Starting with the positives .. My wife and I stayed at the Aloha Cabana for thirty days and found Lisa to be a lovely person with a warm personality. She was very welcoming and went out of her way to make my wife and I feel right at home. The Cabana was clean and was exactly as advertised with the photos showing the place in good light. Puamana is a beautiful place and it is a highly desirable spot to stay, enjoy Maui and have a close proximity to Lahaina.
So why the 2-star review? The Aloha Cabana is right next to a very busy highway. We are from New York City and we are use to street noise, but the cabana is about 20 yards from a very busy highway that has motorcycles, heavy trucks and cars twenty-four hours a day. When one comes to Hawaii, it is to get away from the noise and relax perhaps with the sounds of the waves crashing, not traffic zooming by the cabana. The other problem and the one that was the worst part of staying there was the construction that was happening next door. Lisa made a conscious decision not to inform us of the construction that she was doing to her own property right next door. Her apartment next door was/is attached to the Aloha Cabana. She decided that instead of informing us (like any honest person would do) and giving us a chance to find another place, she decided to keep quiet. So clearly she put our money in front of her integrity. The construction noise was loud five days a week from 9:00am until after 5:00pm. Not only was the noise of drilling, sawing, hammering and grinding unpleasant, but the dust from the construction was so thick at times that we had to complain to her because we had babies in our house for part of our stay and we were concerned for their health. We were unable to enjoy the lanai (patio) for our entire stay. Maybe if she had just given us a heads-up, I would feel differently but I guess that the thought of losing a renter for a month was a risk she was not willing to take. Lisa was very apologetic and offered us a small compensation for the problem. She told us that the construction was "last minute" but when we arrived there was already a full dumpster.
I would love to stay in Puamana if we return to Maui, but I would check the Puamana website and rent from some other individual and rent a place closer to the water and further away from the busy highway.