Fabulous Maui & the Kea Lani

Hi Sue!

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply - it's been a busy summer! Our trip was wonderful, thanks so much for all of your help! Thanks also for the lovely food & drink that was in our room at the Fairmont Kea Lani when we arrived.

My favorite part of the trip was the snorkel trip thru Trilogy. The staff was top-notch in every way. Funny thing, once we got back I was looking through my Maui For Dummies book again (where I found your agency) and found info on Trilogy. I didn't see it before the trip. They got a great rating, but there was a caveat about them becoming "too slick"....I didn't find them to be that way at all. Oh - and a warning, the trip back from Lanai is very choppy (they said it's always that way), for me it was very scary but I lived through it, and it didn't change my opinion of the whole day at all.

The hotel was fabulous also! The staff was great, and I loved how they came around w/cold towels, ice water, and pineapple slices during the day. Their cabanas are very reasonably priced. You could choose either $100/day which included free drinks, juice, fruit, etc or $100 for two days not including the extras. We got the cabana for 2 days, worth every penny on days where there isn't a cloud in the sky. As a comparison, the cabanas in Wisconsin Dells resort hotels run $100 - $200 day depending on the season.

Dinner at Nick's Fish Market was superb, and also the most expensive dinner we've ever had! The bill was $400+ for 4 of us. We expected it though, and it makes for a good story. In my opinion though (I'm not a fish eater except for crab & scallops) the best meal I had was the BBQ on Lanai after our snorkel trip. I've never seen my son eat two pieces of chicken and two helping of peas!

Other highlights were Lahaina village and the helicopter ride, though I didn't go on it. Just Joe and the kids. I get air and sea sick (took Dramamine before the snorkel trip and I was fine). They mail you a DVD of it, so I got to see it anyway. A funny - rather weird - story surrounding the helicopter ride. We learned that there is a big push for time share resales there in Maui. The guy at the snorkel shop, who rented us great snorkel sets, tried to give us a huge discount on the ride if we spent 2 hours listening to a time-share salesperson. He was very, very slick about it and we almost bought into it. After that we noticed lots of people in the area trying to sell deeply discounted activities if you spent the time listening to the spiel. That was probably the only dark spot of the trip.

I hope this email isn't too long for you - I figured the more I told you the more you could tell future customers :-) All in all, it was a fabulous trip and my husband is already talking about us going back someday.

Thanks again for all your help - I'll be sure to use you again in the future if we do go back there, or any other place your agency can help with!
C. Strupek
Bloomington, IL

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The Fairmont Kea Lani was delightful

As I sit here in my Signature "Kilohana" Suite, watching humpback whales come flying out of the water like giant torpedoes, I am once again in awe at how wonderful a stay at this hotel can be. All the rooms are suites at the Kea Lani, and I LOVE these suites (Signature) with the extra square footage in the suite, the bigger balconies and more views! I especially love laying in the comfy bed looking out to a perfect Wailea ocean and listening to the sound of the waves on the shore. I have been here for 3 nights with many of my staff and their families for our annual company weekend. We call it our McCoy Travel holiday party, always planned in January after the holiday rush before the winter rush (February - Spring Break). It's a perfect time of the year with cooler nights, less wind, flawless mornings and spectacular sunsets. Oh, and the whales!

We all enjoyed mouth watering dinner at Ko's on Friday night. It is great to have everyone together including the kids. We spent Saturday and Sunday lounging around the pools, swimming and listening to the humpback whales song underwater (in the ocean) and letting the stress of the last very busy 4 weeks just melt away. On Sunday morning, I rented a kayak and ventured out on the placid ocean hoping for a whale encounter of the close kind :) A mom and baby did come by fairly close to me and it was a thrill. Sea kayaking on sit on top kayaks in the morning hours here is stellar. I had 2 excellent turtle sitings and gave my upper body a good work out (my arms are sore today!).

Last night I enjoyed Nick's Fish Market and met fantastic people at the bar. Nick's is known for creative food and amazing service. It never fails, that I meet the most fun and wonderful people whenever I go in. I order the "original" escargot (it's not on the menu, you have to ask for it by name). Soaked in garlic butter with a pastry puff over the top. Yum Yum (I just got hungry again). Well, it's time to head to the office. We say, a bad day on Maui is better than a good day anywhere else! Going to work, although we are so very busy these days, is a joy.

In the "old days" they use to say Maui No Ka Oi ( Maui is the best). Now they call Maui the Magical Isle. These both work for me and have for 35 years. From our beautiful beaches to the top of Haleakala at 10,000 feet, and everything inbetween, this is a lovely island in a stunning chain of Islands. The Islands of Aloha, that have had me smitten since the day I got off the plane September 12, 1974!

Melissa McCoy
President
McCoy Custom Travel & Cruise
www.McCoyTravel.com
800-256-4280

Wonderful Maui Vacation

Melissa,

I just cannot tell you how wonderful our experience in Maui was…it was by far our most favorite vacation!! Working with Holly was an awesome experience…she helped us through the entire planning process as well as seeing it through by meeting us at the airport!! She was remarkable!! I don’t know if she shared with you that my husband has a massive stroke 4 weeks prior to us leaving, it was devastating…we didn’t even know if he would make it through the stroke…his neurologist only gave him a 30% chance of surviving it…but the Lord pulled him through and he is a walking miracle…I tell you this because Holly called us several times over the next few weeks following his stroke just to check on him and to see how we were all doing. That was so thoughtful and she was steadfastly there when we were trying to decide if we were going to be able to make the trip or not.

In the end, Scott was cleared by his neurologist to go on the trip with some stipulations which meant that at the last possible minute we had to rearrange some of the excursions…Scott could not snorkel or do the zip-lining adventure and we had to add him onto the van tour…Holly made all of that happen seamlessly…we could not have done all of that without her!! McCoy travel has some awesome people working for them and she is one of your shining stars!!

She even made sure that we had VIP tickets to the Luau which gave us an incredible advantage for viewing the entire show. Holly also helped us add onto our trip my daughter and her husband…this was done part way through the planning process and we were all able to make the same flight and stay at the same place.

Speaking of where we stayed…the Fairmont Kea Lani Resort…it was absolutely exquisite!! Not only was our villa positioned so that we had a wonderful view of the ocean, but the resort itself was magnificent!! It was quiet and beautiful and the service was second to none…we have traveled extensively and never stayed at a place that was soooo accommodating to our every want and need!!

I think that my favorite excursion was the Van tour and the trip to Pearl Harbor, but the kids really liked the zip-lining adventure. The Luau and the Spirit of Lahaina was great also…we got to experience a beautiful sunset on the boat and see numerous whales breaching which just highlighted the whole adventure!! I could just go on and on and on, but I have patients waiting so for now I will go.

I will be using you guys in the future and recommending your travel agency to everyone that I talk to about this trip. I know our next trip for hopefully sometime next year will be a cruise, so if you have any suggestions that would be great. I think that this one will be for Scott and I and my parents…but who knows who all we may add in…just like this trip!! J

Thanks for everything,

L. Grimes & Family
Enid, OK

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