Monday, July 30, 2012

Finding Seclusion on Oahu

       Flying on Hawaiian Airline's first nonstop flight from New York City to Honolulu, I was concerned that the only place we could stay would be on the crowded beach of Waikiki.

                                                 The hotels that line Waikiki Beach

         Waikiki Beach, of course, is where most of the hotels are. It's the most famous tourist destination on the island of Oahu, the most populous of the seven Hawaiian Islands. The hotels are lined up along the beach, one after another. When it comes to a quiet beach to relax on, Waikiki Beach isn't the best choice. It's beautiful all right. There's the extinct volcano of Diamond Head at one end and downtown Honolulu and it's marina at the other but it feels like South Beach in Miami.

                             You can see how crowded Waikiki Beach is on a typical day

     On this trip, I was bringing my girlfriend and planning to ask her to marry me while we were in Hawaii. I have stayed on Oahu many times before. Usually I stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, a nice resort, if you don't mind crowds of people and lots of screaming children. Some other beautiful and more secluded resorts on the eastern side of Diamond Head, where there are not as many people. I was considering staying at the Kahala Resort. This is one of Hawaii's most luxurious hotels and you pay the price for it. Ocean-view rooms can start at $720 per night.

                                                     The JW Marriott Ihilani

     Then there's the JW Marriott Ihilani, on the western side of Oahu, about a 30 minute drive from the airport. Photos of the resort, I knew it was the right place to stay and the right place to ask my girlfriend to marry me. The JW Marriott Ihilani sits on the ocean in a cove, lined with white sand. The warm ocean water is calm and there are no crowds. The resort reminded me of the very secluded hotels you find on Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii.

     Here are my top five favorite things about the JW Marriott - Ihiliani:


1) Location - The JW Marriott Ihilani is on the west side of Oahu near Barbers Point. The west side of Oahu gets less rain than the east side of the island. The resort is located in a gated community of condominiums and hotels. It's  a secluded cove where you feel like you are far away from  the other tourists. You are about a 30 minute drive from the airport and about a 40 minute drive to Honolulu. Traffic can be pretty intense on Oahu. Try not to drive from Honolulu back to the resort during rush hour. If you do, it's a slow hula dance all the way back.

                                Our ocean-view junior suite at the JW Marriott - Ihilani


                                                   The view from our balcony

2) The Lagoon - The JW Marriott Ihilani has a lagoon where baby Hammerhead sharks, Sting Rays and Starfish swim around. I guess the Starfish don't do much swimming but you can get up close and personal with all of them when you walk along the pathways. You can even schedule a time to get in the water and feed the Sting Rays. They say not to work. The  Sting Rays won't sting and the baby sharks won't bite.

                                      A Sting Ray and baby Hammerhead shark swimming by


                                     Guests at the JW Marriott Ihilani can feed the Sting Rays

3) The Beach - It sits on a cove where there is only one other hotel in sight. Disney has a resort next door called Aulani. I was worried with a Disney resort next door would mean Disney characters and kids, high on soda, running around and screaming. That is not the case. The Marriott and Disney resort are totally separate. I was surprised by how elegant and quiet the Disney resort was. We couldn't even tell there was a Disney property nearby. The ocean is very calm at the beach, so it is perfect for kids. Every night, you also get one of the best views of the sunset on Oahu.
                                          The beach at the JW Marriott Ihilani


4) The Secret Beach - About 100 yards from the hotel is a secret beach. It's not much of a secret anymore but usually you can have it to yourself. It is a small beach, lined with volcanic rock, a great spot to take photos or make out with someone you love without anyone seeing.

                                                   The "Secret Beach" at the hotel

5) Ocean View Rooms - If you can, spend the extra money for an ocean view room. The ocean-view rooms have beautiful balconies for sunset watching, in case you don't want to walk down to the beach.

                                One of the beautiful sunsets we watched from our balcony

      The JW Marriott is my favorite hotel on the island of Oahu. I was surprised by how secluded it felt and how beautiful it is. The staff is wonderful and all the restaurants at the resort are terrific. Make sure you try their sushi restaurant called Ushio-Tei. The sushi chef or Shokunin is great though it's not inexpensive. Grab a beer and walk over to the southern side of the beach, where there is a beautiful park. You can sit in the grass and watch the sunset. The only down side of the JW Marriott for us was their parking rates, $38 per night whether you valet park or self-park. Hotels should always have a lower rate for self-parking and $38 per night is too high for valet. Other than that, the resort was terrific and I will definitely stay there again. By the way, my girlfriend said, "yes."
     
      The JW Marriott Ihilani has many different vacation packages. We enjoyed their "Romance Package." For $539 per night, we booked an ocean-view room and got breakfast for two, a champagne welcome and a rose retal drawn bath. They also have special packages for families and a special vacation package for LGBT couples.
Take a look at the video we shot while we were at the JW Marriott Ihilani
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Take a look at our flight on Hawaiian Airlines from New York to Honolulu
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See more about the JW Marriott Ihilani 
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                                            My fiance Angela and me right after she said yes

4 comments:

  1. The most beautiful pictures of beaches I have ever seen.It looks like a nice place to spend your summer holidays

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  2. The hotel seems so beautiful from what I gathered from these pics! And what a romantic location to be at! The ocean views would definitely be worth every penny. Considering that the hotel is in Hawaii, one of the tourists’ favorite; the hotel being secluded is a rarity, but that’s what makes it so great, I think. Congratulations to you and your fiancé, by the way! You picked the perfect place for such a romantic occasion!

    Daphne Michaels

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    ReplyDelete