Hotel Review: Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club

Our family spent a week at Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club in a two bedroom unit in the new Napili Tower.  The property sits on the northwest part of Maui close to Lahaina on the Kaanapali Beach.  It’s a very famous beach that also is home to Westin, Hyatt and other high end resorts.  Whales are known to breach off the shore during the winter months and you can see the island of Lanai across the water.

The resort is a little unusual.  There is the original resort that was converted into timeshare units.  Most of the restaurants and facilities are in this original building.  I would guess the building has been around since the early 80s, but it has been kept up nicely.  On either side of the original building are two new towers that were purpose built as timeshares.  We stayed in one of the new units, which was great, because of the kitchen, washer/dryer, refrigerator, etc.  There were two bedrooms with king beds, a pull out couch in one of the bedrooms and another pull out couch in the family room.  Our family always loves staying in Marriott Timeshares where they’re available.

The grounds of the resort are great.  There is a huge pool on the property that has a waterslide, a waterfall and a “pirate ship” for little kids.  There are also plenty of grassy areas to lounge and relax.  Along the beach is a sidewalk that takes you all up and down Kaanapali Beach.  It’s difficult to jog on this path because there are quite a few people that stroll up and down the beach.  From the resort, it’s about a 10 minute walk to Whaler’s Village which is a small shopping center that has restaurants, galleries and clothing stores.  Generally they have some form of entertainment and it’s a great place to relax in the evening.

We didn’t do a ton of activities in Maui.  We spent some time in the town of Lahaina, which was quite charming.  We also did some drives around the island and visited Wailea where we had a great dinner.  This is a vacation that you’ll definitely want to have a rental car.  Our family also went to brunch at Kapalua, which was a wonderful way to spend a morning together.  We spent some time at Kapalua Beach which has been voted "America's Top Beach," and is right next to the Ritz Carlton.

I was able to play golf at the Kapalua Plantation Course.  This course holds the first tournament of the PGA each year in January and is an amazing course with views of the ocean.  It can get a little windy, but fortunately there was no wind the day I played.  I try my best to play as many courses as the pros play, and I was really excited to get the chance to play Kapalua. 

Maui was a great vacation.  It is probably a better representation of what a mainlander pictures Hawaii to be than Oahu.  The thing with Hawaii is you just have to accept each island on its own merits and Maui is pretty balanced as far as having civilization but still feeling a little low-key.  We were very happy with the Marriott Ocean Club and would definitely go back.

Gwen and Mason in Maui

Mason thinking of riding a turtle

Mason enjoying brunch at Kapalua

Maui Coastline

Katie and the kids on a windy point

Great picture of Gwen

Driving around Maui

Kapalua Beach

Mason marching into the water

The kids enjoying Kapalua Beach

Kapalua Beach

Gwen at Kapalua Beach