For the Little Vacationista's 7th birthday, we planned a trip to one of my favorite places to travel to: Oahu! We decided to stay in Waikiki for the first two nights before moving over to Disney's Aulani resort in Ko Olina. Because I wanted to use the Amex Platinum $200 hotel credit, I decided to book the Royal Hawaiian through the Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts program. This gave us complimentary benefits like early check-in, late check-out, a $100 resort credit, room upgrade (if available), daily breakfast for two, etc.
ROOM: I had booked the cheapest room category online, which was a room with no view in the historic wing. At check-in, they upgraded us to an oceanview room with balcony in their newer Mailani Tower!
The room itself was clean and had everything we needed. They even delivered chocolates on the first night.
The only negative was that the elevators were incredibly slow. There weren't many and it seemed liked one was always down for maintenance.
DINING: There were tons of dining options both in the hotel and within walking distance. You get a coupon at check-in for banana muffins at the Royal Hawaiian Bakery so don't forget to pick those up!
Surf Lanai (at the Royal Hawaiian): Breakfast for two was included each morning at the Surf Lanai restaurant. The restaurant was right next to the beach and had great views. We received a card at check-in that had 4 circles (2 for each night that we stayed). When we went to breakfast, they just checked one off for each breakfast that we ordered. Tax and gratuity were also included so it was super easy to redeem the breakfasts. Because there were 3 of us, we ended up using our $100 resort credit for the kid's breakfast and some additional items like specialty drinks. I highly recommend the pink pancakes, which I ordered every day. Mr. Vacationista liked the eggs benedict. We didn't have anything that we didn't like here.
Noi Thai (Royal Hawaiian Center): Right next door to the hotel is the Royal Hawaiian Center. There are tons of shopping and food options at the center. We decided to try out Noi Thai for lunch our first day, which was really good.
Waikiki Food Hall (Royal Hawaiian Center): Also at the Royal Hawaiian Center, right across from Noi, is the Waikiki Food Hall. Though we didn't actually eat here, they had a few different options for a quick meal.
Island Vintage Shave Ice (Royal Hawaiian Center): If you're craving shaved ice, there's a stand at the Royal Hawaiian Center with lots of flavor options.
Wicked Maine Lobster (Royal Hawaiian Center): There's also a food court in the Royal Hawaiian Center with a few different fast food restaurants. We were craving some lobster so tried out Wicked Maine Lobster (I know, we went to Hawaii for Maine lobster?). It took a while to get our food, but food was pretty good.
Han no Daidokoro (about 20 minutes away at Ward Village): We decided to try this Japanese-style Korean BBQ because of the great reviews. Since I couldn't decide what to get, we ordered the A5 Miyazaki beef course because how could you go wrong with super fatty A5 beef?
OMG, never again. While the beef was delicious, it was so rich that we were done after like 2 or 3 courses. It was a struggle to finish it all.
Service was fantastic and the food was great. I would definitely recommend the restaurant but skip the Miyazaki beef course. It's way too much fatty meat that'll make you feel sick.
@Sushi (about 20 minutes from the Royal Hawaiian): Decided to try out some omakase while we were in Waikiki and @Sushi didn't disappoint. It's a small sushi bar that only seats like 8 or 9 people. They have 2 omakase seatings a day and you definitely need reservations. Here's just a sampling of some of the dishes we had.
$5 Bento Box (about 20 minutes from Royal Hawaiian): Last but not least is one of my favorite restaurants in Waikiki - the $5 bento truck!! I discovered this truck the last time we were in Oahu and was so excited to go back. They take things off the board as they sell out so there were few options by the time we got there (around 11am).
We tried the chicken adobo, garlic shrimp and corned beef hash.
The garlic shrimp was my favorite, I was dipping all the rice we had in the sauce. Little Vacationista liked the chicken adobo. And she got the dole whip for the car ride back to the Royal Hawaiian.
ACTIVITIES: We arrived in Oahu around noon and didn't make it to the Royal Hawaiian until shortly after 1. After grabbing lunch, we headed to the beach where I had rented one of the umbrella sets. You can pre-reserve these and cabanas through the Waikiki Beach Services site. If you are getting a cabana, I'd skip the Royal Hawaiian pool because it's tiny and get the cabana over at the Sheraton Helumoa Playground pool. If you want to be at the beach, the Royal Hawaiian umbrellas are great. There are other umbrellas on the beach that you can rent, but the pink sets are for Royal Hawaiian guests only.
Our second day was the only full day we had in Waikiki. I booked a private catamaran cruise and snorkeling tour with Hawaii Ocean Charters. They were awesome and I would highly recommend them! They have non-private tours as well. We did the 2-hour private tour and started the day snorkeling with sea turtles. Then we cruised around and even got to see a shipwreck because the water was so clear that day.
The rest of our time in Waikiki was spent shopping! Tons of shopping right next to the hotel. After breakfast the following morning, we headed over to Disney's Aulani resort about an hour away in Ko Olina for the rest of our vacation (blog post coming soon)!
OVERALL: Great location and tons of restaurants and shopping near the Royal Hawaiian. Loved the Amex FHR program benefits. I'd definitely recommend the Royal Hawaiian if you want to be in the city, and don't forget the pink pancakes!!