Daily Disappointments.
Pro's: The mountain views and the beaches close by are gorgeous!!! The price was cheaper than most.
CONS: where should I start!?!? Before it all started, and after paying my deposit through Tripadvisor, I questioned the map location that Morgan uses on TripAdvisor. I asked Morgan to confirm the location of the condo but he ignored me. I had to use satellite imaging to track down the location based on the unique pool shape. That should have been my clue to find somewhere else and not trust Morgan. Then, Morgan said that he would send me the entry info 3 days before the trip, but I had to email him 2 days before to follow up on that info. It made me nervous but I pushed on. Regrets and apologies to my husband and daughter. I felt like a failure to them.
The property is not waterfront and only has a small sliver of "ocean view" in the distance. The mountains are beautiful but you can't really see them from the unit, only from the outside stairwell. It is not in Waianae as Morgan's TripAdvisor map indicates. It is actually much further back from the water (5-10 mins or so drive) and more north. The unit is actually within "the Makaha Valley Plantation" housing project which houses locals and tourists. The locals in the unit next door are not happy and like to stand outside vaping and complaining about their lives or their boyfriends and kids with profanity. There were couples arguing and people screaming at each other throughout the evenings.
The grounds, including the stairwell up to the unit, are covered with various wild cats, cat feces, cat spray, peacocks, chickens and their feces as well. The smell, look and sound is overwhelming and disgusting. They are incredibly noisy while fighting and mating through the day and all hours of the night.
The property appears in the map to be an hour drive from the Airport, except the map is wrong and the rush hour traffic is insanity. After 21 hours of travelling, I just wanted to be there already, but we were stuck in stopped traffic. It was awful, painful and tearful by the time we made it. We passed multiple tent city's of homeless all along the coast up to Morgan's place. It was depressing and unnerving.
Morgan's letter says to check in at the security booth (white parking pass provided) but he doesn't tell you to check in at the office too and get a green parking pass. That caused a bit of confusion when trying to come back from grocery shopping the next day. My husband was called "a f'ing idiot" by someone else living or staying there who was also going through security. It was not enjoyable. The security supervisor told us that Morgan has "a bunch" of units in the MVP housing project. So I had to pull out the paperwork to confirm the unit number and letter because she couldn't narrow it down for us. Morgan's wife said that it was their only unit there. I don't care, but the breach of privacy for Morgan by security or the lie from Morgan's wife to me was concerning and annoying.
When we got back, after grocery shopping and a look at the beautiful beaches (minus the litter and homeless tent cities), there was construction happening in the unit below us. Cutting ceramic tiles!! I tried to stay patient but the power tools were so noisy that we had to close the doors and windows. Morgan ignored my messages inquiring about the quiet times until I told him that we were using non-stop electricity for the A/C (against his "House Rules" ) because we were not able to capture the cross breeze with the doors and windows closed which we needed in order to try and dampen some of the noise of power tools. It was not our enjoyment (or lack thereof), not my texts, emails or TA messages that got Morgan/Camille's attention, but rather the electricity bill. After that, the noise stopped, but...see more below!
The next day, I realized there was no smoke detector in the unit. Just the empty holder for where one used to be. I bought one at the hardware store for my family's safety and so that I could sleep at night. I was so upset about it that I messaged Morgan/Camille but just got a "thank you" and an offer for a reimbursement for the cost of the detector. $9.10 USD.
Morgan's "house rules " and little notes around the unit are bossy, overbearing and annoying. You're supposed to store your dry food in a plastic bin like you are camping in the bush. This may be because of the cockroaches. There was one dead one in the bedroom when we arrived. Another alive one surprised me a few days later in the bathroom while on the toilet. When we first started unpacking, I had to fix the drawer in one of the dressers before I could open it and put my clothes in it. The bottom kept falling out. So that ruined the use of 2 dresser drawers.
The "balcony" is only 1' deep. So it's more like an oversized window ledge, not a functional balcony. You cannot enjoy the balcony because it is so small and the railing does not feel secure to lean on and the whole thing feels like it is falling forward. One bed is sort of comfortable but the other is so basic and squeaky it's awful. Much like a pullout couch. There is NO microwave!!!
The only nice thing in the bathroom is the 2 green towels. They are also the only nice towels in the unit. I had to decide between using the towels or keeping them as decoration so the rest of the bathroom wasn't so depressing.
The contractor from the construction work downstairs came back to pick up his uncut tiles. When we woke up the next morning, there was a large dent in our rental vehicle. We believe it was punched by this contractor. We talked to the security supervisor who was no help and wouldn't confirm or deny anything. She took a few photos on her cellphone and said a report would be written but that it was for the security's use, not ours. If we wanted a copy, we'd have to file a report with the police. We asked about the domestic fights we heard but she said there were none and some people just "talk loudly to each other".
The toilet started leaking from the bottom across the bathroom floor. My daughter appreciates/requires quiet time in her room. She said to me that she felt "locked away" because the bedroom windows are filled with window A/C units and no view. The unit is so small there is no space to be alone with your thoughts. It's so noisy with cat/roosters/peacocks/arguing that I couldn't relax. I kept thinking the sprinklers at night were people breaking into the unit.
Each day we would leave for our tourist activities. The Atlantis Submarine is amazing! The beaches are beautiful. The Pearl Harbour Memorial was educational. The tidal pools by the lighthouse a fun. But every single time our car was headed back to Morgan's my body and mind would tense up and the traffic would surround us and I started getting panicked and anxious about what would happen next. After 6 nights of this trauma, I walked from Morgan/Camille's unit and went over my budget to book another rental for my family for the remainder of our stay. I wish I had not put us through even 1 night at Morgan's place.
I have now spent 2+ hours writing this review (from the new vacation home) in the hope of saving you the same awful experience and to relieve myself of the burden and negativity that the experience left in my mind and heart. I feel the property is falsely/misleadingly advertised. I became single mother at 16 and lived in a one bedroom basement apartment until I could finish school and start travelling. I am very open minded and tried to stay positive and not be rude. But the combination of all of this awful stuff is beyond anything I could have imagined from Trip Advisor. When I raised this with the owners, I received an argumentative reply blaming me for my choice to book with them (that I should've known better and I made them cry with my draft review), but still putting me off for the rest of my booked time at their unit because Morgan was too busy at work to talk to me and his wife can't make decisions on her own. I still haven't heard from them.
Please, please be kind to yourself and your family and keep looking for something else in Oahu. There is so much beauty elsewhere. You deserve to be respected, comfortable and to feel safe during your trip!! You won't at Morgan's unit.
