Maui

[60sDukie]

The banquet for all the teams is (usually) Sunday night. That is also very enjoyable. We were there in 2007 and 2011. Alas we are not able to go this year because of family issues. So jealous of you guys.

[sagegrouse]

There have never been snakes on a plane, right?

Actually, that's the big fear in Hawaii. Guam lost almost all its avifauna to the brown tree snake, which is native to Guadalcanal. The snakes probably arrived in the wheel wells of military aircraft from the Solomon Islands.

Hawaii, so I have read, has fences to place around arriving aircraft from certain places, until they can be inspected for snakes.

[El_Diablo]

The Maui Invitational bracket came out today, so I thought I'd bump this old Maui thread. Tickets go on sale August 8, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. HST). My dad and I will be there. Anyone else going this year?
Attachment 8526
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I was unable to secure any Duke tickets when they went on sale earlier today (and the booster/travel packages likewise sold out long ago). Does anyone have any insight/advice on ways of finding tickets at this point? It seems the only direct sale options are (a) buy packages for other teams (e.g., the SDSU package would result in one Duke game, but one would have to guess on the other opponents and hope to get lucky) or (b) wait until the single game tickets go on sale on 11/16 and hope they don't sell out in under a minute again.

[alliecatdevil]

Hi guys,
I was able to get two tickets yesterday at 4pm on the dot. the Duke Tix were gone--my hubby is an Iowa State grad so when the teams were
announced some time ago, we put this one on the calendar.

If you look at the bracket, you could choose another team for Day 1--We got one ISU general admission booster and I got one booster from another team--This will be the first year we have gone, so I will be interested to see how the ticket scheme goes--There will be tix available there (scalpers probably) so the key is just getting some for the first day.

I got mine on TicketsWest.com yesterday--that was where the Maui site directed me. If I hear anything else, I'll post.

Hope to see some of you-- we are headed out on the 11th Nov to enjoy the week prior and then go to the games. Flying back to RDU on Thanksgiving night.

[nmduke2001]

Hi guys,
I was able to get two tickets yesterday at 4pm on the dot. the Duke Tix were gone--my hubby is an Iowa State grad so when the teams were
announced some time ago, we put this one on the calendar.

If you look at the bracket, you could choose another team for Day 1--We got one ISU general admission booster and I got one booster from another team--This will be the first year we have gone, so I will be interested to see how the ticket scheme goes--There will be tix available there (scalpers probably) so the key is just getting some for the first day.

I got mine on TicketsWest.com yesterday--that was where the Maui site directed me. If I hear anything else, I'll post.

Hope to see some of you-- we are headed out on the 11th Nov to enjoy the week prior and then go to the games. Flying back to RDU on Thanksgiving night.

We went in 2011 and will be there again this year. My wife and I spoke about it last night and could not remember a single scalper in 2011.

[madscavenger]

Has anyone ever purchased tickets via vividseats.com? They had tickets available prior to the August 8th release. We bought a couple on August 5th. Even though we weren't familiar with them, we had seen an ad at goduke.com and honestly did not expect to get tickets through official vendors on August 8th. In the past, tickets made available from Ticketmaster and others almost always were gone in less than one minute, so we purchased them from vividseats. Since then, I haven't found anyone else who did. A little nervousness has set in.

Feedback, anyone?

mad

[Gooch]

Has anyone ever purchased tickets via vividseats.com? They had tickets available prior to the August 8th release. We bought a couple on August 5th. Even though we weren't familiar with them, we had seen an ad at goduke.com and honestly did not expect to get tickets through official vendors on August 8th. In the past, tickets made available from Ticketmaster and others almost always were gone in less than one minute, so we purchased them from vividseats. Since then, I haven't found anyone else who did. A little nervousness has set in.

Feedback, anyone?

mad

I have used Vivid Seats for other sporting events and had no issues. They directed me to a local pick-up place a short walk from the arena to get my tickets. Enjoy the game!

[westwall]

Hi guys,

If you look at the bracket, you could choose another team for Day 1--We got one ISU general admission booster and I got one booster from another team--This will be the first year we have gone, so I will be interested to see how the ticket scheme goes--There will be tix available there . . . so the key is just getting some for the first day.

Agree, this has worked in the past.

[JetpackJesus]

I was unable to secure any Duke tickets when they went on sale earlier today (and the booster/travel packages likewise sold out long ago). Does anyone have any insight/advice on ways of finding tickets at this point? It seems the only direct sale options are (a) buy packages for other teams (e.g., the SDSU package would result in one Duke game, but one would have to guess on the other opponents and hope to get lucky) or (b) wait until the single game tickets go on sale on 11/16 and hope they don't sell out in under a minute again.

Same here. I logged in at exactly 10am (I also tried calling but the line just hangs up on you eventually), and tickets were already gone. I think it's pretty lame that they allow all tickets to be sold through travel packages without reserving any for the ticket-only sale. I'm going to check out the secondary market, I guess.

[Bluedog]

Has anyone ever purchased tickets via vividseats.com? They had tickets available prior to the August 8th release. We bought a couple on August 5th. Even though we weren't familiar with them, we had seen an ad at goduke.com and honestly did not expect to get tickets through official vendors on August 8th. In the past, tickets made available from Ticketmaster and others almost always were gone in less than one minute, so we purchased them from vividseats. Since then, I haven't found anyone else who did. A little nervousness has set in.

Feedback, anyone?

mad

Don't have personal experience with vivid seats but they seem reputable. Many resellers put tickets available BEFORE they actually have them in hand because they're confident they can get them. However, every once in a while they end up having to pay more than they sold them for and take a loss, but they'd rather do that then not deliver the promised goods. Demand always goes down as it gets closer to the games (except for the super bowl with the Seahawks and Patriots which then let to some new rules for tickets resellers) so they feel they can usually get an arbitrage opportunity by offering the tickets early.

But yes, it's frustrating that it seems like "normal" people can never get any tickets when they go on sale to the public, and bookies get them all. They used to have automated bots that grabbed all the tickets, but that's harder to do these days.

Listen to this NPR planet money podcast if you want more information about the secondary market and specifically the upheaval during the 2015 super bowl were small players completely lost their shirts as demand unexpectedly increased closer to game time.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/02/02/582861315/episode-822-the-shortest-super-bowl

[madscavenger]

Earlier i mentioned that i was a little nervous about my purchase. i had received a purchase confirmation from Vivid Seats on August 5th which indicated an estimated shipping date of Ausgust 11th. Yesterday afternoon i received an email about that purchase, so i went to my account at Vivid Seats and discovered that the tickets are now expected to be sent by November 17th. By then i'll likely be in Hawaii and not home to sign off on the UPS delivery. i found comments online that cited similar experiences. Disconcerting? You betcha.

[Bluedog]

Earlier i mentioned that i was a little nervous about my purchase. i had received a purchase confirmation from Vivid Seats on August 5th which indicated an estimated shipping date of Ausgust 11th. Yesterday afternoon i received an email about that purchase, so i went to my account at Vivid Seats and discovered that the tickets are now expected to be sent by November 17th. By then i'll likely be in Hawaii and not home to sign off on the UPS delivery. i found comments online that cited similar experiences. Disconcerting? You betcha.

Yep, that stinks. They clearly don't have the tickets and are planning on sending somebody to Hawaii in person to get them right before the event. I can understand your concern. The "immediate download" tickets are always safer for that reason. If they say they're going to ship them "at a later date", means they don't have them in hand. Hope everything works out for you.

[djp10]

I was lucky enough to score 3 Duke Partial Booster Packages (1st two games on Mon and Tue). I need to be on a flight on Tue, so I won't be able to attend the second game. Does anyone know if the tickets come with an additional wristband that would prevent me from selling the 2nd game tickets?

I guess I'll find out shortly after Sep 30 when the tickets are shipped to me.

EDIT: The main reason I'm asking is because there's a 10p red eye option, which would allow me to attend the Tue game; but my wife and toddler would probably prefer we depart a little earlier than that. Being able to sell the tickets would help make the decision.

[60sDukie]

We did this in 2011 and 2007.

I assume things still work the same way: after each game they clear the stands. Then they let in the fans for the next game. These fans have been lined up outside the arena in the hot sun waiting to get in.

When we got to the arena (while the game before ours was being played) we bought tickets to this earlier game at the on-site box office. This works if the previous game is not sold out. That gets you in the arena. When they clear the arena, if you have a ticket for the next game (the Duke game) they don't make you leave. They just make you stand at the top of the bleachers while everyone else exits. When they open the stands for the next game, voila, you are at the front of the line! You end up spending money for a game that you might not care about, but you can get a good seat without being part of the crush of people racing in when they "open the gates".

A personal note: In 2007, all seats were available first-come, first-served. In 2011 they had the best seats reserved (with tape on the bleachers) for "special" people. Never did find out what one had to do to be "special". But we still were able to get the "best of the rest".

[JetpackJesus]

I was lucky enough to score 3 Duke Partial Booster Packages (1st two games on Mon and Tue). I need to be on a flight on Tue, so I won't be able to attend the second game. Does anyone know if the tickets come with an additional wristband that would prevent me from selling the 2nd game tickets?

I guess I'll find out shortly after Sep 30 when the tickets are shipped to me.

EDIT: The main reason I'm asking is because there's a 10p red eye option, which would allow me to attend the Tue game; but my wife and toddler would probably prefer we depart a little earlier than that. Being able to sell the tickets would help make the decision.

I don't know how resale would work. Maybe try calling TicketsWest or going through the customer service form on their website? When I called to try to purchase tickets I did speak to a real human. She just didn't have any tickets to sell me. They might be able to answer your questions.

If you do end up selling your tickets to the second game, I know someone who's very interested in buying (it's me).

[El_Diablo]

I was lucky enough to score 3 Duke Partial Booster Packages (1st two games on Mon and Tue). I need to be on a flight on Tue, so I won't be able to attend the second game. Does anyone know if the tickets come with an additional wristband that would prevent me from selling the 2nd game tickets?

I guess I'll find out shortly after Sep 30 when the tickets are shipped to me.

EDIT: The main reason I'm asking is because there's a 10p red eye option, which would allow me to attend the Tue game; but my wife and toddler would probably prefer we depart a little earlier than that. Being able to sell the tickets would help make the decision.

I need three tickets and would gladly take them off your hands.

[shimmyshimmy]

I know its a longshot but i am looking for 1 or 2 tickets to mondays game if anyone is coming in late and cant make the first game. i could only get monday off from work (live locally) so thats why i didnt buy a whole booster pack but would still like to try and go monday. aloha

[madscavenger]

My sister-in-law has tons of time share points she has to use or lose by yearend (i know, who the heck would buy into one of those). In any case, she almost begged us to take them, gratis. Unfortunately, all of their Maui units are booked. We're trying to piece together something, perhaps a time share on another island for awhile blended with a non-associated hotel on Maui. We'll probably spend about 10 days total, maybe wrap it around our anniversary (#44). Anyone out there thinking twofer, dollars to donuts you're still single. Any recs on Maui hotels?

[shimmyshimmy]

My sister-in-law has tons of time share points she has to use or lose by yearend (i know, who the heck would buy into one of those). In any case, she almost begged us to take them, gratis. Unfortunately, all of their Maui units are booked. We're trying to piece together something, perhaps a time share on another island for awhile blended with a non-associated hotel on Maui. We'll probably spend about 10 days total, maybe wrap it around our anniversary (#44). Anyone out there thinking twofer, dollars to donuts you're still single. Any recs on Maui hotels?

your best value would be to rent a condo through vrbo or homeaway. anywhere in kahana or napili is nice. look on tripadvisor for verified reviews. you can make your own cocktails and grill every night instead of pay 14$ for a cocktail and 20$ for a cheeseburger at the resort. pret cost effective. if you wanted to do the resort thing all of the kaanapali hotels are pretty much the same, nothing special. sheraton has the best location and is a little smaller and not as busy and crazy as the others. but its spread out and the pools arent as nice as the hyatt marriott or westin. westin is doing a renovation right now so be aware they usually dont advertise those things. i dont know where duke is staying but staying where the team is at is kinda cool as you can see all the players and coaches walking around. if you want something low key napili kai is a kind of hidden gem right on napili bay. also after thanksgiving things start to die down so if you spent the rest of your 10 days past the tournament vs before and coming in early you could probably get better better deals on things. hope that helps

[gam7]

Is this tournament really taking place in two weeks?

I am posting with an appeal to the board. I would love to purchase Duke booster package Maui tickets (up to 4 of them). If there are any DBR-ers with spare tickets that you need to dispose of, please DM me. Any leads would be much appreciated. If not, feel free to stop reading this post.

The background: I arranged for accommodations in Maui more than a year ago in anticipation of this tournament. When tickets went on sale through Duke, I was disappointed to learn that they could only be purchased as part of larger travel packages. I dutifully went to the Maui Invitational website in early August to try to purchase tickets the minute tickets went on sale to the general public, and those packages either completely sold out before being made available to the public, or were snapped up within seconds of going on sale.

I have been in periodic contact with the Iron Dukes office (I'm an Iron Duke) since February to check on whether there has been any update about standalone tickets. I am on the waitlist for four tickets. The Iron Dukes office has been extremely responsive, which I very much appreciate, but they still haven't been allocated any more standalone tickets from the tournament organizers.

Last week, I reached out to the tournament directly, and it does not sound as though any more tickets will be made available to the schools. (The person who emailed me said that there may be single game tickets that they'll offer for sale on Nov. 16, but those are "based on availability," and "will be EXTREMELY limited" (capitalization in original).

So, here I am. I'll be on Maui, but am now starting to worry that I won't be able to get tickets.