USVI-On-Line

Back from a wonderful trip to Maui. We absolutely loved it.

I will preface this post saying that we had free plane tickets (for four) and free hotel at fairly high end places (Sheraton resort and Grand Wailea) for most nights. Husband is frequent traveler. All we paid for is food, rental car and activities and 3 nights in Hana.

So pretty much we got a $12,000+ trip for a few thousand dollars, making everything seem even better I am sure.

We did a ton of stuff. Snorkel trip, went to top of volcano crater, tons of hikes, pretty much everything we wanted to do. Lots of research was well worth it.

So....the comparison to St. John.....lots was similar....both places beautiful, great snorkeling, great weather....

Well, if we got the same deal, we would definitely prefer Maui. Although we still love St. John and will go again (soon), it did open my mind to travel more to other destinations instead of St. John every year.

Pros of Maui:
*incredibly unbelieveably friendly people
*more to do as far as variety of hikes, etc...(we don't like the commercial stuff that much)
*varied scenery (rainforest, volcano, desert, black and red sand beaches....)
*better low price restaurant choices (fish, fruit, etc..)
*much better behaved people on beaches (I am really tired of the loud and rude groups on St. John beaches-mainly drinking tourists screaming across the beach or water at each other. I know it isn't every day I see that, but it does happen quite often. I am sure it is fun to be in the groups, but it does taint the gorgeous setting for others.)
*Hawaiian "vibe" is pretty cool. I like the way they celebrate their culture and educate.

Pros of St. John
* "home"
* whiter sand
* less commercial, although some areas of Maui are similar (Hana)
* better villa choices in our budget.
* way closer to us and no jet lag.
* beaches less crowded in general.

We also like the Carribean vibe as well. But we felt way more welcome in all parts of Maui...ranging from people coming UP to us at grocery stores asking if we needed help, to restaurants or just the man on the street. It sort of did make a big impact on us.

We do love St. John, but learned a lot on this trip. Hope to go back to both (St. John is a given!). Might post photos, but our D-10 BROKE underwater. So relying on the girl's photos. Luckily between the two of them they took over 700! Hope to get Canon to replace the camera. That's another story. It's out of warranty, but I am still hopeful, as I have promoted that camera for the last freaking year on this forum!

DjMom: that is too bad about your camera! I was considering getting one. I will wait and see how you are treated. I wasn't in a hurry anyway--just waiting for our next trip.

You are so lucky to get to go to Maui on the cheap!!

Isn't Hana amazing!! Did you go to the black sand beach on the road to Hana? We just thought it was so cool.

I agree with your comparisons 100%. I wish Maui and Kauai were closer. It is 11 hours of flying for us (Iowa). I never really thought about the differences in how friendly people were, but you are right. There really is a big difference between how St. John treat their tourists and Hawaii (both Maui and Kauai) treated us. That said, it was in Maui that I saw the bumper sticker "if they call it tourist season why can't we shoot 'em". Ouch.

In Kauai I didn't experience the locals pride in their heritage as much as we did in Maui. In Maui everyone told us stories of their history on the tours we took and/or even at the beaches. I loved that and forgot about it.

I am on the fence about St. John right now. I wish we could find a mix of what St. John offers and what Hawaii offers somewhere closer.

I am glad you had a great trip and I am looking forward to the pictures.

I loved being able to get good quality produce and meat at the grocery stores, going to wal-mart to replace forgotten items, and eating on the cheap in Maui.

oh, did you do any of the hikes on Maui Revealed?

xoxo

Gina,
I know we will continue to go to St John, just looking at it as a different type of vacation. I must say we just about wore ourselves out in Maui we were so busy! We didn't get to do as much limin' and certainly not in the villa we rented for 3 nights. It was filled with bugs. 4 inch cockroach...yep. And it was one of the nicer places.

Yes to hikes! Did a bunch, the highlight being the hike up to the giant waterfall in Hana. 2 miles each way, the way up was pretty hard. But my 9 year old made it,even with a liter of water on her back. (We had walked with the kids a lot beforehand at home to get ready). Well worth it for the waterfall at the end and the bamboo forest on the way. Breathtaking.

Another takeaway message which we know but still important. You can't research enough. I was amazed at the people on these long hikes who were in flip flops and ill prepared. One lady starting the 4 mile hike with just fourth of a water bottle. I pretty much made her turn around and fill it up (as we had just finished and she asked us how it was.)

We had to help another lady who had fallen and dislocated/broken her ankle. It was gruesome. Another thing on my to-do list...get more First Aid training if we are going to continue to vacation like this with so much hiking. I am First Aid and CPR certified, but it is still fuzzy even after several classes. I remembered a few things like getting someone to go on the road to point the ambulance, but if I had to handle it alone, I could have made some mistakes.

Finally another great thing was a little book about cheap places to eat in Maui. It had really great advice and saved us lots of money, or at least saved us from having to eat a lot of crappy food.

So great to hear! We are going to Maui in November for a second time and really looking forward to it. I was 7 months pregnant the first trip in 1999 so "really active" wasn't in my vocabulary. This time I plan to take some surfing lessons (a first!) and we want to ride bikes down from the mouth of the volcano at sunrise. Also want to get to Hana for sure. Last time our 3 year old and my pregnant self only got about a quarter of the way before we had to turn back

Bought Maui Revealed and planning to read it soon- hoping it's a great source- in addition to you guys!

I agree that I love, love, love STJ but there is really something about the feeling in Hawaii.....

Loved Maui. Took our girls there at age 12 and 15.

Sad story is that my Mom passed away in FL while we were in Maui. I had no choice to fly to FL from Maui. We did a celebration of life for her when we could all get together in FL.

What I love about the Islands is that they seem more US born than the USVI. There are lots of ways to save money on lodging and food over there.

I took my first trip to Maui in 2004 then followed it up with Kauai in 2007. We just had our first trip to St. John and VG in April and now we are heading back to Maui and Kauai next month. They really have a different vibe for sure. I love the Hawaiian people and the food is amazing. There are things on St. John that you just cant get in Hawaii and vice versa. We always use the "Revealed" books and they are great. I take them with me everywhere I go when I am on island. His writing style is really funny. When I was on Kauai in 2007 he had opened a BBQ place called Scotty's and it was really good.

I am glad you and your family had a good time djmom. Sounds like you got a killer deal! I would love to see some pictures and hear about where you snorkeled.

DJMom, any luck with the pictures?

Has canon done anything about the camera?

Finally have all the photos loaded and was able to get the photos off the broken camera too (just a few days worth).

Will post sometime soon, was at my parents this weekend. I swear this has been the busiest summer ever.

Anxiously awaiting a response from Canon. Sent it off Thursday am and they said it won't take long to decide.

Oh and So on the beach. Get the book 50 Thrifty Maui Restaurants. We found some great ones there...Paia Fishmarket being our favorite. Had 5 meals from the book, all of them great.

Thanks djmom- will get it!