On the recommendation of Tropigirl I went and had High Tea on the Verandah at The Moana Surfrider. It was such a lovely afternoon. The setting is beautiful, the service elegant and the food divine. You start with soup, then out comes a tiered cake stand with sandwiches, little cakes and scones, and finally ending with a delicious green tea and lemongrass sorbet. Perfect. You get a choice of teas, and are given the pot, so no waiting around for a refill. Great views and people watching while you eat. Just delightful.

Moana Surfrider is located in the best spot in Waikiki... it’s literally "on the beach". The hotel is very close to restaurants and the shops. You can easily catch a trolley ($2/trip) outside the hotel to get to the Ala Moana Mall. We had a great room in the Tower Block albeit ocean view includes an interesting side-view into the Outrigger (all part of staying in cramped Waikiki).
 The Banyan Tree Courtyard is a great for a cocktail.

We arrived at this hotel and we checked in a little after noontime, even though our rooms weren't ready. One room was reserved for my wife and myself and the other room was reserved for my sister. I gave them my cell number and they told me they would call when our room was ready. We stored our luggage and went out for lunch. An hour or so later, we were passing by the hotel and decided to ask if our rooms were ready - the gentleman who checked us in previously had left for the day and it took the person we were dealing with behind the desk a bit longer than normal to find our file. The rooms were ready, although we never did receive a call.......-communication problem #1

At the time of check in, I also inquired about my sister's credit - her daughters decided to give their mom a present (such as a facial, massage, etc.) which was charged to one of their credit cards in mid December. They said they didn't do things like that.

Anyway, we then went to our rooms and the luggage was delivered promptly. We had an ocean view room in the older part of the hotel and had a nice view of the ocean and Diamond Head. The room seemed a bit small, and it was easier to stack our suit cases on the bench seat, rather than under it. We were still able to sit on it and enjoy the view.

Since it was Super Bowl Sunday, we wanted to watch the game. We couldn't find the channel in either room. I called the operator and she said it was on channel 5. It wasn't. My sister called the front desk and they didn't know so she that asked to speak to the concierge who said she would get back to my sister. A few minutes later, the concierge returned a call to my sister and said they were working on it. Apparently it was on direct tv and for some reason - probably that of many complaints, it wasn't until the middle of the first quarter that we got a signal and the picture.......lots of different answers from different people - communication problem #2.

We were touring the North Shore area and the Pearl Harbor areas the first 2 days we were there, and although we had been warned about the traffic, it was no big deal - we've driven in much worse traffic in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

In the evenings, I enjoyed sitting in the lobby listening to the piano player or relaxing in the chairs on either the street side or ocean side of the hotel.

The beach, although beautiful is small compared to the beaches in my home state of New Jersey and we were rather disappointed that beach chairs were not available as part of the resort fee, but cost quite a bit extra.

The first morning after check in, my sister went to the concierge to check up on the credit her daughters had given as mentioned earlier in this review. The reply to my sister was that there was nothing on file. You will see later that this was communication problem #3.....

Our last 2 days at this hotel were R & R days with no touring. My wife and I decided to take a walk to Diamond Head which was 2.7 miles away. It's a pretty easy uphill walk to get there. When we got there, that 2.7 miles was just to the trail head. We had another eight tenths of a mile and 760 feet of vertical to go. It was well worth it. A really great view from the top. From the beginning of the trail head, up the mountain and back to the beginning of the trail head took us 1.5 hours, just like the sign said it would. Then it was another 2.7 mile walk back to the hotel (there are cabs up there or you can call for one). That walk was mostly downhill with a lunch stop in between and the total time of our trip was about 4.5 hours. Then it was a quick refreshing dip in the ocean.

Finally, at 9 PM on our last night there, my sister went back to her room after shopping (there are a lot of stores and restaurants nearby) and found a note and gift card had been slipped under her door. Basically, the note was asking why my sister had not redeemed the gift card as it was the last night of her stay.

Early the next morning my sister visited the concierge to discuss the gift card and note. The concierge contended that she notified my sister at 11 AM of the morning we arrived. My sister replied that we flew in from Maui that day and were still at the airport at that time. Communication problem #4 or perhaps a cover up for something that was in the back of their file that was transacted on December 15, more than 6 weeks prior?

The staff outside for our arrival was most excellent. We received a lei greeting and they took our luggage promptly. When we used their valet service we had our vehicle within 10 minutes, even though the directions said to call at least 20 minutes in advance.

Since we had a 7:35 PM flight we inquired about late checkout. Normal checkout is 12 noon. Even though this hotel was nowhere near being sold out, we were still told that it would cost $50 to checkout at 2 PM or $75 to checkout at 4 PM. We decided to go back to the staff outside who promptly stored our luggage for no fee until 4 PM. and walk around town and then relax outside the hotel. It was better in our minds to give them a generous tip which went directly to them rather than the extra fee to the hotel.

Would I stay here again - the possibility exists if the communications problems were to cease.

This was our 3rd stay at the Moana in the past 5 years. We stayed in an Ocean view room in the historic wing. Our room was large, and had wonderful views. The hotel has many lovely areas to sit and enjoy the views and the ambiance of Hawaii. Sitting in the banyan courtyard, sipping Mai Tais and listening to the nightly entertainment was one of the highlights of this hotel. The only critique I have is that it seems service has slipped slightly. Perhaps the employees are a bit overworked, or it was an "off" week, but they did not seem as friendly as they were in the past. We booked 3 people into our room, and were charged an additional $95 per night for the 3rd person. While I feel this is a bit high, I was willing to pay it, however there seemed to be a "disconnect" between reservations/front desk and housekeeping. We had to continually ask for room ammenities for the 3rd guest (towels, cups, robe, etc) and while those requests were always quickly taken care of, I got tired of having to ask.
Would I stay here again? Absolulety. The beachfront access, the sounds of Hawaiian music drifting up to our room each night, and the sound of the surf make up for any minor service issues we had.