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When Disney Cruise Line announced in September at its D23 Expo that it would launch its first-ever South Pacific cruise itinerary, Rachel Medlock was ecstatic. She describes her and her husband as “those Disney adults” — referencing people who, for better or for worse, love …
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Located on the widest stretch of sand in Honolulu on world-famous Waikiki Beach, the 22-acre Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort is considered to be one of the best hotels in Honolulu.
In late August, I spent three nights on vacation here with my husband and 2-year-old daughter and had high expectations given the hotel’s expansive size and amenities. The Hilton has 2,860 guest rooms and suites spread over five towers, five pools, 18 restaurants and bars, a 5-acre manmade lagoon, a spa, and 80 on-site stores.
It was my first time in Honolulu, and I was excited to stay at the resort, but several things surprised me about our visit. Here’s a closer look — including why I plan to return.
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Before I arrived in Honolulu, I didn’t realize that the city’s prominent beach, Waikiki Beach, is only two miles long and actually comprised of seven different beaches, including Kahanamoku/Hilton Hawaiian Village, Fort DeRussy, Gray’s Beach, and several others, such as Royal Hawaiian Beach, which is the main area known as Waikiki Beach.
Given that the hotel has Waikiki Beach in the name, I was surprised that it did not front the same stretch of sand bearing that name.
While technically part of the area that makes up Waikiki Beach, the Hilton directly faces Kahanamoku Beach and Fort DeRussy Beach, which is about a 20-minute walk away from the main section of Waikiki Beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
For me, this turned out to be an unexpected boon. I thought the area in front of the Hilton was calm and cove-like with gentle waves, and while I did notice people filling in on the sand throughout the day, it never felt overcrowded.
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My family took an early flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu and were eager to check into the hotel and start relaxing right away.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. We pulled up our rental car to a traffic jam of cars trying to unload or depart next to the lobby and decided to divide and conquer. We gave our luggage to the valet after which my husband navigated his way through gridlock to the parking garage, while I took our daughter to check in.
I walked into a sea of people standing in lines that didn’t move at all over the course of an hour. I tried to simultaneously hold my spot in line, watch my belongings, and chase after my on-the-go toddler.
It was a humid 80 degrees Fahrenheit and I was sweaty in my airplane clothes, tired, and didn’t think I’d start our trip so stressed. I wondered if the chaos was a result of arriving on a Saturday, but nearly every time I walked through the lobby in the afternoon during our stay, I saw the same type of crowds.
Cynthia Rankin, the Director of Communications for Hilton Hawaii, told Insider: “We encourage people to sign up for Hilton Honors, and then before they arrive, do mobile check-in and get a digital key on their phones. They can totally bypass the lines.”
I didn’t know that, and instead only saw separate lines for Hilton Honors members with elite status, which I don’t have. Next time, I’ll do mobile check-in for sure.
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I knew the resort was expansive, but with so many amenities, I felt like I had no clue where to start.
I scanned our resort map trying to come up with a game plan and itinerary for how we’d be able to see and do everything over four days. But I quickly felt overwhelmed. I didn’t even know how to decide for day one.
Initially, I thought I’d love to bring my family to a mega resort so that we’d never tire of things to do, but the variety of choice made it feel like we’d barely scratch the surface with a three-night stay. I started to feel FOMO for all I wouldn’t be able to do before the trip even fully began.
Fortunately, as our stay went on, I was able to get a better sense of my bearings and the pools or restaurants I liked, but I did not expect that it would take me a full day or two to really feel situated.
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By the time we checked in, got the key to our room, and changed for the pool, it was late afternoon on a Saturday, around 3 p.m.
We decided to start our adventure at the Super Pool, a big lagoon-style swimming pool near the ocean. It’s the hotel’s largest pool with two separate sections, and I thought it would be our best shot at finding a chair.
We couldn’t find a single one.
We wandered around the perimeter a few times before deciding to just park our stuff on a ledge next to a tree.
Even though it was a weekend, the crowds surprised me. It was later in the day, and also the last weekend in August when I thought most kids would be back in school.
“The Super Pool is very popular; however, we have the Paradise Pool, Tapa Pool, Alii Pool for Alii guests only, and an adult-only pool in the Kalia Tower. We have the most pools in all of Waikiki,” Rankin told Insider.
Ultimately, the lack of chairs didn’t really matter. Any parent who travels with young children knows you’re not really going to sit and sunbathe, anyhow.
But I quickly learned as our trip went on that if we wanted a pool chair — especially in a specific spot — we’d have to wake up very early to claim it, and stay close by to maintain our presence using it.
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Waikiki Beach is one of the most popular beaches in the world, welcoming more than four million visitors every year.
For that reason, I didn’t go into this trip expecting to discover a remote island paradise and also knew that most of Waikiki Beach sat directly across a busy road that separated it from Honolulu’s urban core of skyscrapers.
I even had friends who told me to skip Waikiki Beach entirely in favor of another area or island, telling me that it was crowded, touristy, and overpriced. Even a waiter at a restaurant at the Hilton told me Waikiki was his least favorite beach in Hawaii.
But I loved it. As noted earlier, the hotel’s stretch of sand on Kahanamoku Beach and Fort DeRussy Beach looked to me like one of the widest areas on Waikiki Beach and never felt overly packed with people.
When my family took a morning walk after breakfast, I thought the beach appeared to be totally empty. And later in the day, though people filled in, it never became densely crowded.
While it’s not the kind of beach where you can stroll without seeing another soul in sight, the portion of it in front of the Hilton had more than enough space, and chairs and umbrellas were available to rent to whoever wanted them.
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At most beach resorts I’ve visited, the use of beach chairs and umbrellas comes included, often as a part of a daily resort fee.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village charges a $50 resort fee per night, plus tax, so I was shocked to learn these beach amenities cost extra.
Beach rentals are operated by the third-party vendor, Waikiki Beach Activities. According to a sign I saw, one chair in front of the Hilton cost $25 to rent, which I thought wasn’t bad considering you could use it all day. Though, the addition of an umbrella at nearly $40 seemed pricey. If my husband and I both wanted chairs with a shared umbrella, we’d be looking at an extra $90 per day — on a four-day trip, that quickly adds up.
Towels were, however, provided to hotel guests at no extra charge.
Since my daughter preferred the pool to the beach I ended up saving money on beach chair rentals, but on a return trip to Honolulu, I’ll be sure to budget in extra money for them.
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One of the most appealing parts about the Hilton Hawaiian Village to me is how affordably priced the nightly rates seem to be throughout the year.
I also researched a trip to Maui, but ultimately decided against it when a standard room in a four-star beachfront resort cost $750 per night, based on Google search results.
Hilton Hawaiian Village, by contrast, starts at $279 for a standard room, depending on the time of year, Rankin said.
I booked a one-bedroom suite for my stay, and while that was listed at $700 per night, I thought that the cost offered a lot more value for the money compared to smaller standard rooms in Maui for the same price. Insider received a discounted media rate for this room.
So I went into the trip hoping that other aspects of the resort would be well-priced, as well. However, I started to feel a bit of sticker shock as I ordered food and drinks.
Even while avoiding the hotel’s most upscale restaurants to save money, I still paid prices like $27 for a fish sandwich, $25 for a poke bowl, and $15 for a poolside cocktail. Any modest meal for the three of us typically cost close to $100 each time with taxes and gratuity factored in.
Next time, I’ll just book a standard room here to leave extra budget for food and activities.
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In addition to the hotel’s beachfront location facing the Pacific Ocean and its five pools, the Hilton Hawaiian Village has the 5-acre Duke Kahanamoku lagoon with a system that circulates the same saltwater that’s in the ocean.
The lagoon is part of the Hilton, but open to the public, and initially I didn’t think I would like it. Why would I go to a man-made lagoon when the actual ocean was right there, I wondered.
But I was surprised to find it was even less crowded than the adjacent beach. I also thought it was a great spot for kids since there were no waves at all, and my daughter loved seeing little fish swimming in it.
Like the beach, all chairs and umbrellas cost the same fee, and the lagoon also hosted rentals for stand-up paddleboards and water toys like aqua cycle.
We didn’t need any of that, though. My daughter was happy to wade in the water with zero surf and chase after the schools of fish that passed by, while I loved being able to mix up our activities from the pool and beach.
Emily Hochberg/Insider
Since becoming a parent, I’ve discovered that my new favorite vacations are the easiest ones to take: trips that revolve solely around resorts with lots to do and great pools.
More specifically, pools for kids. If my daughter is with me, I no longer have use for photogenic infinity pools. No, give me all the zero entry-style entrances with splash pads and water features that will keep my daughter entertained, and safely.
Because Hilton Hawaiian Village’s website listed five pools, and the entire resort seemed so family-friendly, I wrongly assumed that one of those would include a splash pad for toddlers.
I was surprised, and initially disappointed that there wasn’t.
“We have kiddie pools at the Super Pool and in the Paradise Pool. These pools are connected to bigger pools, but are shallower,” Rankin told Insider.
The Paradise Pool did have a kiddie slide my daughter loved that I took her through again and again. We really enjoyed it, but the slide still led into water that was waist-deep on me.
The closest we came to a splash pad was at the Tapa Pool, which has a large, shallow entry step with bubbling fountains before it leads into a deeper, swimmable pool.
But none were true zero-entry pools or solely splash play areas with interactive water features like I’ve found, and loved, at other family resorts.
Emily Hochberg/Insider
Even though my favorite way to vacation with kids is to hunker down at a resort, I typically still venture out for dinner most nights, or to shop or take a day trip.
So, it wasn’t my intention to come to Honolulu for the first time and stay on-site at my hotel. In fact, over four days, aside from beach walks I took, I only ever left for coffee in the morning and one afternoon to take my daughter to the Honolulu Aquarium.
There was just so much to eat, see, and do on the premises, especially once I got my bearings, that I didn’t need or want to leave. Even by the time I checked out, I had only tried a handful of the hotel’s restaurants and browsed many, but not all, of its boutiques.
Plus, with a jet-lagged toddler who resisted sitting in her stroller, it was just way easier to stay put.
Emily Hochberg/Insider
When I first arrived at Hilton Hawaiian Village, I had high hopes that were met with a decent amount of chaos through long lines, hard-to-secure pool chairs, and pricey amenities.
But by my last day, I didn’t want to leave. I loved strolling through the large resort and dividing my time between its pools, listening to live music in the restaurants and bars, and thought the beachfront location was beautiful.
In my opinion, travel always comes with challenges of one kind or another, and add a toddler and tantrums into the mix and things only become more difficult.
But ultimately, I loved feeling like everything I needed was at my fingertips, and once I figured out the best times to get pool chairs or the restaurants with the most value, I thought it was one of the best places we’ve stayed as a family.
I’ll definitely be back — those cheap starting room prices will make it hard not to return.
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/heron-island-australia_SCUBA1222-153f56ed14774200b553c59538b715e1.jpg?ssl=1 "19 Destinations With the Best Scuba Diving in the World")
With oceans covering more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, it’s no surprise that the deeps contain innumerable places to explore. But to find some of the best scuba diving in the world at accessible limits for recreational fun, you have to know where to look (you’ll also need to be certified to dive, and PADI can help with that).
From vibrant coral reefs teeming with fish to spooky shipwrecks in the Pacific, follow our lead to some of the best scuba diving in the world.
Related: The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2023
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Honeymooners tend to stick to snorkeling the shallows with rays and reef sharks near their overwater bungalows in spots like Bora Bora and Moorea. But adventurous certified divers know the Tuamotu Archipelago is the place to go for the biggest underwater thrills in French Polynesia. Here, in atoll passages in spots like Fakarava, Rangiroa, and Tikehau, some of the best scuba diving in the world awaits. What might you see? Walls of hundreds of gray reef sharks with O2 Fakarava, huge manta rays with Tikehau Ocean Tour, and wild dolphins with Rangiroa Diving Center, for starters. Epic doesn’t even begin to describe diving here.
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Snorkelers know Palau for its famous Jellyfish Lake. But divers trek to this remote outpost of the postcard-perfect islands in Micronesia for scuba diving within a shark sanctuary. Famous dive sites like the German Channel (a magnet for manta rays) and Ulong Channel, one of the most exciting drift dives on the planet, are among the highlights. Paddling Palau can take you into the Rock Islands to explore less-visited sites. Sam’s Tours and Fish ’n Fins are two of the longest-running dive shops in Palau that can speed you out to the most iconic dive site, Blue Corner, where the sheer abundance of marine life (sharks, huge schools of fish, rays, and more) has been likened to an underwater Serengeti.
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From Bali and Lombok to Sulawesi and Komodo, Indonesia is an epicenter of the world’s best scuba diving, and there is no place on the planet like Raja Ampat in West Papua. The remote region’s dive sites come with pristine coral gardens, teeming fish life, and majestic karst landscapes surrounded by turquoise seas. Misool Resort is a spectacular place to stay, surrounded by coral reefs right at your bungalow’s doorstep. And Meridian Adventure has incredible homestay and boutique hotel accommodations that cater to divers. If you’re looking to dive Raja Ampat’s wonders via a liveaboard dive boat (where you sleep onboard, dive, eat, and repeat) to get in as much underwater time as possible, Damai and Arenui, both classic Indonesian pinisi boats, are the best options. Aqua Expeditions is a great choice for something more yacht-like to dive and explore the area.
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Whether you stay in an overwater villa at a luxury resort like Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort & Spa or Jumeirah Maldives Olhahali Island or prefer a luxe stay at sea aboard the incredible liveaboard dive boat, Scubaspa, the Maldives dishes up some of the best scuba diving in the world at spots around North Male Atoll, Baa Atoll, Hanifaru Bay, Ari Atoll, and beyond. Manta rays, whale sharks, and reef sharks (oh my!) are all in the diving mix here.
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The Azores is a magnificent volcanic archipelago — which belongs to Portugal and lies about 850 miles offshore from the mainland — surrounded by ocean, and not a whole lot else. So it’s no surprise that some seriously awesome diving awaits here. Portugal Dive can arrange land-based expeditions from islands like Terceira, Pico, and São Miguel and send you off aboard the beautiful catamaran Water & Wind to dive among whale sharks, rays, and other ocean wonders.
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When it comes to Caribbean diving, few islands can offer up the excitement of Tobago, known for its drift dives and prolific marine life that includes a mix of Caribbean and South American species. In-the-know scuba divers have the tropical island in the southeastern Caribbean on their radar to see one of the largest brain corals in the world at the dive site called Coral Garden. Head out with the local Tobagonian dive team from Tobago Dive Experience to peek underwater at sites like Japanese Gardens, full of huge healthy corals and fans, and more remote sites around Saint Giles, where you might see scalloped hammerheads.
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Even though the famous rock arch, Darwin’s Arch, collapsed in 2021, some of the best scuba diving in the world still awaits in the waters right beneath the iconic locale when you head to Ecuador’s incredible Galapagos Islands. Scuba divers who love being in the water with big animals and don’t mind brisk water temperatures that can drop into the 60s board liveaboard dive boats like the Galapagos Sky and Calipso yacht to dive with marine life that includes endemic marine iguanas, penguins, sunfish, Galapagos sharks, whale sharks, silky sharks, schooling hammerheads, manta rays, and so much more.
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Costa Rica’s Cocos Islands lie more than 340 miles off the country’s Pacific coast, and they’re worth the trek for some of the most thrilling diving on Earth. The only way for divers to get to this remote locale is on a liveaboard scuba diving boat like Okeanos Aggressor I or Okeanos Aggressor II which depart from the mainland city of Puntarenas for the 36-hour trip. Once you arrive, the chance to see schooling hammerheads, manta rays, whale sharks, and other pelagic fish in large numbers makes the long journey worth it.
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It’s another long trip by liveaboard diving vessel to reach these remote islands that belong to Mexico. The neighboring volcanic islands of Socorro and Revillagigedo Islands lie some 240 miles off the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, with plankton-rich waters all around that attract large ocean-going animals like manta rays, silky sharks, humpbacks, and bottlenose dolphins. Top liveaboard operators that regularly visit the region include Pacific Fleet and Nautilus Dive Adventures.
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For spectacular land-based diving in the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean off the Baja California Peninsula, head to Baja California Sur. Here, you can dive with sea lions and go whale watching around Cabo San Lucas with Dive Ninja Expeditions, get in the water with whale sharks in La Paz with Red Travel Mexico, and perhaps even spot blue whales in the waters around Loreto with Blue Nation, another top dive shop in the region. There’s a reason Jacques Cousteau once called the Sea of Cortez “the world’s aquarium,” and until you head underwater to see why for yourself, you’ll never know.
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It’s hard to find waters more gin-clear than those around the beautiful Bahamas. From wreck dives around New Providence Island and shark encounters at Grand Bahama’s famous Tiger Beach to the spectacular reefs of the Exumas, there are so many reasons why you’ll find some of the best scuba diving in the world here. The best part? Diving in the Bahamas can be as much of a splurge as you like. For the ultimate in luxury, the private charter Motor Yacht Loon has top-notch onboard diving facilities and a luxury tender to carry you and your entourage from the mothership to the best dive sites in the Exumas and beyond. For something more shoestring, Blackbeard’s Cruises is a low-frills liveaboard that promises lots of camaraderie and tons of time diving, too.
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To dive along North America’s only coral barrier reef, all you have to do is drive south of Miami to the Florida Keys and get in the water. Pop into one of the many dive shops along the Overseas Highway and set out to explore nine shipwrecks along the Florida Keys Wreck Trek (don’t miss the wrecks of Spiegel Grove, Eagle, and Vandenberg). Miles and miles of glorious coral reefs are home to everything from parrot fish, nurse sharks, and sea turtles to tarpon and barracuda. There are many experienced dive shops in these parts, but among the best are Horizon Divers, Islamorada Dive Center, and Captain Hook’s.
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Scuba diving might not be what first comes to mind when you think of New Zealand. But a few hours north of Auckland on the North Island, some of the Southern Hemisphere’s best subtropical diving awaits just offshore from the town of Tutukaka in the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve. Head out on day trips by boat with Dive! Tutukaka to sites like Blue Maomao Arch, which Jacques Cousteau once named among the top 10 dive sites in the world. You’ll dive among the eponymous schooling blue maomao fish, moray eels, and countless other creatures, including tiny colorful sea slugs called nudibranchs that dazzle like sunken treasure. January brings migratory whales to these waters, too.
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The sublime colors of Fiji’s prolific soft corals range from pinks, yellows, and blues to oranges and pale purples. And when you add incredible marine life to that beautiful backdrop at dive sites around Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni, and the Yasawa Islands, you have all the makings of some of the best scuba diving in the world. Fiji is a great place for a family vacation with incredible resorts offering great dining and spas as well as their own onsite dive shops like Vomo Island Fiji, Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji, and Six Senses Fiji on Malolo Island. Seahorses, triggerfish, turtles, and clownfish are among Fiji’s usual coral reef suspects. And if you want to dive with sharks, you can head out for one of the most famous shark dives in the world with Beqa Lagoon Resort, where you might see up to nine different species, including lemons, white tips, blacktips, and bulls.
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Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the obvious pick when it comes to scuba diving Down Under. And most travelers gravitate to Cairns for day trips to dive on the most famous coral reef in the world. But for something truly spectacular, put the coral reefs of Heron Island on your radar. Located in a more remote stretch of the Great Barrier Reef, you can reach the island via boat trips or a helicopter ride from the town of Gladstone, north of Brisbane. There are more than 20 dive sites around Heron Island, where you’re likely to see three of the six sea turtle species that exist on the Great Barrier Reef as well as white-spotted eagle rays, lemon sharks, and, from June to September, perhaps even migrating humpback whales.
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For wreck divers, there is perhaps no more storied place for World War II-era wrecks than in the tropical, fish-filled waters of Chuuk Lagoon in Micronesia. The best way to see it all over the course of a dive vacation here is to book a berth aboard the Odyssey liveaboard, which takes up to 16 guests down to Japanese wrecks like the Shinkoku Maru and San Francisco Maru. Many lives were lost in these war wrecks, and you can feel the human tragedy underwater when spotting things like utensils and even clothing used by the crew. Marine life, however, proliferates on the rusting wrecks, which are completely carpeted in hard and soft corals and vibrate with tropical fish.
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From desert outposts like Dahab and Sharm el Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula to the waters off Hurghada on mainland Egypt, this country offers some truly incredible scuba diving sites. Awesome Adventures makes it easy to combine the famous sites in Cairo (including pyramids and temples) with shore-based scuba diving adventures from the mainland and liveaboard diving in the Red Sea. Shipwrecks like the legendary British cargo steamship, the SS Thistlegorm, as well as abundant shark life and colorful coral reefs all make diving in the Red Sea worth the trip.
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At the center of the Coral Triangle, the waters of the Philippines harbor some of the best scuba diving in the world. To see more turtles, rays, and sharks than you ever imagined all in one place on incredible reef and drift dives, Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, in the Sulu Sea near the Philippines’ westernmost province of Palawan, makes for an extraordinary adventure. Visit the region by liveaboard on a dive trip on All Star Infiniti that departs from Puerto Princesa on the Palawan Islands, a pretty spectacular destination of its own.
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A Caribbean favorite for easy, fish-filled diving, the Cayman Islands delight divers with accessible wrecks that lie close to shore (like the USS Kittiwake, which snorkelers can explore, too) and colorful coral reefs. You can dive the Caymans on a liveaboard like the Cayman Aggressor IV or base on land at a dive-focused resort like Sunset House or Cobalt Coast Resort. During the summer months, schools of thousands of silversides (two-inch-long fish that amass to dazzling effect) appear on the islands’ walls and shallow reefs, making for a remarkable underwater sight.