WAIKIKI, HAWAII
WAIKIKI
Where we stayed: Ritz Carlton
We’ve been told countless times by people that we wouldn’t like Honolulu or that Honolulu was their least favourite island, and that couldn’t be further from our experience. We understand why people feel that way, it is busy, and beaches are packed. If you know us, you know that we split our time between the beach and the city on most trips so for us this was the best of both worlds. When we went, we loved the city. We love the ease of city life, city amenities, bars and restaurants, and things to do. We also love the beach, and it doesn’t take long to go to a secluded, less busy beach, outside of the Waikiki core.
Our arrival didn’t start the best way, but we worked it out. We booked our stay at the Waikiki Marriot Beach Resort, we stayed at the Waikoloa Marriot on the Big Island and loved that one. Waikiki Marriot, though, was a very unpleasant experience. The service was horrendous and slow, and it took us forever to get checked in (one guy for 15 people). As we checked in, the guy confirmed we booked an ocean view king room and then said: “let’s see if we have anything for you.” (??) We had paid in advance for this room, but he didn’t have one for us. He ended up giving us a two-double bedroom that was “ocean view.” My definition of ocean view and theirs may be different, but buyer beware, I suppose. The “ocean view” was a mountain, unless you stood on the balcony, leaned over the railing and looked as far right as possible. We felt pretty disappointed; the room was filthy and all around, not pleasant. The pictures they had on the website were much different, boasting of clean and renovated rooms.
We called down and explained our situation, and they told us they were booked out of that kind of room and so asked if there were any upgrades available. We didn’t ask for a free upgrade; we were willing to pay the difference to be put into something cleaner. They were not helpful at all; they said it was all booked out, so we decided we’ll stay the night then head to another hotel. This is our anniversary trip; we wanted it to be nice. Wilson wrote a review about our experience that night, and the manager reached out to me the next morning offering to move me to a renovated room, although we appreciated the effort we couldn’t stay there any longer. Even when we checked out, none of the staff was friendly or helpful, so we went to the Ritz Carlton. I wish I booked the Ritz Carlton from the start. It was a fantastic stay; everyone was so kind and helpful. Our room was insane, so beautiful. All rooms are suite rooms, so they come with a kitchen and a washing machine. We were able to do our laundry and cook a few meals when we were tired of eating out. The pools were awesome, with tons of great food and drinks as well. We highly recommend this hotel; we booked it with our RBC Avion points we ended up staying there for free.
We ate at Hy’s Steakhouse one night, great steaks and service, a familiar taste of home. We had the best coffee at Kai Coffee. This is where we got introduced to macadamia nut milk, in their signature macadamia lattes. It is truly the best. We didn’t explore as much as we’d have liked, but we enjoyed the pool, walked around the city and shops. We loved Waikiki and want to come back again soon.
