princeton123211

I would second Tivoli and most of what Bruce said here-- use a few hours on the tour to get a lay of the land (I found the boat portion to be more interesting then the land portion) and then head over to Tivoli in the early afternoon. I was pretty skeptical of going to what I considered an amusement park in my mind the first time I was in Copenhagen but you get to Tivoli and realize that it really is woven into the fabric of the city and a spot for tourists and locals alike (not to mention that its very pretty, especially towards twilight time when the lights come on).

If you are planning on setting out and turning around halfway from Paia to Hana I honestly wouldn't even bother-- to me it wouldn't be worth the effort of renting the car and setting out. When we take folks on the Hana road we typically will drive all the way around but at very least recommend going slightly beyond Hana to the pools at the Kipahulu Visitors Center and then turning back from there. Its going to be a full day. But like Bruce said, yes, there are plenty of places to pull off to see waterfalls, road side stands, etc which can easily be used to turn around.

Take a look at the Fairmont Copley Plaza. Old school Boston hotel walkable to anything downtown and right in the heart of Back Bay. At $500 a night it's possible it will fit in your budget and is vastly more atmospheric than the cookie cutter corporate hotels that are often recommended.

I think the first question is if you want to see and spend time in Hawaii or do you want to spend time on a cruise ship? Personally most of the cruises that go round trip from the mainland to Hawaii are literally the worst way to see Hawaii-- you spend most of your time at sea and have minuscule port days in only a couple of islands (which is great if you want to be on the ship with a lot of sea days). Repositioning cruises that go one way from the mainland and drop you in Hawaii (or vice versa) are better in that you'll have time on your own to explore the islands before or after. NCL Pride of America is its own beast in that it has the exemption to just circle the islands-- you'll see a lot more and is great for folks that want to see a little bit of most of Hawaii and have a limited amount of time. You can of course add time to the front or back of the cruise to spend time in places you want to go to. Personally, if Hawaii is a bucket lis destination for you, ditch the cruise all together and just fly over and spend time in 2 or maybe 3 islands (if you have 14 days). You'll have a lot more fun and see/experience a lot more.

I hear ya. Delays on the Northeast Corridor tend to be fairly rare though when compared to the rest of Amtrak's network. I used to go between Boston and NYC/Philly on Amtrak 2-3 times a week for about 10 years and I think only had 3-4 major delays in all that time that would have caused me to miss something. It usually takes something catastrophic on the Northeast Corridor to create a delay whereas the other long haul Amtrak trains it's more common because of freight traffic.

"Best hotel" is sort of broad without any parameters. Personally I love the Edgewater, but if its not available and money is no object the Four Seasons has a tremendously good location and is pretty flawless. Taking it down a rung in cost the Fairmont Olympic just had a major renovation and has a bunch of great new dining options-- classic Seattle experience. Third place would be Hotel Sorrento but now we're starting to venture a bit away from the waterfront.

It is accurate in the sense that there will be water taxis waiting there for hire. Its just like any other airport-- you can book a car service ahead of time or you can take your chances on how long the line for a taxi is. What they're not telling you is that booking a service ahead of time can save you quite a bit of time. I've done it both ways in Venice and this was by far the easiest (especially coming off an overnight flight from the US). We booked a reserved water taxi through our hotel and there was a representative waiting for us before immigration who then collected our bags, expedited us through immigration past a few planeloads of passengers, and right to the waiting water taxi skipping the line. Sure it was a little bit extra than just paying for a water taxi but between skipping the immigration line and the water taxi line we easily saved an hour or more.

Both Halifax and Portland are largish cities and very easy to just go off on your own with lots to do in town if you don't want to venture out. In all likelihood you can and sometimes by a fairly good margin. I have no idea what your budget is for hotels but a good one for this particular trip is the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth. Centrally located for touring the city it also sits above the main train station and is only an elevator ride from the lobby to board your train to Quebec City. In Quebec City it might be cliche but I am a fan of the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac-- it's an icon of the city and has undergone a fairly extensive renovation. There are plenty of other folks on this board who found and liked a few other botique properties I'm sure they will chime in with. If you are flying into Montreal I would do 2 nights in Montreal and then take a very early train that next morning to QC (which will be even easier to do if you stay at the Queen Elizabeth!). Montreal is by far the bigger city so if you want to see more than just scratching the surface you'll need at least one full day. QC is much smaller but can be a bit more picturesque. I don't have any experience with a bus between the two cities but have taken Via Rail numerous times and its fast and easy.

Uber/Lyft would be the way I would do it and have done numerous times a Red Hook. As you said, taxi wait times can be unreliable there in the morning. You can also use Carmel or Dial7, which are pre arranged car services although you'll most likely pay a bit more than Uber/Lyft as these will be priced more along the lines of UberBlack rather than the less expensive UberX.

Second this-- both the Hilton and Sheraton are nice places for theme park hotels and if the goal is to just do Universal it will eliminate your need for transportation. This is the most efficient way to do what you are proposing.

You would be more concerned with a strong acqua alta which is what Venetians call a super high tide that floods the city. The affected canals are small, minor ones-- not the large ones that Venetians depend on for transportation. This is a once in a moon (literally) fluke. It'll be fine.

Well versed in Aloha shirts. With all due respect, I also neglected to remember that Monday was Presidents Day so at least it's even handed.

I agree witth navybankerteacher in kind, but I think what your proposing is a reasonable calculated risk. Sure there is a chance you won't make it but a decent chance you will. If you purchase tickets in advance, at a lower rate than they would go for same day, and you miss the train the worst case scenario is that you are out the difference in fare for a later train. The benefit obviously being you make it, get a good deal, and get home as early as possible. This isn't as risky as doing the same with the airlines.

In all likelihood they are unless you bought the very lowest cost restricted fares-- Amtrak tends to be very flexible. Taking the train for this trip is a very circuitous way to do it-- you can save a ton of time, energy, and hassle by taking a car. Southern California is built around the car-- not around mass public transit.

I've been going to Hawaii for decades and staying for sometimes several months at a time and this is honestly the first I've ever heard of Lei Day. I had to look it up.

Not anywhere near LAX-- theres nothing to see there. If you want to stay somewhere thats along a Hoho route consider Santa Monica or West Hollywood. Santa Monica isn't too far from LAX and you'll have a much more enjoyable experience than staying near the airport which is pretty drab. If you do stay in LAX you'll have to drive or Uber each way to Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood to pick up a Hoho tour.

Because 98% of these tourist excursion "submarines" around the world are semi submersible and the descriptions for these excursions are being written by unpaid interns on behalf of Princess in Carnival's Miami office.

You don't need medical travel insurance to travel to Hawaii. You could certainly elect to get it, but it is in no way required unless it is a specific requirement of your particular cruise line.

Instead of all of these steps you could also just take a private car to San Diego and save yourself a ton of time and hassle (not to mention it might be a lot easier on your husband). We've taken an Uber from LAX to San Diego before and it costs between $160-180 USD for the base UberX option and takes just over 2 hours if there isn't much traffic. When you factor in the train cost, bus cost, hassle/cost of multiple transfers, and value of time it might line up fairly well. You'll get a huge chunk of your day back.

The ship should be cleared on arrival unless there are any individual issues. 11am is pushing the limit assuming that the ship arrives on time-- especially with 7 people which will make you a bit less nimble then say a couple. Figure you're off the ship by 8 and without traffic you're about 45 minutes to the airport and Athens airport, while not large, is not one of the best organized in Europe. Security can be lengthy unless you have enhanced access through cabin class or status. If you are flying a carrier that has a second Rome flight later in the day I think it's a reasonable calculated risk with the backup plan being you could always rebook for the later flight. I would book a driver there to be waiting for you at the pier.

Whats worse is that its so inconsistent-- it would be better if there were just hard and fast protocols you could plan for. I've found its mostly based on the size of ship and number of ships on any given day. Have disembarked Oceania Insignia numerous times and never an issue getting an Uber to come right up the ramp and get us curbside. Throw in a big ship and all the passengers that entails and that all goes out the window.

Out of about 8 trips with them all but one had a small upgrade-- like a better located version of the balcony suite we booked that was technically in a higher category. Only once did we get upgraded to a true suite.

You don't technically have to be there by 9am-- which I agree with njhorseman is pretty tight. Checkin cutoff is 60 minutes for most flights departing the US to Canada (its a carrier to carrier policy rather than a blanket one so check with yours). But you could arrive at 10am, which is more reasonable in this scenario, and be fine. It will then come down to how long the TSA security line is. I'm not saying that this isn't going to be difficult to make-- there are a lot of things that could go wrong-- but don't put the added pressure of an arbitrary time on yourself when you have an extra hour+ more than you are budgeting for yourself.

You've been given good advice to buy either the Shaka or Gypsy apps for touring-- personally I prefer the Gypsy app. You should of course plan for major things you want to see ahead of time, but the app lets you make decisions to see other things spur of the moment and will also point out things you weren't even looking for. Just don't wait to download it while you're on the drive-- download ahead of time when you have cell/wifi and you wont have any issues.

I would second the Fairmont. In a fairly similar situation a few years ago we actually got a day room at the Fairmont and just relaxed for a few hours before an evening flight. I don't remember what we paid but it was reasonable.