Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Guide to Hawaii (Unofficial Guides)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Perhaps I was expecting too much from the title of this book. There is nothing "unofficial" about the information it contains. The hotel descriptions are very standard guidebook material - lots of facts, but not enough of a description to give you a feel of the properties. I have stayed at several of the properties listed in this book and they could have easily included some information that IMHO would have been crucial to your enjoyment. Also, very little information is provided on things to do on each island outside of the usual tourist attractions. Maybe I am being too harsh. After all, Frommers and Fodors aren't any better, but since this book is touting itself as the "unofficial guide", I feel that it's a bit of false advertising.

Last year I went to Disney and bought the Unoffical Guide to Disney and it was the best thing I could have ever done. After reading it I said hands down this will be the guidebook I will always buy. The Hawaii book was just terrible. I feel I was still as stumped as I was before I started the book. I would one million percent recommend the Disney book but I would stay away from this book. Buy a book that is dedicated to one island, even if you have to buy 2 or 3 it will be worth it because if you buy this book you will have to buy more books afterward anyway.

I've read Unofficial Guides series before (e.g. Disney) and loved them...so I was disappointed when I got this one and it was not good at all. It is poorly organized for one thing. Instead of separating the sections by island, it has everything together. For example, if you want to find a good restaurant in Kauai, you have to look at the entire restaurant section and try to find ones that are in Kauai. The other books I'v read have a Kauai section and then you just turn to the restaurant portion of that section. Unless you are going to visit all the islands of Hawaii on your trip, then you are going to waste a lot of time reading stuff that doesn't apply to your trip. I was also disappointed in the level of detail provided.

I bought this book before taking my first trip to Hawaii. It helped me to make the most of what little time I was going to have there. We took a seven day cruise and where able to plan what we wanted to see and do at each stop. We spent 3 days in Hawaii after the cruise before flying back home. This book was a great asset in helping us not waste our valuable time and money. A large part of the fun was having the book about 3 month ahead of time and getting a lot of enjoyment out of planning the trip.

as usual with the unofficial guides, another excellent source of info. I gathered enough info in deciding that yes, we can visit HI, even on a budget, and still have a great time. And the best part? there is so much to see and do, a second visit would be warranted.

Although the book touts itself as giving readers "the inside story" on Hawaii--everything from shopping to volcanoes, from our experience there's no truly remarkable reporting. The descriptions are fairly accurate, albeit not over-critical, but I have to agree completely with the reviewer from LA who states that this is very much standard fare. Okay, so "Dr. Beach" says that such-and-such is one of the best 10 beaches in America, how is that "unofficial", and how does that reflect what the author thinks? Tominaga relies far too much on the offical line--publicity available in every hotel lobby about the attractions--and not enough on his own experience. Perhaps his comments on islands other than Oahu are more meaningful, but if you can get to Hawaii, a good concierge will do as much or more for you. There is so much more that Hawaii has to offer that isn't included here--probably a book isn't the best way to get this information anyway. On the positive side, the "Unofficial Guide" formula for rating things according to age group is very helpful.

Great organization to a potentially complex topic. Most comprehensive evaluations of hotels, restaurants, nightlife, beaches, and attractions of any of the usual guidebooks. Attraction evaluations and descriptions provide accurate age appeal breakouts to aid in evaluating attraction's overall family appeal. I love this series and rely on its accuracy. It rightfully leaves the other general Hawaii guidebooks in the dust. If you are going to buy one guidebook make it this one!