princeton123211

Sounds like a fun first day-- the Petersen is fantastic. Santa Monica has A LOT more going on than Marina del Rey. More restaurants, shops, bars, hotels, etc. Honestly the only reason I would opt for Marina del Rey with Marriott Bonvoy was if I got a good deal with $$ or points and was going to stay at the Ritz Carlton, which is nice, but still a bit dated. Otherwise it would be Santa Monica without even hesitating. The Proper, while I've never stayed there, is in a decent location, gets great reviews, and is walkable down Wilshire to the beach and promenade. Occasionally you can find a decent deal at the Fairmont Miramar which is along the same street as the Proper but in a better location-- that's always been a favorite. You can transfer points from Capital One into Accor to book free nights at the Fairmont or through a bunch of airlines. Hilton doesn't have super exciting options in my opinion in Santa Monica and IGH + Hyatt have hardly anything at all. Santa Monica has some fun independent hotels like Shutters on the Beach, Casa Del Mar, and The Georgian-- all of which tend to be very pricey except for The Georgian which is a bit more moderate. Shutters and the Fairmont Miramar are my favorite hotels in town if money were no object and you can also book them on points through Amex. I think if The Proper was what you were thinking your head is in the right place but you now at least have a little bit of a lay of the land. Definitely really consider staying in Santa Monica over Marina del Rey though.

Casino I'd agree-- but with everyone on a drinks package it might be better to get them off the ship for a bit too.

To your point, the only way I’d feel comfortable doing this on a cruise stop is to rent a car or have a driver (who will wait) take me there and back. You’ll be able to Uber up but you might not be able to Uber back. At the end of the day, it’s a giant LL Bean store. It’s neat- but not worth the amount of effort you’ll need to do it on a port day stop.

Under an amendment to the law in 2021 cruise lines can apply for extended hours while in port at Bermuda but I suspect there is a significant additional cost to doing so.

Agree with everything Charles said with one technical exception. You could, if you were willing to part with a hefty sum, book a night at the Rosewood. Their overall beach and beach experience (they have a huge beach club with restaurant, bar, pools, and beach services) is overall the most spectacular on the island. Hard stop. I also think the beach overall is nicer than Horseshoe. As a slightly less expensive alternative, if you were planning on golfing at all, a tee time at the Mid Ocean Club would also allow you access afterwards to their Beach Pavilion. While not as fancy as the Rosewood beach setup it still provides a pool, restaurant, and access to what essentially (although not technically) a private beach that has chairs, umbrellas, etc provided by the club. Obviously these are pretty niche options but they are available if you jump through some financial hoops and they give you access to one of the islands most spectacular beaches (formerly called Natural Arches) where there is hardly any people even on the most popular days.

With 4 nights in Venice before the trip most likely not worth it. Honestly you are going to be using the hotel for about 7-8 hours with the early morning wake up call you have and couple that with the fact that the hotel will be much more expensive than Mestre and you'll have to use an expensive private water taxi staying in Venice proper. I would absolutely go back in that afternoon/evening to walk around, do anything you missed, and eat/drink but your next morning will be easier (and less expensive) staying in Mestre. Frankly with 6am I would look to stay even closer-- there is a Courtyard Marriott at the airport itself which is super convenient.

If you're looking for nightlife, and not the very limited bit that's in the Dockyard, you'll need to head to Hamilton mainly on Front Street. There are a bunch of bars there open late that are frequented by both locals and crew. Also you'll have more upscale options at hotels like the Hamilton Princess that always has a fun bar into the later hours. Same with headed over towards St Georges-- the bars at the hotels like the Rosewood and St Regis are open later but that's a trek back to the Dockyard without the ferry. Just know that you'll be dependent on taxis to get you back later in the evening.

Either Uber or taxi-- depending on which one is faster. They are nearly priced the same-- the taxi has a flat rate of $70 but you pile on some surcharges, tolls, and tips. Ubers are typically $110ish from Midtown. Taxi will be similar. You could look into doing a one way rental-- sometimes these work really well (typically between corporately owned rental agencies of a major provider like Budget, Avis, Hertz, and not as well from their franchise locations). Sometimes the one way drop fee will be prohibitive, but if its less than the $100 Uber/taxi fare it could be worth it purely for convenience.

I would do Horseshoe over Elbow any day-- and its a bit closer to the Dockyard than Elbow is. Someone else might be better up to speed on the cost of beach gear-- we have not been back this year yet.

It does happen from time to time but not very often. Typically most of the skipped ports with NCL were on winter sailings. Calls at Bermuda are most often cancelled for full on hurricanes which this is not-- 20-25mpg gusts. You're also going to Royal Naval Dockyard (which doesn't have a channel to access it) and not Hamilton or St Georges which do have tight channels so that will help. Chances are you'll be able to dock. I agree with you that it doesn't look great over those days, but that being said, weather in Bermuda can change in an instant. It's possible you could get the sun to pop out for a bit. If not, just find someplace fun to hunker down inside-- those swizzles are not going to drink themselves!

They do operate 24 hours but if you do stay in Venice proper have your hotel concierge arrange one the night before-- don't try and wing it at 3:30am for a 6am flight.

You have a ton of choices. First part to look at would be Whalers Village-- there you have Monkeypod, Leilanis, and Hula Grill which are some of the better lunch spots on the beach. Hula Grill might the the closest to a beach bar (there aren't any bars actually on the beach) but it overlooks the water and has a sand floor. Out of the three I would say that Monkeypod is in third place from a food standpoint-- Hula Grill and Leilanis tend to be of a higher quality. Then you have all the options at the hotels which will vary from fairly good to basic resort food. The Westin revamped their bar and it is quite nice. Hui Hui at The Kaanapali Beach Hotel is a favorite of ours and a great spot for lunch. The Sheraton's bar food is very ok. Further down the Hyatt has a fun outdoor bar but again, the food is very basic resort food (burgers, quesadillas, etc) like the Sheratons. Just a tiny bit past the Royal Lahaina is a little bar called Castaways which is a hidden gem. Decent mix of "locals" and resort folks. Would be good for a drink before or after the Luau. I would also consider a stop in Lahaina at some point as you'll be passing through each way and it's worth a stop. You'll find in Wailea that you are a bit more tied to the resorts in terms of food and beverage options than you are in Kaanapali. Wailea is a tiny bit more convenient to Kahului though, so not a bad option on a day you are sailing away. UberX is about $45 and takes a little over 30 minutes (assuming there isn't traffic or pricing surge).

There's only one island and you will be tendering-- there is no dock large enough to accommodate a small cruise ship, let alone a bigger one like NCL Star. You'll be tendering into the town of Oak Bluffs. It is easy to walk to a bunch of shops, restaurants, and attractions in town. For the amount of time you are there it's not really necessary unless you have something specific you want to see outside of Oak Bluffs (Edgartown is a bit larger, but Oak Bluffs is very atmospheric). There are some of the major rental car options out at the airport (which will require a taxi) or there are some more local options that have jeeps and mopeds that are in town. Tour operators are easy to find online. There won't be ones there hawking their services at the tender pier like you would find in the Caribbean-- either reserve one in advance or book a ships excursion if you want something booked ahead.

Agree with this-- while it might slow you down a bit disembarking your first flight, it also means that the airport and Hawaiian will be even more aware of the special circumstances of your tight connection and may even provide something like a courtesy car across the tarmac to your next gate/flight to help expedite it.

This. The water taxi to/from the airport, while expensive, is magic.

Avalon is not really a fishing village-- much more of a resort community. There is not a ton of commercial fishing out of the small harbor which is mostly full of luxury yachts and pleasure craft belonging to folks visiting. I believe Two Harbors, on the other side of the island, may have something more but I don't know that for sure and you won't have enough time to get there and back in the course of a day long port visit. You can rent your own small boat (which I've done but not for fishing) and I believe they do provide gear for a fee, but as far as something more substantial you will most likely be stuck with the very few charter boats that actually offer fishing. My brother in law was the fisher and when we went there a few years back he did have to arrange for his license separately, even though he was going on one of the charter boats. I didn't participate so not sure what he had to go through to get it but I think it was done in advance. Its a partial answer, but since no one else was chiming in I thought I would at least give you some of my limited first hand experience.

Agree with Scott here-- its more of a modern interpretation, the food is very ok (and its pre plated so you don't have choice like you do at others), and it is breathtakingly expensive for what you get. Far, far better values on more traditional luaus than the show they put on at the Royal Hawaiian.

If you've stayed somewhere in Stamford before that you liked I would do the same thing here. The drive from Stamford to the BCT isn't terribly different from the one to the MCT until you get to Manhattan (where you can either drive down the East Side and take the Battery Tunnel over to Brooklyn or you can just stay on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway essentially straight in). Coming in on a Saturday you will not have any significant traffic unless there is some sort of major accident. Yonkers, while certainly doable, would be a little bit out of the way coming down from NH. Stamford would be along your normal route.

Elbow Beach is in fact defunct with no plans to reopen. Most of the furniture has been auctioned off so it's not like this will change anytime soon. I think really the only game in town right now is Coco Reef which is nice- good stretch of beach but a climb in and out via a steep stairway. The other alternative, if you have an overnight stay with the ship, is to book into one of the nicer resorts which we've done and can be a lot of fun. Certainly pricey but enjoyable.

To be fair Veendam, while a lovely ship, really was/isn't that small. Still 57,000 GT. She's small in comparison to most cruise ships today, but typically the older liners that would regularly (and successfully) call on Montreal (vs stopping in Quebec) were around half the size at 22,000 GT like the Saxonia, Carinthia, etc in the 50's. Vistafjord, later Caronia, which we took to Montreal a few times, was also around 25,000 GT. When you get above 50,000 GT its a crapshoot in Montreal. Good news is, if you do get diverted, Uber works quite well in Montreal.

You have to be careful there-- you aren't booking directly with a vendor or operator, so if something goes wrong, the recovery might not be what you hope it will be. You have very little recourse when things go sideways.

To be fair, when you stayed on her in 1978 she was actually managed by Hyatt. Its always depended on what type of room you book-- there are plenty that are pretty bleak and small but the suites, mini suites, and deluxe staterooms are all outside, wood paneled, reasonable bathrooms, and very equivalent to 3-4 star hotels. The rest of the rooms are not quite there.

You can literally go to any bank ATM in Canada with you US debit card and receive the current exchange rate without any markup like you'll most likely get at a ship's pursers desk. We all make choices for convenience-- I get it-- but you do have very easy ways here to save a bit.

To lx200gps' point there is definitely a Hertz (or at least was when we were last there in 2019) in the Westin that is very close to the dock-- just across a parking lot. I would double check their website and definitely make a confirmed reservation ahead of time.

Very walkable-- maybe 10-12 minutes. There is a walkway along the water that takes you right there.