Honeymoon Planning time!
We're admittedly late in the honeymoon planning with the wedding about 7 weeks away. The name of the game is ultra-splurge because we've been living in a cheap apartment for years and I've been penny-pinching for a long time. On top of that my parents offered to chip in on the honeymoon as long as we stay in the United States in order to "bolster the economy" in this time of recession. Even if it's only for 6 nights we're going to honeymoon like superstars. That's my goal at least.
So, what is the most obvious choice for a honeymoon in the summer? It was a surprisingly difficult decision between Alaskan Cruise vs. Hawaii but we're going the cliche route and picking Hawaii. Then you have the decision: which island to pick? The 3 obvious islands would be the Big Island, Kauai, or Maui. It came down to a coin-toss between Maui and Kauai but I'm going with Maui because it's bigger and there is more "stuff" to do. Kauai apparently is more "natural" but honestly we're not exactly a nature-loving couple.
There are 2 areas of super-luxury on Maui: Kapalua to the West and Wailea to the South. How do I know this? Well, the Ritz Carlton is in Kapalua and the Four Seasons is in Wailea. To be democratic about our 6 nights of luxury I want to split it down the middle, 3 nights in Kapalua and 3 nights in Wailea. That should make for a good trip. I'm going to try to arrive on the islands as early as possible and leave as late as possible on the redeye even if it costs an extra $100 bucks for the tickets.
I haven't priced everything out yet but United is the only airline that has direct flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Kahului, Maui airport (OGG). These direct flights are pretty damn expensive but the cost goes down if bought in a vacation package. Frommer's suggests Pleasant Holidays as a good place to pick packages. I spoke with a travel agent who reserved us some accommodations through a packager and the air fare was about $300 less PER TICKET than if you were to build the trip piecemeal.