and never got bored.</p>
<p>We’ve also tried a few all-inclusives in the Carribean, Jamaica, Bermuda, etc. I can look up our favorite. We did these trips when son was young. We met a family 2nd day there with similar interests and food tastes. This place had so much for the kids; water skiing, fishing trips, bowl-making, t-shirt making, dancing. Friends with older kids did Atlantis or Club Med.</p>
<p>Kahala is indeed a nice hotel, which does have a beach, but is not walking distance to Waikiki Beach, aquarium, zoo or golf course. The hotels in Waikiki are or a very short bus or shuttle ride. </p>
<p>Ala Moana Hotel us conveniently located, so you can shop and walk or catch shuttle or bus to Waikiki. Many locals stay there when they have meetings or for staycations. </p>
<p>Personally, have never stayed at an all inclusive but suspect is feel I wasted money as I am not a huge eater or drinker and like to eat a variety and explore a place via food. </p>
<p>Or walk to the Ala Moana beach. The hotel is next to to the giant Ala Moana mall, which also has a food court and grocery store as well as a few fancier restaurants. There also appear to be more bus lines (including express bus lines) near there than Waikiki.</p>
<p>Hawaii is so much more interesting than going to an all-inclusive resort. I personally like the Big Island and I would look to rent a condo in the Waikoloa area. You have golf, pools, shops and restaurants in both the Waikoloa Hilton and the Marriott and the shopping area there. It is a big island so lots of driving to see the sights including Volcanoes National Park. I’ve been lucky enough to go twice on business trips for DH and both times stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa. If you go to Maui, there are several areas to rent in. We were just at the Hyatt Regency which is the far end of the Kaanapoli area from the Sheraton with Whalers Village shopping/restaurants in the middle. Lots of driving on Maui to see sights but it seems more developed with residential areas that people live year-round and work on Maui. Just north of Kaanapoli area is Kahala with lovely big condos and where the Hyundai Golf Tournament kicks off the PGA season every January. Oahu is also very interesting-was there a very long time ago but the morning at Pearl Harbor is very memorable and the whole experience very well done.
The one major drawback of Hawaii from the east coast is the travel to get there It is a long haul and this past time I found it very difficult to adjust to the five hour time difference. Fell asleep very early, woke up very early in a place in which it is hard to find a breakfast place that opens before 8 AM. That wasn’t such a huge problem and we stopped in San Francisco to break up the trip home for an outstanding weekend.</p>
<p>Our family has done several cruises, as the kids grew. Disney (Eastern Carrib), Carnival (Western Carrib), Celebrity (11 nights/southern Carribean and Canal) and Regent (+ Denali land trip-- Alaska).</p>
<p>Siblings family has done several Carribean cruises and on in the Mediteranean</p>
<p>We have lived in Europe about 10 yrs ago and haven’t been back for about 8 yrs. Miss it
Would head there straight away, however my sibling and family just moved back from living in Europe for 2 yrs.</p>
<p>So we were trying to think of something different. Our family lived in Kona for 3 months years ago. Enjoyed the Big Island. </p>
<p>Lots to think about. Keep the advice coming :)</p>