We loved our stay at the Hawaiian Princess -- we were looking for a beach condo off the beaten path, and found it in Makaha! The location cannot be beat if you are looking for something away from tourists, with direct access to the beach, and absolutely beautiful views. The corner lanai of this unit was private, and felt upscale. A similar corner unit at a hotel in Waikiki would have cost us more than double for the same timeframe. We purposefully only stayed a few nights so we could explore the other side of the island for the other part of our trip, but looking back we decided we could have easily stayed the whole time, and just planned travel time to other parts of the island. The extra travel time is worth the beautiful location. If you aren't comfortable eating from the local small businesses or fast food, plan to have to drive back towards the resort areas for meals you want to eat out. If you struggle to sleep "warm" in the tropics, you can close off the bedroom and run the AC, and we slept very comfortably. Makaha is near the end of the road, and there is a lot of "local" vibe. Some of it, like the homelessness, is hard to see -- but honestly, for us it was a reminder to respect the space we were sharing, and learn about the hardships happening to people in Hawaii. We took time to learn about, not just judge, our surroundings. If you're going to judge, stay in Waikiki or the resort areas. We'd go back again, 100%!