In my last post, I talked about our stay in Kahului and Ka’anapali/Lahaina parts of the island.  In this post, I’ll talk about the Wailea part of our stay.

We stayed at the amazing Andaz Maui resort. This is one of the newest resorts in Wailea, having opened in the fall of 2013. I love that it is a smaller resort so it feels more intimate and the staff are all really friendly (only about 200 rooms!).

Andaz Maui Lobby
Lobby at the Andaz Maui

After being greeted with a lei upon arrival, we were upgraded to an ocean view room that was beautiful and modern. The room was all set with a crib when we arrived which was fantastic!  The room was big enough to hold the crib and still walk around but it wasn’t super spacious. As an extra special touch, they provided some baby bath products and a little rubber ducky! The only thing to note is that my room did not have a bathtub though it had an enormous rain shower and sprayer. I do know that some of the larger rooms have a deep tub, if you need that for your little ones. My little one is just fine with a shower so it wasn’t an issue for us.

Andaz Maui Ocean View Room
View from Our Andaz Maui Room
Andaz Maui Ocean View Room
Andaz Maui Ocean View King Room
Baby Bath Toiletries at the Andaz Maui
Baby Bath Toiletries at the Andaz Maui

There are 3 infinity pools and a larger one with a beach entry on one side (it gradually slopes down) and on the other wide there is a wide ledge that is 7″ deep. Both sides were great for toddlers! My daughter liked splashing on the ledge but she really loved playing in the main pool. I just had to keep reminding her that it was going to get deep as she was chasing her toys around.

Andaz Maui Beach Entry Pool
Andaz Maui Beach Entry Pool

The nice thing about having so many pools is that everyone seems to be able to find a spot. I was a little worried that we would be the only people with kids, by there were quite a few families hanging out by the big pool, leaving the infinity pools more peaceful for the adults to enjoy. There were also a few pool toys that the hotel staff brought out like boogie boards and noodles.  The only downside is that there are a lot of stairs to get down to the main pool since the resort is built into a hill and each pool is down a flight of stairs.

The beach does get a bit crowded because it isn’t super wide, but there still seemed like there was enough room for everyone to have a beach chair and umbrella.

We we brought a toddler floatie which she enjoyed playing in. We tried to get her to swim by reaching forward and kicking. She was able to propel herself forward that way. I think she’s still a little too small for the puddle jumpers (the recommended weight starts at 30lbs) but I bet by next year we can probably do the puddle jumper to try to get her to swim.

There is a kids club for kids 5-12 that is free during the day (9-3) but $30/hr from 3pm onwards. I saw them hanging out one of the mornings in the pool and they were having a blast with the staff member running the program.

The hotel has a few SUVs that it will use to take you anywhere in the Wailea resort area (and pick you up!).  There are some great restaurants in the Kihei area that are pretty affordable.  On the resort, the restaurant options are a little pricey.  We opted to eat lunch by the pool and then we went to Kihei for dinner a few nights and we splurged at Iron Chef Morimoto’s restaurant on two nights.

Bumbye Bar Poolside Dining at the Andaz Maui
Bumbye Bar Poolside Dining – Enough to share for a light lunch

We had only planned on eating there one night, but it was so delicious, we had to go back! 🙂  There were lots of kids at Morimoto’s when we were dining (we opted to eat early, at 5:30).  Just be aware that the kids options are pretty limited and quite pricey as there is no real kids menu–its just a few kid friendly options from the main menu.  My little one had Morimoto’s ramen chicken soup ($16) both nights and she devoured it.  The broth was AMAZING, but the parent in me wished there were some vegetables in the soup!  It was literally ramen, a little bit of chicken breast and soup.  They even made little trainer chopsticks (rubberbanded 2 chopsticks together with some paper in between) though my little one is still too young to use them.  It was a nice touch for younger guests who are still learning to use chopsticks!

Morimoto Maui
Morimoto Maui
Chirashi at Morimoto Maui
Chirashi at Morimoto Maui
Incredible sunsets at the Andaz Maui
Incredible sunsets at the Andaz Maui

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