Outrigger Waikiki On The Beach Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu

Lobby, on the 2nd floor

Located on one of the best stretches of sand on Waikiki Beach, the main draw to this Outrigger outpost is its location -- in the heart of the action, between two of the most historic, most luxurious resorts in Oahu, the Moana Surfrider and the Royal Hawaiian.

But its popular location has a downside -- it's incredibly crowded, and often noisy. Outrigger's lobby is located on the 2nd floor, so guests enter at street level through what's essentially a shopping mall -- and a Seattle's Best Coffee shop -- and head up an escalator. Duke's Canoe Club, a veritable tourist trap and one of the most popular restaurants in Waikiki, is located on the ground floor and its nightly music can rattle the windows on some of the lower-floor rooms. And Queen's Beach, just out front, is easily the most crowded beach in all of Oahu.

But beyond the location, Outrigger's large guest rooms are pretty dated -- as evidenced by their old tube TVs -- and its crowded pool just can't compete with the giant pool and waterslides found at the equally well-located and newly renovated Sheraton Waikiki.

Staff giving a ukulele lesson

The Outrigger Waikiki has 524 rooms -- that's big, but far from the enormous by Waikiki standards -- but because of the blend of shops and restaurants on the ground floor that regularly attract non-guests to the hotel, it's hard for the staff to discern guests from visitors. Don't expect help to come to you.

• Porter services -- but be sure to seek out the bellmen's desk on the ground floor, well inside the hotel entrance
• Prompt check-in
• Service requests -- like extra toothpaste -- are handled promptly, but you might have to wait a while for someone to pick up the phone at the front desk.

View on a Larger Map

With a front door on Kalakaua Avenue and a back door on the sand, the hotel is in the heart of Waikiki. Two of Waikiki's most luxuious hotels -- the Moana Surfrider and the Royal Hawaiian -- are next door, and the International Marketplace, where vendors hawk endless carts full of puka-shell necklaces and Obama bobbleheads, is across the street.

Kalakaua Avenue is a touristy, milelong stretch of shops, restaurants, and high-rise hotels that runs along Waikiki Beach on Oahu's southeast coast. It offers a curious blend of mainland creature comforts and local flavor. On the sidewalks, Japanese tourists intermingle with tanned locals, surfboards under their arms, on their way to the beach to catch a few waves after work. On both sides of the street, high-end retailers -- Tiffany, Cartier, and yes, even an Apple store -- are interspersed with indoor malls and streetside vendors hawking cheap seashell jewelry and T-shirts. Seemingly every midmarket chain restaurant can be found here -- Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, Tony Roma's -- along with more than a handful of Starbucks and fast-food joints. And towering above it all: 40-story, thousand-room hotels like the Hyatt Regency and Princess Kaiulani dotting the landscape like pins in a cushion.

• Wide variety of shopping, dining, and drinking -- all within walking distance
• Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and International Marketplace are just down the block.
• Honolulu Zoo is a 10-minute walk.
• Kapiolani Park, an oasis of (relative) calm for people-watching and local flavor, is also within 10 minutes walking distance
• Cheap and easy to get around Waikiki via "The Bus" ($2.25 per person to go any distance)
• Honolulu International Airport is a 15- to 20-minute, $35 cab ride.
• Parking is $25 a day, with in and out privileges, but a rental car isn't essential on this part of the island.

Beach outside the Outrigger Waikiki

Outrigger Waikiki is on what's arguably the nicest stretch of Waikiki Beach. Loosely speaking, the entire 1.5-mile stretch of sand alongside Kalakaua Avenue is known as Waikiki Beach. In reality, it's more like three separate beaches, the borders of which vary depending on whom you ask. Outrigger Waikiki is located on the section called Queen's Beach, which is the part you see on postcards of Waikiki: manicured, palm tree-dotted lawns leading to a sunny white-sand beach. Children splash about in the shallow water near the shore, while surfers and standup paddle-boarders (the rad new thing to do) patrol the outer waters.

To summarize Queen's Beach in one word: packed. Packed with energy, packed with activity, packed -- most significantly -- with people. Towels carpet the sand like blankets at a sold-out concert. Families with small children, honeymooning couples, even locals taking lunch breaks -- they all merge here, sunning, swimming, and sandcastle-building, all the while doing their best not to kick sand in each other's faces.

• Private stone section of patio just at the sand’s edge, with chairs crammed together (some guests claim they have to get there as early as 6 a.m. to claim a chair) -- no private section of sand as found at hotels like the Moana Surfrider and Royal Hawaiian
• Free towels and chairs at the pool desk on a first-come-first-served basis -- but return the towels, though, lest you're charged $20 a pop.
• No umbrellas; you'll have to rent them from U.V. Rays Beach Services Center on the beach -- but get there early, they might run out as early as 11 a.m.
• Warm, shallow water -- a great place for kids to swim -- though Kuhio Beach tends to have calmer waves
• Sandy, not rocky, ocean bottom -- unlike neighboring Fort DeRussy Beach to the west and Kuhio (aka "the wall") to the east
• Lifeguards monitor the beach throughout the day.

Standard Room

For most guests, noise is the biggest problem. Because the popular Duke's restaurant is on the ground floor facing the ocean, all the rooms near it can hear its revelry well into the evening.

Rooms are clean, but they haven't been renovated in some time -- evidenced by the old tube TVs -- and generally don't look as new and fresh as the rooms at the Sheraton Waikiki, two hotels down the road, or Outrigger's sister property, Outrigger Reef, further west on the less desireable Fort DeRussy section of the beach.

• All guest rooms are larger than average -- about 360 square feet -- and have either a king or 2 full-size beds, plus an additional pullout sleeper sofa in some rooms; one-bedroom suites also available.
• Balcony angled for an ocean view in every room -- a significant advantage over the standard rooms in most other Waikiki hotels
• Lower-quality beds -- thin nylon bedspread; basic sheets; waffle-pattern cotton blanket; two poly-stuffed pillows
• 27-inch Zenith tube TV with 36 basic cable channels, movies on demand, and Nintendo games available
• Safe large enough to fit a laptop
• Bathrooms have granite countertops and a standard shower/tub combo -- but the room is poorly lit
• Empty, half-size fridge and coffee pot with a few packets of coffee in every room
• Bath products made locally with papaya and pineapple fruit extract (the hotel's own brand)
• Free hard-wired Internet; no Wi-Fi
• Request a room on the 14th floor or above -- less noise; faster, express elevator to your room (the main elevator can be very slow)

Crowds at the pool

• Small pool and Jacuzzi -- given the size of the hotel -- and it can be very crowded; you'll have to arrive as early as 6 a.m. if you want to snag a lounge chair.
• No shallow end of the pool -- it's five feet deep at its shallowest
• Quality 24-hour fitness center on the 17th floor -- great views of the ocean; extensive cardio and weight-training equipment; a big flat-screen on the wall (no personal TV monitors); limited room for stretching
• Waikiki Plantation Spa offers a full range of services from massages and facials to body wraps, waxing, manicures, and pedicures. Prices are typical of Waikiki: $110 for a 50-minute massages; pedicures for $70.
• Since 1969, Society of Seven has been performing a comedy and variety show in the Outrigger's theatre. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday nights; tickets cost about $40, with dinner and cocktail packages also available.
• Free, but slow, Wi-Fi in the lobby
• 3 PCs in the business center, rates run 20 cents per minute ($5 minimum)

Ukulele lessons

Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach draws lots of families with its beachfront location, lively atmosphere, large rooms, and family activities throughout the day -- from lei-making to ukulele and hula-dancing lessons. But its small pool doesn't compare to the enormous pool and waterslide at the Sheraton Waikiki.

• Most rooms sleep four -- either a king and a pullout sofa or two full-size beds; one- and two-bedroom suites and adjoining rooms are also available.
• Free cribs; rollaways cost $50 per person, per night.
• Less-ideal pool -- shallowest end is five-feet deep
• Kid-friendly menu options at Duke's and at the on-site deli

Save a little mildew in the shower, the rooms are very well cleaned, as is the rest of the property.

Duke's, a Waikiki institution

Outrigger Waikiki's on-site restaurants are all either on or overlooking the beach, and they span a wide price range, from cheap sandwiches to $40 steaks. Plus, the hotel's central location means that there's plenty of other places to dine within walking distance.

• Nightly live music and good (but not great) steak and seafood (entrees range $20 to $30) can be found at Duke's Canoe Club, located right on the beach. It's open breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but allow time to wait -- there's always a line.
• Hula Grill has an incredible view, delicious, reasonably priced breakfasts ($6.75 buttermilk pancakes; $11 crab cake eggs Benedict) and well-regarded steak and seafood dinner entrees for about $20 to $30.
• Like Hula Grill, Chuck's Steakhouse serves pricey chops and seafood -- entrees range from $25.50 (petite sirloin) to $35.95 (lamb chops), including an all-you-can-eat salad bar.
• An on-site deli serves affordable sandwiches (none more than $5.75), salads, and smoothies.
• Seattle's Best Coffee, a Starbucks-like franchise, is also on-site