Honolulu, HI

For first-time visitors to Hawaii, the luau is considered a rite of passage. My wife and I have been to several luaus since we have been living on Oahu. Each has its own unique blend of food, entertainment and setting. There are many different luaus on the island of Oahu, but I will write here about three of the more popular ones. My wife and I recently attended each of these luaus with friends and family.

ROYAL HAWAIIAN HOTEL

This luau, while fun, offered little more than standard tourist-fare common to most luaus. The food was good quality, however, and with the stage set up right over the beach, it was hard not to have a good time listening to Hawaiian ukulele and drum music while the sun set. The dancers performed such Hawaiian standards as the ‘hukilau’. The best thing about this luau is its convenient location: smack in the middle of Waikiki Beach.
 

PARADISE COVE

This luau is on Oahu’s west coast, so if you’re staying in Waikiki, expect a long bus ride—forty-five minutes or so—to get to and from this luau. However, the unique activities available make it worth the trip, and even the bus ride itself is fun, with everyone talking about what a good time they had, and what they would do next. As soon as we got off the bus, we were given tropical drinks and told to just walk around the luau grounds until they called us for dinner. Soothing Hawaiian music played in the background. I thought this was a nice change of pace from the tourist herding many of the luaus engage in. Instead of being shuttled from line to line, we got to walk around on our own.

The luau is right on a small cove on the beach, and what was really cool is that they had an outrigger canoe that they gave free rides to people in. My wife and I went for a canoe ride just as it started to rain. Back on the beach, my wife really enjoyed making head and arm pieces with flowers, and different leis. There were also interesting Hawaiian arts and crafts for sale here, such as tikis, leis and grass weaved bowls.
 
Unfortunately, the rain kept up so hard that this luau had to be called off before dinner started! However, the luau operators refunded everyone’s money who requested it, or else gave them a new ticket so they could come back another day if they would still be in town.

SEA LIFE PARK

As the name implies, this is a truly unique luau due to its setting. Sea life Park is on Oahu’s east end, near Hanauma Bay. We were picked up by a bus at our parents’ hotel in Waikiki to go to this luau. After we arrived at Sea life Park, we had a few minutes before the activities started to check out some of the park’s attractions, including the larger aquaria and outdoor exhibits, including the penguins. Then it was in to the amphitheater, where we saw a dolphin, sea lion, and penguin show!
 
After this unique luau performance, we were taken to a large grassy field overlooking the ocean and Rabbit Island for the luau itself. While we ate, we were treated to a true variety show, including live music, fire dancing, and audience participation on some of the dances! The food here was good, but typical luau fare.
 
My favorite luau of the three was Sea Life Park. My wife says hers probably would have been Paradise Cove, if it weren’t rained out.