| Hawaii Diary 2001 | |
Sheraton Moana Surfrider
Photo by John Fischer
Waikiki has, perhaps, the world's greatest collection of world class resorts within one relatively small area. The Sheraton Hotels of Hawaii not only rank at the top of these resorts, but they continue to develop new and exciting ways to keep ahead of the pack in what is a highly competitive hotel market.
Our base for this visit to Waikiki has been the Sheraton Moana Surfrider. Celebrating their 100th year in 2001, the "First Lady of Waikiki" has lost none of her charm. The hotel's historical expert, Tony Bissen, offers twice daily historical tours of the property tracing the hotel's roots back to its construction in 1900 for $150,000.
The hotel opened to the public on March 11, 1901 as the Moana Hotel where $1.50 per night would pay for your accommodation.
The tour is open to the both hotel guests and other members of the public. It is well worth an hour of your time to learn about the history of Waikiki in the 20th century. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the hotel in March, the About Hawaii Guides will take an in-depth look at this historic property.
Lunch today took us to the Sheraton Moana Surfrider's younger sister, the famous Pink Palace of Waikiki, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. An unmistakable landmark on Waikiki Beach, the hotel has an extremely loyal customer base with numerous repeat visitors.
Royal
Hawaiian Hotel
Photo by John Fischer
Even if you're staying elsewhere in Waikiki, a walk through the Royal Hawaiian's property is well worth while. If you have time to catch lunch in the Surf Room, you can experience superb food and a million dollar view of Waikiki Beach.
We'll be providing in-depth information on the Sheraton Hotels of Hawaii in upcoming articles once we return to the mainland.
One of the great things about Hawaii is that no matter how many times you visit the islands, there is always something new that you can see or do.
This afternoon we took an ecotour with Mauka Makai Excursions. Mauka Makai offers cultural, archeological and hiking ecotours on both a full day and half day basis to areas of O'ahu rarely seen by most visitors. Today's tour took us to the Nu'uanu stream as well as to two heiau (ancient temple sites).
Nu'uanu
Stream
Photo by John Fischer
We took lots of other photos which we'll be adding to our photo galleries. We'll also be doing a future full-length article on Mauna Makai Excursions.
Our very full day was capped on by a dinner show at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani. Sheraton's Creation - A Polynesian Odyssey opened in October 1998 and has been performing to sold out audiences on a nightly basis. The show takes the audience on a theatrical excursion to witness the mythical creation of Polynesian man and woman, along with their spectacular voyage through the Pacific.
The staff of the Sheraton Resorts of Waikiki have been fantastic. Particular thanks go to Erica Neves, the Director of Public Relations for the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani and the Sheraton Moana Surfrider for making our stay in Waikiki so wonderful.
Tomorrow
we have breakfast at Sam Choy's restaurant and then it's off to Maui for the next
few days. In Part 4 of our Hawaii
Diary 2001 we'll report on our breakfast meeting with the O'ahu Visitors Bureau
and on first day on Maui at the Sheraton Maui Resort.
