Hotel Info:
☺☺☺☺☺
★★★★
Resort Hotel
69-425 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, Hawaii 96738
☎ +1 (808) 886-1234
Check-in: 15:00
Check-out: 12:00
Hotel website
Hotel Rates:
2 Doubles, Deluxe Ocean View US$160.80
(Sep 2013, Expedia)
State Sales Tax 4.166%
Resort fee US$25 per accommodation, per night (incl. in room PlayStation3 with unlimited movies and games; high Speed Internet Access – wireless and wired; local and 800 telephone calls; daily Hawaiian Cultural Activities such as Hula dance lessons; 20% discounts on Lagoon beach toy rentals & 10% discounts on cruises through Ocean Sports)
Self parking fee US$17 per night
Valet parking fee US$22 per night
Features:
(
Resort map)
3 guest room wings - Ocean Tower, Palace Tower, and Lagoon Tower
Air-conditioned trams & canal boats transportation within hotel
Dolphin Quest Village
Lagoon Beach (salt-water lagoon)
3 pools featuring waterfalls, a 175-foot waterslide and an adults-only pool
Golf course and seaside putting course
Restaurants, bars and shops
Shuttle available to golf courses & shops
Free wifi in some public areas
Comments:
This is a really huge hotel resort with three guest room towers - the Ocean Tower, Palace Tower & Lagoon Tower, with the more expensive one being the Lagoon Tower as it has newer renovations and is also located by the dolphin lagoon. We stayed at the Ocean Tower that had a fantastic view of the ocean and the resort's putting course.
Expenses for 2:
Dinner at Malolo Lounge US$80
Breakfast at Big Island Breakfast US$68
Lunch at Lagoon Grill US$32
Sports equipment hire at Ocean Sports by the Lagoon (paddle board x 1, snorkelling gear x 2) US$58.34
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| a cute dolphin gave us a warm welcome upon arrival at our room |
Originally we were only planning to stay one night at each hotel while travelling right around the Big Island however after looking up the hotel's website, we figured we would need 'at least' 2 nights stay to really be able to utilise the hotel's facilities to make our stay at the Hilton worthwhile.
What we loved most was hanging by the four-acre ocean fed Lagoon Beach, where we rented a stand-up paddle boat and snorkelling gear, to swim and paddle around with, checking out the tropical fish and green sea turtles there.
If you don't want to spend too much on food at the pricy places inside the hotel, suggest you drive out to the
Queens' Marketplace or the higher end
Kings' Shops within the Waikoloa Village and dine at the food courts or restaurants there instead. At the Queens' Marketplace there is a supermarket called
Island Gourmet Markets where you can stock up on snacks and water for the road or to take back to the hotel.
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| drive-in to the front entrance of the hotel |
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| our luggage taking up a lot of space in our tram compartment |
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| and off we go on the tram to our room, woohoo! |
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| the Ocean Tower in the distance |
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| passing through the Palace Tower |
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| tram passing the boat... |
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| tram arriving at the Ocean Tower |
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| looks almost like a bullet train... |
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| key cards to our room |
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| 2 double beds |
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| open washroom basin area |
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| view from room |
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| view of the golf driving range |
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| the deluxe ocean view from room |
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| and towards the left |
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| outside the Ocean Tower |
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| look, there's a crane! |
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| the Lagoon Tower from the Ocean Tower side |
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| the Kohala Pool beside the Ocean Tower |
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| the tram tracks |
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| cabanas to relax on too |
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| some private outdoor event being setup that night |
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| the event has begun... |
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| the Kohala Pool again at night |
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| the Grand Staircase at night |
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| sunset... |
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| walking between the buildings |
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1st night's dinner at the Malolo Lounge inside the resort - ordered the Award Winning Malolo Ahi Poke (raw
tuna, hawaiian sea salt, local avocado, kukui nut, sesame oil & fresh ogo seaweed) which tasted quite good except
was a little heavy on the sesame oil |
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Malolo Crab Roll - spiced lump crab, mayonnaise, lemon on a hawaiian sweet bread bun (front);
Roasted Chicken Club - smoked bacon, local avocado, local tomato with papaya aioli on toasted potato bread (back) |
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| rise & shine to the second day! beautiful weather~ |
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| enjoying the air from our balcony |
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| we got off one stop too early to get to our breakfast place so we got on the tram again... |
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| here's our stop |
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| here we are at the Waters Edge Ballroom where we will dine at the Big Island Breakfast buffet |
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| 1st breakfast buffet at the Big Island Breakfast |
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| view of the Lagoon Beach & waterfall |
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| 1st morning breakfast, Round 1 |
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| after breakfast, we walked out from one of the dining room exits to the Lagoon Beach for a walk |
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| Lagoon Beach view of the Grand Staircase |
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| Lagoon beachside |
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| headed back to our rooms to get into our swimming gear and return to the Lagoon Beach |
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but before that, a quick coffee break to get through the day - first fast of Kona coffee at Waikoloa Coffee;
how convenient to have a coffee place just within the Ocean Tower |
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| the Dolphin Quest Village |
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| you can book an up close dolphin experience here (of course, at a price and a steep one!) |
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| time for lunch - at the Lagoon Grill right by the dolphin lagoon |
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| Kona Lobster Burger USD25 (locally farmed lobster, spicy sprouts, ginger aioli) + onion rings on the side USD2.95 |
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| and at the Kona Pool |
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| beautiful~ |
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| Children's Sand Pool on the far side |
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| the outdoor massage beds |
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| walked past the Dolphin Quest Village so we sat down for a bit in the spectators area there |
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| dolphin posing for photo |
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| dolphin striking a second pose |
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| walking back to the Main Lobby area to take the boat back to our room |
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| and the boat has arrived at the Main Lobby stop... |
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| and on the boat we are to head back to the Ocean Tower |
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| approaching the Palace Tower |
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| passing by the Dona & Toni's Pizza (1F) & Kirin Chinese Restaurant |
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| arrived at the Boat Landing Cantina at the Palace Tower...and off we get |
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| Main Lobby at night |
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| concierge desk & lobby couches |
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| complimentary iced lemon water in the lobby |
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the shuttle from the hotel that takes you to the Kings Shops & Queens' Marketplace within the Waikoloa Beach Resort;
we decided to have dinner at the food court at Queens' Marketplace as we figured dining at the hotel resort
restaurants for every meal would end up quite costly... |
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| my dinner for the 2nd night at Queens' Marketplace food court - Grilled Shrimp Salad - quite good! |
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| back at the hotel and hopping on the tram to head back to our Ocean Tower room |
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| parrot in the Main Lobby |
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| 2 parrots in the lobby |
