World Traveller 73 
We returned to the Hawaiian Islands by taking a flight from Seattle to Maui. We’ve been fortunate to experience Alaska Airlines Hawaiian service many times before. However, this was the first flight that we’ve taken on their new First Class product on their Beoing 737-9 Max product. Alaska Airlines offers reliable and frequent service from the mainland to the Hawaiian Islands. Read on to see what the service looks like as they forge ahead with their merger with Hawaiian Airlines.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
Review: Alaska Airlines First Class B737-9: San Diego International Airport – Seattle Tacoma International Airport
Our flight back from Maui, Hawaii had us routing through San Diego International Airport in order to take advantage of Alaska Airlines First Class Confirmed Upgrade space (U – Class).
Unfortunately, at the time of our booking, this upgrade space was only available to the mainland through the non Alaska Airlines hub city of San Diego. As a result, we’d need to take a connecting flight from San Diego International Airport up to Seattle Tacoma International Airport.
This flight was purchased this flight paying cash. We credited these flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
Some might question the value in taking a two and a half hour detour in order to stay in First Class. Given my height at 185 cm or 6 ft 2 inches, in my humble opinion, every amount of space counts. I really felt the difference in width and length of seats.
A few days prior to our flight, Alaska Airlines was offering buy up upgrades into the First Class cabin at $690 USD per person. Based on dynamic pricing, this was a crazy amount for a a short two and a half hour flight.
Fortunately, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP Gold status upgrades came through. Despite almost thirty people on the upgrade list, our expensive upgradable fares held up and we managed somehow to get to the top of the upgrade list with confirmed seats in First Class.
The upgrade list was absolutely crazy with over thirty six people on the elite upgrade list to the Alaska Airlines hub city of Seattle.
Transiting San Diego International Airport:
We arrived into San Diego International Airport on Alaska Airlines First Class Maui Kahului – San Diego.
From the halls of the San Diego International Airport, we located our departure gate. The San Diego International Airport doesn’t have a lot of space surrounding it’s hallways.
Given that we had a tight connection, we didn’t get to enjoy any of the Priority Pass lounges at San Diego International Airport.
Alaska Airlines
AS 1071 – First Class (U)
SAN – SEA (San Diego International Airport – Seattle Tacoma International Airport)
December 8, 2024
6:50 PM – 10:00 PM
Booked: Boeing 737-900
Flown: Boeing 737-900
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
Like with our last flight, our Alaska Airlines First Class flight ended up being on Alaska Airlines traditional blue leather seating First Class on their Boeing 737-900 product. Alaska Airlines files a collection of Boeing 737-900, a Boeing 737-900 ER and a Boeing 737-9 Max product; all of which can be used interchangeably with a similar seat configuration.
Since I had taken photographs from our earlier flight, and the cabin was dark, I’ve used photos of the seat from an earlier flight.
Alaska Airlines First Class remains configured in a 2 – 2 configuration across four rows of First Class seating. The Alaska Airlines First Class seating is about as good as it gets among the narrow body American first class products.
The space of the Alaska Airlines First Class seat itself offers a fairly large amount of leg room, with a class leading 31 – 32 inches of space among domestic carriers.
We located our pair of seats in 4A and 4C, which were located at the rear of the Alaska Airlines First Class cabin. Alaska Airlines does not provide in flight monitors for entertainment purposes in their seat backs. We ended up packing our tablets with us, which took care of the lack of entertainment.
Alaska Airlines First Class offers in seat power along with a USB C power connection at every First Class seat. The outlets are rather inconveniently located in the arm rest console, making it difficult to see when plugging in your device.
San Diego was fully dark outside after we settled into our seats in 4A and 4C.
Along with all Boeing 737 products, Alaska Airlines offers individual air nozzles over the seat. This makes for a comfortable ride, with temperature control at your fingertips.
Pre-Departure Services:
It’s a bit hit or miss on whether you get a pre-departure service on Alaska Airlines. On this short flight, we didn’t get any pre-departure offer.
We had a pilot announcement of a flight time of two hours and forty one minutes with 1056 miles from San Diego to Seattle.
We got underway promptly, with dinner orders taken about twenty six minutes into the flight.
In Flight Entertainment:
Alaska Airlines offers in flight entertainment on your phone or tablet. This is accessed through the Alaska Airlines home page on the wifi sign in screen. After signing in, it is relatively easy to access the entertainment.
More recently during my travels, I’ve ended up bringing an iPad along as it’s much easier on the eyes than a small iPhone screen.
Alaska Airlines offered a reasonable selection of films available for the trip. There was also a rudimentary flight tracker available, which was more oriented towards checking your location versus any actual entertainment function.
For people who need to stay in touch with friends and family, Alaska Airlines provides complimentary texting and messaging in addition to the free movies. Additionally, Alaska Airlines provides $8 Wi-Fi for passengers who need to stay connected during a flight.
The free tablets that were formerly offered in First Class medium haul flights have been discontinued by Alaska Airlines. You won’t have any video entertainment throughout the flight if you don’t bring your own tablet.
The Meal: A Dinner
As I normally do, I ended up doing the food pre-order for my meal for this flight. Alaska Airlines offers First Class travellers the option to pre-order for their flight.
I’ve often found that Alaska Airlines tends to run out of your preferred choice of meal when travelling in First Class. I’ve usually had better luck ordering in advance.
I ended up pre-ordering a Tillimook Burger; a familiar standby that I last enjoyed on my Alaska Airlines First Class Anchorage – Seattle flight.
Alaska Airlines also offered an in seat back pocket menu that outlined all the drinks and wines on offer.
The wine list featured wines by Airfield Estates from Yakima Valley in Washington State. The spirit menu offered Aviation Gin and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Alaska Airlines also offered Straightaway canned cocktails, which I found to be quite sweet for my tastes.
Supper service started about seventy minutes into the flight. I started off with a Gin and Tonic. This was a break from the usual Mai Tai’s of the past week. It was presented in a crisp tumbler, with lots of ice
The Alaska Airlines flight attendants were starting to run out of food by the time I got my dinner in row four. I was really glad that I had pre-ordered.
The Tillamook Burger was presented with lettuce tomato and onion on the side. The BON was crisp and it was pretty flavour bowl for an airplane burger. It was much better than last burger I’d had enjoyed on United Airlines.
Mrs World Traveller 73 enjoyed a Havana Cuban bowl. This was an interesting dish although I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it myself as much as she did.
After dinner service concluded, I ended up improvising with the in-flight entertainment through song download Netflix on my tablet that I had brought with me.
I had a bit of a rocking seat meet in front of me which move the screen a little bit but otherwise I made do.
Landing in Seattle Tacoma International Airport:
We had an uneventful landing in Seattle Tacoma international airport. Our two hour and 40 minute flight ended fairly quickly.
We ended up connecting on a third flight of the day on Alaska airlines First Class Seattle to Vancouver. Since there is no “in-flight service” on that flight and I have reviewed the flight several times before, I won’t be doing so again.
My Thoughts on Alaska Airlines First Class Service:
Overall, Alaska Airlines First class domestic flights within the United States are pretty reasonable. You’ll get a comfortable seat, a light reasonable meal and prompt baggage claim service. Well there isn’t usually much in the way of entertainment I mitigate that by bringing my own tablet.
If you travel on Alaska Airlines, is it your first choice when flying on short haul domestic United States flights?
We returned to the Hawaiian Islands by taking a flight from Seattle to Maui. We’ve been fortunate to experience Alaska Airlines Hawaiian service many times before. However, this was the first flight that we’ve taken on their new First Class product on their Beoing 737-9 Max product. Alaska Airlines offers reliable and frequent service from the mainland to the Hawaiian Islands. Read on to see what the service looks like as they forge ahead with their merger with Hawaiian Airlines.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
Review: Alaska Airlines First Class B737-9: Kahului Maui International Airport – San Diego International Airport
Our series of flights today had us travelling from Maui, Hawaii, United States of America back to Vancouver, BC Canada the long way. Our flight pattern took us from Maui to San Diego, San Diego to Seattle and Seattle to Vancouver.
The reasons for the round about routing was a lack of upgrade space on the Maui to Seattle routes, with only the morning Maui – San Diego flights offering upgrade space.
This flight was purchased this flight paying cash. We credited these flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
After a brief lounge visit to the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North) Maui, we located our connecting gate. The Alaska Airlines First Class experience did not include access to the lounge with our international ticket.
We were departing from Gate 15, which was located a short walk away from the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club after an agricultural screening.
Our Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 was parked at the gate getting loaded up.
The flight ended up having quite a number of elite travellers on the wait list. As a result, I was really happy that I didn’t end up as number nine on the wait list and
The boarding process was a little chaotic with limited space around the boarding gates. First Class was given the opportunity to board after members of the military and those that needed a little extra time to board.
Alaska Airlines
AS 806 – First Class (U)
OGG – SAN (Kahului Maui International Airport – San Diego International Airport)
December 8, 2024
10:35 AM – 5:54 PM
Booked: Boeing 737-900
Flown: Boeing 737-900
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
Our Alaska Airlines First Class flight ended up being on Alaska Airlines traditional First Class product on their Boeing 737-900 product. Alaska Airlines files a Boeing 737-900, a Boeing 737-900 ER and a Boeing 737-9 Max product; all of which can be used interchangeably with a similar seat configuration.
Alaska Airlines First Class was configured in a 2 – 2 configuration across four rows of First Class seating. While it is not as comfortable as the United Airlines Polaris First Class product that occasionally flies from the mainland to Honolulu and back, the Alaska Airlines narrowbody product is “as good as it gets” for narrow body aircraft heading to the Hawaiian Islands.
The space of the Alaska Airlines First Class seat itself offers a fairly large amount of leg room, with a class leading 31 – 32 inches of space among domestic carriers.
We located our pair of seats in 4A and 4C, which were located at the rear of the Alaska Airlines First Class cabin. Alaska Airlines does not provide in flight monitors for entertainment purposes in their seat backs. We ended up packing our tablets with us, which took care of the lack of entertainment.
Alaska Airlines First Class offers in seat power along with a USB C power connection at every First Class seat. The outlets are rather inconveniently located in the arm rest console, making it difficult to see when plugging in your device.
While the older Alaska Airlines First Class seats aren’t as firm as the new Alaska Airlines First Class slim line seats, they still do the trick for up to a five hour flight. While they don’t lie perfectly flat, they recline just enough to a relaxing posture, for a day time flight.
Along with all Boeing 737 products, Alaska Airlines offers individual air nozzles over the seat. This makes for a comfortable ride, with temperature control at your fingertips.
Pre-Departure Services:
It’s a bit hit or miss on whether you get a pre-departure service on Alaska Airlines. Today, we were lucky enough to get an offer of a payaya – orange – guava juice mixed with sparking wine.
We had a pilot announcement of a flight time of four hours and forty five minutes from Maui to San Diego. There were also apologies from the in charge flight attendent that ground crew had forgotten to load the blankets.
Departing Maui Kahului International Airport:
We departed Maui Kahului International Airport witha push back without any delay. With a bright and sunny morning, it was a great day for flying.
We headed out for a northerly departure over Runway Two. Runway two leads on a track over the North Shore, which has the best possible view for departing Maui.
As we got underway, I started to peek into Alaska’s in flight entertainment.
In Flight Entertainment:
Alaska Airlines offers in flight entertainment on your phone or tablet. This is accessed through the Alaska Airlines home page on the wifi sign in screen. After signing in, it is relatively easy to access the entertainment.
More recently during my travels, I’ve ended up bringing an iPad along as it’s much easier on the eyes than a small iPhone screen.
Alaska Airlines offered a reasonable selection of films available for the trip. There was also a rudimentary flight tracker available, which was more oriented towards checking your location versus any actual entertainment function.
For people who need to stay in touch with friends and family, Alaska Airlines provides complimentary texting and messaging in addition to the free movies. Additionally, Alaska Airlines provides $8 Wi-Fi for passengers who need to stay connected during a flight.
The free tablets that were formerly offered in First Class have been discontinued by Alaska Airlines. You won’t have any video entertainment throughout the flight if you don’t bring your own tablet.
The Meal: A Dinner
As I normally do, I ended up doing the food pre-order for my meal for this flight. Alaska Airlines offers First Class travellers the option to pre-order for their flight.
I’ve often found that Alaska Airlines tends to run out of your preferred choice of meal when travelling in First Class. Their menu options can be “a little out there” at the best of times.
As a result, I ended up with a pre-order of Ginger BBQ Chicken, with a flavorful sweet potato gratin and crisp green beans.
After about seventy five minutes, supper service started. A drink service was presented, in a proper high ball glass with ice. I ended up with a rum and papaya – orange – guava juice, served with assorted almonds and salty snacks.
MrsWT73 enjoyed her usual favourite; the signature cheese and fruit plate, with Beechers Flagship Cheese, Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese, brie and Partners Crackers.
My pre-order got a little screwed up and I ended up instead with a Beef Short Rib, served with roasted carrots, golden beets and a side of parsnip puree. Dessert was presented on the same tray as a crumbly cake with brown sugar sprinkels.
The Beef Short Rib wasn’t the best version of this dish that I’d ever tasted. The beef rib itself was a little dry, and short on sauce. However, it was a break from the usual forms of chicken found in most first and business class domestic cabins.
Alaska Airlines also offered an in seat back pocket menu that outlined all the drinks and wines on offer.
The wine list featured wines by Airfield Estates from Yakima Valley in Washington State. The spirit menu offered Aviation Gin and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Alaska Airlines also offered Straightaway canned cocktails, which I found to be quite sweet for my tastes.
Given an early morning, I ended up napping a little bit as we flew towards San Diego.
The Second Service:
While we didn’t get a full second service on our flight, we got access to a snack basket at about ninety minutes prior to landing in San Diego, California, USA.
Alaska Airlines tends to have really small snack items in the basket. I enjoyed a small bag of Pacific Popcorn in Cascade Ranch flavouring at a small 22 g size.
Landing in San Diego:
We had a quick arrival into San Diego, descending through a major suburban metropolis. It marked my first arrival into San Diego.
We deplaned at Gate 30 at San Diego International Airport. We went to locate our connecting gate for our Alaska Airlines First Class San Diego – Seattle flight.
Overall, the flight was a pretty smooth day time way to get from the Hawaiian Islands back to the mainland.
My Thoughts on Alaska Airlines Hawaiian First Class Service:
I can’t complain about the Alaska Airlines First Class service from Hawaii. While the Alaska Airlines seat is not the most state of the art, the service was pleasant and the meals were interesting (if not a little small portioned).
While Alaska Airlines doesn’t (yet) offer a fully flat product between the mainland and Hawaii, I expect we will see this evolve with their acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines.
If you travel on Alaska Airlines, is it your first choice when flying to and from the Hawaiian Airlines ?
Hawaiian Airlines has managed it’s own lounge networks throughout the Hawaiian Islands. After the merger of Hawaiian Airlines with Alaska Airlines, we can expect to see a more enhanced lounge network that will benefit both Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airline passengers. With this investment, we recently stopped by the new Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club in Maui Kahului, Hawaii. We haven’t come to expect too much from a Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club lounge visit. Would our experience at the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club be similar to our past experiences?
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
Review: Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Lounge (North), Kahului Maui International Airport, Hawaii, USA.
“A compact Hawaiian Airlines lounge experience that’s slightly better than waiting in the terminal”
Hawaiian Airlines operates two lounges at Maui Kahului International Airport. The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club North (this review), and the newer Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club South, which opened after our visit. Dependent on your departure gate, each lounge might be behind an agricultural inspection, making convenience and location a consideration when visiting one of these lounges.
After years of visiting with no available business lounge, the Kahului Maui International Airport had finally installed a small Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club business lounge in the Maui Kahului International Airport departures concourse.
After a week long stay at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, it was time to return to the Kahului Maui International Airport for our returning flight Alaska Airlines First Class Maui – San Diego.
Checking into Alaska Airlines First Class:
After arriving to the Kahului Maui International Airport, we returned the rental car and headed up to check in. We had a gorgeous morning with a flight schedule that had us leaving Maui in the morning.
While there have been some infrastructure improvements at the Maui International Airport, the check in areas are pretty much the same. The architectural experience is of brutalist design that is also functional in nature.
We received our boarding passes for our multi leg flights back home.
- Alaska Airlines First Class Maui – San Diego
- Alaska Airlines First Class San Diego – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Vancouver
After collecting our boarding cards and dropping off our baggage, we headed for to locate the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Lounge.
Locating the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Lounge Maui:
After clearing TSA security, we headed down the primary concourse of the terminal. The Kahului Maui International Airport concourse sets out from a primary rotounda on either side.
The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Maui is located just across from Gate C17. It is found on typically the domestic and inter island side of the airport. While locating the lounge, I did find this sign advertising “Cocktails” to be among the more entertaining airport signs I’ve seen in a while.
The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Maui is discreetly hidden behind the Maui Nui Hall of Fame. If you weren’t looking for the lounge door, you’d be apt to miss the lounge entirely.
Overall, if you knew what you were looking for, it was fairly easy to locate the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club. It’s location right by the retail concourse makes it easy to access on your departing flight.
Accessing the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club:
Hawaiian Airlines advertises access to it’s Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club as:
- North America and Neighbour Island First Class Hawaiian Airlines guests
- Pualani Platinum and Gold members
- Premier Club members
Hawaiian Airlines sells Premier Club Memberships, which afford access to the lounge and a suite of other benefits. A Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club membership allows annual access to its Premier Club Lounges in Honolulu, Hilo, Kahului, Kona, and Lihue, along with free checked baggage allowance, Zone 2 Boarding and Priority Security. While rates vary, an annual membership runs about $299 USD for the first year, and $249 USD for subsequent years.
Our departing Alaska Airlines International First Class ticket did not offer any lounge access included with the fare.
During our visit, the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club was accessible through Priority Pass which was available through an American Express Platinum Card. If accessing through Priority Pass, there was an additional condition that flight departure needed to be within two hours of accessing the lounge. We ultimately gained access to the lounge through our Priority Pass membership.
We scanned a QR code on the sign outside the door and entered a virtual waitlist.
Fortunately, there were only two people on the waitlist. We were admitted after about five minutes.
It is worth mentioning that the lounge is quite small in size. If you happen to be travelling through a period of high volume, joining the waitlist does not guarantee entry. As a result, I’d manage your visit and comfort expectations accordingly if you’re on a tight schedule.
Inside the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Maui:
Based on experience visiting other comparable lounges such as the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club – Honolulu and the Hawaiian Airlines Plumeria Lounge – Honolulu, I’ve never come to expect a whole lot from Hawaiian Airlines Premier Clubs. I’ve often found them to be busy, lacking in many amenties and completely absent of food.
The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Maui generally fit that expectation. Upon entry, we were “assigned” seating, since the lounge was completely at capacity. We were assigned two lounge chairs that were seated side by side.
The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Maui is a new space. The lounge offered day light windows that faced the back of the airport, offering airport operation and building views.
The back of the lounge offered high density lounge seating. The lounge led into a tables and chairs seating arrangement, for the majority of the lounge seating. On our visit, every table and chair was occupied.
Per the course for a Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club, the lounge offered a small amount of snacks with a limited amount of beverages.
While our seating assignment in the lounge was pre-assigned, the lounge offered a small amount of lounge chairs along with tables and chair seating. The space offered a solid amount of daylight space, which was perhaps it’s best feature.
Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Food and Beverage:
The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club food and beverage snacks were not super exciting. Snacks were limited to Lion Coffee French and Gold Coast, Teas, packaged pretzels and fountain soft drink served from a multi-plexer. As with other Hawaiian Airlines Lounges, there was no alcohol served.
The snacks were exceptionally functional in nature. I can’t imagine actually enjoying food and beverage with salty snacks but I suppose it’s better than absolutely nothing.
The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Lounge isn’t somewhere I’d come for food prior to a medium haul flight to the mainland. I’d recommend getting filled up at the California Pizza Kitchen or even the Burger King in the main concourse, prior to coming to the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Lounge.
We stayed about fifteen minutes prior to heading off to our Alaska Airlines First Class Maui – San Diego flight.
My Thoughts on The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Maui:
While I was relieved to see that there was actually a lounge facility in the Kahului Maui International Airport, the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club offering was pretty basic. The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club qualified as a lounge, but I wouldn’t expect too much out of the experience other than an air conditioned place to sit.
If you’ve visited The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club, did it enhance your departure experience leaving Maui, Hawaii, USA?
My latest visit to the Hawaiian Islands of Maui had me looking into the Road to Hana and it’s various attractions. I have always been interested in travelling the Road to Hana, but the experience had always eluded my fingertips. On this particular holiday, we’d make the time to travel the Road to Hana, calling in on the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park and the Ho’okipa Beach Park for sunset on the way back. We enjoyed a full day full of coastal highlights. This is how our first trip on the Road to Hana turned out.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
Maui’s Road to Hana and Visiting the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
After several visits to the Hawaiian Island of Maui, we had yet to travel the famed “Road to Hana”. With a seven day stay, we opted to take one of our days to explore the Road to Hana
About the Road to Hana:
The Hana Highway, also known as the The Road to Hana, is a 64-mile / 103 km long stretch of Hawaii Routes 36 and 360 which connects Kahului to the town of Hana in east Maui.
Although Hana is only about 52 miles /84 km from Kahului, an uninterrupted car-trip takes about 2.5 hours to drive, since the highway is very winding, narrow, and passes over 59 bridges, of which 46 are only one lane wide.
There are approximately 620 curves along Route 360 from just east of Kahului to Hana, almost all of it through lush, tropical rainforest. Many of the concrete and steel bridges date back to 1910 and all but one are still in use.
While we didn’t use an app or a guided tour to chart our day, we ended up just going freestyle on our own schedule with out much schedule or objectives.
Starting Off on the Road to Hana:
We started off from the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa in Kaanapali on the western side of Maui, Hawaii. After a morning breakfast, we travelled forty minutes through Kahului to start off on the road to Hana.
Navigating with Apple Car Play, the road started getting twisty. As expected, this led to some of the charm (or nightmare) that The Road to Hana was known for.
In practical terms, the drive was a pretty one through lush tropical rainforests. It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to travel through such interesting geography under sunny skies.
It wasn’t long before we came across our first view point. The Road to Hana doesn’t hug the coast line as much as I might have thought for an island highway. Despite this, we had some panoramic views that rolled down over coastline and tropical meadows down to the water.
We had a number of waterfalls along the way towards Hana. Some were tranquil, despite their side of highway locations.
Visiting the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park:
The Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park is among the highlights of the attractions on the Road to Hana. There are a lot of visitors to the park, so the State of Hawaii has moved to an advance reservation system.
Booking about fourteen days in advance, we paid our entry fee of $20 USD for the car through the State of Hawaii website. We selected an entry time of 12:30 PM to 3 PM for our visit. It’s worth mentioning that the time range selected is both the “in” and “out” time for your. Regardless of the time you arrive, you’ll have to be out by the end of the time on your ticket.
After easily finding parking, we had a quick self catered picnic lunch before heading down to the Black Sand Beach. We had a descent on a terraced staircase towards the water.
We had absolutely spectacular views of the coast line as we made our way down to sea level. We had the first sight of the black sand beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park.
I was happy to have brought my sandals with me. The Black Sand Beach was exceptionally rough and stony. It was a far cry from the fine sands over in Kaanapali Beach.
Ke Ala Loa O Maui Pillani Trail:
From the Black Sand Beach, we took the shore line trail along the Ke Ala Loa O Maui Pillani Trail. The short trail takes beach goer’s along the shore line towards a shore break.
After a short seven minute walk towards the end, we found ourselves at the end of the point.
The point at the end featured a small blow hole, which was always naturally entertaining.
We eventually wandered back to the Black Sand Beach as our departure time slot dripped away. The Waiʻānapanapa State Park was a nice spot to visit on the trip to Hana.
After arriving to Mission Concepción, I started to explore the grounds. I would end up discovering that, during my Sunday visit, the church ended up being closed for mass due to it being a full occupancy.
Ho’okipa Beach Park
On our return back, after dozens of twists and turns, we stopped in at Ho’okipa Beach Park for today’s sunset.
Ho’okipa Beach Park has a great north shore location. It’s usually filled with surfers. It’s a pretty special spot. We were able to find some parking, for a terrific sunset.
While it was a full day, it was a pretty interesting day with lots to see. I was happy that was finally able to see the Road to Hana. While there were some interesting sights, I’m not sure that I’d be in a rush to return.
My Thoughts on the Road to Hana:
The Road to Hana had eluded me on all my previous trips to Maui. While I was glad that I took it in, I’m not sure that I would be in a hurry to visit again.
Much of the nature of the journey can likely be experienced on other parts of the island. While we had a few great waterfalls and a terrific visit to the Black Sand Beach, the highlight of the day was actually sunset at Ho’okipa Beach Park.
If you’ve visited the Road to Hana, what part of the trip was your favorite ?
For an early winter holiday, we returned back to the Sheraton Maui Resort in Kaanapali, Maui, for a seven day stay. Having previously visited this resort on a family holiday, we would be curious to see how the resort fared over the years. While we didn’t get the same value as in our earlier stay, we were treated fairly well by the property. Given we redeemed Marriott Bonvoy loyalty points for our visit at a terrific rate, we had an almost free stay.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
Review: Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kannapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
“A old school Sheraton Resort that doesn’t shine as brightly as in their earlier Starwood Preferred Guest days, but turned out to be excellent value as a result of a terrific Marriott Bonvoy redemption rate”
For this winter’s getaway we decided to return back to the Hawaiian islands. I happenned to discover some excellent Marriott Bonvoy redemption opportunities at the Sheraton Maui Resort and spa.
As a result of some random travel research browsing, I happened upon Marriott Bonvoy point redemptions at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, for under 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a night. This represented an excellent value for Hawaii, which typically has Marriott Bonvoy nightly rates between 60,000 and 70,000 a night.
Booking the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa:
When I was researching possible winter getaway opportunities, I started off on the Marriott website. Using an “all of Hawaii” search, I miraculously discovered that the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa had rooms going for 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points a night.
This represented an excellent value as Hawaii is a high demand vacation area. Marriott Bonvoy redemptions offer the fifth night free, which is another way to gain outsized value. We would also get the opportunity to use Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates that come with the American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit card.
Since, I couldn’t get the Marriott website to cooperate with a point redemption with a credit car free night certificate, I ended up booking a back-to-back reservation. I used two Marriott Bonvoy American Express free night award certificates, and a second five night reward redemption using Marriott Bonvoy Rewards points with the fifth night free.
I had to pay a small up charge of 8,200 points on the credit card redemption.
My first reservation looked as follows:
On my second redemption, the room rate had climbed to 41,200 points per night by the time I was ready to book. However, using the fifth night free, it meant my average cost per night was down to 33,280 Marriott Bonvoy Points per night. This represented possibly my best ever redemption for Hawaii, representing an excellent deal.
The points reservation was booked into a basic Resort view King, valued at $542 USD per night.
I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy website, which as a Marriott Titanium Member, entitled me to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, including select suites, complimentary access to the Marriott Executive Club Lounge (where available), and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM.
With Marriott Titanium Level status, I was fortunate to be upgraded (in advance) one category into a Ohana Doubles One Bedroom Suite with a separate living space. While it is rarer to get actual suite upgrades these days as an Elite member within the Marriott Bonvoy program, I really appreciated the upgrade. This was valued at $1,128 USD a night; a terrific upgrade from our initial room.
I would chalk this up to my stay occurring during shoulder season with a low amount of elites. I suspect that your experience may be different during busy summer or holiday seasons.
Getting to Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa:
I looked at various options getting to and from the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa.
While I looked at taking a ride share (Uber XL) from the Kahului Maui International Airport, it was pricing at about $110 USD each way.
A shared coach shuttle with many of the major shuttle companies was going to come in at $180 USD round trip.
As a result, after arriving off Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Maui, I just decided to rent a car with Hertz Presidents Circle Kahului Maui International Airport, which came out to about $400 USD for the week.
The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa is located in sunny Kaanapali, which is about forty minutes drive from the airport. It’s located right on the beach.
I particularly like the location of the Sheraton, as it’s walkable to several restaurants inside the Whaler’s Village mall complex, including an ABC Convenience store.
Checking into the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa:
We arrived to the property quite late. Our arriving flight on Alaska Airlines First Class Seattle – Kahului Maui International Airport landed at 9:52 PM. By the time we collected luggage, gotten sorted with the rental car, drove from the airport to the Sheraton Maui Resort, it was about 11:30 PM by the time we arrived to the resort.
It was easy to locate the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa. After arriving to the main lobby area, we were offered assistance with the baggage, which we declined. The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa offers an open air lobby, which adds for a breezy arrival process. You can see most of the resort from the elevated lobby, which made for a great first impression.
On arrival, we received a Marriott Bonvoy Suite Upgrade as Titanium level members. Our upgrade was showing the Marriott Bonvoy app before our arrival. It’s rarer and rarer to actually get Suite Upgrades in the Marriott Bonvoy program. I really have to hand it to the resort for offering a proactive suite upgrade.
We were confirmed into an Ohaha Doubles Suite, which was a seven category upgrade from the base level room that we had booked. While some of these categories were minor ones in better buildings, I have to applaud the resort for continuing to offer great upgrades for it’s Marriott Bonvoy Elite members.
For the Marriott Bonvoy welcome benefit, we accepted continental breakfast as the benefit. While we’ve previously enjoyed a full breakfast at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa in the legacy Starwood Preferred Guest program, the full buffet breakfast benefit has been cut. Instead, we were offered continental breakfast, with an option to upgrade to the buffet for $15 USD per person per day.
We were offered valet or self parking. Rather conveniently, the first day of parking is free. As a result, we ended up valet parking the car ($42 a day). Self Parking is $39 a day. On our last visit, Self Parking was free for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members. However, like other benfits, this benefit has now been eliminated and you’ll have to be Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador level to qualify for free parking.
The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa also has elevated their resort fee to $40 USD per day + taxes ($47.18 USD). This contained mostly useless items and was not of value add to us. We did get some small hotel branded water bottles that were of poor quality and regularly leaked, along with two “made in china” Shell Lei’s. These did little to add to the experience.
Overall, we had a pleasant check in experience, with efficient staff that made us feel warmly welcomed.
Marriott Vacation Club Timeshare Pitch:
As you might have expected, during our five day stay, we were offered the opportunity to come by the guest services desk, for an “…exclusive Welcome Gift, and an extra 1,000 bonus Bonvoy points, just for saying “Hi.”
After stopping by, this turned out to be a time share sales pitch, with an ask to come to a ninety minute Marriott Vacation Club presentation in exchange for 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, a sunset catamaran or a $200 USD Duke’s / Hula Grill restaurant gift card.
Knowing that there were there better offers out there, we didn’t end up taking up our vacation time on this opportunity. We did end up getting a reusable “Sheraton Maui” shopping bag out of our short stop by the guest services desk.
My promised 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points posted about 35 days after the stay. While I had given up on chasing these points, they did eventually arrive as promised.
The Room: Ohana Doubles Suite, 2 Double, Alternate: Murphy/wall bed, Ocean view
The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa offers several buildings. On our back to back stay combining American Express Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates and outright point redemptions, we ended up taking the opportunity to stay in two different room configurations.
The first room we were assigned was the Ohana Doubles Suite. We’ve stayed in this room type on our last stay and it’s a pretty comfortable room.
Immediately after entering the Ohana Doubles Suite room #1202, you’ll find yourself in the living room area. The living room area has a small couch with two occasional chairs.
The room offers a hidden murphy bed in the wall, which is convenient if you happen to be staying in this room with a large family.
The Ohana Doubles offered two double beds. They were slightly smaller than a comfortable queen. Given the assigned room configuration, we ended up separating and not squeezing together in one bed.
The bedroom was separated from the living space by double sliding doors. Given we were travelling on our own, we never ended up needing to separate the space.
The bathroom was exceptionally large and spacious. The bathroom featured a double vanity sink, with a separate bathroom area. There was a combination bath shower space, along with a stand up shower space with a terrific rain shower.
It wouldn’t be a fantastic Hawiian room without an outdoor lanai balcony. The room featured a great lanai, which was perfect for morning coffee.
The Ohana Double Suite offered an ocean view. While I’ll always appreciate an ocean view, this one was a little obstructed by looking through palm trees, the hotel’s luau event space, and overlooking hotel loungers and chairs. It also happened to be on the main cross walk of all guests, resulting in a lot of pedestrian cross traffic – potentially peering into your suite.
While I’ll always appreciate looking out at the ocean, this aspect of the Ohana Doubles Suite was probably my least favorite feature of the room.
In terms of sleep quality, the room was very quiet as can be expected for hotels in Kannapali. There were no sounds at night, other than the sounds of the ocean. Despite the central location of the room, it was pretty quiet on the resort.
The Room: Moana Oceanfront King, Larger Guest room, 1 King, Oceanfront
When we moved from our two night free credit card night certificates stay to our five night Marriott Bonvoy point redemption stay, we were offered the opportunity to continue with the suite upgrade by staying in the Ohana Doubles. Since we’d previously stayed in the Ohana Doubles on our last stay, we opted for trying something new.
For the period of our five night stay, we ended up moving over to an Moana Oceanfront King, Larger Guest Room 1 King, Oceanfront. This was another upgrade courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level status from the base level redemption. This represented a three category upgrade from the basic level Resort View 1 King that we had originally booked.
We were assigned room #6312. The room configuration was a step down in size from our spacious Ohana Doubles Suite, and much closer to a conventional hotel room that happened to have a world class view.
Immediately upon entering the room, we found ourselves in the hall closet space.
A few steps into the room led us into the Larger Guest Room, featuring a king size bed. The Moana King offered an Oceanfront room, with a view that was everything that you could expect from a room right on a cliff; fabulous.
The bedroom featured a small sofabed, for those that were looking for a place to store extra guests.
The room featured a small desk area, with sufficient power ports for charging.
The Moana room offered a smaller bathroom, with a single vanity sink. Along with changing rooms, we also lost the double shower option with a more compact bath and shower combination that you’d find in most regular hotel rooms.
The room featured a comfortable level of amenities that included a microwave, a Cuisinart coffee maker, a mini fridge, proper glassware and robes with slippers.
The room offered locally crafted Malie Hawaiian soaps, which led to a fragrant bathroom experience.
The nicest part of the Moana wing was the ocean front views. The room offered a much nicer Ocean front view that faced north west, that spanned a full 180 degrees. There was nothing that I didn’t like about the ocean front orientation of the room. The view was absolutely spectacular.
The Moana Wing offered spectacular sunsets. I really appreciated the unobstructed view from our Moana Wing Room. Since we were looking towards the back side of the resort property, the views were about as private as you can get at a Hawaiian Resort.
In terms of sleep quality, we had an equally solid sleep in the Moana wing. There seemed to be less children around the Moana wing of the hotel, which made for a little quieter of an experience.
In terms of differences between the two rooms, it was a bit of a trade off. The Ohana Doubles Suite was among the better Marriott Bonvoy suite upgrades I’ve gotten in recent years as an expectionally spacious room. The more private Moana King room offered a much nicer ocean front view. We enjoyed the sunset on several occasions form the comfort of our room with access to our own self catered drinks.
Looking back over time, I think we would have stayed in the Ohaha Doubles for the duration of the stay. The extra space that the Ohana Suite offered was incomparable and exceptionally large in terms of comparison.
Around the Hotel Property:
The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa is a full service hotel property. It has all the features that you might expect from a full service hotel.
Outdoor Pool:
The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa offers an interlinked pool area with a lazy river. As a resort built in the nineteen fifties, the resort is spacious compared to most modern resorts, with lots of surplus room.
We were able to get seats near the pool on a daily basis without much difficulty. The complimentary lounge chairs were in good condition. They were not of a “padded” variety, which made multi day use a little uncomfortable. I ended up in the pool, which had a limited amount of free floaties, as a coping mechanism.
The pool was operating between the hours of 7 AM to 8 PM during our visit.
It might be worth mentioning what it costs for a beach chair that is physically located on the beach at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa. Despite a $50 USD daily resort fee, all the complimentary beach chairs are located around the pool area.
If you want a beach chair that’s located on the Kannapali Beach, that will be extra. A lot extra. . .
Pricing at the time of our visit was as follows:
- Beach Umbrella / Chairs (includes set up of umbrella and two chairs) $101.82 USD
- Poolside Casabella (side by side padded lounge chairs with shade) $72.25 USD
- Lawn Area Cabana (with seating for up to four persons) $240.84 USD
- VIP Ali Deck (with refrigerator, larve TV, safe and two adjoring pol chair lounge chairs $391.36 USD
In comparison, it seems a little steep to have to pay an extra $101.82 for beach chairs on top of a $50 USD resort fee. My last trip to Hawaii, I had access to completely free beach chairs at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on the Big Island. Despite this, my fellow guests at the Sheraton Maui didn’t seem to have much trouble paying these fees based on the amount of beach chairs they were selling. They seemed to be flying on the shelf like $1 hot cakes.
Fitness Center:
The Sheraton Maui Resort property does have a moderately sized fitness centre which is located on the seventh floor of the building. The fitness machines offered a resort view with distant ocean views.
During our stay, the fitness centre was open 24 hours a day, with no reservations required.
There were a few treadmills and free-weights available. During my visit, the gym was pretty quiet with no issues getting a machine.
Sheraton Executive Lounge:
The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, much like other Hawaiian Marriott properties has decided that it’s better off not operating a Sheraton Lounge. As a result, the Sheraton Naku Lounge that used to be on this property has been permanently closed. The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa no longer offers an executive lounge. There was no alternative amenity offered.
Game Room:
Instead, in the space previously occupied by the Sheraton Lounge, the hotel has set up a games room. Unfortunately, the games room was “closed for temporary maintenance” the entire 7 days that we were on the property.
The games room contained a beautiful collection of arcade games just waiting to be played. Regretfully I didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy any of them with the room being “closed” for the duration of our stay.
The closure of the Games Room was an unfortunate transformation of the old Sheraton Executive Lounge. However, I would imagine they will transform this space in the future.
Black Rock Beach:
The Sheraton Maui Resort sits right on the Black Rock Beach. Since we didn’t bring lawn chairs, and we didn’t opt to pay for $100 USD beach chairs, we actually spent less time on the beach than expected.
The Black Rock Beach is a nice wide and sandy space that stretches for miles along Kaanapali’s shores. With a west facing orientation, it’s a great place for sunsets.
I went out for a snorkel a few times since Black Rock is renowned for snorkeling. However, I didn’t get as great a snorkel as I have had in the past as a result of rough waters and a lack of living corals.
Food and Beverage:
The Sheraton Maui Resort and offers a number of restaurants. However, the food an beverage at the resort wasn’t the high point of our stay.
There are many great restaurants just down the road within oceanfront walking distance at the Whaler’s Village. We also ventured off property on several occasions using our rental car.
Coral Reef Restaurant:
Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast
The Sheraton Maui Resort primary food and beverage option is Coral Reef Restaurant that offers open air dining, along with an interior option that was not open during our visit.
Our Marriott Bonvoy Platinum breakfast welcome amenity covered a generous continental breakfast featuring banana bread, yogurt, fresh fruit with orange juice and coffee. We had some requests in for banana bread swap to bagel & cream cheese which were reluctantly and begrudgingly honoured on some days, and outright declined on other days.
As Marriott elites, we were offered the opportunity to upgrade to a breakfast buffet for $15 USD per person per day. Regretfully in an unfriendly customer posture, this discount did not extend to othering other items off the menu.
The breakfast buffet was the same over our 7 day stay with little variation between the days. There was not much effort in the Coral Reef restaurant to add variety to the breakfast setting.
The Coral Reef restaurant was also open for dinner. I always find it a little strange eating dinner in the breakfast restaurant and space. While I didn’t see too many guests dining here, it’s nice to have an “on resort” option.
Cliff Dive Bar & Grill:
The Sheraton Maui also offered the casual dining Cliff Dive Bar & Grill. This was located in the pool area. While it had a bit of a profile during the day, it ‘s night time use was almost non existent.
The Cliff Dive Bar & Grill offered casual dining items. While we didn’t eat here during our stay, I would have stopped by earlier if I had known more about what they had to offer.
Despite a prominent placement in the resort, it was a sleepy hollow type of restaurant.
Checking Out of The Sheraton Maui Resort:
We had an early morning flight on Alaska Airlines First Class Maui – San Diego. This flight left early in the morning. As a result, we didn’t need to explore getting a late check out.
Everything was “as expected” on our bill, including our resort fees and parking charges, which came to $563.14 USD on an otherwise “free” Marriott Bonvoy redemption stay. While the value wasn’t similar to what it was in the past, it was better than receiving a bill for a cash stay of several thousand dollars.
The Bottom Line: The Sheraton Maui Resort
I had a nice return visit to the Sheraton Maui Resort. While it wasn’t as nice as when it was under the Starwood Preferred Guest program, it was still a pretty enjoyable stay.
The resort remains one of my favorite places to stay in Kannapali. While the resort didn’t offer as much value as it once did in the past, the property remains a great value (at the right time) on Marriott Bonvoy points.
If you’re looking for luxury or a value based holiday, you’re not likely to find that here. Aside from some grumpy and slightly rigid chefs at the Coral restaurant, the experience was mostly pleasant. While it doesn’t match some of my most over the top stays at beach resorts around the world, it’s a basic (and close to North America) holiday experience that is comfortable and enjoyable.
If you have visited the Sheraton Maui, does it remain among your favorites of Kaanapali Resort Hotels?
My latest trip though Maui Kahului International Airport had me testing out the brand new Maui Rental Car Centre. The Maui Rental Car Centre was a massive upgrade in experience from the past bus shuttle that used to take us over to the nearby rental car lots. The Maui Rental Car Centre was a world class rental car experience. Unfortunately, Hertz didn’t have that many cars available to choose from, and has become a bit lackluster in their selections.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
My Experience Renting as Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
As many regular readers would know, I’ve maintained Hertz Presidents Circle status for a number of years now. In terms of treatment by Hertz employees, it seems to be among the most indifferent elite status’ around. Despite this, much like the Marriott Bonvoy progrma, you get the occasional surprise upgrade.
Todays travels were into Maui Kahului International Airport for a week long holiday. The Maui International Airport has had a brand new rental car centre constructed since my last visit, which replaced the past shuttle bus transfer to the lot scenario. While the rental car agencies still maintain the old lots, they’ve been converted into non public facing vehicle servicing areas. Instead, visitors are directed to a brand new rental car centre building close to the airport.
About Hertz Gold Plus Rewards:
Hertz car rental offers a loyalty reward program called Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. The program is primarily designed to keep your driver’s licence, credit card and insurance preferences on file to allow for quicker rentals that allow for bypassing the legal formalities of the rental counter in many locations and allow you to get out on the road faster.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards also offers the ability to earn Hertz Gold Plus Reward points. As a business renter that is renting approximately fifteen times per year, I’ve recently gotten some value out of Hertz Gold Plus Rewards.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards offers three tier levels of Gold, Five Star and it’s top tier President’s Circle. It’s around the Hertz Presidents Circle level where the benefits get interesting.
Hertz President’s Circle Benefits:
Hertz’s highest tier level is Hertz President’s Circle. Hertz Presidents’ Circle offers the following benefits:
- Upgrades: Guaranteed
- Hertz Gold Rewards points earning: $1 = 1.5 points
- Hertz Ultimate Choice: Widest Selection
- Dedicated Hertz Reservation Line
With reward redemptions starting at about 950 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points, you’ll need a little bit of spend in order to get a free rental.
This leads me to my most recent experience renting from Hertz at the Maui International Airport.
My Experience at the Hertz Maui Kahului International Airport:
I had a pretty good experience at the Hertz Maui Kahului International Airport. The experience is far better than the past time I visited, as a result of the newer and more modern facility.
Locating the Maui Rental Car Centre:
After coming off Alaska Airlines New First Class Seattle – Kahului Maui, we headed to baggage claim and collected our bags.
Heading immediately out the door, it’s now a trek across the arrivals loading area street to get towards the rental car centre.
The new Maui Rental Car Centre building is located a short distance away. The building is not attached to the airport.
Once you’ve crossed over to the other side of the street from the Maui International Airport arrivals area, you’ve got a choice of taking a short surface level train toward the center.
Alternately, you can take a short and mostly level eight minute walk to the rental car centre. Since we had arrived in long pants, and were adjusting to the great Hawaiian warmth (even at ten o clock at night), we opted for the train.
The Maui Airport Authority was only running one train at eleven o clock at night. As a result, most of the travellers using the rental car center ended up bunching up all together in the train.
Arriving to the Maui Rental Car Centre:
After disembarking off the train, I found myself in an open air concourse housing all the rental car agencies. The Hertz office had a prominent location. However, at 11 PM, the office was sewn up tight.
A sign was posted at the door, directing Hertz Gold and President’s Circle Members to proceed to the rental garage.
I wandered down the concourse and with a hard left, self navigated my way to the rental car lot. Given the late hour, Hertz ran it’s operations off the lot kiosk. Regular renters faced a small line to get their rental car paperwork processed.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards offers the ability to get all the paperwork completed in advance. As a result, everything was already prepared. I located my name on the sign and headed out to select a vehicle.
I really have to applaud rental car agencies for allowing the ability to process the paperwork in advance, as it’s a massive time saver.
Hertz Ultimate Choice Maui International Airport:
Hertz offers Ultimate Choice at the Maui International Airport. The Ultimate Choice concept allows travellers to select any car in their assigned aisle and go. In theory, this means that you get to pick from a variety of cars. However, I’ve often found that these aisles generally contain a more limited model selection.
I’ve actually had better upgrades when dealing with a host at Hertz Gold Counter locations as a Hertz President’s Circle member, rather than at an Ultimate Choice location.
Hertz President’s Circle Selection at Maui International Airport”
On a Sunday night at 11 PM (a high demand time with visitors arriving for the week), at the Hertz Maui, I ended up with a choice of four different cars in the Hertz President’s Circle Aisle.
The President’s Circle vehicle choices were between a Grey Kia’s, two new Jeep Compasses, and a Kia SUV. The choices weren’t super aspirational, and the best I could hope for was a newer model. The area was absent of the usual Ford Mustang convertibles and Jeep YJ’s.
In the end, there were only 4 vehicles available to the Hertz President’s Circle members, with three names on the board. It was time to select quickly.
Hertz Five Star Selection Maui International Airport:
In the lower category Hertz Five Star Aisle, there was a Ford Esape, a Jeep Compas and a Ford Explorer. Hertz Presidents’ Circle members are also allowed to select from the lower category Five Star Aisles. In this case, there wasn’t anything more appealing from this area. We had planned to drive the Road to Hana on this trip, so we didn’t go for the larger Ford Explorer.
The Vehicle: A Brand New Jeep Compass
I ended up selecting a brand new Jeep Compass with less than 1,200 miles on the odometer. After putting the back seats down, it managed to fit two medium sized suitcases, two rolling suitcases and our laptop bags.
After hopping in the car, we headed for the exit. With only one attendant working, we had a short wait before being able to get out of the lot.
We had a forty minute drive getting over to Kaanapali. We were off to the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa for a seven day stay.
Overall, the pick up experience was exceptionally smooth. Everything went as expected, and my paperwork was ready on arrival. The only negative was the lack of selection in the Hertz Ultimate Choice Aisle.
Returning at Maui Kahului International Airport:
After a week long rental, it was easy to return the vehicle at the Maui Kahului International Airport.
Following the marked signs, it was easy to locate the Maui Rental Car Centre access return.
After selecting the rental car exit, I identified the rental car company, which took you to a ramp to your designated level.
Following the signs, I ended up back at the Hertz / Dollar / Thrifty return zone. There was a roving attendant that allowed for a quick and easy return.
I always appreciate getting an easy return, as it allows for your contract to be closed as quickly as possible with one thing less to be worried about.
Checking Out The Maui Ultimate Choice Aisles on the way out:
After I completed my return, I was curious to see if the meagre Hertz Ultimate Choice selection had gotten any better on my Sunday morning flight out of town. As a result, i took a walk over to the Hertz President’s Circle and Five Star Aisles to see whether I would have fared better getting into Maui on an earlier flight.
Unfortunately, the selection was worse than when I arrived in the late evening.
The Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice Aisle contained one sole lonely Ford Escape.
Where as the Hertz Five Star Ultimate Choice zone contained just three vehicles; a Nissan Sentra, a white Jeep Compass, and a black Chevrolet Malibu.
I did happen to find a number of the better products in the Hertz Premium Upgrades section. There were a number of Jeep YJ’s, Jeep Grand Cherokee’s and Ford Explorers in this zone.
I also happeneed to notice that there were two rows of Ford Mustang Convertibles and Jeep YJ’s located in the reserved aisles. I suspect that the Hertz Maui office saves these for category booked reservations, and consequently doesn’t offer them for complimentary Ultimate Choice upgrades.
If you’re hoping for a Ford Mustang convertible or a Jeep YJ; my advice would be to book this category directly on the website, as opposed to waiting for it in a Hertz Ultimate Choice upgrade.
Returning to Maui International Airport:
After my snoop through the Hertz Ultimate Choice lot, it was an easy return back to the Kahului International Airport building. From the Maui Rental Car centre, it was an easy walk to the train concourse.
There were signs to the walkway back to the Kahului airport terminal. Strangely, the walk back was listed as being three minutes. The walk out to the terminal was advertised as eight minutes. The discrepency must be the new math.
Given the heat, and I didn’t want to end up all sweaty for the plane ride home, I ended up just opting for the train.
I was able to check into our flight home on Alaska Airlines First Class Maui – San Diego without any issues.
My Thoughts on Hertz President’s Circle at Maui International Airport:
Overall, Hertz President’s Circle has a favorable experience, as long as your expectations aren’t too over the top.
The Hertz Maui Rental Car Centre is a terrific new piece of infrastructure. Unfortunately, Hertz didn’t have an all to impressive selection of vehicles, and we ended up with pretty much the same experience that I get from my urban rental car locations; a soft one category upgrade into something pretty plain.
If you have visited Hertz Maui Rental Car Centre at Maui International Airport, were you impressed with the new rental car centre ?
We returned to the Hawaiian Islands by taking a flight from Seattle to Maui. We’ve been fortunate to experience Alaska Airlines Hawaiian service many times before. However, this was the first flight that we’ve taken on their new First Class product on their Beoing 737-9 Max product. Alaska Airlines offers reliable and frequent service from the mainland to the Hawaiian Islands. Read on to see what the service looks like as they forge ahead with their merger with Hawaiian Airlines.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
Review: Alaska Airlines New First Class B737-9 Max: Seattle Tacoma International Airport – Kahului Maui International Airport
Today’s flight ended up starting at Vancouver International Airport on a short Alaska Airlines Vancouver – Seattle flight. Since I’ve reviewed that flight many times before, and there is no actually in flight service on the short twenty six minute segment, I won’t review it again.
After a brief lounge visit to the American Express Centurion Lounge – Seattle Tacoma International Airport, we located our connecting gate. We were departing from gate D3, which was located a short walk away from the Centurion Lounge.
Alaska Airlines
AS 805 – First Class (U)
SEA – OGG (Seattle Tacoma International Airport – Kahului Maui International Airport)
December 1, 2024
5:38 PM – 9:52 PM
Booked: Boeing 737-900
Flown: Boeing 737-9 Max
This flight was purchased this flight paying cash. We credited these flights to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
On Board Alaska Airlines First Class:
Our Alaska Airlines First Class flight ended up being on Alaska Airlines new First Class on their Boeing 737-9 Max product. Alaska Airlines files a Boeing 737-900, a Boeing 737-900 ER and a Boeing 737-9 Max product; all of which can be used interchangeably with a similar seat configuration.
Alaska Airlines First Class was configured in a 2 – 2 configuration across four rows of First Class seating. While it is not as comfortable as the United Airlines Polaris First Class product that occasionally flies from the mainland to Honolulu and back, the Alaska Airlines narrowbody product is “as good as it gets” for narrow body aircraft heading to the Hawaiian Islands.
It was completely dark outside by the time we boarded the aircraft, and we settled into some blue electronica lighting.
We located our seats in seats 2D and 2F on the right hand side of the aircraft. There were small wrapped blankets waiting on the seats on our arrival. Despite Alaska Airlines’ announcement of upgraded blankets, these hadn’t entered circulation in early December.
The space of the Alaska Airlines First Class seat itself offers a fairly large amount of leg room, with a class leading 31 – 32 inches of space among domestic carriers.
The new Alaska Airlines First Class seats are slim line seats. The seats are generally more comfortable than the older blue puffy leather seats, as a result of the seats being slightly more contoured to your back and seat.
Since the photos from the actual flight are a little dark, I have some photos from my previous Alaska Airlines First Class Las Vegas – Seattle flight, that do a better job at showing the cabin.
Alaska Airlines New First Class seat consoles and seat pockets have been re-designed and are more modern. Each seat now offers a sturdy retractable foot rest, that seems to be fairing well on Air Canada’s First Class Max 8 product.
In some welcome news, the new Alaska Airlines First Class cabin has eliminated the irritating under the seat box that was found under select seats within it’s first class cabins. There is now much more fulsome room under the front seat to store luggage or purses.
Along with all Boeing 737 products, Alaska Airlines offers individual air nozzles over the seat. This makes for a comfortable ride, with temperature control at your fingertips.
The new Alaska Airlines First Class seat offers in seat Empower with USB – B charging. The plugs are more conveniently located on angles facing the travellers. This is marked improvement from the old power plugs that were facing outwards at the bottom of the centre console, and otherwise harder to see from the passenger seat.
Overall, the new Alaska Airlines First Class seat offers an enhanced mild evolution of their current product. It is not as fancy as a wide body aircraft offering a pod or full flat seat. However, it can easily be argued that most of these aircraft do not fly non stop to the outer Hawaiian Islands, limiting most of their frequencies to Honolulu, Oaho. The new Alaska Airlines First Class seat is about as good as you can expect to get when flying to the Hawaiian Islands from the mainland.
Pre-Departure Services:
It’s a bit hit or miss on whether you get a pre-departure service on Alaska Airlines.
At the time of this flight, the Alaska Airlines flight attendants were under contract negotiations with the airlines. At issue during the contract negotiations was unpaid time prior to the door closing. This technically would make most pre-departure beverage services unpaid.
However, I’m happy to report that todays flight came with a pre-departure beverage choice of water, orange juice or sparkling papaya orange guava (POG). I ended up with the sparking POG, which was a great way to start a flight to Hawaii.
In Flight Entertainment:
Alaska Airlines offers in phone flight entertainment. This is accessed through the Alaska Airlines home page on the wifi sign in screen.
More recently during my travels, I’ve ended up bringing an iPad along as it’s much easier on the eyes than a small iPhone screen.
Alaska Airlines offered a reasonable selection of films available for the trip. There was also a rudimentary flight tracker available, which was more oriented towards checking your location versus any actual entertainment function.
In addition to the free movies, Alaska Airlines offers free messaging and texting, which is a nice addition for those that need to stay connected with friends and family. Alaska Airlines also offers $8 Wi-Fi for those that need to stay connected throughout a flight.
Alaska Airlines has done away with the complimentary tablets previously provided in First Class. If you don’t bring your own device, you’ll be without any video entertainment for the flight.
Departing Seattle:
We had an unannounced thirty minute delay departing Seattle Tacoma International Airport. Before getting underway, we had a pilot announcement that we were expecting fair weather all the way to Seattle, along with a planned cruising altitude of 34,000 feet.
When we were finally underway, we had a reasonably quick departure out of Seattle. While Seattle Tacoma can be known for delays, we didn’t have much of a wait. Our departure tonight was on Runway 16L
We had a south western departure on a direct track towards the Hawaiian Islands.
The Meal: A Dinner
After departing, we climbed to cruise altitude. We had the dinner service start after about one hour. I’m always pretty hungry during flights that depart over meal times. When you add in a short flight delay, it makes even more keen to get the meal service going.
Alaska Airlines offers a First Class meal pre-order on flights over 1,100 miles between two weeks and up to twenty hours before your flight. I always recommend taking advantage of the pre-order. In my experience, Alaska Airlines seems load only enough meals for the cabin. As a result, they frequently run out of your preferred choice by the time they get to the third row.
Several days prior to my flight, I completed the pre-order through the Alaska Airlines app. Alaska Airlines usually offers something interesting on it’s flights, with a varied and engaging menu. It’s easily the better food option between American and United.
I ended up ordering the Maple Chicken, which was a wholesome option designed for comfort food.
Alaska Airlines also offered an in seat back pocket menu that outlined all the drinks and wines on offer.
The wine list featured wines by Airfield Estates from Yakima Valley in Washington State. The spirit menu offered Aviation Gin and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Alaska Airlines also offered Straightaway canned cocktails, which I found to be quite sweet for my tastes.
Tonights’ dinner service started with a cocktail and beverage service. I ended up ordering a POG and Vodka. My mind had slipped and I should have ordered a POG and Rum. It was served in a properly weighted highball glass without lemons or limes, along with mixed nuts.
My Maple & Herb Marinated Chicken was presented, served with black pepper and thyme jus sauce, served with a creamy potato gratin and roasted brussell sprouts.
The meal was presented with a Hawaiian flower, along with a small kale and couscous salad. Alaska Airlines is a little different than the larger wide body carriers, in that the first / business class meal is presented all at once.
The Maple Chicken was a small dish, although the cut of chicken was dry and a little stringy. I ran out of sauce almost right away and could have used a little more to liven up the meal. The potato gratin was tasty, although the brussel sprouts on their own were fairly unexciting. I tend to find myself eating a lot of chicken flying Alaska Airlnes, and tonight’s flight was no exception.
Dessert was offered after the main course. I was presented a themed coconut macadamia nut dessert. I ended up getting offered another drink, and I switched to a non alcoholic POG.
Overall, I’m usually pretty happy after an Alaska Airlines meal service with my only characteristic complaint is that they are a little light on portion size. Today’s menu managed to keep me filled up on their medium haul Hawaiian service.
While the chicken was pretty good, there were elements to the meal that were not super exciting and almost bland in nature. Despite this, Alaska Airlines remains miles ahead of American Airlines and United Airlines when it comes to their food and beverage program.
After the meal, I settled into a bit of nap time on the way to Hawaii. Since it was dark outside, the cabin remained dark for most of the flight. I was occassionally able to spot the strobes of other aircraft travelling along this corridor, outside of my windows.
The Second Service: Snack Time
At about ninety minutes prior to landing, Alaska Airlines came around with the second service. While one can hope for something substantial, in this case it was just an offering from the snack basket.
Alaska Airlines offers small 25 g bags of Pacific Popcorn or Community Snacks Potato Chips. This was presented with a drink service. I ended up with another POG and Rum.
I’m happy that Alaska Airlines offered a second snack service. Although it wasn’t super substantial, it was better than nothing.
Arriving into Kahului Maui:
At about forty minutes prior to landing, the cabin was prepared for landing. Expecting a long approach, I took the opportunity to use the washroom prior to touching down.
Our approach took us over Kihei towards a landing on runway 2. We had no wait to land and were on the ground before we knew it. We ended up parking at Gate 15 next to a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717.
We were among the first ones off the Alaska Airlines flight. As one of the last flights of the day, we wandered through the Maui Kahului International Airport towards baggage claim. The Kahului Airport is a fairly dated facility, but arriving here usually means your vacation is about to start, making the space have positive memories.
We picked up our checked bags, which took just under twenty minutes to be put out. Alaska Airlines has a twenty minute baggage guarantee, although we didn’t have to avail ourselves of this option.
After collecting our bags, we headed to the Maui Car Rental Centre for the collection of our Hertz President’s Circle rental car for the week and our transfer to the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa for a seven night stay.
My Thoughts on Alaska Airlines New First Class:
While not a completely new product, new Alaska Airlines First Class offered a refined evolution of their first class product. The seats are slightly more comfortable and the food and berage menu is better than it’s competitors.
While Alaska Airlines doesn’t (yet) offer a fully flat product between the mainland and Hawaii, I expect we will see this evolve with their acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines.
If you travel on Alaska Airlines, is it your first choice when flying to the Hawaiian Airlines ?
This trip introduction describes how I put together my winter holiday trip to the Hawaiian islands. By using a few tricks that are accessible to anyone, I was able to save about $1,000 USD off my first class airfare, along with getting seven nights for free at the Sheraton Maui resort and spa [without attending a timeshare sales presentation]. I was able to enjoy a great relaxing holiday, along with finally getting to experience the Road to Hana. Read on to see how I put this particular trip together.
This post is one chapter on a trip from Washington State, to Maui, Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries – A Maui Escape via Alaska Airlines First Class
- Alaska Airlines New First Class: Seattle – Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- My Experience: Renting a Car as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Maui Kahului International Airport (OGG).
- The Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, USA
- Maui’s Road to Hana and the Black Sand Beach at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii, USA
- The Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club (North), Maui Kahului International Airport, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Maui Kahului – San Diego, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: San Diego – Seattle
Trip Introduction: Black Rock Diaries, A Maui Escape, Hawaii, USA
This trip was borne out of the need to take a bit of a sunny holiday at the start of winter break. While I was researching destination options, by complete chance, I happened across some excellent Marriott Bonvoy points redemptions rates at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa.
Rooms at the property were redeemable for as little as 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night. This would allow us to redeem points at an excellent rate, in addition to using free night certificates that came annually with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card. This pretty much locked in the deal for us, and we planned our trip around excellent hotel reward availability.
Booking Flights:
Hawaii is a long way from my home in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. As a result, business or first class was the only way to go.
I had access to one last Alaska Airlines Companion fare, courtesy of the now defunct Alaska Alaska Airlines MBNA Mastercard. If you’re reading from the United States, this Companion Fare remains available with the Alaska Airlines Visa Card offered by Bank of America. These fares allow for a second companion fare to be purchased for just $99, plus taxes and fees.
It can sometimes be a little tricky to find upgradeable Alaska Airlines space. The Companion Fare is normally only valid on economy tickets, but it doesn’t preclude you from using upgrade instruments to upgrade into First Class.
Alaska Airlines MVP and higher members are allowed to purchase fares that offer an instant upgrade into First Class. The only condition is that the fare has to be purchased into K Class, and that there is available “U” space to confirm an upgrade into.
On the Alaska Airlines website booking page, if you toggle the Alaska MVP mileage plan level and look for a blue and white F in the fair types, you’ll be able to purchase and instantly upgradeable first class fare. With a little guess and check, we were able to locate upgradable space to Hawaii, USA that aligned with our great rate hotel stay.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find space returning direct from Maui to Seattle. As a result I ended up flying Maui to San Diego to Seattle. While it was about 2 1/2 hours out of the way, for a large person like myself, it was well worth it to stay in a first class cabin.
For this inconvenience related to the indirect routing, I would end up with a few thousand more Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles as a result of the extra distance flown. Alaska Airlines K fares earn 125% into Alaska Airlines Mileage plan, in addition to Alaska Airlines MVP Elite bonuses between 50-125% at the time of this trip.
The price for both of us using the companion fare came to US$1,900. That’s not a bad price for a confirmed seat for two persons in First Class, without having to gamble on hoping for an upgrade.
When compared to the original price, the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare offered us a savings of about $1,067 USD. Purchased separately, the ticket worked out to about $1,500 USD per person, or $3,000 USD for two. The Alaska Airlines Companion Fare got the same ticket down to $1,933 USD; a better deal.
I’ve been successful with carefully planning the use of our Alaska Airlines companion two-for-one fares. We’ve mostly redeemed them on flights to and from Hawaii but also were able to use them on our flight to Anchorage, Alaska, USA.
We’ve saved a substantial sum of money and have usually travelled in first class with some careful planning. In the end, the trip routing looked like this…
Although this trip actually departed from Vancouver, Canada, I have reviewed the short haul flight on Alaska airlines Vancouver – Seattle so many times. Since it doesn’t actually offer any in-flight service, I have elected not to review it again within this trip report.
Planning Hotels:
While I was researching options for an early winter getaway, I happened across some excellent Marriott Bonvoy reward availability at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa located near Black Rock in Kaanapali – Maui, Hawaii, USA.
I’ve previously stayed at the Sheraton Resort and Spa Maui before. Although it’s an older property, it offers an excellent beachside location with great access to restaurants in Kaanapali on the shores of a fantastic world class beach.
The hotel has excellent access to snorkelling from shore at Black Rock, which adds value to any stay.
I located the rates using the Marriott Bonvoy flexible date calendar which showed the first week of December being ideal for a visit.
We ended up staying a total of seven nights. I couldn’t get the sticky Marriott Bonvoy booking engine to accept my American Express Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates. As a result I made two back to back bookings.
The first booking I used using Marriott Bonvoy American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit card free night certificate. Each of these certificates were good for up to 35,000 points. I used an additional 6,600 points to top off this reservation.
For the next longer stay reservation I ended up redeeming 166,400 Marriott Bonvoy points for five nights. Marriott Bonvoy members get the fifth night free when redeeming four nights. This brought down the average nights stay to 33,280 Marriott Bonvoy points, which was an excellent deal.
While the rates had slightly increased from the calendar that showed them at 40,000 points by the time I was able to confirm a reservation, it was still an excellent deal overall for a Hawaii Marriott Bonvoy redemption.
The regular paid rate for my stay during my visit was US$542 per night [including the resort fee].
However as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member, we were given an upgrade to the best available room at check-in. Fortunately, the Sheraton Maui resort and spa still respect some elements of the Marriott Bonvoy program.
We would end up getting upgraded into our Ohana Double suite valued at $1,128 a night. This represented an excellent value.
I couldn’t have been happier with the value represented from this day stay. While it can be sometimes difficult to redeem American Express Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates, along with our points, I’m confident I came out quite well ahead with this redemption.
Planning Activities:
The trip was mostly designed around relaxation. We didn’t aim to get in too many activities during this trip. We ended up spending most of our time relaxing on the resort.
We did take one day to drive the famous Road to Hana that had eluded us for many years, in order to explore the black sand beach.
We accessed this via a rental car from Hertz Maui international airport, and self drove our way out to Hana.
Our visit to the Waiʻānapanapa State Park was another glimpse into the beautiful countryside on the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii has so many different areas to discover and you really have to marvel at its beauty.
This trip was enough to hit the spot for a relaxing stay. It struck the right balance of not being too expensive on the wallet, great relaxation along with a little sightseeing.
My Thoughts on Planning the Black Rock Diaries:
Aside from the headache of finding Alaska Airlines upgradeable first class reward seats, this trip was pretty easy to put together.
I was fortunate to find some really good Marriott Bonvoy award availability that would allow me to burn up my free night certificates courtesy of the Marriott Bon Voy American Express card, along with a great Marriott Bonvoy stay redemption.
Trips like these show that you have to do a little research in order to find these bargains.
Have you had a great Marriott Bonvoy reward redemption lately ?
Marriott typically offers a spring and fall promotion that aligns with the business travel season. We have seen a double elite qualifying night promotion for the past several years after the pandemic. We are happy to report that the double elite qualifying night credit is back for Spring 2025, along with an extra one thousand points per night, which should make Marriott Bonvoy status chasers very happy. It only takes a moment to register for a Marriott promotion, so read on to see what Marriott is offering it’s fall travellers when staying at Marriott Bonvoy hotels.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Marriott Bonvoy Launches Spring 2025 Promotion “Earn 1,000 Bonus Points and 1 Bonus Elite Credit per Night”: Register Now
Marriott Bonvoy has announced their spring promotion for the year 2025. We typically see hotels announce a spring promotion across many competing hotel brands. Marriott Bonvoy is no exception to this rule, and we’ve learned of news of their planned Marriott Bonvoy Spring 2025 promotion.
Marriott Bonvoy has gone live with this promotion, as it’s showing up on the Marriott Bonvoy home page. Most members will be able to find it under the Promotion Central area of their Marriott Bonvoy profile on the webpage and mobile Marriott App versions on iOS or Android.
Without further ado, here are the details of this promotion…
Promotion Details:
Earn 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points per Night and 1 Bonus Elite Night Credit Each Night.
The details of the promotion are as follows:
- Get 1,000 bonus points and 1 bonus Elite Night Credit each night.
- Register now through April 14.
- Earn on stays from February 11 through April 28.
- Enjoy more elevated benefits at extraordinary hotels worldwide with bonus Elite Night Credits.
- Redeem bonus points for free nights, unrivaled Marriott Bonvoy Moments™ experiences, room upgrades, and more.
Additional Promotion Details:
- Only stays paid with cash qualify toward this promotion; award or cash and points stays don’t qualify
- The standard bonus points will post within ten business days of checking out of a hotel.
- There’s no limit to how many bonus points you can earn.
- Practically speaking, the promotion period is only seventy seven days long, meaning that up to 77,000 base promotion points and an additional 77 elite qualifying nights can be earned.
- Nights at BVLGARI, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Marriott Executive Apartments®, and owner-occupied weeks at Marriott Vacation Club®, Grand Residences by Marriott®, Marriott Grand Residence Club, Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Club, The St. Regis Residence Club, and The Luxury Collection Residence Club, are not eligible for bonus Points or bonus Elite Night Credits for this promotion.
- And lastly, there’s no minimum length of stay or stay requirements required to unlock the bonus.
Registration:
Registration is required for this promotion. Registration can be completed through the Marriott Bonvoy App, from within your account on the Marriott Bonvoy website under Promotion Central, or through this registration link.
Registration needs to be completed by April 14, 2025 for stays for stays ending April 26, 2025.
I had much better luck registering for this promotion with no challenges registering through the Marriott Bonvoy website “Promotions” page. After registration, I ended up at the promotion web page with the tracker displayed below.
What do I think about this promotion?
On the points side, if you value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.08 cents per point, this is like getting a potential return of $8 USD per 1,000 point per night promotion. While this won’t move the needle for anyone, it may replace the points for those that are taking the breakfast benefit on personal stays, in lieu of their Marriott Bonvoy Elite welcome bonus.
The better part of the promotion is related to the double elite night credit. For those that are looking to earn elite status for the year 2025, this promotion will be extremely helpful. I would normally say that it’s never guaranteed thing to get a double elite night promotion in a calendar year. However, we’ve now seen a double elite qualifying nights now in the spring for several years after the pandemic. If you’re attempting to get yourself to fifty elite qualifying nights, this will prove to be really helpful.
Having recently qualified for Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Platinum Elite status, earning double elite qualifying nights is less interesting for me. MrsWT73 was pretty excited at the thought of this promotion, as she still has two elite qualifying years left to earn.
As a reminder for those short on elite qualifying nights, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Credit Card offers 15 Elite Night Credits per calendar year. The fortunate customers in the United States are able to stack an additional 15 credits by also getting the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Business Credit Card.
This means that US customers can benefit from a total of 30 Elite Night Credits without even setting foot in a Marriott hotel. With the coveted Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status available at 50 Elite Qualifying Nights, it’s not a stretch to pick up an additional 20 nights for customers in the United States.
If you don’t happen to have a Marriott Bonvoy affiliated credit card, you can apply for one through these links posted below and earn the highest possible welcome bonus.
The Best offer is available below through a referral link.
American Express Marriott Bonvoy (CANADA)
55,000 Marriott Bonvoy Point Welcome Bonus with $3,000 minimum spend
American Express Marriott Bonvoy (CANADA)
55,000 Marriott Bonvoy Point Welcome Bonus with $3,000 minimum spend
The Bottom Line: Marriott’s Spring Promotion
We now know the details of Marriott Bonvoy’s spring promotion. It’s fair to say it is about a generous as you can expect from a Marriott Promotion.
The best part about the promotion is the double elite qualifying nights portion of the promotion. Those that are attempting to earn elite status for the year 2025 will stand to benefit from this promotion.
As always, it’s still worth taking the effort to register, as more points are always better than less points. This is assuming you can actually get the system to let you register properly.
What do you make of Marriott’s Spring Promotion ?
With the new year, it’s an opportune time to select your Air Canada Aeroplan Select Benefits for the year. If you’ve recently re-qualified for Air Canada Aeroplan Elite status, the start of the year is always an great time to identify your Select Benefits, so you don’t forget to do so during the year. In this post, I outline the Aeroplan Select Benefits offered and which benefits I typically end up selecting.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Understanding Select Core Benefits for Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Members
At the start of every year, Air Canada Aeroplan Elite members get the opportunity to select their Air Canada Elite Benefits. Given that the year has just turned over, I think it’s worthwhile just taking a moment to maximize your benefits for the 2025 travel year.
About Aeroplan Elite Status Benefits:
Air Canada markets their Aeroplan Elite program with both Core and Select Benefits across the Star Alliance network. Air Canada describes Aeroplan Elites as enjoying Core and Select Benefits across your Air Canada experience, from booking advantages, to in-airport premium services, upgrades and perks on your flight.
While the benefits get better the higher up you go, in my case re-qualifying as an Aeroplan 25K member, there is little point to waiting until later in the year to get access to your benefits.
While I’ve previously re-qualified at the Aeroplan E75, E50 and E35 level, most recently I’ve been acting as a free agent. As a result, this has left me re-qualifying at the Aeroplan E25 level, while at the same time re-qualifying as an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP.
While it’s a relief not to have to complete mileage runs, the Aeroplan benefits at the E25K level aren’t that aspirational.
Signing into Select Your Aeroplan Status Benefits:
The Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Select benefit selection is located well inside the Air Canada Aeroplan app. I usually just navigate to the Air Canada webpage, and follow the sign in process.
After clicking on your points balance, and selecting “My Aeroplan”, you’ll end up on your personalized Aeroplan screen, which should look like this below.
After selecting the benefits button, once you scroll down a little, you will see a series of tiles that indicate the number of current benefits that are associated with your profile.
If you’ve re-qualified, you’ll see a button on “Choose Benefits” on the far left hand side of the banner.
Choosing Benefits will take you to a core page, which will display your Core Benefits available with your status level. In my case, I re-qualified for Aeroplan 25K status as a result of work travel. These include Aeroplan 25K Priority Reward vouchers, and E-Upgrade Credits as part of the core benefits.
Air Canada 25K offer the choice of additional Select benefits. In my case, I’m offered the choice of the following benefits:
- 5 (additional e-upgrade credits)
- 25% bonus Aeroplan points with Air Canada and select airline partners
- 2 Maple Leaf Lounge One Time Guest Passes
If you want to take a look at the terms and conditions of each benefit, you can do so by selecting the drop down features on each tile.
After confirming your selection, you’ll get a caution that the benefits can not be changed, once confirmed.
After confirming the selection, the benefits were in the account almost immediately. By completing the benefit selection, you’ll be set up for flying for the rest of the year in a “set and forget” mode.
Marriott Bonvoy Partnership Elites will be delayed in applying:
It’s worth mentioning that those that have gotten their Air Canada Elite status challenge through the Marriott Bonvoy Elite partnership get delayed access to selecting their Select Benefits do not get the opportunity to make any Select Benefit selections. While I was able to immediately select my Aeroplan benefits shortly after re-qualificiation, those that obtained Aeroplan 25K status will have to wait until the new year (or batch processing) to get their invitation email.
The Marriott Bonvoy population will automatically be awarded Core Benefits of 20 E-Upgrade Credits. The Select Benefit options under the Marriott Bonvoy / Air Canada partnership are the same as regular tail in seat flying qualifying customers.
Which Aeroplan Select Benefits are better than others?
I find that these Aeroplan Benefits generally enhance your travels. While your travels won’t be revolutionized by them, they can add some comfort and value to your journey. The following are the highlighted 25K benefit offers:
5 (additional e-upgrade credits)
With everyone flying these days, I generally find less value in e-upgrade credits. In the last two years, I’ve only had them clear on short haul rapid air flights between nearby centres such as Vancouver – Calgary, Calgary – Vancouver, or Ottawa – Halifax.
While I used to be able to get them to clear on long haul trans continental flights on Air Canada Signature Class Vancouver – Toronto or Air Canada Signature Class Toronto – Vancouver during the pandemic, I find those days are long gone.
While E-Upgrades ey can represent good value by purchasing international premium economy and redeeming into business class, I only get enough e-upgrades to do this one way. This would mean that I’d have to fly back in premium economy on an international flight.
I’ve gotten better at finding paid business class fares, so this option doesn’t really represent a lot of value for my travel circumstances.
25% bonus Aeroplan points with Air Canada and select airline partners
I typically get a lot of value out of the additional bonus aeroplan points. As a result, I typically select this every year.
Last year, I earned 29,824 Aeroplan Elite Qualifying miles. With a 25% bonus, this represented an additional 7,456 free aeroplan miles, on top of regular elite qualifying miles.
While it isn’t offered on all Star Alliance carriers, my regular carriers including Air Canada, United and Lufthansa are included. As a result, there’s some value to be had by selecting this option.
2 Maple Leaf Lounge One Time Guest Passes
I am sometime travelling with work colleagues or sending MrsWT73 off unattended on adventures. As a result, i typically select this option.
I’m usually flying for work on Air Canada and am lucky enough that my company policy pays for business class. As a result, I often get complimentary access to the Maple Leaf Lounge. I also have an American Express Business Platinum Card, which offers Priority Pass access and access to many lounges through the American Express Lounge Collection. Because of this, I’m usually not stuck without access to a lounge.
However, there are occasionally times when I’m travelling with a co-worker who’s not travellnig in the businss class cabin. It has been convenient to burn one of these off when travelling together. Despite this, I did let one go to waste at the end of 2024, as it didn’t get used.
The Bottom Line: Maximizing your Air Canada Aeroplan Select Benefits
Its worthwhile taking a minute at the start of the year to maximize your Air Canada Aeroplan Select Benefits.
I typically chose the additional Aeroplan miles, along with the free Maple Leaf Lounge passes as they make the most sense to my travel patterns.
It only takes a minute to select your benefits, so make sure you don’t forget. Select them today!
What Aeroplan Elite Select Benefits do you chose ever year?
After a little research into a Texan BBQ, I discovered upon Pinkerton’s BBQ in San Antonio Texas. I ventured off the San Antonio Riverwalk Tourist trail to get to Pinkerton’s BBQ. I would discover a terrific authentic Texan BBQ experience where I was able to enjoy pretty much every type of Texan BBQ meat available. Read on to see what a visit to Pinkerton’s BBQ will hold for your future visit.
This post is one chapter on a work trip from Canada to San Antonio, Texas, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Mission Visit – Jetting Down to San Antonio, Texas, USA
- San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- Explore the San Antonio Riverwalk, Texas, USA
- Exploring the Alamo Mission, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- San Antonio’s Missions: Misson Concepción, Texas, USA
- Discover Pinkerton’s BBQ: Best BBQ in San Antonio, Texas, USA
Review: Pinkerton’s BBQ, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America.
During my limited time in San Antonio, Texas, the Pinkerton’s BBQ restaurant came as a highly recommended restaurant in order to taste test some southern Texan BBQ. It is frequently rated as the best BBQ in San Antonio. With excellent word of mouth reviews, great reviews on google and reddit, it came a quest to discover.
About Pinkerton’s BBQ San Antonio:
Pinkerton’s BBQ San Antonio has been open since February 2021. The restaurant has received accloades since it’s opened, having had appearances on the Food Network Eddie Jackson show, CBS “The Dish”Texas’, and Top 50 BBQ Monthly. The BBQ has also been featured on the Travel Channel, the Food Network and the Cooking Channel.
Discovering Pinkerton’s BBQ:
I set out to visit the downtown location of Pinkerton’s BBQ from the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the Riverwalk. The restaurant is located in a newer part of San Antonio, away from the multitude of restaurants on the Riverwalk area.
It was about a twenty minute walk to get to the restaurant, which was located just outside of the historic riverwalk district. I got to pass through the historic part of San Antonio, which had a great collection of neon signs from an era past.
Taking a bit of a zig zag walk, I was able to pass by several landmarks in San Antonio. These included the beautiful churches in town, that were wonderfully lit up at dusk.
Eventually, I made it to Pinkerton’s BBQ. The restaurant fronted Legacy Park, and was surrounded by newer high rise residential towers.
During my visit, the Pinkerton’s BBQ was open from 11 AM to 9 PM (10 PM on weekends). The restaurant operates on a “walk in” basis and does not accept reservations.
As all items are prepared fresh daily, it’s worth mentioning that the restaurant serves items until they “run out”. As a result, you’ll be better off if you come early to the restaurant, as you’ll have the greatest selection of food.
Inside Pinkerton’s BBQ Restaurant:
Like many great food experiences, Pinkerton’s BBQ is a walk up to counter experience. Visitors queue for their order, which is freshly prepared for each visitor. On my mid evening visit at 7:30 PM, there was still quite a line.
Pinkerton’s BBQ offers both cold and hot sides. There were cold favorites such as coleslaw , grant’s potato salad served in four different quantity sizes such as small, large, pint and quart.
The hot sides featured jambalaya, south texas beans and bacon macaroni and cheese. There were also some featured desserts such as smoked bread pudding and blueberry cobbler to name a few.
The meats were ordered by the pound. As a result, you had to get a little handy in knowing the correct quantity of food to order.
All the food at Pinkerton’s BBQ is freshly prepared at the counter. The experience almost builds the anticipation as you move towards the food preparation area.
After placing your order, each plate or tray is individually prepared to order. It looked absolutely scrumptious watching these come together.
I ordered a half pound of dry rub pork ribs, a third of a pound of beef brisket, along with two sides of macaroni and cheese and coleslaw. While I attempted to order some chicken thighs, they were regretfully all sold out by 7:30 PM on the day I visited.
Seating at Pinkerton’s BBQ:
The seating at Pinkerton’s BBQ is open styled with first come first serve. Given the amount of visitors, there was quite a bit of turn over in the seating. The various animals around the ceiling added a bit of humorous levity to the dining experience.
The bar offered a separate area where drinks could be ordered. I ended up getting a margarita to drink; something perfect for Texas’ southern environment.
The bar and restaurant area have quite a bit of personality to them. I found the space to be quite entertaining and engaging for a night out.
The Food: Texan BBQ at it’s best
My dinner order consisted of a margarita and a combination plate of meats. I really wanted to try everything, but I settled on beef brisket and dry rub pork ribs. I paired these with coleslaw and bacon macaroni and cheese.
There is nothing there that doesn’t look spectacular. Pinkerton’s BBQ represents everything that I would expect from a Texan BBQ.
In terms of food quality, the beef brisket and dry rub pork ribs were a great combination. While most customers were focused on the meat, I ended up balancing the meal with two sides.
The meal was served with two complimentary pieces of white bread, along with a small order of sliced pickles.
The dry rub pork ribs were exceptionally tasty. The ribs were nicely cooked, with just a hint of softness with tenderness throughout. The brisket was exceptionally well seasoned in a balanced manner, with just the right amount of fat across the meat.
When put up next to the sides, the meat shone. The mac and cheese was great on the first few bites, although it did get to be a little heavy with a side for one. The coleslaw had a chunky personality and mouth feel to it, comparable to what you’d expect from a family barbeque. All to say, the mains were supercharged and it made the sides look a slight bit less spectacular, despite the sides being pretty good on it’s own.
Closing Thoughts:
My bill for dinner came to a super reasonable $38.10 USD for half a poind of glazed pork ribs, a third of a pound of brisket, and two small sides of coleslaw and macaroni and cheese.
My bar bill came to $8 USD for a lime margarita.
The price point attracted more locals than tourists with dinner coming to a total of $46.10; a pretty reasonable price point overall.
Overall, it was an excellent meal. There was nothing not to like about my first Texan Bar-Be-Que.
The Bottom Line: Pinkerton’s BBQ San Antonio
I was really impressed with Pinkerton’s BBQ. For a food lover, there was every kind of possible meat to be enjoyed, and an ordering means which would allow you to sample and experience everything.
Pinkerton’s BBQ is highly recommended if you find yourself passing through San Antonio, Texas, USA
If you have visited Pinkerton’s BBQ, which dish keeps you coming back for more ?
My work travels took me through San Antonio. With a number of UNESCO Missions surrounding the city, I made it a “mission” to get out and explore one of San Antonio’s historic missions. Today’s visit was to Mission Concepción, which represented one of the better maintained missions in the San Antonio area. The whole experience was pretty easy to approach, making for an interesting day.
This post is one chapter on a work trip from Canada to San Antonio, Texas, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Mission Visit – Jetting Down to San Antonio, Texas, USA
- San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- Explore the San Antonio Riverwalk, Texas, USA
- Exploring the Alamo Mission, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- San Antonio’s Missions: Misson Concepción, Texas, USA
- Discover Pinkerton’s BBQ: Best BBQ in San Antonio, Texas, USA
San Antonio’s Missions: Discovering Mission Concepción
During my three day visit to San Antonio, after chatting with my fellow business travellers, I had received a recommendation to get out to visit the Missions surrounding San Antonio, Texas, United States of America.
San Antonio has five UNESCO rated Missions within it’s surrounding city limits. I ended up deciding do complete a self guided tour to Mission Concepción; the closest and oldest preserved church amongst the five different missions.
About the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park:
The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is a National Historical Park and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving four of the five Spanish frontier missions in San Antonio, Texas, US. These outposts were established by Catholic religious orders to spread Christianity among the local natives. These missions formed part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
The fifth (and best known) mission in San Antonio, the Alamo, is not part of the Park. It is located upstream from Mission Concepción, in downtown San Antonio, and is owned by the State of Texas.
Visiting Mission Concepción:
While there were several day tours available for purchase through Viator, I didn’t actually get my act organized in time to take advantage of a group tour. As a reult, I ended up taking an Uber from my hotel at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the Riverwalk to the Mission Concepción. The fare was less than $11 USD, making it a pretty easy and convenient way to get to the closest Mission.
After arriving to Mission Concepción, I started to explore the grounds. I would end up discovering that, during my Sunday visit, the church ended up being closed for mass due to it being a full occupancy.
I ended up killing off this time by wandering through the outer grounds. Much like my visit to The Alamo, I was able to get through the site in a shorter time frame than I had originally envisioned. It took me around ninety minutes to see everything (including a church delay), but I probably could have squeezed it down to an hour if I was pressed for time.
Starting with the outer grounds, I ended up looking at some of the surrounding settlements that were left over from the Mission. Like the Alamo, almost all the outer walls of the mission that housed the area were completely demolished.
Some of the outer buildings had remnants of the interior painted walls that had been re-discovered through restoration.
Killing off the church delay, I eventually wound my way around to the front of the church. On my Sunday visit, the area was pretty quiet and absent of many tourists.
Eventually getting to the front of the church, I was pretty impressed with the structure. The structure was initially built in 1716, and was known to be among the best preserved missions out of the four others in San Antonio. The church presented architecture that was consistent of the Spanish period of 1735. It represents the oldest unrestored stone church in the United States in accordance with it’s UNESCO Heritage designation.
The Mission Concepción did not have a lot of historical markers or placards that explained the significance of it’s artifacts. I did manage to download the free US NPS National Park Services App, but I didn’t find it to be super useful. As a result, there may be some advantages to coming with a guide to pint out the various features and differences of each Mission or site.
Admission to the site and church was free of charge. Once the church service ended, I was able to get inside to take a look. The interior was quite traditional in type, with lightly restored walls overseeing the nave and the sanctuary.
I ended up heading back into town by Uber after visiting the Mission Concepción. The site had some interesting features.
My Thoughts on the Mission Concepción visit:
My spur of the moment trip to Mission Concepción was a great way to take in a few additional sights in San Antonio. While a visit was mostly self guided, I was able to appreciate a sunny morning away from most of the convention crowds.
The Mission Concepción is easily accessible by ride share, and I had no problems getting a ride there and back.
World Traveller 73 
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