Maui Review

We got free airfare from a travel agent when we bought a cruise from them.  So we took 10 nts in Maui at Embassy Vacation Resort.  We love Embassy Suites so we thought that was the same in Hawaii.  1998 we arrive, amazed at an airport with no glass in the windows, smiles everywhere, and very helpful folks.  We have a Alamo rental car & they took our luggage to the van to take us to Alamo.  Get the car & drive 30 minutes to Embassy past Lahaina.  The freeway is next to the ocean, tunnels cut through mountains, and signs for falling rocks everywhere.  This was heaven in beauty.  We arrive to learn this is a timeshare & we have to spend 90 minutes on a tour & hopefully to purchase.

We have a 4th floor suite with king bed, walk thru closet to bathroom which is male & female sides.  Toilet has it own room and the size could fit a king bed in it. A kitchenette with tiny fridge, dishwasher, cabinets with dishes, utensils, toaster, electric skillet since there is no stove.  A dining table and then the living room with 30" TV, stereo, DVD player, and the lanai that ran from living room to bedroom.

From December to June the humpback whales come to Maui to deliver their calves & fatten them up for the swim to Alaska to eat, since their food is not in Hawaii.  Whale watching ships are in Lahaina's dock, our favorite as port #1 a blow up coast guard boat that holds 25 folks max, and these guys know their whales.  the other ports have ships that hold hundreds and are very unknowledgeable. For $20 PP it is 3 hours of fun & education.

Our 20th anniversary, we did the tour & for $17,000 we will own an oceanview suite.  So husband bought it as a surprise for me.  2 weeks every year with the whales.  10 years of heaven each winter, February 14th was Hawaii day for us.

Then in 2006 we arrive at Hopkins Airport to fly to Maui via Salt Lake City arriving at 3PM.  I booked the trip using our AMEX Delta Skymiles (70,000 per couple) back in March 2005. I uploaded & printed our boarding passes online that morning & scanned them at the DL Kiosk which you enter how much luggage to check & FC agent takes it.  We get to the gate, relaxing as we are over a hour early.  A guy in a suit, not the typical clerk, shows carrying a large printout booklet.  He is flipping pages & writing in it.  Then he picks up the phone & pages us.  We are the only folks there, who he did just come over.  But he tells us we are NOT FLYING!  NO DL SKYMILES. PAYING CUSTOMERS ONLY.

I phone AMEX, talk to my rep about this, and now we are paged, apolgized to & told we are flying FC!  We arrive in Maui at 11PM.  At the timeshare we learn our maintenance fee is $1000 annually. It is also renamed Kaanapali Beach Club, since Hilton owns Embassy & they are not a Hilton Hotel.  So we are sitting watching folks taking the tour & overhear a couple that can't afford $42,500 for an oceanview.  PERFECT!  I walk up, invite them up to our 12 floor oceanview.  We tell them they can have it fo $20K.  They bought it.  They also got our second week to be in it as we left.  Very happy, made money & cancelled the DL SM for AMEX Blue.

If you plan too travel there & want to know what to do, just email me & I can plan a week for you. Whales Dec-June, Beaches galore & all free, restaurants, EO Valley tour, Road to Hana Tour with winery at end.