Save $5000 On A Vacation To Hawaii

What if I told you, it’s possible to save $5000 on your dream vacation to Hawaii?

Interested??

I did it, in just a few easy steps!  The decisions didn’t downgrade our vacation at all … and did I mention it was super easy?!?

CHECK THE CALENDAR

If you’ve traveled anywhere you know it’s almost always cheaper to visit in either the off season or shoulder season.  

When we planned for Hawaii, we knew that we wouldn’t be traveling during summer when families are taking vacations. We also paid a lower price because our trip was in October — right in the middle of hurricane season!  

After narrowing down the month, we also looked at the final days of September to make sure we were getting the best price possible.  Prices even just days apart can vary greatly, so keep an open mind, if you aren’t tied to specific dates.

SHOULDER SEASON — THE WEEKS ON EACH SIDE OF THE AREA’S TOURIST SEASON.  YOU’LL LIKELY ENJOY EVERYTHING THAT MAKES THE PLACE POPULAR, BUT YOU’LL PAY LOWER PRICES AND FACE SMALLER CROWDS.  WIN-WIN!!

DIG FOR DEALS

The biggest problem for me is deciding WHERE to go.  There are just SO. MANY. OPTIONS!  I often let prices help dictate my itinerary.

This time it was a little different.  It was my husband’s turn to pick the vacation location … and he chose Hawaii before we ever started looking at prices.  As we started planning, we knew the two biggest expenses would be hotels and airfare.

I started looking at condos and hotel prices .. and YIKES!!  Renting a condo for a week was going to cost around $4500!  Hotels would be a little cheaper, but we’d also wouldn’t have access to a kitchen, so we’d need to eat all of our meals in restaurants.

then something pretty amazing happened for us!

Several days after deciding on Hawaii, I stumbled onto a pretty fantastic deal.  TravelZoo advertised a deal on a seven day cruise. It included all kinds of perks that would allow us to stay in Hawaii longer, and see more while we were there. Since we hadn’t decided which island to stay on anyway, I took a hard look at the offer.

OFFERS SAVED US $800

The cruise was offered on TravelZoo’s Top 20 deals of the week.  The vacation package was offered through a company named WMPH Vacations instead of Norwegian Cruises. After Googling WMPH, I couldn’t find any real complaints about the company.

Then I looked up the same cruise on NCL’s site. It was the exact same price for the same cabin on the same cruise.

BUT … (This is the first HUGE savings on our vacation)

If we booked through NCL, we’d only get the cruise.  If we booked the WMPH Vacations package, it also came with the following:

• Free Lei Greeting at the Airport
• Free Shuttle from the airport to hotel
• 2 nights at a hotel
• 2 breakfasts
• Tour of Pearl Harbor
• Transportation from the hotel to the cruise terminal
• FREE GRATUITIES ON THE CRUISE

I added up the cost of those perks and the total came to more than $800!  And that’s money saved on things we were planning to do while in Hawaii anyway!  Plus the entire package saved us $700 over renting a condo and just staying on Oahu.

CHA CHING!!

 

AIRFARE OPTIONS SAVED US $1100

We knew another HUGE expense for our vacation would be airfare.  We had enough frequent flyer miles to get to the west coast, but not enough to get all the way to Hawaii.

So, we split up the trip.  We booked flights from our home airport in Kansas City to San Francisco using Southwest frequent flyer miles.  In San Francisco we changed airlines … and terminals … to fly Alaska Airlines from San Francisco to Honolulu.

That decision leads me to how we saved hundreds more on our vacation!

We applied for Alaska Airlines’ credit card. After meeting spending requirements, we received 30,000 frequent flyer points.  BUT WE ALSO RECEIVED A COMPANION PASS.

Unfortunately you’re not allowed to use the points and companion pass on the same tickets.  But the decision still paid off.

We paid $617 for one ticket … and used the companion pass to pay just $47 for the second ticket.  That, plus the Southwest frequent flyer points allowed two of us to fly from Kansas City to Honolulu — and back — for $664.  A SAVINGS OF NEARLY $1100!!

ADDED ACTIVITIES SAVED US $800

Activities are crazy expensive in Hawaii.  But there are certain things you’ve gotta do while you’re there, amiright?!?

We compiled a shot list of “must-do-or-die” activities.  Then I started researching and looking for discounts.

On Groupon I found Aloha Circle Island Tour.  The description sounded good and promised to show us a lot of things around Oahu.  An added plus is that it also offered hotel pickup along Waikiki Beach … and at under $70 per person, a savings of $165, the price was right!

Groupon also offered a luau at Sea Life Park in Honolulu that we decided to try.  We paid $168 for two people. It included a drink, dinner and a show. And Groupon’s deal saved us $30 bucks off regular price!  PLUS, when we showed up to check in, we also received free tickets for Sea Life Park to use in the next three days — a savings of $40 per person!

I’ll admit, I didn’t realize how far away Sea Life Park was from Waikiki and our hotel.  It was going to cost about $60 for a round trip Uber. Instead we jumped on the public bus.  It picked us up right along the Waikiki Beach and dropped us off at the entrance to Sea Life.  The trip cost us a total of $11 — and a savings of $50!

PRO TIP:  IF YOU’RE RIDING THE BUS, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE TIME OF THE LAST PICKUP … AND KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR WATCH!  IF YOU MISS THE BUS, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO UBER OR LYFT ANYWAY!

Another thing we wanted to experience was the Na Pauli coast on Kauai.  We decided the best way to do this was by air. And then we found the prices of the helicopter tours!  I continued to research the idea … and stumbled upon Air Ventures Hawaii. The company flies small airplanes over the same area.  The tours are about an hour long … and cost nearly half of what helicopter tours do. I was concerned about what pictures would look like out the windows of a place — but they turned out well!  The fixed-wing flight saved us $250!

One thing you’ll want to look into if you decide to book a cruise like this, is the company’s plan for the Na Pauli coast.  I was torn between booking the flight, or a sunset cruise … and I nearly did both tours. That is until I read that NCL does it’s own version of a narrated Na Pauli Coast tour!  It wasn’t quite the same as a private tour, but I still got to see it from the water. And we saved another $250 bucks!

FINAL DETAILS AND FINAL SAVINGS OF $200

One final decision we made was to take a red-eye flight from Honolulu back to the mainland.  It was a long day, but we saved at least another $200 because we didn’t book another night in a hotel.

ADD IT ALL UP

If you add it all up, we saved $3600 dollars on our vacation to Hawaii with just a few little tricks. That savings doesn’t even include all of the money we saved on meals.  Food is included in the price of your cruise, unless you decide to eat at certain specialty restaurants. The meals we did eat off the ship cost another $100-$200 PER MEAL.  That’s another $2000 or so we saved on this vacation by eating the majority of meals in the ship’s dining room and buffet! Add that in and tell your friends how you saved more than $5000 on your dream vacation, too!!