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Excellent TR. I'm going to Maui for a week in Oct for my honeymoon. We will be staying in the Kaanapali region. We are planning on doing the Road to Hana for sure and even go to Haleakala crater. I've been to both before but only when I was 9 or 10 so I don't remember a whole lot about either just that they were beautiful. She has never been there fyi.
As far as some things to do, I'm still trying to figure that out so any recommendations would be great. Here is what I was thinking. We are going to see the luau at the Hyatt I have tickets for that already. Also, the future Mrs. wanted to do some horseback riding and I was looking at going to
http://www.ironwoodranch.com/ anybody have any experience with them or any other place? I also wanted to do some snorkeling while we were there and really wanted to ride on a Catamaran rather than a boat. Any suggestions with that? Also I'm looking for a couple of nice places for dinner and a couple lunch (can be anything here), any help with that would be great.
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Kaanapali is about the perfect spot to stay IMO unless you've been there a hundred times. We didn't look into the horseback riding too closely. The only place we glanced at had a 220-pound weight limit, and I'm ~230-235, so we dismissed the horseback riding and looked for other activities. I'd imagine different places have different restrictions.
One thing we didn't do that is supposed to be really cool is the sunrise bike trip down the volcano. I know two people that did it, and both said it was the highlight of their trip. Again, I can't recommend a specific company for that, but I'm sure some online research would point you in the right direction. You do have to wake up at like 2AM for that, but if you do it towards the beginning of the trip when your body still hasn't adjusted for the time difference, apparently it's not so bad.
The snorkeling we did on our own at Honalua Bay was actually better than what we did on the boat, but I thought the boat trip was still worthwhile. It's a mini-sightseeing trip as well, you get lunch on the grill and some beers, etc. We went with a place called Maui Magic, and it was fine. Kind of a last-minute booking, but everything was good. I'd give it at least a B.
The Old Lahaina Luau is supposed to be the best one on the island, but that has to be booked weeks, if not months in advance.
Dinner:
Mama's Fish House was awesome, but pricy. We spent a hair over $300 - 3 cocktails, 1 bottle of wine ($80), 1 appetizer, 1 salad, 1 soup, 2 entrees, 1 dessert. So if you cut down on the booze or skip the appetizer or something, $150-$200 is very doable. Totally worth it though.
Sansei (sushi) is highly recommended. 25% discount if you order between 5:30 and 6:00 too. You'll likely be eating early dinners towards the beginning of your trip because of the time difference, so getting there for the discount isn't the worst idea. It's still packed and a good atmosphere. One drink apeice and a ton of sushi came out to under $100.
Our other dinner spots were
Roy's in Kahana - nice, but pretty average IMO ($150ish, including drinks), you can skip it. Nothing too special about it. We also ate at the bar at
Kimo's in Lanhaina, which I enjoyed. We probably had 4 beers each and split an appetizer and a burger for like $80. Downtown Lanhaina has a lot of little bars on the water like that. Before Kimo's, we tried something called
Lahaina Oyster Bar and Grill, and left after a half hour because the bartender was in an awful mood and the atmosphere was really sterile. Skip that place.
Lunch:
Gazebo Restaurant in Napili - open only for breakfast and lunch, right on the water. No reservations though, and it's popular, so you'll stand in line for ~45 minutes. Not a bad wait though - you're outside, and it's good scenery. We spent $25 + tip for an omelet and pancakes that we shared. No booze there, but you can bring your own champagne for mimosas.
Mala Ocean Tavern. The books seemed to like this place, but I thought it was average and overpriced. A couple of fish sandwiches and a drink for like $60. Food was fine, but not worth it IMO. I could have just been in a "meh" mood that day or something though - there was nothing inherently wrong with the place.
Aloha Mixed Plate. Local cuisine. Nothing fancy, but a solid lunch on a lazy day. We had a pork plate, barbecue plate, a smoothie, and an iced tea for about $30.
Also:
We did
Plantation House at Kapalua for breakfast on our last day there, but really it's more of a lunch/dinner place. Our breakfast was good and reasonably priced with a great view though, and my wife's sister had recommended it to us for dinner, so that might be worth a shot.
David Paul's in Lahaina is another upscale place we didn't try, but was recommend (I think we'd have been looking at another $250+ there, and I was only doing one of those meals per island.
You'll also get a buffet meal at any luau you go to.
I'm sure there are other restaurants worth checking out too, but those are the once I had experience with unless I'm forgetting something.