Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary

After a tragic loss I was given referrals to call Nuuanu Memorial. I called after business hours and got a call back from a funeral director named Darren within 30 minutes for an estimated quote. I was then told to call back the next day during normal business hours to set up an appointment. The next day I got a call from a nice lady following up to see if I had spoken to a funeral director the precious day and had set me up an appointment. I loved the fact that she followed up because I would’ve forgot to call them.
I showed up on a Tuesday about 5 minutes prior to my scheduled appointment and there were 3 other families waiting to be seen, not sure if they had appointments but within 5 minutes I was seen. My funeral Director was Robert, he was so kind and patient (took my 4 and 5 year olds with me) and talked with us and answered all our questions and worries. We scheduled a blessing that Saturday of the same week and although I didn’t meet the deadlines to bring the clothes in and although it was last minute, he did not hassle or nag us. We even went about 20 minutes over our scheduled service and he was so patient and did not rush us. The staff that set up everything and handled my daughter were nice and friendly. There were lots of fans setup that we had a breezy afternoon service. Next to the chapel there is an open area where the tables and chairs were setup for our refreshment. They provided drinks and utensils for us and my husband loved the fact that the drinks were ICE COLD :) Not only did my family enjoy the staff and the beautiful set up. they do not charge for services for children and that helped my family out a lot. All we paid for was the cremation, tax and an urn. I am unsure about the plots though because we had a cremation. We had such a positive experience from phone service to Funeral director to the staff to the upkeep of the grounds… I will make sure my family uses them always.

Just the simple act of planning can make lives happier and easier…
Like most people, talking about terminal illness and death is not a normal topic of conversation. Fortunately, we already have our plots at Diamond Head Mortuary so part of the planning has been completed. My husband and I decided to take care of business BEFORE tragedy occurs. We met with a memorial counselor, Joan Kai, to finalize our funeral plans the other day at this Memorial Park.
Joan was easy to work with, friendly and very flexible with her schedule. Through several e-​mails we coordinated our desired burial arrangements and locked in the associated costs. You might not think that there are many funeral options to select from, but, there are! But, it boils down to whether or not you want to be buried in the ground or cremated. Then, you go through the process of selecting the «container» for your body, gravesite marker and even transport of your remains. (Sorry to be so morbid) Joan constructed our contracts based upon our desires so all we had to do was to sign and pay. The process reminded me of how well my parents had planned their funeral arrangements to avoid hasty and more costly decisions to the surviving family members.
Well, this issue is now off of our plate of things to do or preparedness of the inevitable. We didn’t feel rushed into any hasty decisions and won’t have to depend on any surviving family members to figure out what we want when we go to our final destination.
Just be forewarned, this is not an inexpensive venture but at least you’ll have Peace of Mind.
#352

Beautiful place to visit. Calm and peaceful. The tombs are all nice. It’s off the fwy with huge cliffs on the side. It’s nice to see they are all taken care of.

Made my mom’s ashes internment arrangements here. Was easy. Best to handle in person as they take cash only.

Very tranquil and beautiful park. I find it soothing to walk around this property even with the overall meaning that the very existence of a mortuary suggests. They provide copper flower pots and incense burners so that you can honor your family. Zebra doves, mynah birds and green anoles are welcome residents but so are mosquitoes so bring insect repellent if you come.

We have worked with Soo Whan Cullen for my Grandmother’s service and inurnment in 2009 and recently my Grandfather. The entire mortuary staff, from the receptionist to the memorial park workers have always been a pleasure to work with. From the planning to the service to after the service, they have always been kind, pleasant, understanding, and accommodating.
On the day of the service, Ms. Cullen makes sure everything is perfect and flows without incident. The memorial grounds are always cultured and well maintained. The water spouts easy to find, as well as trash bins.

Respects to Bob, Chief.

This Mortuary and Memorial Park has been around for more than a century. There are tombstones of families and their babies and kids. This is one of the relic memorial parks that make you wonder what happened in the past.
Our Aunty was buried here and it was a nice area. Lots of beautiful trees to shade the park.
It is a little overcrowded because this one has been around for a while…

We buried my mom here in 1999. Even then, it was hard to find a resting place in town. I found out that people buy gravesites for their family and sometimes extra as investment.
After all, its still about location, location, location right?
The spot we bought cost $ 5,000 but we’re really paying for the convenience. Its about a block away from ²⁄₅ of us kids so she’s insured that someone will always be visiting.
The location is picturesque and parking convenient.

The only reason why I used their services is because it was my mom and dad’s last wishes that when they both passed that their ashes would be placed in the same crypt as my grandfather as a final resting place. Their systems are old and aniquated, use of old electronic typwriters, paper files in boxes and to the naked eye, unorganized. The chapel that I rented was newer, yes, but unfortunately the outside stairways/​entry was under construction so not very appealing to the eye and the wheelchair ramp that they were building was unusable.
I currently live in Los Angeles so having to bring my mom and dad’s ashes home to Honolulu was, of course, one factor in wanting to keep my costs as low as possible. Both my mom and dads remains were cremated in California so I personally transported their ashes myself. I made my own urn out of oak to specs so to further keep costs low. I hired an independant florist, utilized their recommendations for a caterer, and unfortunately because I have no ties with any churches, used their recommendation for a priest. Regardless of my cost saving measures, the fee alone charged for the mortuary services was over $ 1,800. That was just for their administrative costs, rental of the chapel, two person staff to man the food, and state and local fees/​taxes. The cremation, transportation of, food, flowers, priest, was all at an additional cost. The burial/​cemetary fees were also a separate charge of an additional $ 1,200+. The burial/​cemetary charges included the opening and closing of my grandfathers crypt of $ 300+. The plaque alone was $ 900+, minimal, which was not received and placed on the crypt until over 8 months later! I had to find out from a family member living in Hawaii 6 months later that there still was no plaque. All the while not hearing a word of apology or concern from the Mortuary/​Cemetary about the delay.
The ceremony itself was awkward with the recommended priest being an hour late so therefore I decided to personally start the services since we (they) didn’t know exactly when the priest was going to show up. When he finally showed up, not only was he hard to understand, but he mispronounced my dad’s name throughout the ceremony. The burial ceremony was just as awkward with continued mispronounciation of names. At the end of the ceremony, my grieving family had to stand up out of their chairs so that they could retrieve the crypt cover which was placed behind the chairs not easily accessable, and then to have to watch an amateur try to use a caulk gun to seal the crypt with seemingly inferior caulking, ending up using his fingers to distribute the caulking evenly on the inside rim. During the ceremony, as they placed my mom and dads urn in the crypt, my grandfathers rotting casket was clearly visible. Had I known all of this, I would have opted to have the crypt sealed after the fact. I don’t recall ever having been given that option.
Overall, the whole experience was not as pleasant and respectful as I had hoped for. Even after bringing up my concerns to the Mortuary/​Cemetary regarding the costs, services, and delay in receiving the plaque, over $ 3,000 later, Nuuanu Memorial Park and Mortuary did not accept blame for anything or even offered any kind of compensation for inadequate services rendered.
Losing a loved one is never easy, and when all the responsibility of having to make all the arrangements falls upon one person, the same person who just lost his/​her loving parents, the difficulty of dealing with all the stress and emotions can be even more overwhelming. Unfortunately, Nuuanu Memorial knows this and take advantage of those involved because they know most likely people will do whatever/​pay whatever without much hesitation. Although their staff was very accomodating and friendly, all things considered, I would not reccomend them to anyone. There are many others to pick from so I would shop around instead.

My family has historically used their services since we have found their location convenient to downtown as well as their services excellent and at reasonable prices.
Losing a loved one is already a hard ordeal to have to go through, but the staff really make it simple to figure things out and ask the right questions in just the right way. I found all of the people working there to be extremely pleasant and easy to work with.
Prices will make you go ouch, but are relatively fair when you compare to other memorial parks and mortuary services in the city.