princeton123211

To/from the airport, yes. Within town on such a short trip, no (assuming you are staying downtown). Uber's home base is San Francisco and the plethora of more modern transport options (they even have fully autonomous driverless taxis in town now!) has long since cut down on more traditional options like a shared shuttle. Even in LA, where the distances are much greater than in this case a lot of the traditional shuttle companies have gone under. For the most part its fairly compact and an Uber ride in town will be relatively inexpensive. PS-- just a friendly reminder that the locals will gleefully crucify you if you call their town "San Fran".

If you do get stuck without an Uber we use use a local family taxi company that uses Toyota minivans. Kevin is the owner and he's at 808-205-4555. Typically will use them for longer rides, like from the airport, and use Uber for shorter rides like what you are describing, but they are very reliable if you are in a spot. Cash only so keep that in mind.

That's a pretty crazy price for what's essentially an hour drive. A great app I use frequently in continental Europe, called Blacklane, would provide a Mercedes E class for $190 including gratuity which is sort of the going rate for liveried cars on that route into central Amsterdam. UberX (not the same quality level as Blacklane or likely what you used) is $100-120. Viator is a third party aggregator and you pay a hefty commission to them-- most likely the $100 you paid over the going rate. I agree with the first response though-- the train is a very easy way to do this if you are staying somewhere that's within walking distance to Centraal Station in Amsterdam (which can sometimes be much quicker than taking a taxi due to how the roads are) or if not, book direct or use an app for a car service and avoid paying the hefty commissions you do with an aggregator like Viator.

Have never had this in 3 trips to Amsterdam with extensive Uber use. Sure, there are pick up points at Schiphol Airport but not in the city. Have always gotten picked up and dropped off right at the hotel we usually stay at, the W right in the middle of town. Its very possible your driver didn't feel like taking the long way around something to get to your hotel and just made up something about drop zones to cover.

I would second the Grande Bretagne. If you are a Marriott Bonvoy member you can use points to book all or some of your stay-- can significantly reduce costs. Also breakfast is included with certain tiers of Bonvoy (as well as booking through places like American Express). They have a spectacular roof terrace that is a restaurant on one side and a great pool deck (open only to guests) on the other. It's definitely a premium property but there are ways to limit costs.

Its most likely that they didn't have enough interest in the excursion and the cost of the transportation they include (which is higher in Hawaii than a lot of other places that NCL cruises) would cause them to lose money-- so they just cancel it.

For what it's worth, taxis in the Netherlands legally do not require a car seat. Small children can be transported in taxis in a parent's lap.

It can be a craps shoot in that area but odds get better in the later afternoon when more drivers come on. I would stagger later in the day than earlier to improve Uber odds if possible. You should be fine though-- Uber was the best it's been since before covid when we were there the past few months but they tend to concentrate in the Kapalua to Lahaina corridor, Wailea, and the airport. So you are a little in the middle of those where the Maui Ocean Center is but it should be ok. Just pad your travel time a bit.

You'd be going through immigration rather than customs, but it's physically possible although would be very, very tight (did I mention very?). You are realistically 45-50 minutes from the airport to Gare Central downtown. If you budgeted an hour from landing to getting in the taxi/uber, that has you arriving at the station with about 20 minutes to catch the train. If the flight is on time or early, the lines for immigration are small, you have no issue with immigration, and you can get into a cab or Uber quickly, without much traffic than you physically could pull it off. There are so many variables in that though and it's pretty razor tight. Also, you are connecting through LGA-- another bottleneck that could easily delay your arrival in Montreal. If you could buy a refundable VIA Rail ticket you could apply to the next train that day in case then I would say give it a go and see if you get lucky. Worst case scenario is you have lunch and a few cocktails upstairs at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth before the next train to Quebec. You could easily make the 4:40 train which is the next one so getting to Quebec that day isn't an issue.

I agree with Bruce-- there's not a huge reason to leave Waikiki if you are looking at touring other parts of Oahu. You could move over to Ko Olina where there is a Marriott, (very overpriced) Four Seasons, and Disney's Aulani. Unless you have smaller kids, where the Disney resort would be appealing, Waikiki would have a lot more going on. Also the beaches at Ko Olina are sort of manmade lagoons whereas Waikiki is a proper beach. You could go up to the North Shore for a night or two-- Turtle Bay Resort is beautiful, but also very expensive. Without knowing the rest of your travel plans, personally I would do 2-3 days based in Waikiki and then hop over to Maui for a few more days if you wanted to find another clump of resorts.

I think Routes 7/8 are the ones that will take you from the Dockyard (assuming that's where you're docking) to Hamilton. From there you can take a bus from Hamilton anywhere on the island. Fares are $5 or you can buy tokens for $4.50. The bus routes aren't overly scenic and the busses themselves are low to the ground city buses, not taller coach busses that would make sightseeing better. You will get some ocean views but you'll also spend a lot of time looking at rock walls along the road. Frankly either the ferry from Dockyard to Hamilton or Dockyard to St Georges would be much more scenic than taking the bus.

Weather wise it doesn't make a huge difference between April or October-- temperatures are on average similar and both months are on the front or back end of the wet season. If you want a chance of seeing whales in Maui then book the April trip-- October is typically too early but there will still be stragglers in April.

From another port, other than the one the cruise is scheduled to end at, yes. But the OP is asking about departing the ship very early in the morning on the day the cruise ends (at the final port).

I agree with a lot of what's been written here in terms of Midtown. I would narrow your search there, but not necessarily right in the middle of Times Square. Personally I would focus on the corridor of Midtown just to the east of Times Square-- more towards 5th Ave. What's your budget? There are literally thousands of hotels in Manhattan and its hard to make a specific recommendation (which it sounds like you are looking for) without understanding what you are comfortable spending per night.

The short answer is that it is very easy and fairly inexpensive to island hop. Multiple airlines offer near hourly service between Honolulu and the other islands. Hawaiian Airlines has the most options, but you can also fly Southwest as well as Mokulele Airlines (which services smaller airports with Cessna Caravans). You can definitely be a little more spontaneous-- there are departures about every hour on most intra island routings. I wouldn't necessarily just walk up (although I suppose you could). We tend to book intra island flights a couple days out-- sometimes there are lower fares than on the day of. Also the only issue with doing everything last minutes is less about the airlines and more about where you are going to stay. Hotels in Hawaii are expensive and planning in advance can help you save a lot. Just showing up could put you in a spot where you are paying significantly more for the hotel (if there is even availability where you want to go). Hawaiian charges $15 per bag intra island (if you sign up for HawaiianMiles). Southwest bags are free. Mokulele I think charges $25 per bag but its a small plane. Hawaiian tends to be a little less expensive than Southwest, so even with the bag fee it tends to be a wash (and I think Hawaiian is a nicer airline/experience). Mokulele can be fun because you can access much smaller airports closer to where you want to be. For example, flying to Maui from Honolulu, you can land at Kapalua Airport which puts you very close to Kapalua, Kaanapali, and Lahaina. Depending on their routing you sometimes get a free tour of the cliffs on the backside of Molokai.

I think the short answer is you could physically pull it off (depending on the day as afternoon returns are limited on some days), but there are things outside of your control which would really screw up your cruise (that wouldn't be as disruptive not being on a cruise). The chief among these is a delay or cancellation due to weather/seas which doesn't happen often but does happen with the Catalina Express. It's not like there are several returns a day so the cancellation of one would be game over. If you weren't on a cruise and the 3:35 was cancelled but you could catch the 6pm it wouldn't be that big of a deal. The 6pm back at San Pedro at 7:15pm would most likely cause you to miss your ship. It's not if you could pull it off or not-- it's just about risk/reward.

Of course-- you can leave as early as you'd like. The ship will clear immigration at the first port of call into Canada (which presumably isn't QC) so there is no reason why you couldn't leave very early in the morning-- it's basically just a floating hotel at that point.

Take a look at The Hoxton in Williamsburg-- at the other end of that cost range (well really a little above $300) but it has a tremendously good restaurant on its roof called Laser Wolf (which you should also make a reservation for since its a Saturday night). You'll be getting in a little later but this way you won't even need to leave the hotel and its one of NYC's hotter tables right now. Correct. For such a shorter trip (assuming you go somewhere in Brooklyn to stay) Dial 7 is going to be fairly expensive for what it is ($80-100 vs about $45 with Uber).

Your ship sails from Brooklyn-- there is no free shuttle in NYC. Best option would be Uber/Lyft. You could also take a NYC yellow cab but pricing will be similar and car quality will be a little bit lower. As to where to stay, from a pure economical standpoint, most likely one of the airport hotels by LGA. Personally I would spend a little more and stay in Brooklyn (downtown or Williamsburg)-- better hotels, closer to the cruise terminal, MUCH better dining options than you will find at the airport hotels. "Midpriced" is totally subjective-- middle of the road pricing in NYC is going to be much higher than it is pretty much anywhere else-- what's your budget? It's on the front end of what's recommended but should be fine, especially with Precheck.

An Uber or Lyft will be the easiest way to do this. Will be quite reasonable- just not walkable.

I would say because its touristy (near a resort) and that its basically enclosed by a jetty (making it not a great beach). It's perfectly fine to kill some time and take a quick dip. To elaborate on what Scott said, you just need to read the room. Just know that there is anti visitor sentiment and it can pop up here and there. Not something you will see in most of the more touristy areas that you'll be in, but places like Hana you can certainly run into it. As an example, the Hana road was closed to anyone but residents for most of Covid and a lot of the locals would like to keep it that way. When it did open there were plenty of beaches that you would see a sign saying "locals only" even though all beaches in Hawaii are technically public. Plenty of other beach options rather than stir the pot.

If you want to splurge a bit and have fantastic amenities (like a rooftop restaurant and rooftop pool that overlook the Acropolis) my favorite hotel in town is the Hotel Grande Bretagne. Part of Marriott's Luxury Collection, you can sometimes get great deals using Bonvoy points.

Not any more or less than you would at say the Jersey Shore. They certainly exist there but sort of come in and out in waves. We've been there numerous times and have had zero jellyfish and have been there and there were so many Portuguese man o'war in the water that you couldn't swim. There is no way to predict them but June the water is still cool enough that it's not a usual occurrence. We've always had more issues (and again, not often) later in the season in August/Sept when the water is warmer.

Unless there is some significant issue or congestion, Princess ships will embark in Brooklyn. Occasionally can get bumped to Manhattan if the QM2 is in port as well etc. Do you plan on staying a night prior to embarking or flying in the day of? If you are staying somewhere the night before, whether that's in Brooklyn or Manhattan, I would grab things there at a Duane Reed/CVS etc and bring them with you to embark. Red Hook has come a long way but not a super pedestrian area right there by the cruise terminal and not a lot to choose from there. A few dollars per bag is completely adequate for embarkation. We usually will put 2 large bags through and I will give them $10.

They might be just being bigger penny pinchers than other lines that might eat the cost for the benefit of guest experience. Again, we don't have the official reason but it has to be something with taxes and a business decision that NCL made that others didn't.