Review - Oahu Vacation Resort
The Oahu Vacation resort is somewhere I've been wanting to review for a while. I originally featured it back in November as part of a list of resorts that are a possibility for longer (several weeks as opposed to days) stays.
I finally managed to come back for a closer look, and my conclusion now is that the Hawaiian themed sims Oahu forms part of are worth a visit, but not a stay.
Overall look and feel
As mentioned, the Oahu Vacation Resort is part of a large group of Hawaiian themed sims, beyond Oahu for example you will find Maui (where a sign explicity tells you that it's not the same place as the infamous swingers' place).
The overall look and feel is really what you'd expect, a series of tropical islands with rentals, beaches with public areas, bars and a restaurant, and beach sports activities.
Oahu looks quite dated, both in terms of the public areas, the landscaping and the villas. And though I know others have different opinions, I personally don't think that old designs and builds stand the test of time well.
However Maui and the sims beyond Oahu look much more up to date. I found this part quite pleasant and could imagine spending a few hours here with friends or with a date.
Overall - 3 / 5
The rooms
The Oahu Vacation Resort has a range of places that you can rent per night (150L) or per week, with the Honeymoon villas costing 2900L for a week's stay. Then there are different price points in between.
Let’s start this section off by talking about indoor plumbings, or bathrooms. Many SL skyboxes and houses don’t have this. In my previous SL existence, the places I lived in generally didn't either.
However, 90% of Second Life hotels and resorts do. And I now feel this adds an important realism element. So much so, that it sticks out when a resort hasn't added bathrooms (or at least showers and WCs) to its accommodation.
The Oahu Vacation Resort doesn't, so for me personally, this is a big omission.
As mentioned, the builds look quite old, as if they have not been refreshed for 3-4 years. The Honeymoon Villas aside, I also thought many were quite small and too close to neighbouring huts and villas.
Overall - 1.5 / 5
The facilities
The first thing to highlight (and you might want to come and visit for this alone) is the USS Arizona Memorial, commemorating some of the dead of Pearl Harbour.
The Oahu Vacation Resort also has a series of shops, 'Club Addiction' (a nightclub), a sports recreation centre.
There are of course a series of beaches, including an 'adult' beach, which is beyond Oahu, at Pacific West.
One thing I did enjoy was the automated ferry to Maui, and the plane on the beach kitted out in Hawaiian Airlines livery.
Other things I liked were the boats you can rez to take out to two lighthouses, the mermaid cave, and the dolphins swimming off the beach.
Overall - 4 / 5
Animations
I should say that I went on my own without a travelling companion, so didn't try out any couples animations. However, the single (sitting, beach) anims worked fine for me with no big problems.
Note that there are adult anims in the villas and huts, most of the sims are PG except for the Pacific West Adult Beach.
Overall - 4 / 5
Overall
I could definitely see myself coming back here, especially since some of the sims beyond Oahu are quite attractive and the overall area is quite big.
However, for me this is a day trip destination, it's not somewhere I personally would stay, let alone take a date on a weekend away.
Having said that, if the villas were to be updated (plus if there were less of them), as well as some of the public areas in the main Oahu sim, I could see this working as a good tropical resort on the same level as somewhere like Bonaire Yanu Yanu (see review).