princeton123211

You can also try your luck at a higher end hotel with a bell desk. Usually if you are going to get breakfast/lunch/drink there they are happy to store your luggage for a nice tip to the bellman.

Agree with Bruce-- with the delays that are common now you are playing with fire a bit here. Coming in the day before at a normal hour would be a much better way to get a relaxing trip off on the right foot. Anytime I've flown in or out of Athens I've been delayed including Delta cancelling a flight outright once with no recovery aircraft. I'm not sure really what you're asking-- Athens International doesn't have any arrival lounges and even if they did they aren't open at 2:30am. Nothing in the city or Piraeus is going to be open at that hour except for nightclubs and some late night restaurants. Your ship isn't going to be boarding until later at least the early afternoon. Personally I would just get a hotel room and crash and see if they can provide you with a late checkout in light of the late night arrival. Rather than fly to Athens and arrive at 2am, why not stay at London Heathrow at a hotel there, at a normal hour, and fly first thing in the am? Heathrow is a much nicer place than Athens Airport. I still think you should be flying in the day before but doing the overnight at a Heathrow hotel (there's a Hilton by Terminal 4 and a Sofitel by Terminal 5) would be a lot more civilized than the 230am arrival into Athens.

You can get last minute deals in Boston through an app called Hotel Tonight but you have to literally wait until the day of to book. I've gotten the Fairmont Copley Plaza for $159 US a night that way a few weeks ago when it was selling for $550 US the day before. You roll the dice but the reward can be great.

That's a downright bargain for Boston.

There are ways to mitigate costs. If you stay in Cambridge you can shave off about $100. The AC Hotel by Marriott in Cambridge is $293 US on Sept 27th. You can save even more pushing out to a place like Qunicy. There is a Marriott in Quincy that you can book for $150-180 a night US regularly and is only about a $20 Uber ride into the downtown core of the city.

They’re giving you very general advice that I would guess is not specific to Boston. Or it relates only to the cruise line run transfers which are totally unnecessary in Boston. An 11am domestic flight would be quite easy to make at Boston Logan on your own.

I have but that’s why I suggested not prearranging a car. When you prebook a car service or an Uber you’re waiting for one car that you have to find. When you just use the app when you’re curbside you get a car that’s already there or nearby.

I would personally just hop on the train but you can use Uber in Dublin to call a taxi to you (UberX doesn't exist but rather calls a traditional taxi). You can use UberBlack for higher end livery cars like normal.

It's never going to take an hour. Its 4 miles. Half an hour on a weekday with rush hour traffic maybe. But on a weekend its going to be very quick. Boston's cruise terminal is small and can only handle I think 2 (maybe 3) ships at a time. Congestion is not going to be a big consideration at the pier. Boston taxis are few and far between these days. I would plan on using Uber or Lyft and don't schedule ahead-- there are plenty of them in the city. Booking ahead will most likely cost more and create unnecessary confusion getting picked up.

Are you looking to be in the city or not? If not The Fairmont attached to the terminal in the airport is one of my all time favorite airport hotels and they are very flexible with day rate hours. Nice restaurant, pool, lively bar. You could always call them and negotiate-- usually it's something they wont guarantee until much closer to your stay. They're not going to book a 9pm checkout day use room on a night where they are sold out.

It's not abundant but it does work. Just build in a little extra time-- wait time could be more like 10-15 minutes instead of right away. Traffic. Umbrella and chair rentals are readily available at spots up and down the beach. A costlier, but much more fun option, would be to see if you could get a day rate at either the Embassy Suites or Marriott Oceanfront-- both provide you access to the Cavalier Beach Club that has chairs, a pool, restaurant, and bar.

If you aren't hard core beach folks then thats what I would do. Run around on Saturday when things are open in St Georges and Hamilton and then do the beach for a couple hours after the kayak thing on Sunday morning. Finish up walking around the Dockyard (which you can also poke around a bit at night when you get back the first day).

If its British Airways (and presumably American Airlines as their codeshare partner) you can drop bags off as early as the night before. So zero issue dropping them off 6 hours early. Other airlines and terminals you'd have to check. Where you run into the issues, as mentioned, is not with the airlines that have hubs there and operate hundreds of flights a day, its with the ones that have 1 or 2 daily departures and only staff their desks at certain times. Heathrow doesn't have many of these so you should be fine.

Yes. TrenItalia is the nationalized train provider-- its like Amtrak in the US. There is also Italo which is another independent company and option but I'm trying to just to keep it simple for you. Trenitalia is very easy to book on their website and yes-- the further out you book the better. Fares can be VERY reasonable compared to what we pay for trains in the US. You really have two options-- you can stay by Santa Lucia and Piazzale Roma which will provide you with easy in and out for your arrival from Trieste and departure to Rome. You'll not have to walk your luggage very far. The downside is its either a water bus/taxi or 30 min walk to what you want to see. You can also stay closer to the main sites but you'll pay more (hotels near St Marks can be in the several hundreds to several thousands a night) and you'll most likely need to take a private water taxi (can be up to $100 a ride-- I think the last one we took from Gritti Palace near St Marks to Santa Lucia was around $65 one way) or you'll need to haul your bags into a Vaporetto which is essentially a bus on the water. Personally I would prefer to stay more centrally but there's a lot of cost and effort in that. Venice is just plain crazy expensive. If you have the budget, if it is a dream destination, for one night I would just be prepared to spend a lot and do it right. Take the water taxi, spend more on the nice hotel, have the good meal. It's one night. Is this through the cruise line air?

There's a lot to unpack here. Assuming from what you wrote there is no need to see anything in Rome proper-- just get to the airport with some cushion. It's going to be a very brief encounter with Venice. These are all different things. Treviso is an airport where there is bus service to Venice. Flixbus is a bus company. Blacklane is a private chauffeur company with executive cars (will cost about $650 Euro for a van that would fit your group from Trieste to Venice). Viator is a tour company aggregator and would never book transportation through them. You didn't mention the train-- tickets are bookable through www.trenitalia.com, are very affordable, and go directly to Venice Santa Lucia in 2 hours. Venice is very touristy and is overall very safe. There are no cars and the biggest issue is petty theft (think pickpockets in crowded areas). There are no areas in the main tourist spots where you will be unsafe if you just take the normal precautions of being in a major city. Hotels are going to run the gamut-- very basic all the way up to literal palaces for a couple thousand a night. What's your budget? Since your time there is so limited staying near the train station might not be a bad idea. If you do want to stay closer to the major sites you could splurge and stay somewhere with their own private dock and hire a water taxi. It just depends on how much you want to spend. It's perfectly safe-- it's just busy and a bit of a walk to the main sites. It is. Try and book the Frecciarossa from Venice Santa Lucia to Rome-- its the direct bullet train and it takes about 4 hours. Santa Lucia to St Marks Sq is about a 30-40 minute walk through meandering walkways and over small bridges. You can also take the Vaporetto or a water taxi (which there are plenty of at the station).

At most Amtrak stations you can check your bags up to 24 hours in advance. The first Cascades service departs around 6am daily so presumably there will be someone there to check them well before that time. Where are you staying downtown? It's not a bad area near the station but there are far more interesting ones to walk around and eat. If your hotel is in one of those maybe it makes more sense to check your bags with the hotel and go to Kings Street closer to time of departure? If they like sandwiches, Salumi around the corner from Kings Street is very, very good. They make their own cured meats (mole salami is insanely good) and you can order them on sandwiches. I usually will stop here to bring something on the train with me as the onboard cafe on the Cascades is somewhat lacking.

Very true. I've seen The Savoy recently for as low as 650 GBP but not $500 US. If the OP has Amex Platinum or access to a Virtuoso agent they can get some nice value add with that which could bring the value down to their budget-- like free breakfast (usually worth in excess of $100 a day at The Savoy), $100 F&B credit, upgrade, and late checkout. But the rate is still going to be what it is.

I would build in some time to walk around St Georges-- frankly I consider that a lot more interesting than the caves (unless you are really into caves). Swizzle Inn doesn't open til 11 so you'll have to stagger a bit but is well worth it. With Swizzle not opening til 11 you're most likely going to be headed towards a late lunch in Hamilton if you do that (they are about 20ish minutes away by taxi). The Swizzle does have decent food but its more pub grub. If you wanted something more upscale you could head over to the Rosewood Tuckers Point (they have a fabulous burger) which could be on the way back to Hamilton (it's a tiny bit off the most direct route). If you do spend time in Hamilton most likely you'll be arriving to Horseshoe on the back end of the day. Was going to recommend this. It technically COULD be done in one day but its a lot of rushing around and the taxi fares will add up considerably. If you do what we talked about above and then stopped for leisurely time in Hamilton you would have the ability to take the ferry back to Dockyard for a lot less than a taxi from Hamilton to Horseshoe and then Horseshoe to Dockyard. This would let you slow down your day Saturday and maybe arrive into Hamilton 3-4pm and maybe catch dinner there and have lunch earlier elsewhere. If the glass bottom boat tour sunday is early enough you should have some time to spend an hour or two at Horseshoe (there are minibus shuttles so its easy to get back and forth) and then still have some time at Dockyard before sailing.

What you're describing is exactly The Savoy (which is also managed by Fairmont like The Plaza in NYC). It's your quintessential London grande dame hotel experience. There are more "British" options (Browns especially, Claridges, The Dorchester and The Connaught come to mind). The Savoy can be a little bit less expensive than those but it can also be wildly expensive depending on the date. Unless you have access to a good corporate rate it will most likely be above your budget-- but it is exactly what you describe you want. (And it also has a very nice pool which, as others have said, is rare).

Thats a shame-- its a lovely place. I've done the drive over the years in excess of 30 times and you find something new every time.

Not quite-- Hana is at least 2+ hours and sometimes more. And that's one of the more popular destinations. And Hana is a place I would be wary visiting (not on an excursion) on a day long port call without an overnight. Agree for the West side-- Kapalua is a little over 1 hour from Kahului if you don't run into any traffic. Wailea is 30-40 minutes. Whalers Village is 45-55.

In addition to what Horseman said there are also a few of the ultra luxe lines that offer one way Hawaii itineraries with their ships repositioning back through French Polynesia stopping in Hawaii. Seabourn usually does it with one or two ships. Regent and Silversea have. This will vary year to year and is luck of the draw.

Have used the app many times on the Hana road-- no issues anywhere.

Yes, but generally only from Vancouver. Foreign flagged ships cannot depart a US port to transport people directly to another US port like Hawaii. It requires leaving from a foreign port (like Vancouver) or visiting a distant foreign port along the way.

Surprisingly American doesn't have any directs despite PHX being a hub. Unless you want to see or spend time in Seattle it will take up a bunch of time unnecessarily. Train or bus take a bunch of time-- bus schedule for 3.5 hours and Amtrak Cascades (which I would do over the bus for comfort's sake) is 4 hours. Border delays can sometimes increase this time and can be common. Direct flight to Vancouver much better option. Air Canada, WestJet and Delta all provide options from PHX. Personally I would fly Air Canada-- more departures per day which allows for some flexibility in case of a delay or cancellation. WestJet is a low cost provider and both them and Delta only have one flight daily which limits flexibility.