This reported in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin today:. Local hoteliers, who expect to see a 10 percent to 30 percent year-over-year drop in fall bookings for the industry's bread-and-butter hotels, plan to ask the Hawaii Tourism Authority for emergency action, including…

A nice post with a guide to Hawaii's summer fruits from a newish blog, Beat of Hawaii. Some of the information is not correct but it's generally good. A few corrections. Mangoes are available for a month in the summer…

First it was a charge for a second checked bag. Then it was a charge for a first checked bag. Checkmate and angry interisland travelers. $10 more down the drain but hey, since all the airlines are swimming in red…

Aloha to Hawaiigaga.com! I have been trying out this new vertical search tool for Hawaii vacation rental units. It's pretty cool, although activity content remains thin. Still, a nifty Web 2.0 app and something quite useful compared to the…

Check it out here at search.hawaiirama.com. Tell us what you think and what can be made better -- or if it totally rocks, tell us that, too. Hint -- this thing is best for detailed searches into Hawaii topics. We…

Comedy for a hot day in Hawaii. Gotta love Rap.…

Hawaiian Airlines loves to publicize that it has, year in year out, one of the highest on-time arrival rates in the airline industry. This is good. Except when you consider that all their flights (I think) land in Hawaii or…

Like the rest of the airline industry, Hawaii's remaining interisland carriers have decided to charge for second bags (at least they aren't charging for first bags). go! started with a $25 charge and Hawaiian followed with a $17 charge. I…

A lot more stuff is grown in Hawaii than people might realize. Sure, we got papayas and pineapples but other local crops include strawberries, cukes, tomatoes, and melons. And they are onolicious. I was stoked to find this poster put…

"Share Your Table is a splashy Web 2.0-ish site with slide shows, videos, recipes, and columns from Joan Namkoong and Wanda Adams, two of the big names in Hawaii food writing. It's clear they spent a good amount of money…

So I jumped the gun on proclaiming joy at word that you can put rental cars on the Superferry. Turns out, according to the Unofficial Superferry Blog, the rental car companies have imposed a one-way drop-off fee of $400. Which…

Just as I'd hoped, the new Superferry (which in light of airline costs is starting to look better and better) is now allowing rental cars to travel between islands on the boat. This is a huge boon that will not…

Lots of bad signs .…

I've been lazy and busy. Here are a few. Honolulu Magazine doesn't like much to eat on Lewers Street in Waikiki. Hawaii Magazine brings us a feature on Maui's hottest green brewery Maui Time Weekly on Kahuna Kabobs in Lahaina…

We knew it was coming. After Aloha shuttered and with go! apparently on the rocks, you can't blame Hawaiian Air for raising prices on interisland travel. Considerably. We noticed prices had gone up before this announcement but this seems to…

Shocking news out today. Aloha Air, which had recently shuttered its passenger operations, on April 29 closed down its profitable air cargo operations after no buyer would bite (no surprise -- the Airline Pilots Association had threatened to strike). Aloha…

Amidst a plethora of locally-made (or locally named) beauty products, Pure Hapa is among the standouts. Of course, the brand new pretty package helps quite a bit. Company describes itself as "a skincare line crafted from the purest Hawaiian botanicals…

Here's to hoping that the recent spike in ticket prices to and from Hawaii brought about after two of the major carriers, Aloha and ATA, crashed and burned, is a temporary phenom. SmarterTravel peers into its crystal ball and finds…

First Aloha Airlines goes belly up, leaving travelers in a lurch and decimating the interisland market. Now it looks as if go!, the upstart that shut down Aloha with low, low fares and a nasty fare war, could be circling…

Posting from the Nuuanu Gallery at Marks Garage. This post is sponsored by Microsoft. When you see the Microsoft Mobile logo, you know I'm posting on the go. Or something like that. So, back to the subject matter at…

Belated food roundup. Honolulu Mag goes to Goran Streng's new smart and nicely priced joint, Tango.. Honolulu Weekly goes to Big Island for review of quasi-mex resto Pau (as in Pow!). On my plate does a Wailuku brekkie roundup of…

What they don't mention in the release, however, is price. It's not what you think you should pay to fly to Hawaii. It's what the market will bear. Methinks that bankruptcies of carriers can mean one of two things. Either…

I'd hate to be a travel agent with a large Hawaii client list today. As if the Aloha Airlines shutdown didn't cause enough chaos, the ATA closure comes right on its heels -- and was equally abrupt. Heck, the airline…

Lotsa fallout from the sudden closure of Aloha Airlines. Experts are saying interisland airfares will likely rise. No doubt, considering that roughly 25-30% of the carrying capacity inventory has been ripped off the market. I managed to book a trip…

The Hawaii Tourism Authority just sent out a release offering assistance to travelers holding Aloha Airlines tickets on transpacific or interisland flights. The struggling airline is shutting those flights down this Monday. HTA lists a bunch of places for travelers…

My friend (and Hawaiirama blogger) Bruce does a nifty podcast on how to get cheap Hawaii hotels. Surprisingly, there are a decent number of totally decent cheap hotels for this price. And if you want to dip into condos, then…

Golf Mag trots out it's 20th anniversary rankings of best resorts around the world. Natch, Hawaii bags a good number -- nine out of 75, to be exact. Catching top ranking was the Four Seasons Resort Lana'i at Manele Bay.…

Matson, one of the two primary shipping lines servicing the Hawaiian Islands, announced that it would soon boost its fuel surcharge on island container shipping to a whopping 33.75%. That's on top of the regular shipping costs, some of which…

Honolulu Mag food critic rolls out his take on a number of steak joints around Honolulu and one on Maui. Unfortunately, only half are local -- the other three are parts of big chains, so a little less interesting. But…

This video explains why you might not want to ride this big boat. It also inspired Brad's Barf-o-Meter.…

So Hawaiirama blogger / contributor and most excellent Hawaii-based travel agent Bruce Fisher was right. A while back he posted a story on his blog about NCL pulling all of its boats out of Hawaii. NCL said no, we retracted…

Another edition of our rarely updated food update. Sorry, folks. Here we go. The Star-Bulletin chews over a chewy, gravy-like version of ramen with chicken broth sauce thickened by chicken bone and cartilage. Um, yum? Not sure I could stomach…

I managed to stop at Leonard's in Kapahulu this weekend for a quick malasada fix and was greeted with a poster proclaiming Feb. 5 as Malasada Day (related to Mardi Gras, of course). We've blogged on these greasy goodie native…

The much maligned Superferry has had its fare share of problems. First, there was the surfboard flotilla protest. Then came the court mandated stoppages. Then came the resumption of passages but with extreme seasickness (crew members were handing out barf…

My friend Carnet and his team at Sprout Builder have made building rich widgets incredibly easy. Here's a quick and dirty Hawaiirama newsfeed widget with an excellent graphic from PK at House of Pretty. Put this widget wherever you want…

My friend Derek Paiva over at the Hawaii Magazine blog runs through the 10 most popular state parks with a quick and dirty pros and cons list (most of which you won't get in the guide books). A few additions:…

A few weeks ago the New York Times went out and sampled fresh ahi at over a dozen high-end eateries and markets in the Big Apple and tested them for levels of heavy metals. The results? Ahi is loaded with…

Well, that's an exaggeration. But Bruce, who blogs here, is one of the first to post prominently about a splendid trip on a boat better known for delays and barf bags. Here's a bit about what a Superferry trip is…

Pulled this off YouTube. If you plan on visiting Hawaii, you should watch this. It's akin to Hawaii's classic SNL. Rap Reiplinger was the ultimate Hawaii comic, Bill Murray, Bill Cosby and Chevy Chase all rolled into one. If…

She knows her Hawaii shopping. Particularly for local, exclusive, made-in-Hawaii and only in Hawaii stuff-o-rama. Of note this week -- Closet Fetish (out of Mililani, of all laces) and bubbleshack.…

The upstart launched by Mesa Air buckaroo Jonathan Ornstein probably played a key role in parent company losses in the most recent quarter. go! has been offering A LOT FEWER dirt cheap specials, from what I can tell. An $80…

As noted by Derek Paiva over at Hawaii Magazine's blog (it's worth the daily read), Travel & Leisure put 16 Hawaii properties among its 500 World's Best. There are, of course, no surprises here with the Four Seasons Hualalai on…

Much delayed. Too many projects. Here's some of the latest. Alan, the bloggermind behind M'aona reviewed Chibo Okonomiyaki, an Osaka-style pancake house -- with his auntie from Osaka! Smart read. Tasty Island visits Meg's Drive-In in blue-collar Kalihi on Oahu.…

UPDATE: I spoke to NCL and Hawaii cruises are NOT CANCELLED so Bruce's report was apparently wrong. However, you STILL will have trouble booking a passage in 2008 b/c according to NCL they are almost completely booked. So book now…

A mahalo to Hawaiirama contributor Bruce for telling me about the breaking drama regarding Norwegian Cruise Lines and the rumors / news that it would be suspending all Hawaii cruise operations. I did a quick Web search on the topic…

The good travel agents over at Travel-Hawaii have chased down info on what Hawaii hotels are charging for in-room Internet access. Oddly, most seem to be charging something. Due to the size of these resort and the concrete walls, finding…

Hapuna Beach is definitely one of the nicest beaches in the Hawaiian Islands, a long stretch of wide yellow sand rimming a crystal blue bay. Alas, it's also one of the most dangerous. This research surprised me, because Hapuna, while…

Doh. According to Pacific Business News' coverage of the annual Hawaii state government survey, more visitors to Hawaii from the Mainland U.S. rated Alohaland as an "excellent destination." That doesn't surprise me as I've long suspected Hawaii is at a…

I don't know how better I can describe the situation on the Hawaii Superferry on its maiden re-voyage from Oahu to Kahului than Honolulu Advertiser writer Dan Nakaso. "At least 25 passengers all over the Alakai were openly vomiting, said…

My good friend Dave Choo has long been a sorta populist food critic in Hawaii (aside from being a talented writer and editor of a business magazine). His straight-shooting reviews are the anti-Frank Bruni of local foodie lit. So I…