Ming-Jou C.
Yelp
The Outrigger Napili Shores Resort has some units managed by Outrigger and others I believe are individually owned. The word Resort is a little gracious, since this is a small property that is common of the Napili area, but vastly different from the resort-mecca that is Lahaina.
Quick summary here, read on for more:
- Loved the location because less crowds, but it's kind of far from everything. Even to get to Lahaina was at least a 15-20 minute drive.
- No wi-fi in the rooms, if you have a laptop you're fine because they're hard-wired.
- Don't go to the Expedia orientation if you've already done your research. The lady was nice but it was a waste of an hour. I would only go if you've never been to Hawaii/Maui and you did no planning/reading whatsoever, but wanted to do excursions.
- No A/C, only fans. I can't imagine it in the summer.
- You're on the west side of Maui, lots to explore, close to Honolua Bay, DT Fleming Beach and you're an easy few steps to Napili Beach, great for snorkeling and swimming!
- Times supermarket is about 3 miles down the 30 for your grocery needs, there's a local's market right at the corner of 30 and Lower H for stuff too!
- $25 for 3pm late check-out, call day of for availability. Helpful for late flights out.
The one thing that I didn't like was that they don't have wi-fi in the rooms, it's only hard-wired which means for people like me who only travel with iPads, you have to have a hotspot of some sort. Who brings a laptop with them on vacation nowadays? I guess the flipside is that it does limit your technology use, which equates to more beach time.
I actually had reservations at the Royal Lahaina, but canceled them when I kept on reading mixed reviews and thought it would be nice to have a kitchen and save a few bucks on meals (not the mention the convenience of being able to take home leftovers from those huge local lunch plates). Napili Shores had a special for $119/night, which was hard to find anywhere else, and reading my friend Bora K's review really sealed the deal for me (even though it was from 5 years ago).
Front desk staff was really nice, even though we checked in late (9:30 pm) after driving the road to Hana. We got a reusable bag and a free pineapple upon check-in and stayed in room 224 which was a studio with a Garden View. Don't stay anywhere near the pool if you don't want to hear kids splashing around there all day. The pool "closes" at 10, and when we were in our room, we could hear everything anytime there was anyone or anywhere near that area. For the most part it was okay, but if you're looking for peace and quiet, you weren't going to find it with that room.
The kitchen was clean and fully stocked with mugs, plates, utensils, microwave, electric burner stove, full-size fridge, various pots and pans (they don't use non-stick pans here), and everything was clean. The TV was I think a 32-inch, but the room wasn't that big, so it was fine. The bed was decently acceptable, although I wouldn't use the word comfortable and the pillows were a little flat. The decor was simple, there's no A/C which was fine for early November for us, but we really had to keep the sliding door open the entire time for air circulation, Which was another reason you couldn't keep out any noise. Also, there were plantation shutters that covered screens but no actual windows on the side, so there is no way of completely shutting out all sound. We never really heard our neighbors except for one night K heard them arguing about something and we heard doors open and close a few times.
We had vaulted ceilings, even in the bathroom so everything felt airy. There is a ceiling fan right above the bed and one in the bathroom, which was fine for us, but I don't know how you could stand it in warmer/more humid weather. We would only get a good breeze if we kept our front door open, which we propped open a few times. I think it just depends on what room you get for how good of a breeze you get in the room. If they had screen doors for the front door, that would've been great. Bathroom had a single person shower and water pressure was decent.
You get limited housekeeping, I think once mid-stay, which was fine with us since I really don't like people coming and going in the room anyway. There was a floaty noodle which I took to the beach and previous guests had left a collection of novels in the closet.
The location is great because you can just walk to Napili Beach, which has some good snorkeling and is good for timid swimmers because the water was pretty calm. You're on the west side of the island which is home to Honolua Bay for snorkeling, although not that great, and you're close to Dragon's Teeth and the blowhole. Our side of the island made for some good exploring and beach-hopping which is what we did for two days.
Would definitely consider staying there again, but would ask for a different room location. And hopefully they have wi-