princeton123211

You'll have a much more narrow window for St Marks on a Sunday. I think its only 2-5pm due to services vs the normal 9:30am-5pm. Just keep that in mind when planning.

Marriott usually doesn't waive the resort or destination fee on an awards booking like Hyatt and Hilton do. That being said Marriott has some much more compelling award properties the the other two don't on Waikiki such as The Royal Hawaiian, Westin Moana Surfrider, and the Ritz-Carlton Residences.

To echo was Charles said you can't just rent jet skis there-- you'll need to do a tour which times are on their website. You can however rent Boston Whaler motorboats which you can self drive unescorted without a tour guide. We have used BDA Watersports many times over the years and they are a well run operation.

I guess the bigger question is what are you trying to accomplish? As BlushPell said, a rental car just to have one in Newport is unnecessary and can be costly. Uber/Lyft work well and can be a good alternative-- even for places that are a little bitt out of town. If you are trying to go to places far outside of Newport there is the Enterprise they mentioned and also an Avis in Middletown we've used in the past that's a little bit further but easy to work with.

Personally I would stay in Amsterdam the night and fly in the morning. Schipol, while better than it was a year ago this time, is still notorious for security delays etc which can slow you down considerably and frankly with an 11:40am international flight coming off of a cruise, you don't have much room to be slowed down. You are maybe 20-30 minutes from the cruise terminal to the airport if there isn't a ton of traffic. Could you make it? Probably. But it doesn't leave much wiggle room for anything to go wrong and it would be a colossal pain if you did indeed miss the flight. Amsterdam is a lovely place to get a nice hotel for the night, have a leisurely day after your cruise, and then get up and fly.

Why wouldn't your hotel be able to store luggage for you? Its virtually universal that a hotel you are registered to check into would store bags. A very expensive option unless you actually wanted the rental car to go see something in particular like drive around the island or to the North Shore. There are plenty of options/companies (all the major rental car companies) with pickup and drop off in Waikiki- just be warned that parking in Waikiki is very expensive. Have done this a few times in Waikiki-- usually any 4-5 star hotel is willing to store bags for a non guest if you are going for lunch/drinks/etc. Just be sure to tip the bellman well. Have done this at The Royal Hawaiian, Halekulani, and the Westin Moana Surfrider. No issues.

It's safe-- it's its own little development enclave that has the Marriott and Four Seasons Hotels there in addition to some corporate steakhouses and hotel restaurants. Just keep in mind that you are on a little bit of an island where your hotel is. If you plan on exploring the Inner Harbor or Fells Point, while they are physically very close, you do have to walk through a bit of a no mans land to get there. During the day reasonably safe but would be vigilant at night. Baltimore is not a great walking city and you can be on a safe street one minute and make the wrong turn to somewhere not so great. Personally I think the Inner Harbor is a little stale at this point but Fells Point is a lot of fun, especially at night.

I've never heard of an organized tour that does this-- you could always hire a private driver and guide in Baltimore to take you down but I would suspect it would be pricey. Honestly you don't need one-- you can easily get to DC from Baltimore via the train (both Amtrak and regional rail) or by car. Once you are there there are a plethora of touring options from Hop On/Off, guided tours of monuments, all the free Smithsonian Museums, etc. If you are looking at a tour purely from a transportation standpoint the train is easy, faster, and inexpensive.

Pride of America's biggest issue is its labor costs having to employ an all American crew to satisfy the laws that allow it to cruise intra Hawaii. This is unique to this ship and the wages they need to pay are not in line with that a modern cruise ship can operate around. POA is notoriously understaffed because they can't attract US crew members at the wages they want to pay. The ships going to Alaska and Hawaii from the mainland, either from Canada or from the US with stops in Canada or Mexico, can employ an International crew at a much, much lower cost. Hence the far lower rates.

It never hurts but it's not as necessary as the Arizona Memorial which is tightly capacity controlled due to the boats necessary to reach it. I've never heard or seen the Missouri sell out.

I think it will be a wait and see to what Disney and local authorities do in October-- the fact that you are not tendering at Lahaina is most likely a positive here and increases the chances that you'll be able to come to Maui. As I suspected, you can now book many West Maui resorts starting in Sept/Oct on Kaanapali and Kapalua. Who knows if that will change but the Westin, Marriott, Sheraton, and Ritz-Carlton are now letting you book (and I'm sure the rest are too unless they were specifically contracted to house displaced folks). I think BermudaBound had said recently she heard the Ritz planned a September reopening so this makes sense. I don't think that renting a car at the airport in Kahului will be an issue at that point (you can actually rent one today if you had to with plenty of availability). As you said, for better or for worse, the island does depend on tourism and I would think that Kaanapali and Kapalua will be open for business. Obviously Lahaina won't be an option but Wailea will also be (wasn't impacted) and you could still do Hana and stay on that side of the island. The bottom line is that tourism should not impede the ability to get aid, supplies, and help to those who need it but tourism will be required in order to build back the island.

Agree- that's how I would do it.

I agree with you in that they should donate more than $50k given their footprint on Hawaii's tourism. But I would suspect that NCL America looses more money than it makes. Pride of America has always been a bit of a disaster with much higher costs compared to operations in the rest of their fleet.

Toronto has a plethora of hotels from budget to high end (it was the birthplace of Four Seasons Hotels). It has some great options in that 4 star range that I think you are considering-- high end without being over the top pricing. A personal favorite in this category is the Fairmont Royal York which is a beautiful old railway hotel originally built for the Canadian Pacific. It's very close to extremely convenient transportation as its across the street from Union Station. It just underwent a huge renovation. Another in this category would be the Omni King Edward Hotel. Sometimes you can find a decent deal on the Ritz-Carlton that's not a ton more than the two hotels above so worth a look just in case-- I think its a nicer hotel than the flagship Four Seasons.

The air temp in October is lovely-- the extreme humidity of the Summer is usually gone and lows are in the mid to low 70s and highs are in the low 80s. One of our favorite times to go for that. Water temp will also be in the high to mid 70s. It starts to fall off in October so the beginning of the month can be as warm as it is in Summer (low 80s) but the end of October it can drop a bit. Overall October is a wonderful time to visit. Less crowded, better temperatures, and you can still swim.

We're talking about apples and oranges here. Pearl Harbor was a strategic US Naval Base that was quickly rebuilt/repaired in the context of its need to support a major world war. Lahaina is a historic town that has a ton of different stakeholders responsible for its eventual rebuilding. Some of those stakeholders are very much at odds with each other-- there are major businesses there that will want to rebuild as soon as possible coupled with local elements who have been looking for ways to reduce tourism. Then you sprinkle in that the local county government overall is quite dysfunctional and moves on these things at a snails pace even in the best of times. Then there is the sheer logistics of rebuilding itself. Unlike Pearl Harbor, this isn't a military operation with an unlimited budget. I think you mean well but you simply don't understand the complex (and dysfunctional) way that things in Hawaii work on a government and infrastructure level.

Not a lot of work? So how do we get from Piazzale Rona to San Marcos easily with a lot of luggage? You take a water taxi, with you and your luggage on board, directly to a hotel with a private dock. The hotel bell staff will unload and handle the bags. Very easy to do- just costs more. But you’re closer to the area you’re going to be touring on such a short stay.

You clearly haven't spent much time in Hawaii...

Forgive me if I'm wrong but you sound pretty wishy washy about going to Brooklyn in the first place-- the only reason I ask is that you could spend a lifetime ticking off things in Manhattan so what's the reason for going to Brooklyn in the first place if you don't seem too enthusiastic about doing it? Both are great but have been commercialized considerably. Di Fara you can also get in Manhattan at South Street Seaport. Lucali is still Brooklyn but has also expanded to Miami Beach. You can get comparable pizza in Manhattan. A ride on the Cyclone is one of NYC's great off the beaten path experiences...

It won't be a lot of work, it will just be more money. The hotels near San Marco will cost more than Piazzale Roma but some of the options will be considerably nicer. The added cost of a water taxi will be significant. But, for the one day you are in town, you will be front and center to all the things you would be walking over to go see. The next day there would be no need to return to Piazzale Roma for a car to the airport, you could depart with a water taxi directly to the airport which is a lot of fun and a great experience. Again-- will cost more. Venice is one of those cities in Europe where you do actually get what you pay for.

We’ve done both over the years and frankly unless you are an art or architecture historian/enthusiast private tours really aren’t necessary to get a very good overview of both. Unless you are deeply interested in details it’s a bit overkill from our experience. Timed tickets or skip the line tickets are a must though. The Pala d’Oro is an add on to the standard St Marks ticket so just make sure you select that when you purchase your tickets.

You really would be reliant on a water taxi here. Sure you could take a vaporetto but with 8 people and bags it’ll be much easier to use water taxis. If you don’t stay in Piazzale Roma you’ll need to find a hotel that has their own private dock. Easy enough as there are many but they tend to be in well located areas and will be a premium cost wise compared to less expensive options not in the city core. If I had only one day I would bite the bullet and just stay at a nice hotel near Piazza San Marco. You’ll pay through the nose but you’ll spent a lot less time schlepping and more time seeing the city.

Got to see inside recently. Aside from some landmarked spaces like the lobby you wouldn’t recognize it. Been all ripped apart for high end condos.

I don't but we've been in this situation twice before in New Orleans. Once we dropped our bags with the bell desk at the Hotel Monteleone and sat for a few hours at their Carousel Bar. The other we did the same thing at the Ritz-Carlton and had a late lunch before heading to the airport. Both worked well and they were happy to store our bags for a nice tip to the bellman. Both hotels are also great if you want to take one last spin around the Quarter. You don't have gobs of time-- you'll be off the ship by 9am even if you drag your feet and you should be headed to the airport by 2/2:30.

You can prebook Uber-- just set the pickup date and time a few days in advance. Never have had an issue with an early morning pickup in Vancouver that way.