fendbass

I had a really unfortunate experience with these people, and, unless things have radically changed, I would really recommend against using them.

Their facility is hard to find, is not in an especially good part of town, they wait until they have stuffed as many people in their shuttle as they can, and never picked us up upon return (we ended up blowing all our savings for parking on a cab ride back to their lot)

These places change their names about as much as I change my socks, but, generally speaking, if their ad does not show their address until you have pre-paid the reservation, I would stay far away

I strongly recommend Neyla Bontempo

http://www.tourguideneyla.com/

She picked us up at the airport to go to the hotel, and was nice enough to stop at a store to buy some drinks and snacks (we were in Rio for 3 days prior to the cruise) instead of that over-priced room minibar. She also made us a reservation at a Brazilian Steak House

Two days later, she took us on an amazing city tour. I don't quite know how she did it, but, we went to the head of the line at Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf.

I just can't say enough good things about her

Its been a long time since I had to do this, but, as previously pointed out, there are several paid lots in the downtown area. I parked in the one in back of Burger King, it was $10 to park overnight

The entire North Shore is very scenic, but I would absolutely not miss visiting the Kilauea Point Lighthouse. I found it to be one of the more relaxing places we went to in Hawaii. I bought a poster in the gift shop for about $5 taken from the air, off-shore, which is my absolute favorite (looking at it right now)

Hanalei has a beach next to the famous pier, very little surf. Past that, there are several on-lane bridges out to the last beach (EWO??), which makes for some interesting traffic situations

You may be able to get on the ship that early, but, they typically don't make the staterooms available until all are cleaned, about 1:30 or 2:00. Be prepared to drag your carry-ons for a while

The bigger Royal Caribbean ships (Oasis class, Freedom Class, Voyager class) have those new Coke dispensers where you can get all kinds of Diet soda, plus, Dasini water. You need to buy a soda card to use these. However, I have NOT seen these on Princess or NCL (Diet Pepsi- ugh), and I haven't been on Carnival or Celebrity recently enough to offer anything meaningful

My wife and I decided to do a cruise on the Celebrity Infinity, and planned very carefully what we wanted to see, and where we wanted to go. I was pretty insistent on renting a car in each port, which sometimes was a challenge, especially in Kona. That being said, we saw nearly everything we wanted, helped by an overnite stop in Maui, including helicopter tours on Kauai and Hilo

We left Hilo to return to the West Coast in total exhaustion, and we really needed those sea days. We ended up disembarking in Ensenada, which was an absolutely terrible experience. However, overall, the trip was good.

Our next two trips were land trips, where we could spend a week or more on selected islands. We had to deal with flights in and out of Hawaii, as well as flights between islands (our luggage got lost for a day on one leg)

I think that overall, the cruise was a good experience in getting a flavor of 4 islands, and the land tour was more flexible and relaxing

We'll go there again in April, when we are both retired

If I can find some real financial gain when using a TA, I will. For example, I have a AMEX card that is linked to Delta SkyMiles. So I get 3,000 miles and 3x SkyMiles when I book through them. I do my own research, and know what cabin, or cabin guarantee before calling SkyMiles Cruises

The other exception is when we went on a Cape Horn cruise out of Rio de Janeiro. I worked with Sabrina Brazil Travel who got me a nice room at a resort at Iguazu Falls, a nice hotel on Ipanema Beach, and all my flight reservations. I was very satisfied with the results, but, most of the time, I don't need that level of service

even though I live in the Tampa Bay area. Port Canaveral is a fairly low-stress port, although it is also very busy. The one downside is the distance from Orlando Airport to the Port, about 45 minutes on the Beach Line expressway, but there are plenty of shuttle services

My opinion, of course, is biased, since I drive to whatever port we are leaving from and stay overnight. I absolutely despise Miami, and avoid it whenever possible (only 2 cruises out of Miami so far)

We used them about a year ago (probably not recent enough for you). It i a small private lot, 1-person to check you in and drive the van. However, it is very close to the Royal Caribbean pier, and on our return, the van was waiting, so, overall, it was a good experience

We live in the Tampa Bay area, and, even though I am familiar with the Channelside area, I actually missed the lot entrance (small sign) the first time, and had to do a U_Turn

I am going to recommend one I haven't seen discussed on this thread

http://www.ilima.com/

We used it for the same purpose as the OP, ie, just to stay overnight before our flight home. When we were there there was some construction going on, but, it was clean and comfortable, and a 2-block walk down to Kalkua Ave,where there some good, reasonably priced restaurants

For transportation, we used

http://www.ilimatours.com/

(Not associated with the hotel, just have the same name)

When we were there, they had discount coupons in the rooms. You may want to pickup a copy of the Entertainment.com book for Honolulu, although, if only there for one night, it may not make up what you spend on it. 2 nights of more, I would definately get the book

While planning our upcoming cruise out of Miami, I did a lot of research. I advise that you 'google'

miami hotel cruise parking

There is also a site "Park, Sleep Cruise" where you can find hotels that will include from 7 to 14 days parking, and, usually, a 1-way shuttle to the port

Reading the reviews, the quality of the hotels can be a little iffy, as well as the reliability of the shuttles

I agree with the 1st reply about the $20/day Miami parking, However, my wife has enough Hilton points to get a free room, so we will pay the port parking instead, this time

Having said all of this, I absolutely HATE cruising out of Miami (we just got too good a deal this time). I prefer Ft Lauderdale because of the proximity of Park and Go and Park and Fly right next to the cruise port and lower-priced hotels, and I like Port Canaveral the most of all

We live in the Tampa Bay area, so we have done a couple of cruises out of Tampa, but the port is too small for the size of ship we like

We were on a Cruise from Rio to Valpariso in Dec, 2009, and had pretty much the same experience. One advantage we had is that we had to be out of the hotel by 11am, so we were at the pier before noon, and recieved a number for checkin, something in the low 30's, and told to take a seat. Plenty available at that time.

As time went on, more people arrived, the seats all filled, and people were lining up outside, still no movement to start checking in. Finally, at about 3pm, they started checking in. While walking down to the gangway, we passed the desk where they were giving out numbers, and they were almost up to 300

It was almost dark when the last people got on, then they started wheeling hand trucks containing luggage to be loaded. The ship finally left just before 9pm

They just were not setup to handle people like you would find in Ft Lauderdale or Port Canaveral. Even Copenhagen was much better at boarding. And, it is too bad, since I found Rio to be a fascinating place, well worth the visit

I say, save yourself some grief, pick up and return the car at the airport, take the car rental shuttle back to the terminal, and catch a cab to the pier.

I'm always in favor of keeping it simple, even if it costs a few bucks

Sometimes, your ship will include a computer course (photography, video editing, something like that) where they will burn your pictures to a CD or DVD for a fee. In my case, it was $15. I have been on some cruises where this has been offered as a standalone service, again, for a fee

In my case, it was a problem with having only 1GB memory card (this goes WAYYY back), and running out of space on the card. Nowadays, I just take along 3 or 4 large capacity memory cards, which I buy when they are on sale at Office Depot, and will use a seperate one at each location where I want to take pictures. Lately, I have been taking a shot of the "Next Day Location" screen before getting off the ship so I can keep them straight

I have had this card forever. We have gone to Hawaii 1st Class twice, and I currently have 240k Sky Miles accumulater

I usually plan my trip around when I can use the Sky Miles, then fill in my reservations for Rental, car, etc. I won't bother using SkyMiles on short flights, I can put up with regular coach for an hour or two

What really irritates me is the yearly AMEX fee. For that reason, after our next Hawaii trip, I will probably drop AMEX

We were recently on the Allure, using MTD. On night 3, we ended up at a table for 10 with some really nice people, and, for the rest of the cruise, we linked our reservations with this group

In my opinion, Royal Caribbean does not do a very good job with MTD, often putting us at a table for 2. My wife and I are both sociable, and enjoy the larger groups, we always say we will share when at the Reservation desk. Princess does it much better, but, it is more personal preference

Just 'google'

park and cruise ft lauderdale

Lots of stuff there

I just thought of something else. A few years ago, the Independence of the Seas was relocating to the West Coast by going around Cape Horn. At least a stop in Rio de Janeiro was included. Some passengers showed up without Brazilian Visas, and were denied boarding, even though at least some of them had no plans to get off the ship

There is a program on the Destination USA cable channel showing turnaround day for the Oasis, and it included 2 cases of denied boarding, one because a passport was out of date, and another for some other kind of incorrect documentation. There were also a newlywed couple where the woman made the reservation in her newly-married name, but her passport was in her maiden name. This program should be required watching for new cruisers

I am absolutely paranoid about having our cruise documentation in place to the point of checking it "one more time" when we get into the car to drive to the cruise port. My wife tells me to be as paranoid as I want

We have been to the Big Island (I assume that is what you are referring to) several times, and I doubt if you will find a Tour Operator to go down there. First, the beach is located in the area of South Point, which I found to be very interesting, but is not a real hot tourist destination. We rented a car and drove down there

Once you are there, it is a walk of 2 miles or more in very windy conditions. There is no road there. Even air tours won't fly over that way. The beach is at the bottom of a very steep embankment, and you would have to climb back up eventually, followed by that long walk, maybe into the wind

If you are fairly fit, I guess it could be done, but, it was just not that important to me to go through all of that. There are boat tours that will go close to the lava flowing into the ocean, maybe one of them will go down that way

Here are a couple of relevant web sites

http://www.greensandbeachhawaii.com/

http://www.bigislandhikes.com/papakolea-green-sand-beach/

My personal feeling is that I would never use a system that I did not have complete faith in. You just never know which of these computers have keystroke loggers installed. Even if not doing anything financial, they can record user names and passwords. Many of us are lazy, and will use the same password for everything

I guess it would be marginally safer on the ship, except for being expensive and ungodly slow

I have just gotten to the point where I don't need to constantly check my e-mail, it will still be there when I get home

You will pay a toll in St Petersburg before crossing Sunshine Skyway Bridge ($1.25 I think), and in Naples when starting across Alligator Alley, I think that is $2.75 (Capt_BJ, a tool is paid one time in each direction)

As of last Fall, both toll gates accept cash. If it was me, I would not bother with SunPass, but, if going to Miami, you're on your own. I hate that place, and refuse to cruise out of there

We live in the Tampa Bay area. On our last cruise out of Tampa, we parked at 241 Parking. It is an open grass/dirt lot that gets locked when the ship leaves. No idea of any type of security there. There was one person to check us in, and he also drove the van to the port (only about 1-2 minutes), and brought us back

They have another lot closer to the departure area, no van service, you would have to shlep your luggage over to the ship

Parking Doctors is almost next door, and seems to have a simiiar setup

No complaints, but, nothing to rave about either

I agree with the previous poster. We usually do Anytime dining, and, on our Brilliance cruise last month, when we got to the podium, we were asked if we had made a reservation.

What part of "Anytime" do they not understand?

They also had nothing in Anytime but tables for 2. My wife and I like to socialize

Princess just handled this so much better