princeton123211

The three main resort areas where there are courses are Kapalua, Kaanapali, and Wailea. Out of all of them The Plantation Course at Kapalua is most likely the most well known and is pretty spectacular. It is quite expensive to play though at $395 a round. You also have the Bay Course there which is slightly less spectacular and commensurately priced. The Royal Course at Kaanapali is ok. Its older, fairly flat, and the clubhouse facilities are just ok. But its well located. The greens are fast. I have not played the Kai Course-- the other one-- in a while so cant really comment but would suspect its well maintained as the Royal Course is. Wailea's Gold course would be the way to go there. The King Kamehameha Golf Club is really quite spectacular (the amazing clubhouse was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). If your home course has a reciprocal agreement with them by all means do it. But otherwise it is the only fully private one I'm listing here. It does have a nicer atmosphere overall being a private club vs the more resorty feel you get in Kapalua or Wailea. The course, while not quite as challenging as Plantation, is a little bit better maintained I think simply because it has less traffic on it. If I was going to Maui to play and had the ability to pick one I would just do the Plantation Course. Go big or go home.

They don't though. Just looking at Avis-- most close between 2pm and 3pm daily. One is only open on Sunday from 8am-noon. SeaTac is 24/7. The franchised downtown locations of the major rental car companies can be a craps shoot and on international one ways can cost significantly more when using them vs a corporate owned location. Also rental companies will show "sold out" to these franchised locations on an international rental but show availability to their corporate owned location at SeaTac. I used to do this all the time. This I agree with.

There are zero-- no Manhattan hotel offers an airport shuttle to any of the 3 main airports. At JFK you can take a taxi for a flat fare, but at the others Uber/Lyft will be the way to go. Yes-- all will be available. Sometimes Uber/Lyft are allowed to pick up at the MCT and sometimes not. Sometimes you'll need to cross the street to the other side of 12th Ave to get a taxi/Uber. For $400 you can get something decent (as long as its not a holiday or a special event is going on). INK48 is often mentioned here and is very close to the pier. I am not at all a fan of Times Square (and don't recommend you be either) but if one had to stay near Times Square (and therefore close to the MCT as well) The Algonquin, City Club Hotel, and Casablanca Hotels are quite nice and MAY be close to that $400 a night. Also take a look at hotels near Bryant Park which are on the other side of Times Square and the area is much less hectic. The Library Hotel there is a gem. A little further north another nice option that could be in your budget would be the Intercontinental The Barclay. I'm sure others will have other recs-- aside from INK48 these are all places I have personal experience with over the years and can vouch for. They might not all be in your budget on a particular night but there is a chance that one of them will be.

There are literally hundreds of hotels close to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal ranging from budget costing a couple hundred a night to 5 star options costing several thousand a night. We need more here-- budget, preferences, etc to even start to provide decent advice.

If I were doing what you are looking to do I would be looking in Beacon Hill/West End, Back Bay, South Boston, and maybe the Financial District/Waterfront area. All of those would put you within walking distance of most things (South Boston would be a little bit more of a walk than the others). In the West End (which is adjacent to Beacon Hill and near North Station/Garden) is a complex called Longfellow Place. They might have short term rentals-- we recently put someone there for work for a few weeks and they had a good experience. The city is very walkable from it.

This I agree with-- I would take the train a million times before I would deal with the fees and hassle of a one way international rental. I only did it because work at the time was paying for it-- the one way drop fees and international fees they hit you with can be exorbitant.

I'm speaking generally here because I don't know who you are potentially renting from but the major car rental offices downtown are mostly franchised and located in hotels/parking garages. They do not offer shuttles and often have limited hours that are geared mainly towards business travel during the week. Having often rented cars in the past between Vancouver and Seattle I think you will find that the most economical options will have you dropping off at SeaTac (which is an owned/operated site by most major rental car companies). They do not offer a shuttle downtown or to the pier. You would need to Uber. The car rental center at SeaTac though is quite easy to navigate and is very easy to use-- you are just a bit of a distance from downtown. Like I said above though-- the savings might be worth it.

Carnival departs from Midtown Manhattan so you are going to have to make the trek into the City at some point. $300 can still get you something decent in Manhattan on the right days-- a 3 or possibly 4 star hotel. And then you have the added benefit of all the City has to offer in terms of sightseeing and restaurants as well as being very close to the ship the next day. I would see if something in Times Square or Midtown fits your budget first and then push out to Jersey only if you had to. An UberX from EWR to Midtown is going to be about $65 all in including tolls and taxes. I would check Lyft too. You can of course book a car service but it will cost a bit more. Don't take a taxi from EWR-- New Jersey taxis are generally awful. Carnival doesn't have a dedicated terminal-- you'll be departing from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on the West Side. Its set up a lot like an airport with arrival and departure levels-- you'll be dropped off and drop your luggage like any other cruise terminal and then head up to check in.

You can’t really- the big competitions are all based on surf conditions. For example, the Eddie Aikau— the more famous of them, is scheduled this year to take place between Dec 14 and March 12, 2024 only when average wave height reaches 40 ft. They can’t schedule these things on a particular date- just a range and when the surf is big enough they go.

The walk from the Dufferin Terrace (upper town where the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac is) to the Citadel is about 15-20 minutes and can be done without any cobblestones. The main square, Place Royale, is the main area with cobblestones-- the roads and sidewalks for the most part are smooth paved and even in area where the roadway is cobblestone in and around the older lower town, the sidewalks are smooth.

The airport shuttle is a water launch from the airport-- not a car. Cars can't access Murano at all and very limitedly Venice proper. As cruisemom said-- unless touring Murano is a big part of what you want to accomplish in Venice, it will put you at a disadvantage with the limited time you have to see the main sites. Wouldn't be my first choice either. Find a spot in Venice thats fits your budget that ideally has their own private dock or is near Piazzale Roma or adjacent Santa Lucia Station.

If your intention is to spend most of your time in Murano then by all means, but much like Venice proper, hotels along the canals in Murano you can access directly from a water taxi but you'll be schlepping luggage in Murano to hotels that are not on canals just as you would in Venice. If the intention is to spend most of your time in Venice then you'll just waste a bunch of time commuting between the two. With only two days I would splurge for a hotel with their own private dock in Venice proper and just also splurge for a water taxi to get there. You'll stay right where you can walk to most things and you won't have to drag your luggage anywhere.

Yes it does but make sure to check to confirm where you are docking-- smaller and medium sized ships will get the prime spot at Wharf 22 (which is the one you see in all the promotional pictures) and larger ships will be sent to Wharf 30 which is on the other side of the basin. One time on QE2 we were docked at Wharf 103 which was wayyyy down and had to be bussed into town. I would assume Summit would have 22 unless there was another ship that day that bumped her. Depending on how much you want to see a HOHO bus tour really isn't necessary in Quebec City-- its relatively compact and very walkable. Even to get up the steep hill to the Chateau Frontenac you have the Funicular. A lot of the main tourist area is pedestrian only. If you have a full day and want to cover a lot of ground quickly, mainly to cover the Citadel and Plains of Abraham, then it could be useful. But if you have a shorter port stay and just want to see the main sights in town it's not only unnecessary but actually a hindrance.

Very much so. And usually a lot nicer than the taxis there. New Orleans doesn't have very high standards for the quality of vehicles they allow to be taxis-- the last time I didn't take an Uber and took a cab outside my hotel it was a 15 year old Chevy Suburban that must have had a million miles on it and I swear was creaking so badly I didn't think we'd make it to the airport. Never will do that again.

Yes. If you self disembark you should be able to make this with some time to spare. Even on a weekday you are sort of reverse commuting out of the city when most folks are coming in. It can be. Personally I would take an Uber or Lyft to Newark. Cabs are required to take you to EWR (even though it is outside of NY) but it is on the meter. An Uber/Lyft will most likely be a much nicer car for about a similar cost. We've had luck with having an Uber actually come up to the pickup area at the pier, but mostly have been disembarking smaller ships. I wouldn't schedule an Uber in advance-- I would just get out there and call it from the app then. Will be a lot easier.

If they're charging and getting $45 a day for parking in Altoona, I'm in the wrong business... That being said I don't think its going to be a dramatic overall savings-- but it might be worth it if they save $100 overall and then don't actually have to do the driving (which at 82 would be much more valuable to me).

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but you won't find anything with a stay and park in NYC including Manhattan or Brooklyn. Any of those that I have heard of or read about on these boards has been in New Jersey (which isn't particularly convenient or helpful for Brooklyn Cruise Terminal). Have they considered taking the train? You can take Amtrak's Keystone Service from Altoona, PA, a little more than an hour drive from DuBois) directly into midtown Manhattan's Penn Station. The cost is about $60 per person in advance and I have to think that parking in Altoona for the week would be inexpensive. You can also do this from Harrisburg which would be a little bit of a longer drive. You MAY be able to do a little bit better than $450 + hotel costs. Probably not much better but at least they wouldn't have to do much driving at all.

It’s such a fun town for a night- I’d just cancel the NCL shuttle and stay downtown by the pier.

You are docking in the middle of a major city. As negn mentioned, Fishermans Wharf is just down the street from where your ship docks and is easily walkable. Alcatraz does require a ferry, but more importantly it requires reservations for that ferry which can sell out in advance. There isn't really a need for an excursion but I would book and reserve the tickets for Alcatraz well before your cruise date-- you'll avoid the markup the cruise line has on it. If they were sold out directly then I would consider booking the cruise line excursion.

Its about $40 each way from MSY to the cruise terminal in an UberX so its not actually that great of a deal considering all the time you'll spend waiting around for the bus to fill and then empty etc. Where is your hotel? It sounds like you might be complicating this considerably. If you are staying downtown in New Orleans, the cruise pier is also right downtown. Going back to the airport would be an enormous waste of time, energy, and money. If you were staying but the airport, maybe you might have a case for this.

I can't tell from what you've written here but it sounds like it's possible you're coming in on an international Amtrak trip the same day as your cruise departure (which I'm inferring based on you asking for advice for a taxi from the train station). If so thats a giant risk as those trains are notorious for getting held up for hours crossing the border. It could be worth renting an international cell phone if your Canadian cell phones won't provide international service. Rentals are fairly inexpensive and would have been worth it just to solve this issue. This is sort of an area where Uber shines-- it allows you to request accessible vehicle pickups directly in the app. As GTJ mentions, the number of of truly accessible taxis in NYC is significantly less than the general taxi pool and will frankly be a bit of a crapshoot. If a fully accessible vehicle isn't required most taxis should be able to fit a folding wheelchair. I would highly recommend using the taxi stand. My wife and I did what's suggested here a few weeks ago (I used to live in Manhattan 15 years ago and very well versed in hailing a NYC cab) and it was frankly a full contact sport. It's bedlam on those corners where there are a significant amount of folks vying for taxis that are trying to skip the taxi line. You essentially have to step out into the street over a bike lane to jockey for a cab and hope that someone else doesn't jump into it. Then you basically have to throw your stuff into the back of it in the middle of traffic. Both of us are fully able and were only with carry on roller luggage. I can't imagine doing that with full size luggage and a wheelchair. I would use the taxi queue so you at least have a decent place to load into the cab as you'll be carrying more than most.

Id second the Fairmont El San Juan-- nice full service resort. It's a real shame they haven't opened up the old Ritz-Carlton yet. They keep teasing that progress is being made and then nothing. It was never the nicest Ritz in the Caribbean but it was RIGHT next to the airport and incredibly convenient for what the OP is describing (as well as a quick night prior to a cruise).

There is zero reason to reserve in advance UberBlack from LAX-- just have them request a car in the app when they are coming curbside. I do this several times a year at LAX and have never waited for more than 5 minutes for UberBlack. Alternatively you CAN book in advance with an app called Blacklane, although you will pay a bit more than you would with UberBlack. For a short ride to Santa Monica though, just request int the Uber app when they get there.

I get that, but even then they go right into the Battery Tunnel. There shouldn't be any issue approaching the terminal in the early afternoon coming in from the Brooklyn Queens Expressway to the North onto surface streets. It's a little more circuitous than cutting through Brooklyn from JFK but it should avoid most of that until you are right at the terminal (assuming there is anything actually still going on from a race that starts at 9:30am going on at noon or 1pm). If anything, if I were doing this, I would just plan to arrive a little later around 1-2pm to be sure.

Well its been a disappointing few months for a lot of us that call the place (for certain times of the year) home. As you said-- it is what it is. You made an interesting choice in destination if beaches aren't your thing. I agree with SilverSweethearts-- there is nothing to do in Kahului. Its an industrial port, airport area, and big box shopping area. You can either rent a car and head towards Hana, Upcountry (up the mountain to some fun very small towns like Kula), or head to Wailea which is a big resort area. In Wailea you don't necessarily have to go to the beach but there are some nice hotels like the Four Seasons, Fairmont, and Hotel Wailea that have great restaurants/bars etc. It's possible that Kapalua will be back open for business (you don't say exactly when you'll be there)-- there is a nice Ritz-Carlton and Montage hotels with some dining options. I'd normally say to check out the resort area at Kaanapali (again pending reopening) but its mainly a beach, albeit one of the nicest on the island.