princeton123211

You are fine. Its 15 minutes to the airport usually. Even cruise line transportation (which I think is a rip off and completely unnecessary in Boston) will guarantee you to the airport in time for a noon departure. I would try and not be the last ones off the ship, as you have to account for a little more time for your daughter, but you are more than fine in terms of timing.

The last time we did the Hop on Hop Off in Dublin (was pressed for time with some folks who had never been to the city before) it worked fine until mid morning and then just got hopelessly mired in traffic to the point that it wasn't really even worth it. Personally I would go right to St James' Gate and tour Guinness and then head into town to walk around and see the sights without the bus. Sure, you might miss out on a drive by of Phoenix Park thats further afield, but any of the places on the loop in the city core you can easily cover on foot without the traffic.

What day of the week is it? Wednesdays and Saturdays tend to be 2pm matinees (although there are a lot of 1pm ones) and Sundays are 3pm matinees (and some can be on Saturdays as well). This will be day and show specific but it might be doable at 1pm (check run time of show), will be pretty tight at 2pm, and most likely not doable at 3pm.

The HoHo bus goes to the port and you can buy tickets onboard. That being said, Boston is a town much better done on foot than bus. The roads are narrow and a lot of the things worth seeing are better visited by walking.

Yes- Uber and Lyft work just as well as any other major US city in Honolulu. Outside of the city on the rest of Oahu service can be spotty.

When I use the apps I will outline the general route using Google Maps on my phone the day before to get a general sense of time and what it would take if we just drove through vs make the stops. For example with Hana-- I would Google Map Kahului to the pools the night before and it would tell me about 2 hours. Then you sort of keep that in mind as you go. The day visitor on the Hana drive can realistically stop at around 1/3 of the things mentioned and still make decent time and the other places we've used the guides (all over Hawaii, California 1, a lot of national parks etc) are sort of the same way. Its generally too much stuff unless you are spending several days somewhere (and when we do its even more rewarding).

The Uber will be a lot easier and take much less time than the Princess transfer. It will also most likely be less expensive for two people. You can call an Uber to one of the AirTrain stops to pick you up rather than having to go to the terminal proper.

Super easy to do. Way more time than you need. It should take you a little less than 45 minutes on a weekday morning like that to get to LGA from the MCT.

Personally I think a city bus is where dreams go to die, not necessarily the start of an “adventure”. But that could just be me.

Agreed.

As has been said there is no discernable companies-- its all independent operators. I personally prefer to go after breakfast or towards early evening (but before the higher evening costs kick in which I don't really consider worth it). The sweet spot is to do it during the day time but avoiding the hottest time of day midday as you are pretty exposed in the gondola. The set tariffs aren't negotiable down (although some goldoliers will try and charge you more so you can always refer to the published rates if that happens). You can negotiate with them for a slightly longer trip than the standard half hour which can be nice- usually its 40-45 minutes and an additional 20-30 Euro. A good spot to catch one is the rank outside the Hotel Bauer not far off St Marks. Usually not hard to get one there. Another option (although I wouldn't say replacement for a traditional gondola ride) is to take the Traghetto that leave right in front of The Gritti Palace Hotel and takes you across the Grand Canal and is super convenient if you want to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. It costs only 2 Euro per person and be prepared- it's not uncommon to stand on the crossing. Once over there you can also find one of my favorite places for Cicchetti in all of Venice-- Enoteca Schiavi. Actual Venetians still go there.

An Uber is going to be the quickest and easiest.

They are. You should do at least one. I've never waited nearly that long for any of them. The Breakers can be the most popular (with more people there, but not always) but there are others that are a little less busy. If there's a wait at The Breakers, Marble House is a great alternative. Its not as grand as the Breakers but its very opulent.

It is within the Dockyard complex. Are we talking about the museum or the dolphins? The museum is moderately air conditioned-- its an old building. Some of the areas in the lower area with vaulted stone ceilings are naturally cooler. The dolphin part is open air and not climate controlled at all. Yes-- the museum is the National Museum of Bermuda and is quite worthwhile. These two things are separate attractions that are just adjacent to each other. The museum can be walked through in an hour or less if you are skimming. It's not that large. If you are interested in history, yes. It's worth it. The separate dolphin experience I don't believe to be worth the significantly more than $18 they charge but thats my personal opinion.

Shouldn't make much of a difference for you-- on the opposite side of town and you have a clear corridor to get from Charlestown/North End back to South Boston.

Agree with Cruisemom-- apples to oranges. But if I were forced to choose, based on experience, I would choose the interior of the Pantheon all day long. One of the very few fully intact Roman grand buildings left. The Colosseum is a ruin-- a very pretty ruin-- but you can get as good of a feel for the place on the outside as on the inside. Not saying you shouldn't try to do both but if you have to prioritize.

Typically the cruise line hotel packages are dramatically more expensive than what you can get the same hotel room for on your own...

Hitch works pretty well. You definitely pay a premium for it but you can use a credit card to pay through the app universally (which can be nice not having to get large sums of cash on a long ride) and obviously being able to get a taxi from a place that doesn't have them standing by.

As Nitemare said-- this isn't taking place in an area of the city that affects you. You'll be able to get an Uber to Charlestown easily. They also run a fun little ferry from Charlestown Navy Yard to Long Wharf coming back which is adjacent and walkable to the North End-- worth doing. Sort of a cheap mini harbor cruise.

Yes and no. Technically Uber can't drive up to the terminal to pick up and the usual spot to pick them up is across 12th Ave. It's not as bad as it sounds. BUT I've had many an occasion (mostly on smaller ships) where they just let the Uber up the ramp and they got us curbside. Since your husband is in a wheelchair you can also select a wheelchair accessible vehicle in New York (in the app under WAV, you have to scroll to the bottom) which I'm sure could finagle themselves curbside at the MCT.

Any info like that will come direct from the cruise line and I would suggest touching base with them to confirm arrival time. You can always arrive early but if they have specified that it will be 9am its been done for a reason and safe bet to consider that the time.

It can be a fun novelty if the weather is nice and you've never spent any time on the water in Boston harbor but aside from that a general waste of time.

In theory but typically ships will sail far enough off the coast that it won't matter.

Generally cruises arrive earlier-- 6-7am typically. If Carnival is stating its a 9am arrival they are doing that for a purposefully and I dont think theres any reason to assume you will arrive earlier. No-- the cruise line shuttles will leave much earlier than that. Usually, and again most likely not applicable to your 9am arrival, the cruise line will not guarantee arrival at the airport for a flight after 12pm. But thats usually for ships arriving a few hours earlier than yours. You would need to check with your cruise line what the earliest flight they would allow you to book on your particular sailing.

Its reasonably safe and fairly level. The Seaport, while relatively new (it was a warzone when I lived in Boston over 20 years ago), is pretty bland by Boston standards-- mainly corporate hotels, high end condos, and corporate chain restaurants. If you've seen the main parts of Boston totally understand your choice here but just know what you're getting into. Generally 10-11am they might start accepting luggage. Check in not soon after. Your hotel is literally adjacent to the pier-- personally I would just use that to my advantage. Have a leisurely morning, check your bags, go grab lunch, hang around and head to the ship when you want to. It's a lot of running around and not super pleasant if the weather isn't cooperating. For a fraction of that cost you could just take an Uber to a nicer hotel, have them check your luggage for free, and be able to do whatever you want. Where they take you at Rowes Wharf is literally a 5-8 minute Uber ride and the airport is only a 10-15 minute one at most and will cost a lot less than $50pp. Would assume they have some deal with the Boston Harbor Hotel there, in which case quite safe, but again, its something you could also do for free and just give the bellman a nice tip. From Rowes Wharf it will take you about 15 to 20 minutes, is fairly flat (uneven surfaces, cobblestones, etc are just de rigueur in Boston so watch your step), and is not through any sketchy areas. The waterfront is very tourist friendly and the North End is adjacent. Would recommend Mike's Pastry over Modern. There is a bus. There is a small schlep from the pier up through the terminal to the roundabout where the bus gets you. Give yourself some time-- it's not the most convenient thing. An Uber from anywhere in town will drop you curbside and be much more efficient. Eat before. Logan is fairly basic. You'll have plenty of Dunkin Donuts and the star of the show in Terminal A is a basic Legal Seafoods. It works-- but it takes longer than it needs to and can be inconvenient with large bags. Ubering will be much simpler and take far less time.