I am a loal that lives here on Oahu and Turtle Bay is one of the only hotels that gives you an experince outside of the city (Waikiki), Waikiki is indeed fast paced and isn't as laid back as Turtle Bay Resort.

We stayed here during the weekend. We rented out the Presidential Suite for 2 nights to host a 18th Birthday Party. The room can fit up to 30 guests and our room had one king sized bed (we also rented another room with an extension to the Presidential suite that could sleep another 4 guests), an enourmous living room, wet bar, 2 bathrooms with a jacuzzi and his and her showers. The dining room could seat up to 12 people and you have 3 balconies over looking the ocean and mountains. The service was great, we had no complaints.

We did a catering ourder of Sushi to be delieverd in our room at 6 PM sharp and it the doorbell rang exactly at that time. The service was great.

One of the most dissapointing aspects about this room is the "technology" the room offers. The hotel offers free Wi-Fi, but for a $2,800 nigh, we expected the room to have Flat Screen Televisions or at least Wide Screen Televisions. Instead the room had a 26 inch or so Philips televison that was during the 90's era. I'm assuming this wouldn't be a problem for most people that stay in this room because they would probably spend most of their time outside their hotel room. Also, since the room was so large, the AC didn't really make the room cold, as other rooms. The party didn't end till 5 in the morning and we wanted called front desk to give us a wake up call. It took more than 20 rings for the attendant to answer the phone, this wasn't a problem but I expect them to answer the phone in less than 3 rings. This is indeed an expensive hotel afterall.

The brunch at Turtle Bay was great. One of the main attractions in this buffet were the omlete station and prime rib carving station. There was also a performer entertaning bunch guests. We were given champainge and apple cider.

We rented out 3 other regular suites and the rooms were cold at 60 degrees, in the Presidential Suite 60 degrees felt like 69.

This was our second trip to Turtle Bay, and without the upgrade to the cottages, our trip would have been doomed. Last year we stayed in the deluxe ocean front rooms and the entire hotel seemed to be in great shape. This was not the case the second time around. Upon arrival and after check in we proceeded to our room. After we passed the tattered carpet in the corridors, we entered our room and all I could think was "groady"! The carpet was wet and sticky, the duvet cover was tattered, the walls were dirty and the smell in the room was musty. If it wasn't for the spectacular view I would have thought I was in a Motel 6. I went down to the front desk to explain the situation and requested an upgrade (at my cost) to the cottages. After one failed attempt due to the front desk lady who would not take any less than $300.00 per night for the upgrade, I finally spoke with another front desk clerk that gave us the upgrade to the cottages for $150.00 per night.

We arrived in the ocean front cottages and IT WAS HEAVEN!!! Take my advice, if you can splurge the extra dough, you will not be sorry...we will definitely come back to stay in the cottages.

Restaurant recommendations:
at the resort: 21 Latitude is excellent! Go for the yummy filet!

Watch out for unwashed lettuce at Ola's...I found a worm in my salad and they didn't even comp my lunch...ridiculous!!!

In Haleiwa: Pizza Bob's is YUMMY!!!!!! So is Killer Tacos for carnitas tacos and Cholo's for mexican food.

Other than the room situation, it was great and it truly is old hawaii..I miss it already!

We stayed at Turtle Bay with a large group with many families with young children. We had a wonderful time. The kids loved the pool and slide. Definitely get a room with ocean views. The beach was perfect for the young ones too. We happened to be there while "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" was being filmed which wasn't too intrusive. It was annoying to be "shhhed" by 20 yr old PAs, but we just laughed and tried to stay out of their way. The outdoor yoga class and spa was nice. My husband liked the golf. Good drinks, good food--we had fun.

Spent 4 nights early July 08 in an oceanfront deluxe room. For the rates that you pay, this hotel is overated. Apparently, the hotel has had $35m in renovations but you'd never know it!! The rooms in the hotel are pretty ordinary, particularly given that the room cost more than what I paid for Sheraton Maui which was LOVELY. The rooms have this hideous green colour interior, the carpet is a very yucky brown and the bed made me feel like I was staying in a motel. The bathroom has a pretty silly layout with essentially two rooms (one which has a sink, fridge and robes and the other is the actual bathroom with another sink, toilet and shower). Hideous light green tiles around the bath. Made me feel like I was back in the 80s. If they had done the soft renovations properly, they would have opened up these 2 rooms to make one big bathroom and changed the tiles. On the plus side, the bedroom is quite big and the views were great (if you disregard the horrible brown roof tops visible from the restaurants etc below - who on earth thought the beautiful ocean views need this brown roof top in the picture???? Loved the views from the poolside where big waves sailed past and we could watch people surf past us. Its on a really lovely spot, its just that the resort is still dated and after staying at the Westin Moana Surfrider and Sheraton Maui, it was a huge disappointment.

Other positives are that the service was pretty good and the Ola restaurant was really nice, we had a table right on the sand.

Overall, I think 4 nights was way too long. 2 nights maximum (unless you surf) is what I think was needed if you want to stay up this way. As its the only resort up that way, its a good base to explore everything and again the views from the pool and walking around the hotel are pretty amazing. But DONT expect much from the rooms and the lobby.