The Ritz-Carlton O‘ahu, Turtle Bay — Attraction in Oʻahu

SO WINDY. I didn't get in the pool once because it was extremely windy and cold. Everyone was sitting around the pool covered in towels because it was so cold. Not the resort's fault but still a major bummer. The restaurants range from mediocre to downright laughably awful (Roy Yamaguchi I'm talking to YOU). We stayed as a family of four in the cabanas which were lovely, with a great view, but it was a bit tight with the sofa bed unfolded. Upon arrival, we were told by staff that if we put our room service request on the door by 2am that our breakfast would arrive at the designated time the following morning. We hung our breakfast order on our door at 10:30pm only to find it still hanging there in the morning! Forced to make a last-minute decision about where to eat, we chose not to eat at Alaia for breakfast as we had a mediocre and overpriced dinner there the night before so we ended up eating breakfast out of takeout containers at Lei Lei's which is the restaurant at the golf course. The resort did provide us with a resort credit for their error which was the correct course of action and appreciated.

The whole resort seems understaffed. The wait to get food and drinks from the Sunset (poolside dining) is at least 30 minutes for drinks and 45 minutes for food, not to mention 30 minutes just to find someone to take your order. Furthermore, the poor staff are writing orders down with pen and paper instead of using POS devices. I felt so bad for them struggling with paper flapping in the wind.

We had a weird interaction with the staff while at the pool. My husband and I are chilling on the loungers, covered in towels by the kiddie pool while our kids swam. Out of the blue, one of the towel boys walks up to my husband and says "what's your room number?" My husband had no idea who he was as he was not wearing a name tag. My husband responds by asking "who are you?" The towel boy responds "hotel security, are you a guest here?" My husband is like "yes, of course, go away and leave me alone" and shows him his cabana wrist band which was under his long-sleeve rash guard. It made us feel so awkward and randomly targeted.

By far the high point both service and experience-wise were the horse stables. They have a beautiful stock of horses and ponies and the staff were very friendly and easy-going. Overall I'd say the staff were easy-going and friendly throughout the resort.

Our dinner at the Beach House by Roy Yamaguchi was one of the worst meals I have ever had. My husband and I chose the tasting menu + wine pairing and woof, was it awful! The portion sizes for each course were HUGE. Comically large and lacking finesse. The wine pairings made no sense. My husband was served a sparkling white with his Beef Tobanyaki which must have been a mistake, right? The beef tobanyaki was a humongous casserole that could have fed two people. My main entree, the Beach House Duo with short rib and black cod was served in a pool of mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes and a puddle of horseradish sauce. Again, the portion was enormous and the nothing worked together, especially the horseradish sauce. By far, the worst part of the meal was the Chocolate Mousse Cake. Ugh. Dark chocolate with caramel and blueberries. Wow, just wow. Words can't describe how weird and awful this dessert was.

I feel bad not enjoying Turtle Bay resort. Our cabana bathroom had a faint smell of sewage the entire time we were there. On a positive note, the free bicycles were a nice perk and the hiking trails around the property were excellent. Would we go back? Probably not. But it was worth checking out and is a great location if you like to surf and don't mind constant...

We just finished checking out of our 9 day 8 night stay and there many pros as some cons. It just depends on your preferences and your attention to details.|The pros:|The common areas of the grounds are absolutely stunning and clean. The layout, design and decor accord perfectly to capture the beauty of the island and the essence of relaxation, a real getaway. They have multiple pools, an ok gym good for an essential workout but not for a leg day if you wanted to have one, multiple activities and some dining - there’s something here for everyone. They have a cove conveniently located next to the resort which you can access through the back doors but you will need water shoes because it’s quite rocky. The staff is overall friendly, well mannered and kind.|The cons:|The price tag one is paying for a Ritz Cartlon experience comes with Ritz Carlton expectations for their living quarters to be as pristine as the common grounds. The first room we were given (412 - king bed with lanai) was absolutely beautiful, amazing view, clean and well designed however, the bath area had a double sink, small closet, steamer, iron & safe however it did not have slippers or bathrobe, the shower area had one floor to ceiling glass panel covering half of the shower but did not have a door and all of the water pooled outside of the ledge on the floor. Also, the hardware for the shower needs changing - it had significant water buildup, mildew and goop on it. The small fridge in the room didn’t refrigerate much. I called guest services to mention the issues and was dismissed. We later received a phone survey asking about our experience to which we said we were not experiencing great service which is when we were contacted by management and we were able to receive a solution. We were moved to a room 2 floors above -612 and the room layout was similar, we preferred the previous layout but at least the new room had a walk in shower with a door and a tub. This shower heads also had significant water, mildew and goop buildup - so it seems that this is their standard. Lastly, our room was not serviced by housekeeping on our last night. We did not receive fresh towels, coffee mugs as we used them earlier, body wash refill or have our bed refreshed which is also this particular hotel’s standard apparently as I’ve never experienced paying for a night and not having my room serviced. We showered before heading out and there was no body wash because they hadn’t serviced the room - we used shampoo instead.|Other Key details:|- the resort takes a $1600 deposit upon check in for fees and room charges that may be accrued. We asked for an itemized printout of the charges as they were charging over $800 from the deposit taken and noted they were overcharging approx $200 for multiple valet transactions that had not taken place. They did remove them when we brought it to their attention so keep an eye on your charges while there.|- Everything as far as activities is at least 50 minutes or longer of a drive to arrive. Beaches are close by but not walkable outside of the cove next to the hotel.|- Someone knocked our door at about 9am on checkout morning to ask if we “needed anything before heading out” but the general gesture made us feel rushed, prematurely kicked out. I did not like this at all, it was tacky and rude.||Overall: |the location and common grounds are a getaway, quiet for the most part but the resort is overpriced for the key details that they neglect. I don’t think we will return or recommend this to anyone. For that price tag you can try the four seasons or look for something less expensive that will have the same or better...

A group of my family and close friends stayed here for my husband’s 40th birthday and we were happy with the beautifully renovated spaces, the family-friendly pool area, upscale dining options and comfortable rooms. However we experienced downright poor service multiple times at the pool that really left a bad taste in our mouth. Of all people to have a target on their back for resort staff to be extra accommodating toward, you’d think it would be my husband, especially since we mentioned multiple times to many different staff members we were there to celebrate his birthday. Nevertheless, on the morning of his 40th, we met our family and friends at the pool and after about 20 minutes, a younger staff member approached him and asked for his name and room number. My husband tried to keep things lighthearted but the woman was very cold and unfriendly, saying she was asked to specifically room check him. He gave her our last name and room number, and she then proceeded to ask for his business partner’s name and room number as well, who was standing next to him, with a very accusatory demeanor. It was surprising to be profiled in this way, especially as high-paying guests! My husband’s business partner said, ‘isn’t that what these wrist bands are for?’ and held up his wrist, since every member of our party wore their room bands (even including the toddlers!) to ensure we were following hotel protocol. But the woman remained cold and didn’t even thank my husband or his business partner after they provided her with their information. As residents of Waialua, we have stayed at many resorts throughout Hawai‘i and have never felt more unwelcome than at Turtle Bay. It was extremely disappointing. Furthermore, we had a server at the pool deny our friend’s request to charge their food to their room. She explained that the food runners can only handle so many numbers per umbrella and that if he wanted to order he would need to do so under a pre existing tab from someone else’s room. It just doesn’t seem appropriate to disallow resort guests to charge food to their own rooms, regardless of how many people are in the group. We even attempted to group ourselves together to make squaring up with the server easier, but at a certain point it just made more sense to have this solo guest manage his own tab. Unfortunately our server made everyone feel very uncomfortable about this and only after our friend said he would simply order from the bar did our server say she would allow him to charge his food to his own room. Lastly, the staff in and around the pool area were very unfriendly. No smiles, no greetings, no acknowledgment. It seemed we were an inconvenience to them and this behavior continued for every single day we were at the resort pool (four days). Everyone in our party remained respectful and pleasant yet the staff remained irritated and cold, no aloha or warmth whatsoever. It made the overall experience quite prickly and we are extremely disappointed that our local resort didn’t do a better job of honoring and celebrating a resident (or anyone for that matter — local or visitor alike!) on their 40th birthday. Everyone in our party felt like they had to tiptoe around the staff, it was very odd. For the price of this property, the staff and service do not meet expectations and I think this could be a pinch point for Turtle Bay’s reputation and ultimately their revenue. We’ve spent a lot of time here as former residents of Kahuku, and although we were very excited to be staying for our first time at Turtle Bay Resort, I honestly am unsure if we would pay...