Mr. and Mrs. My Vacation Lady visited Maui and Kauai in December 2019 and because we send a lot of our clients to the beautiful Hawaiian Islands, we need to experience the different luaus in order to make the best possible recommendations to our clients.

On this vacation to Maui, we tried 2 different Luaus that we hadn’t seen before.  Now to be honest, there are a LOT of luaus offered in Maui and we tended to recommend those in Lahaina over the ones at the hotels just because we had experienced them before.  We felt that the Old Lahaina Luau was the most authentic and the Feast of Lele was more gourmet and more romantic (great for honeymooners).

We experienced the Myths of Maui at the Royal Lahaina resort a couple of years ago.  While this is a very popular luau (and the longest running), most of the performance was NOT facing the ocean, which I feel was a bit of a disappointment.  How can you see an oceanfront luau, when you aren’t looking at the ocean?

This year, we saw 2 more resort luaus – Drums of the Pacific at the Hyatt Regency Maui and Feast of Mokapu at the Andaz.

We were upgraded to the priority seating at Drums of the Pacific and paid for the premium (front row) seats at the Feast of Mokapu.  Honestly, at the Feast of Mokapu, paying for the upgrade wasn’t necessary.  It’s such a small venue that all seats have good views.

The dancers and the Mistress of Ceremonies (or story teller) for both of these luaus was the same but that’s really where it ended.

Drums of the Pacific was a buffet- well organized and the food was good.   While the opening ceremony was ocean facing the rest was on a stage.  There was a fashion show, demonstrating how versatile the lava lava (pareo or wrap is).  They had a guest hula lesson on stage- a big hit for the kids.

Feast of Mokapu was waiter service and the food was excellent.  The entire performance was oceanfront with the beautiful ocean and the island of Lanai behind.  I felt that the pre-show was more personal and we were able to make lei bracelets and get (temporary) tattoos as the dancers had on their bodies.  We were also give an 8″ x 10″ photo of us facing on the grounds facing the ocean.  That was a nice touch, especially since this is currently the priciest luau on Maui.

My Vacation Lady may be able to offer 2 for 1 entrance to Drums of the Pacific for our clients staying at the Hyatt Regency Maui which may make this luau even more desirable.

I think in order of our favorites of the 5 luaus that we have seen:

  • Feast of Lele- most romantic in Lahaina
  • Old Lahaina Luau- most authentic in Lahaina
  • Feast of Mokapu- most intimate in Wailea
  • Drums of the Pacific- very family friendly and good buffet- in Ka’anapali
  • Myths of Maui- very family friendly and during certain times of the year, My Vacation Lady can offer free admission (among other amenities) with the romance package promotion in Ka’anapali.

So which would we recommend for YOU?  That would depend because we always want to get to know our clients to recommend the best experiences.

Here is a comparison of some of the top Luau’s in Maui