Hawaii over Thanksgiving

I noticed someone here mentioned that Hawaii over Thanksgiving was something to avoid. Why is that? Prices too high? Too crowded? Thanksgiving is the only time we can go to Hawaii and I%26#39;m wondering what to expect. If someone could give me a heads up with regards to crowds, whether places are closed over the holiday weekend (museums, etc.) and the weather, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Hawaii over Thanksgiving

Don%26#39;t know where you got that bad info. from...

I say don%26#39;t be afraid to visit Hawaii over the Turkey holidays.

Summer is the busiest %26amp; most crowed season. X-mas %26amp; New Years is also very popular here in the islands. There is no price increase over Thanksgiving. Summer has the highest accomodation prices and that%26#39;s it. No flux price change on food, tours, etc... Some places will be closed either the entire Turkey day or still be open up to 5 pm. that business day. Hospitality foods and restaurants at the bigger hotels and resorts will be open during the eve and day of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Weather is very nice. You could be working on your tan while folks at home deal with ice %26amp; snow. Definitely call your hotel for confirmnations and commitments..

Hawaii over Thanksgiving

I have no problems with Thanksgiving. (Previous poster said it best.) Now Christmas and New Year time frame is another story, at least from my experiences in Honolulu. The shopping malls get very crowded, so is in and around Waikiki, but that is to be expected. Typically lots of fireworks and firecrackers on New Years Eve and early morning of New Year%26#39;s Day, but join in and enjoy the festive mood and you will have no problems. One caution on having luau on Thanksgiving day is that they might feed you smoked turkey instead of Kalua pig -- if you are a traditionalist and only like roast turkey, then you might hate that. Call ahead and ask if that%26#39;s important to you.

The only difference I ever saw on Maui on Thanksgiving was that a very few small national chain stores were closed (premably because that was their national policy). Everything else was business as usual including no crowds and no price increases. In fact when we arrived on Maui the day before Thanksgiving we were the only peope on the shuttle from the airport and the driver commented on hope slow it was.

Thanks for your replies everyone. Paradisetreker, as to where I got that bad info from (regarding visiting over Thanksgiving), I saw it mentioned in a post by mauna_kea_lady in the ';Best priced...'; thread. Glad to see that is not necessarily true.

We will be in Hawaii 5 days and I need to now decide whether we%26#39;ll headquarter at one hotel and travel around the area returning to the same hotel each night or whether to stay at different hotels around the islands. As of yet, I don%26#39;t know just how far apart the islands are and how complicated it is to get back %26amp; forth between the islands. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Below is a copy/paste of the thread that ddavis is referring to. One might intrepret MKL%26#39;s response a little differently by reading the original post and thinking MKL was saying that Thanksgiving week may not be a better %26#39;priced%26#39; week, not that it should be avoided. Just a thought.

Are there any off season times of year that you can get better prices than other times of year?

mauna_kea_lady

Joined: Nov 2004

Posts: 860

Mauna Kea Resort, Hawaii

LOCAL EXPERT

for Hawaii Posted on: 4:37 pm, yesterday Report inappropriate post

yes - may (avoid memorial day week), september, october, early novemeber (avoid T-Giving week), and december before 12/15.

weather is great - rates are better for hotels, airfare, car rentals. beaches are less crowded, less kids, better service and less crowded at restaurants.

:-)

After researching this a bit further of what was just said...

I concur with Gingerbird, with her first paragraph statement.

Slight mis-interpretation of trying to read into it more verses taking it as face value.

Strickly talking about most hotel lodging, prices are determined way in advance by execs and pr marketing.

I think when she said the word avoid, I think she meant the crowds of people, not the places or having to do with prices.

MKL and I are on the same page...

I also agree with a previous poster, that the shopping malls are a mess over the holidays, starting with the parking and carrrying on into the stores.

A good start is with AAA tourbook and maps to get your bearings started %26amp; familiarized...