princeton123211

Agree with Cruisemom-- apples to oranges. But if I were forced to choose, based on experience, I would choose the interior of the Pantheon all day long. One of the very few fully intact Roman grand buildings left. The Colosseum is a ruin-- a very pretty ruin-- but you can get as good of a feel for the place on the outside as on the inside. Not saying you shouldn't try to do both but if you have to prioritize.

Typically the cruise line hotel packages are dramatically more expensive than what you can get the same hotel room for on your own...

Hitch works pretty well. You definitely pay a premium for it but you can use a credit card to pay through the app universally (which can be nice not having to get large sums of cash on a long ride) and obviously being able to get a taxi from a place that doesn't have them standing by.

As Nitemare said-- this isn't taking place in an area of the city that affects you. You'll be able to get an Uber to Charlestown easily. They also run a fun little ferry from Charlestown Navy Yard to Long Wharf coming back which is adjacent and walkable to the North End-- worth doing. Sort of a cheap mini harbor cruise.

Yes and no. Technically Uber can't drive up to the terminal to pick up and the usual spot to pick them up is across 12th Ave. It's not as bad as it sounds. BUT I've had many an occasion (mostly on smaller ships) where they just let the Uber up the ramp and they got us curbside. Since your husband is in a wheelchair you can also select a wheelchair accessible vehicle in New York (in the app under WAV, you have to scroll to the bottom) which I'm sure could finagle themselves curbside at the MCT.

Any info like that will come direct from the cruise line and I would suggest touching base with them to confirm arrival time. You can always arrive early but if they have specified that it will be 9am its been done for a reason and safe bet to consider that the time.

It can be a fun novelty if the weather is nice and you've never spent any time on the water in Boston harbor but aside from that a general waste of time.

In theory but typically ships will sail far enough off the coast that it won't matter.

Generally cruises arrive earlier-- 6-7am typically. If Carnival is stating its a 9am arrival they are doing that for a purposefully and I dont think theres any reason to assume you will arrive earlier. No-- the cruise line shuttles will leave much earlier than that. Usually, and again most likely not applicable to your 9am arrival, the cruise line will not guarantee arrival at the airport for a flight after 12pm. But thats usually for ships arriving a few hours earlier than yours. You would need to check with your cruise line what the earliest flight they would allow you to book on your particular sailing.

Its reasonably safe and fairly level. The Seaport, while relatively new (it was a warzone when I lived in Boston over 20 years ago), is pretty bland by Boston standards-- mainly corporate hotels, high end condos, and corporate chain restaurants. If you've seen the main parts of Boston totally understand your choice here but just know what you're getting into. Generally 10-11am they might start accepting luggage. Check in not soon after. Your hotel is literally adjacent to the pier-- personally I would just use that to my advantage. Have a leisurely morning, check your bags, go grab lunch, hang around and head to the ship when you want to. It's a lot of running around and not super pleasant if the weather isn't cooperating. For a fraction of that cost you could just take an Uber to a nicer hotel, have them check your luggage for free, and be able to do whatever you want. Where they take you at Rowes Wharf is literally a 5-8 minute Uber ride and the airport is only a 10-15 minute one at most and will cost a lot less than $50pp. Would assume they have some deal with the Boston Harbor Hotel there, in which case quite safe, but again, its something you could also do for free and just give the bellman a nice tip. From Rowes Wharf it will take you about 15 to 20 minutes, is fairly flat (uneven surfaces, cobblestones, etc are just de rigueur in Boston so watch your step), and is not through any sketchy areas. The waterfront is very tourist friendly and the North End is adjacent. Would recommend Mike's Pastry over Modern. There is a bus. There is a small schlep from the pier up through the terminal to the roundabout where the bus gets you. Give yourself some time-- it's not the most convenient thing. An Uber from anywhere in town will drop you curbside and be much more efficient. Eat before. Logan is fairly basic. You'll have plenty of Dunkin Donuts and the star of the show in Terminal A is a basic Legal Seafoods. It works-- but it takes longer than it needs to and can be inconvenient with large bags. Ubering will be much simpler and take far less time.

That's pretty tight. 12:30 is totally doable if you have a normal arrival time of 6-7am. You can even use the cruise line transfers at 12:30 with a normal, earlier arrival time. But 9am would be a squeeze. Its physically possible on a Saturday but you would need to self disembark and carry your own luggage off first thing and have a car service waiting for you to pull it off. There shouldn't be traffic on a Saturday but if there is any of significance it could sink you.

It’s about half a mile and pretty flat. There will be curbs and some uneven streets. Semi industrial but sidewalks. I would say the only variable is their agility and stamina- it’s an easy walk for an able bodied person.

If you can walk well do the Freedom Trail. It will give you a very good overview of a lot of the major historic sights and you'll spend time in the city's historic core. Afterwards go have dinner in Back Bay or Copley and you will have had a reasonably decent one day overview of Boston. Not enough to do everything but a decent survey. No. Boston is extremely walkable, more than most cities, so if you can walk reasonably well just cover the Freedom Trail.

I did. I just don't know why there is an expectation that there is something to do or someplace to go at 2:30am in either Piraeus or Athens. If you have to stick to the plan and arrive at that hour I would just find an airport hotel to try and catch some sleep and ask for a late check out. If you can I would take the overnight layover at Heathrow in either the Hilton or Sofitel and fly first thing to Athens-- better hours.

Seattle is their biggest hub-- you can schedule most any flight with Alaska with a connection or overnight at SeaTac.

You need to download the app regardless to use Uber or Lyft. Would recommend downloading both as sometimes one can be less expensive than the other. You would then call a driver through the app and its usually a few minutes wait.

South Boston, which has now been rebranded the Seaport, is a relatively newer development full of mainly mid level hotels, high end condos, and mostly chain restaurants. You can certainly make a go of it there but the much more charming and historic parts of Boston are a little further.

If you make it all the way to Swizzle do try and check out St Georges. It's far more interesting and historic than the Dockyard...its only about 10 min taxi. Would be a shame to be all the way on that side of the island and miss it.

Will second Blacklane. Super easy to use and have very good experiences in LA with it.

It's like a $15-20 Uber ride. Very few traditional taxis left in Boston so I would highly recommend considering Uber or Lyft.

Usually at a premium and poor exchange rate.

I'm not necessarily replying to this exact comment but more the thread-- the thing to keep in mind is that Southampton is a very small airport with very limited services. These are even more limited when FlyBe, which was the big carrier at the airport, ceased operations a few years ago. If one flight gets cancelled that can impact you for a day or two. Aer Lingus only has 2 flights a day from Dublin and the second flight would cause you to miss a cruise departure. The flight from Paris is on Eastern Airways which is a small regional feeder on small aircraft and only 1 flight per day. I would not attempt flying to Soton without at least an overnight buffer meaning not the same day as your cruise. The benefit of going to London is that you have multiple ways to get to Southampton the day of without having to rely on (unreliable) air connections.

Keep in mind that a few weeks later is the lead up to Mardi Gras which will provide some logistical issues there.

I was there for Superbowl in 2013. The city handles it well. Wasn't difficult to get around. It might be prohibitive to stay in and around the city (which is a shame because it's a great city to be in) but it shouldn't necessitate you cancelling the cruise based on logistics.

There is limited docking space-- typically one larger ship. The rest tender. No idea based on your specific ship but the chances are you'll be tendering. Beach clubs that don't blast house music all day are few and far between there. We've had luck on one occasion at Hotel Saint John. Resort short distance from the pier on the other side of the town. Nice pool etc but very slim sliver of "beach". I think it was 100 Euros per person but this was a few years ago. Don't remember the music element to be too intrusive but wasn't paying too much attention. https://www.saintjohn.gr/