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At Ko Olina now...and now own here too.

calberry

calberry

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2005
Messages
559
Reaction score
25
Location
Lake Wildwood, Ca.
Resorts Owned
Marriott Timber Lodge, Lake Tahoe (2 weeks)
Marriott Ko Olina, Oahu, Hi. EOY
UVC, Villa del Arco, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.EOY
I'm working on a slide show, but here are a couple of 'teaser' pix from the lanai of our 12th floor Kane tower room.

We traded in from Timberlodge for a 1BR Mtn. view and requested the highest room possible, and pool view (upgrade if you will) if available. At the desk they gave me the option of the new tower golf course view or original tower partial ocean view...we opted for the ocean.

As you can see from the pix we do face the new building, and with it the construction noise. But at least they don't start too early, and they are done by 3:30. We love the room and the view, and even though we look over the little industrial port it is fun watching all the activities.

Oh, and we succumbed to the sales pitch and bought a 2BR EOY OV. My brother lives in Hilo so this will give us a good excuse to come visit them now and then.
 
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Here is the other pic.

We are headed out today to explore the north shore and find the shrimp truck for lunch.

Oh, and we went to the Fia Fia luau last night. Quite fun...albeit a little long for our tastes.

Steve
 
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Ko Olina fun

Aloha Steve

Great that you have such a great room and view! We have had the view out to the harbor & industrial park several times - like you say - there is always something going on ... We go the beginning of every May to Ko Olina since the beginning ... always a nice trip ...
The pictures are good of the new building - can see the progress in 4 wks time! Looking forward to the rest of the picture show!
You'll enjoy your time there - and like you say - good excuse to visit family.

We always request the original tower - although the new one will be very nice - and the master bedroom is to have a desk in it rather than the settee by the window - it will be much more useful for those of us still traveling with laptops and work ...

Enjoy - and congratulations on the week!
 
Steve,
Did they give you an estimated opening for the new tower? We will be there New Years week and would love to reserve in this building. It looks like the rooms have great oceanfront views. Thanks.
 
Your teaser pics are killing me! We'll be there in 2 1/2 weeks. Seeing your pictures is making it very difficult for me to work. :)

We are renting from an owner and they have an ocean-view category. What tower do you recommend that we try to get into?

Can't wait to see the rest of your pictures!


Theresa
 
How's the contruction coming along? I heard they are adding a lazy river pool. Also, is the water at the lagoons clear? I too will be there in a couple of weeks.
 
soutdown13 said:
Steve,
Did they give you an estimated opening for the new tower? We will be there New Years week and would love to reserve in this building. It looks like the rooms have great oceanfront views. Thanks.
Click to expand...

We didn't discuss that at the presentation since it wasn't in our plans to come back that soon, but at the Mai Tai reception they indicated the new building would be opening in two phases. The wing closest to the original building will open in January 09 (can't remember the specifc date or if it was even mentioned, sorry), and I think they said June for the rest of the building. And I don't think it was discussed when they would start on the final building (between the new one and the Marina on lagoon #4)

Steve
 
brian1018 said:
How's the contruction coming along? I heard they are adding a lazy river pool. Also, is the water at the lagoons clear? I too will be there in a couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

Except for railings on the decks, the exterior of the building looks complete, but in using my binoculars it appears they have yet to do any drywall/painting/cabinet work on the inside yet. They are just now starting to plant some trees in the landscaping and are doing a lot of rock and brick work around the pool and entry areas.

We were told they are going to have a very long water slide...and not just a typical slide. It is suppose to be VERY cool starting atop the rocks at one end and traversing the length of the pool to the other end (30-40 ft.???) (no sign of anything in the current construction that would indicate how it will look...but the pool does have gunnite in it now.)

This is our first stay here, and I have only been in lagoon #3 once...only once because I was pretty disappointed the first time (will try #2 & #1 probably this afternoon). I had to go all the way out to the rocks before the clarity was good enough to even see the bottom. There were some fun fish to watch, but it was pretty poor overall.

Steve
 
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We heard it from the manager of the property when we were there a little over a year ago that they were adding a lazy river.

Also, Calberry, the snorkeling was better in lagoon 2 when we were there. There was a huge sea turtle nibbling on algae on the rocks of the sea wall. Very cool!
 
Steve,
If you happened to own a Marriott-purchased EOY property before you bought Ko'Olina, you should have qualified for the ongoing sale, allowing you to purchase an EOY timeshare at 40% of the full year price. This is 33% cheaper than the normal 60% of full year price for EOY weeks. :)
 
These are the prices I got from our favorite salesman, who just happens to work out of Ko'Olina, for the EOY discount.

"The price at Ko Olina for mountain view is $15,160 and the ocean view is $19,360."

No, we have not bought from him nor do we plan to...but if we were going to buy from Marriott we'd give him our buisiness.
 
thinze3 said:
Steve,
If you happened to own a Marriott-purchased EOY property before you bought Ko'Olina, you should have qualified for the ongoing sale, allowing you to purchase an EOY timeshare at 40% of the full year price. This is 33% cheaper than the normal 60% of full year price for EOY weeks. :)
Click to expand...

We own two 'every year' weeks at Timberlodge, so there was no mention of a discount. Our price was right at $29K. And we paid next years maint. fee (our off year) and got bonus points for that as well.

Don't tell me what we could have or should have had. The deal is over and we are moving on...and loving it. We enjoyed being here today that much more knowing that we now own 1/78,000th of this beautiful place.

Steve
 
soutdown13 said:
Steve,
Did they give you an estimated opening for the new tower? We will be there New Years week and would love to reserve in this building. It looks like the rooms have great oceanfront views. Thanks.
Click to expand...

One of the managers said one wing of the new building is opening January 2009, the other wing in 2011 (which is impossible to believe---looks like 6 months of work left, tops).
We are also here now, in the Kona bldg. We also went to the Fia Fia show last night. Line started at 4:30 and I think it was over around 9:30. Pretty good luau, and your typcial luau show. Some complaints at our table about the food, but I thought it was good (however, I think nearly everything is good).
 
calberry said:
This is our first stay here, and I have only been in lagoon #3 once...only once because I was pretty disappointed the first time (will try #2 & #1 probably this afternoon). I had to go all the way out to the rocks before the clarity was good enough to even see the bottom. There were some fun fish to watch, but it was pretty poor overall.
Click to expand...

OK, so I have to upgrade my score some what, based on my experience this afternoon. We went back out to just 'hang around' the beach, and I decided to give lagoon #3 another try. It was about 3:30pm and the tide was coming in and therefore clearing out the 'haze' in the water (can we say LA smog?!?), and there really were quite a few fish to oogle, and the clarity was pretty good. I got some pretty good pix that I will share as time allows.

I am going to go out in the morning to the fish feeding in lagoon #1 and do some snorkling after that (I understand that morning is the best time).

Steve
 
calberry said:
Except for railings on the decks, the exterior of the building looks complete, but in using my binoculars it appears they have yet to do any drywall/painting/cabinet work on the inside yet. They are just now starting to plant some trees in the landscaping and are doing a lot of rock and brick work around the pool and entry areas.

Steve
Click to expand...

We went for a walk tonight after dark and some of the lights were on in the rooms that are scheduled to be opened during the 1st phase. We could see ceiling fans running in them, so it was obvious that some interior work is being done. (I think the rooms we could see with our binocs were in the wing to be opened later.)

Steve
 
laxmom said:
We heard it from the manager of the property when we were there a little over a year ago that they were adding a lazy river.
QUOTE]

Well, all I can say is that's not the story they are telling now.

Steve
Click to expand...
 
We just got back last week and you are making me miss it. We loved it there. We were in the new tower in room 21214 and the view was head on to the ocean. Absolutely beautiful. If you want a gorgeous view request that room. It is right in the middle of the tower and you can see which one because it is the only lanai that does not have wooden shutters on one side.
My DH did snorkeling and found that lagoon 2 was better. there were some days where the water was cloudy but most days I could see the rocks on the bottom about 30 feet out. Enjoy your time and congrats on your purchase. That would be one place I would love but travel time is horrible from the east coast so we would only use every 4-5 years. Have a lava flow for me, miss those drinks, they were great.
 
calberry said:
...and loving it. We enjoyed being here today that much more knowing that we now own 1/78,000th of this beautiful place.

Steve
Click to expand...

Steve,
I know that you will love your purchase at Ko'Olina. Enjoy the last few days of your stay!!
We'll be back to Hawaii in 2009. Can't wait!

:D
 
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=887dkyp.50hc0bdh&x=0&y=khx9k3&localeid=en_US

This is a slideshow of our room and views from the lanai. More to come of the property.

There is wireless in the rooms but it is sporadic at best. When on it is fast, but I can almost guarantee from the time I opened this screen to the time I hit the 'post reply' button that I will get the 'cannot find....' screen. Entering titles and rearranging photos in Kodak is PAINFUL (but what else do I have to do at 5:30 in the morning...while sipping coffee on the lanai!

On the subject of wireless, the first night I logged in and it seemed OK (it does in spurts) but the next morning I had to download a work document (yes I need to be doing some work while here...I should never schedule trips at month close). After the initial log-in I got 'kicked off', tried going wired, and then couldn't get access in either. I called the customer support number provided on the card in the room and was on the phone for 32 minutes with a very helpful lady that went so far as to take down the whole Ko Olina system to adjust the firewall settings...but it at least works somewhat (and I got my file only asking someone on the mainland to sent it as a ZIP file instead).
 
Great slide show! Thanks for all you helpful info and feedback. I'm so glad you're there, and were able to buy into Ko-Olina.
 
Here is a link to our neighbors to the north. So starting from the north;from what I understand, Disney will build to the north of the JW, then the JW, then the Beach Villas, then an open space (for which there are no set plans, and it is NOT Marriott's property...hints are a small shopping center with restaurants), then us, then an opening where the Ritz-Carlton was suppose to go (not sure what is planned for there at this time), then the marina.

http://www.koolinabeachvillas.com/aloha-08.html

Steve
 
joanncanary said:
We were in the new tower in room 21214 and the view was head on to the ocean.
Click to expand...

Please forgive my possibly dumb question, but can you tell me the name of the new tower? We will be there in October and I'd like to request this room. I'd feel better actually requesting the tower by name. Thanks!!
 
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