Turtle Bay reviews

Guest Rating:

We've stay on the south side of Oahu before (Bellows, Waikiki, and Ewa Beach) and so appreciated an opportunity to be on the north shore near Turtle Bay. It felt like a quiet retreat and my favorite part was spending time at the pool each evening (right out front!!) after dinner with the kids, then chatting together as a family as we walked through the beautiful and quiet grounds. As for the unit itself, the amenities were great and the unit was comfortable. Loved having the full kitchen and the laundry. While A/C was available, there was zero need for it - breezes were perfect. The pools were comfortable and never busy, and neither were the courts. The beach is walkable unless you have a ton of gear. In the quiet of the morning, we could easily hear the roar of the ocean as we woke up - loved that!
As for the overall location, plan to enjoy the local beaches and the pool/courts - while the rest of the island is certainly accessible, the hour or so drives do get tedious if you plan to spend most of your time in the south. While we definitely recommend this unit, I do need to mention one suggestion for them - fix the screen door locks. The ocean breezes were wonderful at night, but the lack of locks made us nervous about leaving the kids in the other room.
For food, plan to make some meals, pick up take out in Wahiawa, get shrimp from the trucks nearby in Kahuku or eat at one of the many great restaurants in Hale'iwa.
Husband's fav activity: pick up Starbucks next to Foodland (15 min away) and then walk across the street to read a book and watch the tremendous morning waves there.
If you go to the Polynesian Cultural Center (and you should!), take advantage of how close it is and go twice (free within 3) to really see everything.
Best beaches on the island: for body boarding and absolutely amazing sand - Bellows and/or Kailua on the southeast side. For swimming with young kids and w/o big waves to deal with - Ko'olina resort area down on the southwest side. Just tell the guards you are going to the public beach. They have 3 beautiful manmade lagoons perfect for swimming safely.

Sara K., Hamden, CT, 3.11.10

Guest Rating:

Very good house, in perfect conditions, clean and everything worked very well.
Very good location in a quiet place, especially if you like golf. Although if you are more interested in beaches, like I was, you need a at least 10 minutes driving to get a good one.
I recommend the place.

Alberto V., Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil, 2.18.10

Guest Rating:

A really memorable vacation begins with LOCATION...LOCATION...LOCATION! What a SPOT! The web page of this condo does not do it justice. What a beautiful relaxing place. Everything you need was provided. I loved the morning strolls to the beach. Which was neccessary after my many trips to Ted's. There was plenty of room for my family of 6 and activities for all. The only complaint came from my husband who was was disappointed that he was unable to use the Resort work out facilities. I'm a new fan of vacation rentals.

Aloha from Joshua, Texas

Rosita K., Joshua, Texas, 12.29.09

Guest Rating:

Garden Aloha 50 East was PERFECT! What a beautiful condo! Our family has been vacationing in Hawaii for 30 years, and we usually stay at the Turtle Bay Resort. This time, we decided to rent a condo; what a GREAT idea. I wish we would have done this a long time ago. When we walked in, our jaws dropped. It was decorated so wonderfully and was extremely clean... spotless!!! The couches were amazing, so comfortable and cozy. The beds in each bedroom were heavenly. There was a huge 60" tv in the living room with full cable and a dvd player. We watched a movie every night. We also really enjoyed the plasma tv's in each bedroom and even the loft! The customer service was exceptional from the agents at vacation rentals to Mark. They responded very quickly and were always reachable and helpful. We ate a Lei Lei's twice... have been eating there since it opened...great food! Of course we went to Ted's Bakery....yummmy! Grass Skirt Grill in Haleiwa is a MUST. Such great food... burgers, sandwiches, shrimp, etc. We went to the beach at Turtle Bay... about a 10 minute walk. We also went on a walk every morning all around the resort and the beaches. It is so cool to be staying at a condo, but also have the hotel so close to eat dinner, lunch, and cocktails at sunset! We cooked a few times... the kitchen was fully stocked with pots and pans, glasses, plates, oven, microwave. I wish they would have had a toaster though!! There were beach towels and bath towels provided.... could use a few more bath towels because we had to wash them almost everyday because there were 5 of us staying there! oh, there was a washer and dryer in the unit which we LOVED. There was only one tennis racket, so we couldn't play tennis. We recommend they get one more racket or even a few. If you are staying in the bedroom downstairs.... DON'T OPEN THE WINDOWS AT NIGHT! We made the mistake of not closing the window before it got dark, and we had tons of bugs and mosquitos come in through the screen! yuck! There were a lots of mosquitos throughout the entire condo. There was a mosquito net in the upstairs bedroom, recomend to put one downstairs too. Also, we found a couple of gigantic roaches at night..... but it is Hawaii and no matter what, roaches are all over the island! We stayed there in November and the weather was mild....not sure if we would want to stay there in the summer months though. There is an air conditioner in both bedrooms which we used every night and they were great. The loft and living room were soooo hot and we highly recomend an air conditioner be put up in the loft and living room! At night, we had to close the sliding glass door because mosquitos would get in. When you are drying your clothes in the dryer, the heat goes right up to the loft... way too hot to sleep up there. Besides the very very few flaws.... this condo was perfect and we had one of the best trips we have ever had in 30 years. Mark is awesome too!!! We will DEFINITELY stay here again in the future.

Sophia P., Glendora, Ca, 11.17.09

Guest Rating:

We enjoyed staying at the Garden Aloha #50....it was clean, in a good location, close to the beach (which was beautiful), close to shopping for groceries, we were right next to the golf course. Ted's bakery was close (Yummy). The best part was that it was that it was such a beautiful location. Now we know why they call it Paradise, and it is only about 45 minutes from Honolulu.

We would recommend the restaurant there was the Lei Lei, it was very casual but the food was excellent.

The only thing that we ran across that was negative was a couple of the mugs were cracked and leaked.

We would highly recommend staying there.

Yvonne R., Sacramento, CA, 10.1.09

Guest Rating:

Here are my answers to your suggested questions in the o

1. location, close to beach, although beach area there is not that great, nearby beaches are better but you need to drive 5-10 min. Also, the golf course although I'm not a golfer, it looks very nice and very well maintained. I walked on the trails around it and I have to say that I was quite impressed.
2. property manager very friendly, great help with everything , tips on what to visit, where to go for dinner etc. Also, the reservation agent Cynthia was very helpful with all my questions and follow up.
3. exploring the North Shore area, great sandy beaches around Sunset Beach, Waialua beach, etc.
4. not in the resort, all the restaurants there are very expensive and not that great, I've tried them all. The shrimp at Giovanni's is the best, also tried Fumi and Romy, they are all good! Haleiwa has good restaurants, Sunset Grill is probably one of the best.
5. I don't have a favorite one, pictures of the Diamond Head area turned out very good!
6. general impressions about the trip
7. make sure you get a nice, clean unit, ours wasn't quite exactly as described "high end luxury". I'm not sure if all the units are in the same shape, but ours needed a good cleaning job. Considering that we paid so much for cleaning $ 230 , I find this unacceptable, there was mold growing in the corners in the stall shower, CLR might do a good job there! There were also others things to be listed, poor vaccuming job, not to be picky but we found crumbles on the floors in different spots near the bed in two bedrooms as well in the livingroom; sand on the computer desk in the power outlet bar, the stove had pizza crumbles all over etc.
8. to go to one of the shrimp places nearby
9. visit the other islands, e.g. Kuai

Anca S., Oakville, Ontario, Canada, 8.5.09

Guest Rating:

We just returned from a stay in this unit and overall, we had a great time and really enjoyed the facility. The weather wasn't the greatest till the last part of our trip, but we spent that time sightseeing anyway. Mark was great in his response to any needs that we had, so the customer service was great. My only issue was the little things that could have made this a 5 star stay. I am not being picky, but these are all issues that can be prevented. It's the little things that make ones stay excellent vs just great. The day following our arrival, we had to call because the ice maker was not functioning and the bar stools were very unstable. Mark responded immediately and arranged to get them fixed. We had a remote that had no functioning batteries, and if some extras were there, I would have changed them. The track lights in the kitchen had two bulbs that were out. The pots and pans need replacing as many were scratched and difficult to cook on. The TV's were great, but you could only get the HD channels in the family room even though you had large LCD TV's in the bedrooms. I thought it was great that there were some dry goods left there that we would have normally had to buy, like pancake syrup, salt, pepper, sugar, etc. We, in turn, left whatever was not used as well for the next vacationers. The beach chairs outside appeared rusted and unusable and that was something we could have used. The boogie boards and cooler was a great plus and we used them daily. The facility pool was great and refreshing. The kids loved it! That is also where you would BBQ and it was close by the unit. I felt the view/privacy of the unit was unlike any other condo. We felt completely private even though there was another unit adjacent to us. We truely enjoyed our stay and are really happy we found this unit.

TJ S., Germantown, MD, 4.14.09

Guest Rating:

Tiare Hale was wonderful. It made our first trip to Hawaii one worth remembering. Tiare Hale is close to many sites (Polynesian Cultural Center, LDS Temple, Valley of the Temples...) The customer service was great. Mark was very patient even when we locked the keys in our condo. Thanks for a memorable vacation. Our family will always be greatful.

Mary B., Kenai, Alaska, 4.11.09

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Thanks for a wonderful stay. Such a safe and peaceful escape from the ordinary vacation experience!

Anna W., Macon, Ga, 3.10.09

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The unit was perfect for us. It was great to have a washer & dryer. We really only spent the evenings there, so it was nice to be able to cook dinner and relax. Thanks !!!!!!!

Diane N., San Diego, CA, 12.26.08