Hawaii vacation deals & news: July 29, 2014

* Costco Travel always seems to have special Hawaii travel deals. See this page to search for deals. One of the current Costco special offers that we think is an especially good value is a five-night stay at the newly refurbished Hyatt Regency Maui including daily breakfast buffet for two, rental car and two-for-one admission to their luau from $739 per person based on double occupancy. See all the details here

* As promised, we reviewed the changes to the advance ticketing process for touring the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The difference is that the NPS has reduced the number of advance tickets from approximately 1,000 per day to 300. Also, the advance ticket purchasing time window changed from up to three months to just one day. Free tickets to walk-in visitors will continue to be distributed on a daily basis. We’ve updated this ticketing change post with the recent changes.

* Travel + Leisure announced the 2014 winners of the World’s Best Awards. Here’s their list of Hawaii’s top hotels.

* Maui’s Sugar Cane Train is set to close this week.

* Ocean Vodka is looking for the ultimate ocean cocktail with a recipe contest. Finalists win a stay at Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa. See more about the contest here.

* The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. has a special “Hawaii By Air” exhibition on view until summer 2015.

* We’d like to take the opportunity to thank our advertisers whose support allows us to continue sharing award-winning, free, Hawaii travel advice. If you have a Hawaii travel-related business that you’d like to advertise on Go Visit Hawaii — the leading independent Hawaii travel blog — contact us for more information. Mahalo to these advertisers for making Go Visit Hawaii possible:

• Pleasant Holidays – a travel agency that specializes in Hawaii travel.
• Pride of Maui – a Maui snorkeling and diving tour operator.
• Kohala Zipline – a zipline course on Hawaii Island.
• Kaimana Beach Hotel
  – a boutique beachfront hotel in Waikiki Beach near Diamond Head.
• Ohana Beach Rentals – a luxury vacation rental company specializing in Oahu vacation rentals.
• Discount Hawaii Car Rental, Aloha Rents and Summit Pacific Car Rentals – three companies specializing in discounted Hawaii car rentals.
• Aloha Hawaii – a Hawaii activity booking company.
• Hawaiian Beach Rentals – a vacation rental company specializing in all the Hawaiian Islands.
• Safari Helicopters – a helicopter tour company offering service on Kauai and Hawaii, the Big Island.