Hawaii budget for a family of 4 ?

[kymom99]

I just wanted to suggest looking at delta for a package. We used these for Vegas twice and got good deals. I was pricing some Maui trips and you can get some really nice places for a reasonable cost.

 

[Action City]

If you're a Costco member, look at their travel packages. They have fabulous deals. We could get resort (Waldorf Astoria), flights and a rental car for less than just the resort cost by itself.

 

[richkaryn]

7 of us (my inlaws, my husband, son, and I, SIL, and nephew) went to Hawaii 2.5 years ago. I planned the trip for everyone. We went to 3 of the islands and spent 10 days in Hawaii total (Plus 2 extra days of travel there and back). We spent right around $20,000 total- cost includes all airfare, hotels, food, car rentals, activities, and souvenirs.

 

[Donnainnj]

Our last trip was for 5. ( 4 adults, and one 7 year old who frequently ate like an adult. We flew from the East Coast, visited the Big Island, Hilo for 3 nights, and Kona 7, then, Maui for 7 nights and Kauai for 5 nights. Rented 2 br condos everywhere (in Hilo it was more like part of a multifamily house). Car rentals everywhere. I find there are so many things to do in Hawaii that don't cost much extra. The Hawaii Revealed books help there. We shopped Costco and ate at least breakfast in the condo, sometimes, but not very often, another meal. Food trucks and places that offer plate lunches are your friend. We also found Mexican and Thai food more reasonable. Ran about $16,000. Forgot to add this was July-Aug 2015

 

[jujubiee4]

It was some afternoons when we were there & I've only ever been in May/June. Sometimes the mornings were dead quiet though. Idk if the month has anything to do with the roughness in the sea, hopefully someone more familiar with Hawaii can chime in for us.

Yeah i saw some discount snorkeling trip starting at 1 or 2 and i thought that would be great. Not because it is a discount but
because i have later 'risers' in the family. The good tours start at 7 or 8am and that got a thumbs down in the family but
might have to go back and research. Is it true you can just snorkel off the beach for free? My girls want to go to that
crater that starts with an M and i doubt you can do that for free. Any suggestions any other good places? Thanks!!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yeah i saw some discount snorkeling trip starting at 1 or 2 and i thought that would be great. Not because it is a discount but
because i have later 'risers' in the family. The good tours start at 7 or 8am and that got a thumbs down in the family but
might have to go back and research. Is it true you can just snorkel off the beach for free? My girls want to go to that
crater that starts with an M and i doubt you can do that for free. Any suggestions any other good places? Thanks!!!

There are lots of beaches you can snorkel from for free! You can rent snorkel equipment all over the island and the shops have maps of places to go. You can also research out on google the best beaches for snorkeling on whatever island you are on. Molokini crater off Maui? Yeah, there's no way you're getting there without going on a tour, definitely need a boat! Molokini Crater is considered one of the best places to snorkel in Hawaii.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Activities (zipline! Snorkel trip! Parasail! More!) can easily cost over $100 per person per activity. Meals are KILLER. Get a nice condo (with a pool in the complex), go shopping at Costco and the local markets & DIY all the meals you can. HUGE savings, especially on Maui. PB&Js are your friend.

Do you like pineapple? Do you have a Costco membership? Buy pineapples at Costco! (NOT the green ones ok? You buy the Maui Gold pineapple that is the orangest/yellowest you can find, and if you're not sure the color is right you should be able to smell that wonderful pineapple smell.) Last time I was on Kauai we bought them at Costco a couple days and then when there was a farmers market nearby one day all the good ones were gone. We went to the farmers market to look for one and they were selling them at twice the price of Costco and I literally saw them removing Costco tags before setting them out to sell... Also, Costco is where we pick up all our Macadamia nut chocolate/coffee/various flavored covered souvenirs! As well as the replacement set because we basically eat them all before we leave. And gas for rental car!

Merchandise: Kmart & Long's Drugs. Most of the trip souvenirs you want can be found there much cheaper than tourist shops & hotel gift shops. Actually all our Hawaii t-shirts came from Long's last trip! (Yep, it's still a thing there.) I majorly splurged on a Hilo Hattie dress at Hilo Hattie though last time I was on Maui so don't think you'll be getting off cheap on everything, you never know what someone might fall in love with

FWIW you could easily spend a week on Maui and stay occupied without having to hop to Oahu.

Oh! And rent snorkel gear for the week so you can do some of your own snorkeling! It's not Molokini Crater but still pretty in the right places to snorkel if you're looking to occupy an hour or two some days. (Avoid discounted afternoon snorkel trips, odds are the water will be rough so you won't see as many fish.)

I just saw yr post about not buying discounted afternoon snorkel trips. Will the water be rough May?June?

It was some afternoons when we were there & I've only ever been in May/June. Sometimes the mornings were dead quiet though. Idk if the month has anything to do with the roughness in the sea, hopefully someone more familiar with Hawaii can chime in for us.

There are lots of beaches you can snorkel from for free! You can rent snorkel equipment all over the island and the shops have maps of places to go. You can also research out on google the best beaches for snorkeling on whatever island you are on. Molokini crater off Maui? Yeah, there's no way you're getting there without going on a tour, definitely need a boat! Molokini Crater is considered one of the best places to snorkel in Hawaii.

We've done big extended family trips to Hawaii 3 times now - 2 trips to Maui and 1 to Kauai/Oahu. My little family has to fly from Virginia while the rest of my family only has to travel from California. I second the idea of looking for a package. My parents own at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas (gorgeous), and we stay free for week with them there. But coming from Virginia, 7 days just isn't long enough. We usually book some extra hotel days, rental car and flights using a package deal.

We've done the afternoon discounted snorkel trips twice. The first time it went to Molokini, which was wonderful. The second time it did not - too choppy. They took us to a cliff area near the side of the highway - disappointing. We've since discovered that we really like a few other snorkel spots better, and they are free! We rent our gear for the week from Annie's A & B Snorkel (great weekly rates). Our favorite spots are Honolua Bay (get there really early to get parking and walk through the jungle to the beach) and Mokule'ia Bay, also known as Slaughterhouse Beach. It is just before Honolua Bay and has a staircase going down to it. We saw 20 turtles swimming along the cliffs there one afternoon! Both these areas are easy to reach by car, but we saw snorkel boat tours there too. Why would you pay for a boat trip to take you someplace you can go yourself???

 

[mickeyschickie]

We are planning on going in 2020, family of 5 on the east coast, I have no idea what we will be doing yet, but my original budget was to save $15000.00....been saving for 3 years so far, even if it was a high estimate I’d rather have too much money than not enough saved

 

[kittylady1972]

We are planning on going in 2020, family of 5 on the east coast, I have no idea what we will be doing yet, but my original budget was to save $15000.00....been saving for 3 years so far, even if it was a high estimate I’d rather have too much money than not enough saved

We are in the process of finalizing our first family trip to Hawaii, also from the East Coast (MD) for a family of 5 (3 kids age 18, 14 and 15). I'd say that $15000 is probably pretty close. So far we managed to book flights from MD to Kauai and from Oahu to MD for $4000 so far (one stop each way). We still have to book the flights from Kauai to Oaho which will be about $380. So far, we are staying for free for 3 nights at Aulani using our DVC Points, plus another 5 nights at another timeshare with our friends (and we are splitting the upgrade cost for them so I think a little money there). We have just requested to book 4 nights in a condo in Kauai which is going to cost us about $600 each. So for flights and lodging I'm guessing we are up to about $5000 for five of us. Rental cars is another $900 or so. Then there are the activities which I'm guessing close to $4000 for all the stuff we want to do since this will be a once in a lifetime trip for all of us. Then food. So yes I think your $15K budget is pretty close to on target. Thankfully we will be doing this little by little, so flights will be paid for soon and then we have 6 months plus to save up for the rest.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Some of these Hawaii budgets are making me so thankful for being a timeshare owner. It is the only way my family of 4 can travel on our small travel budget. Some years we travel more than others. Back in 2013 we had a big vacation year. We went to:

- WDW (8 days at Wyndham Bonnet Creek with a timeshare trade),
- DL (4 days at my sister's house) and
- Hawaii (7days at Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas on Kauai in my parent's timeshare and 4 days at Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk on Oahu again parent's timeshare)

We did a ton of activities on Kauai (lots of snorkeling, sightseeing, Kayak trip on Wailua River and hike to waterfall, ziplining). On Oahu we were plenty busy with what we did:
Day 1 - hiked Diamond Head, visited Hanauma Bay, shopped
Day 2 - spent the day on Waikiki Beach and took a catamaran sail
Day 3 - spent the whole day at Pearl Harbor doing all the tours
day 4 - Waikiki beach in the morning for a swim, Iolani Palace in the afternoon before our flight.

All three trips together came to about $8400! If we had traded our own timeshare for the Hawaii trip accommodations, it would have cost us an additional $1600. Our resorts wouldn't have been quite as nice as my parent's Westin, but still very nice. Thank God for timeshares!!!! (Timeshare costs, food, activities, tickets - 4 days of old no expire 10 day water fun WDW tickets, rental car & flights are included in that vacation budget). We also rented a cottage in the Outer Banks, NC for 5 days over Easter Break (got a friends & family rate from the owner) and joined DH's family for a weekend at the Jersey Shore (not included in the $8400 above but cost less than $700 for both).