Our Trip to Maui Part I

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We just returned from a seven night trip to Maui.

I am breaking down our vacation into a two part mini trip report. The first part is all about the hotel. The second part will be snorkeling, luau, and restaurants we loved in the area.

On the airplane ride to our destination, I was sitting next to my son and overheard the following, obviously incorrect, information given to him by my thirteen year old daughter:

“Do you see that airplane over there? That is the airplane that holds all of the luggage.”

“Do you know how fast an airplanes goes in the sky? 88 miles per hour.”

“Do you see that Fedex airplane? That is just ‘brought to you by Fedex.’ It doesn’t hold anything.”

After hogging the window seat, my daughter said to my son, “oh, the view is so beautiful. The clouds are beautiful.”

My son replied, “the wing is beautiful.” Because that is all he could see.

“No, really,” when I laughed at his sweetness, “the sun is glinting off of it. It is so pretty.”

Awwwww.

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We stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea. No, we are not “fancy.” I got a fantastic price through Costco (I like to buy my vacations where I buy my toilet paper in bulk) and ultimately decided on this resort, because it is all suites. If you have older children, you understand the importance of this arrangement!

At check-in, they gave the children wooden whale tale necklaces, in addition to beautiful flower leis for the girls and wooden bead leis for the boys. This was a sweet surprise.

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The hotel was exquisite. The employees were very gracious and friendly. It was definitely a classy hotel, but not snooty. Each room has a giant lanai with a table for four and a lounge chair. There is a small refrigerator, microwave and keurig machine (they give you the coffee) in the room. We opted to splurge for a deluxe ocean view room. It was well worth it!

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Our first stop was Foodland where we stocked up on cereal, milk, snacks and wine. We ate most breakfasts in our room. The kids had cereal and milk. I had wine. I found this to be very economical.

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Here are some things I learned about The Fairmont Kea Lani while staying here:

1.) For $45, you can reserve an umbrella and two lounge chairs for the day, for a front row spot on the beach. This can and should be booked before you arrive. We opted to get down to the beach when they opened and get the generous free umbrella and lounge chairs they offer with the room. We got a second row spot on the beach and just tipped for setup.

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2.) If you want a pool cabana for the day, reserve one well in advance. Pool space is packed. People get down and reserve their spots well before I am even thinking about opening my eyes. Lounge chairs do not open up again until around 2:30 everyday. I tried to reserve a cabana further in our stay and was unable to get one.

3.) Sign up to be a Fairmont President Club member (this is free) before you arrive, you get free internet everyday. You also save 15% on pool cabanas.

4.) My favorite restaurant was the little cafe on the premises. The pizza was fantastic and such a good way to feed a family in expensive Wailea. Their tuna sandwiches were amazing. I bought seven cookies for our house on the last day we were there, because they were the most wonderful chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. (I ate one for lunch today. Shhh!)

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5.) They have great prices on drinks at the pool after 3:00.

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6.) Housekeeping has until 4:00 to clean your room. This did not work for us. They changed it to a time that did.

7.) My very least favorite thing about this resort was the air conditioning. There is a motion sensor on the air conditioning and for the first four nights, I was up waving my hands in front of the air conditioner, praying for air. I felt very much like I was in TOTAL RECALL. I was wondering which mutation I would get (I knew which one I hoped for. ; ) ).

Finally, I could not take it any more. I called down and they immediately fixed it. Why hadn’t I done that earlier? Who knows? Maybe it was wine for breakfast. But for others who like a cold room, you can request this before you arrive and never have to deal with the issue.

8.) I had debated posting this, but if you stay here, I thought you should know:

One day the umbrella attendants placed our umbrella at the end of the beach near the rental beach equipment. My son was boogie boarding in the shallowest of water and a woman came crashing down on top of him on her paddleboard. She had refused to listen to the instructor and get down when he told her to. The paddleboard clonked my son on the side of the head. They are very hard and have sharp fins. The instructor was scared. I was scared. The lady disappeared. I am not going to repeat the conversation I overheard between him and a colleague, but everyone was very relieved to have a good outcome.

The rest of the day was spoiled, having to continuously check his pupils. He had to sleep with us that night. I asked if he was dizzy until he was dizzy with annoyance.

If you have young children who play in the water: Do not accept an umbrella close to this rental facility. We were very lucky that day, but it just takes one person not listening to the instructor to turn a day at the beach in to what could be tragic.

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All right! Enough unpleasantries! Did we just come back from vacation or what? Honestly, our stay was still a ten in my memories.

How could anyone have a bad time when their son runs up to them saying, “Mom! Mom! I’m just like Sam! I climbed the rocks in my bare feet!”. Here is a picture of my son’s hobbit toes:

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Besides a couple of bumps (Budget rental car in Maui was awful), our holiday was truly magical. Maui is gorgeous. The humpback whales could be seen from our room and from our spots on the beach. It felt like we had just gotten there, and then we had to leave. I highly recommend this resort. It felt like home. We cannot wait to go back!

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14 thoughts on “Our Trip to Maui Part I

  1. Thanks for all this info! My hubby and I are planning a trip to Hawaii next year and are starting to do our research. This was wonderful!

  2. I’m so jealous you got to go to Maui!! Your pictures look amazing!! I can’t wait to see more pictures. By the way how do I follow your blog? I use Blogger so I’m not sure how that works with wordpress.

    • Thank you Sayaka! You are so sweet. You can follow via email (the easiest way) on the right. Or follow via RSS. Or through bloglovin’ by
      searching gnomelover.

      I am adding your blog to my list. I think you have amazing style.

  3. I’m so glad no major injury to your son. How scary! We went last year and loved it. I agree – avoid Budget Rental Car on Maui. (thought maybe it was just a bad day when we dealt with them.) It’s an expensive place, but so special, we are planning and saving for a trip back next year. That resort looks amazing.

    • It was scary. Thankfully it was okay. I am glad I am not the only one with a Budget Rental Car story. I won’t use them again. I hope you have just as good of a time as we did. It was amazing. I loved the Fairmont Kea Lani. It was so special.

      Thank you for commenting! : )

    • Thank you! It is hard to take a bad picture in Maui. Every moment is worth capturing!

      Yes, I was relieved with the outcome. He had a splendid time in Maui. We cannot wait to go back.

      Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I really appreciate it! : )

      • It was fun reading about your trip. We’ve had our fair share of close calls as well so I feel ya on the experience. And you got the deal through Costco if I remember right? That’s Wesome.

      • Thank you! I appreciate that. Yes, we purchased our trip through Costco (it came with a rental car). I think we saved about 40% after taxes. I am hoping they do the same deal next year. We would love to go back. It was amazing. The only scary part is, Costco requires payment in full a fair amount of time before your trip. There are no refunds. (that I am aware of). So, you need to be certain you are a definite go!

        Thank you for commenting. The comments always make my day.

        Jenni

  4. Thank you for your honest review of the Fairmont and the tip about Costco. This year we opted for Jamaica despite living on the West Coast as it was cheaper than Maui. I’m a Canadian and don’t shop at the American site but now I will have to check it out for travel deals. I appreciate the tip.

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