J.w. Marriott ihilani and ko olina golf

[phillygirl63]

Anyone stayed at this hotel or played golf at this course? Other websites are not as up to date, so I thought I would post here for any comments.

[sptrout]

Yes, we stayed at the J.W. and loved it! Far enough away from Honolulu to get some peace and quiet, but close enough to easily drive back to the big city if you want to. The hotel is not cheap, but very nice. Surprisingly, the restaurants are very good also, so no need to leave the hotel to eat. I do not golf so no help there. I do recommend that you rent a car since the J.W. is about 30 minutes from the airport.

 

I would love to return to the J.W. tonight!

 

My pictures of the J.W. (first dozen or so, and use the "show" mode):

 

http://cid-b7aec1ebf27abfaf.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Vacation%20Photos/Hawaii/Oahu/A-JW%2001.jpg

 

J.W. Marriott Web page:

 

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/hnljw-jw-marriott-ihilani-ko-olina-resort-and-spa/?WT_Ref=mi_left

[phillygirl63]

Thanks, SPTROUT! There are 3 couples in my group, so I hired Jays Limousine for all of our transfers from airport to hotel, from hotel to ship, and then from ship to airport, so we don't need a rental. I picked this hotel because the golf course is on premises. Our plan is to arrive at the hotel and have drinks and dinner at Napauka Terrace at the hotel. Have you tried it? Then we will play golf at Ko Olina Golf Club the next morning after checking out. I have Jay's picking us up at 3:00.

 

I really enjoyed the pictures.

 

We also booked an oceanview balcony room. The others in my group just got standard rooms.

 

When you were there, was the Disney resort next door being built? I have read that the construction can be noisy at times.

[sptrout]

Thanks, SPTROUT! There are 3 couples in my group, so I hired Jays Limousine for all of our transfers from airport to hotel, from hotel to ship, and then from ship to airport, so we don't need a rental. I picked this hotel because the golf course is on premises. Our plan is to arrive at the hotel and have drinks and dinner at Napauka Terrace at the hotel. Have you tried it? Then we will play golf at Ko Olina Golf Club the next morning after checking out. I have Jay's picking us up at 3:00.

 

I really enjoyed the pictures.

 

We also booked an oceanview balcony room. The others in my group just got standard rooms.

 

When you were there, was the Disney resort next door being built? I have read that the construction can be noisy at times.

 

We arrrived there 12/31/05 just in time for the fireworks at midnight. Just what we needed for our Central Time jet lag. No Disney anything at that time. I do not remember the name of the resturant we ate at two evenings, but it was open air and close to the pool; very nice.

 

We had an ocean front room so we had a great view from our room; just some palm trees then the ocean.

[phillygirl63]

The restaurant sounds like Napauka Terrace. Must have been good if you ate their 2 times.

[kj_connections]

I stayed at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach club next door and ate at the Japanese restaurant in the JW Marriott - it was amazing! All you can eat but I believe it was $45pp.

[phillygirl63]

I believe the Japanese restaurant is Ushio-Tei. Is that the one you ate at? Given the high prices in Hawaii, I think $45 pp for all you can eat is not really all that bad.

[kj_connections]

Yes, that was the name of the restaurant. The food was really good - fresh and tasty and it's a small cozy restaurant.

[phillygirl63]

Thanks so much for the info. I can't wait to get there.

[rykaydad]

How is the Beach at the resort? Is it shared with any other hotels?

[phillygirl63]

I think the beach is a man-made lagoon that is shared by the Ko Olina Marriott Resort and the Disney resort when it is finished. I have read that even though it is shared, it does not get very crowded. Since it is a lagoon, the water is a little warmer than the ocean and much calmer. Others who have actually been there might be able to confirm this.

[sptrout]

How is the Beach at the resort? Is it shared with any other hotels?

 

(It has been about five years since we stayed at the J.W., so what I am writing may be dated.)

 

This large resort area has three lagoons and the J.W. is on the edge of the first one and is primarily used by the guess's of the J.W. The other two lagoons (all are identical BTW) were open to public, or at least seemed to be when I walked by them.

 

The lagoon & beach by the J.W. looked great and there were never very many people on it (but it was in January). We are not January beach people so we just hanged-out by the pool during our downtime. As phillygirl63 wrote, the lagoons are protected from the open sea by stone seawalls. Each wall has an opening to the sea to let water flow in and out of the lagoon.

 

I will add that I do not remember there being any kind of water activities in the lagoons, at least not powered-boat type. There may have been low level activities available.

 

Sorry for all the "may haves", but it has been awhile and the beach was really not a big deal for us; just nice to look at. The pictures that I took at the time of our visit (see earlier post) should give you a good idea of what to expect.

[TiggerTwo]

We stayed at the Marriott Ko Olina the week before our POA cruise Feb 12. There are 4 lagoons that are man made. All beaches are public but were very quiet compared to Waikiki or the North Shore. The Disney Hotel & resort is scheduled to open in the fall and will bring a lot more people to the area. The golf course is across the street. It is gorgeous to look at, but we just didn't have the time to play it. The area is quiet and really relaxing. There is a marina on the other side of the Ko Olina. Hope you enjoy the JW as much as we enjoyed the Ko Olina.