DIY Beach Day at Lahaina - Beachwear at Whalers Village?

[bronzey214]

HI all - we're starting to try to set up in stone our excursions for our April 2023 cruise with Princess.

We want a snorkel/beach day and, rather than taking a Princess excursion or trying to squeeze in a 3rd party excursion, we think we might steal an idea from @PescadoAmarillo and take the #25 Maui bus to Whaler's Village and walk to Black Rock for a beach/snorkel day.

We noticed one of the restaurants we want to try is in Whaler's Village as well (Monkeypod Kitchen) - our question is... I'll most likely be in sandals, swimsuit bottoms and a circa 2016 Panama Canal Princess t-shirt and my partner will be in a swimsuit cover-up. (All clothing items will be tasteful, we might be young(ish) but we're not trashy)

My thought process is "this is a place essentially on a beach, so people visiting in beach wear probably happens" but I also know this strip of land is very ritzy.

How welcome will we feel in beach wear dining at Whalers Village from a scale of "remember the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where the pirates are hanging from the rocks?" to "aloha"?

[princeton123211]

39 minutes ago, bronzey214 said:

How welcome will we feel in beach wear dining at Whalers Village from a scale of "remember the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where the pirates are hanging from the rocks?" to "aloha"?

All of Hawaii is very casual and I can really only think of a handful of places that have an actual dress code (and Monkeypod Kaanapali isn't one of them). The entire stretch of beach is mostly resorts and most folks eating at Monkeypod will will be rolling off their pool loungers and heading over in the bathing suits and sandals. 

 

That being said, while the drinks are very good and they have a great/large bar, I would say the food at Monkeypod overall is unremarkable. A short walk down the beach to the Kaanapali Beach Hotel (one of the original ones and on the way to Black Rock from Whalers Village) is their restaurant Hui Hui. Its a bit more authentic and the food overall is better than Monkeypod (or Hula Grill/Leilanis for that measure). 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

I would not go into Monkeypod Kitchen in the attire you describe, but I would eat in the bar area at both Leilani's and Hula Grill. They are part of the TS Restaurant Group that also has Duke's, Kimo's and a few other places. Princeton123 is probably right that the restaurant wouldn't care, especially at lunch, but I am a bit dressier when I go there (dressier meaning nice shorts and Aloha Shirt, I don't even bother taking long pants to Maui).