Maui

We went in February & stayed in Kaanapalli. Had last been 5-6 years before. Lahaina is still pretty much shut down but some businesses in the area were back open. Outside of that small area, everything was pretty much normal with the exception of locals living at some of the hotels & some set up camping on Kaanapali Beach around Whaler’s Village.

Just got back from there. We stayed at the Ritz in Kapalua near Lahaina. There’s not a whole lot on the west side of the island anymore. I tried to find a place I could order a pizza from and have them deliver to the hotel and there were no options. The other side of the island is doing well though and the best part of going to Maui is to enjoy the beaches and waterfalls so that’s still a whole lot of fun.

My recommendation for any Hawaiian island is to download the Guide Along app, formerly Gypsy Guide, and plan to drive around the island as part of their tour.

My family went a few weeks ago. We stayed in Wailea at the Fairmont. I highly recommend the Fairmont. Fairmont, Andaz, Grand Wailea et al except for the Four Seasons are all about $1k/night. With kids, having 800sqft instead of 400 for a regular room was game changer. Grand Wailea gets a lot of conferences and the Andaz seems more geared towards adults. We met up with some friends in Kaanapali one night and it doesn’t seem nearly as nice as Wailea.

ETA: if you have 6 adults, check out the villas at the Fairmont as opposed to multiple rooms. They are closer to the beach as well. Andaz also has seemingly nice villas.

Highly recommend Blue Water Rafting for snorkeling. Fast, small boats (less than 12 people) makes the experience much more enjoyable. Sadly, Road to Hana is a shell of its former self. So many of the cool spots are no longer accessible that there’s almost nothing left to do besides the black sand beach. For food, book Mamas Fish House in Paia ASAP. If you look at the menu it will seem super expensive (6 people is easily $1k) but anywhere decent especially in a hotel will be close to that and this will be significantly better. For other food, check out random food trucks.

This was our 3rd year in a row going to Hawaii with Kona and Kauai the spots the prior years. Everyone in the family said Kauai>Kona>>>Maui. Maui is very crowded.. I’m not very price conscious on vacations but was surprised how out of touch the price:value is for food. 4 people incl two kids dropping $200 every time you sit down for a meal with blah food kind of sucks. Kauai had great food for reasonable prices everywhere.

I booked using the Amex Fine Hotel program. The 2 free breakfast buffets ($120/day) was nice but the 4p late checkout was amazing considering we had a 7p flight. People who had to check out at 11a with no place to go just hung out in the common areas. We got to have the better part of the day at the beach and pool with plenty of time to shower and pack before checkout.