lx200gps

The hotel and Port Imperial terminal are pretty much directly across the Hudson from Pier 88, but you are right, the ferry veers south to the terminal at 39th St., forcing the 15 minute walk back north to Pier 88. I would re-check the Port Imperial ferry schedule. When I look, it shows the first weekend ferry leaves Port Imperial to cross over to 39th St/Midtown at 8AM, and the first weekday ferry leaves at 6AM https://www.nywaterway.com/PortImperialWeehawkenRoute.aspx#weekend

We stayed at the Residence Inn, which is in a very large building that also houses the Envue Hotel and one of the two ferry parking garages literally across the street from the Port Imperial Terminal. There's another ferry parking garage a block north which IIRC was $2/day cheaper, but we parked at the garage in the same building as the hotel. Super easy, we parked on the same level in the garage as the hotel entrance so we didn't have far to go to check-in. Google Street View will give you a good idea of what it all looks like and convenient it all is. Re the ferry, there are ticket machines in the ferry terminal across the street from the hotel/garage which will dispense the correct ticket. Remember, you're going to the Midtown/39th St terminal on the Manhattan side of the Hudson and from there it's about a 15 minute walk north to Pier 88 and the ship. I vaguely recollect we got to the ferry terminal around 9AM (it was a weekend) and it was largely deserted, there were no humans selling the tickets, it was all done by the ticket machines. The ferry itself was also almost empty that early in the morning, I doubt there were more than a dozen of us. The ferry system there is very supportive of folks lugging suitcases, everything is on one level, with shallow ramps and no stairs. MUCH easier than getting on and off a cruise ship with your suitcases ;o) The fare is now $10/pp one way.

It's a dead easy process. The ferry at Port Imperial is literally right across the street from the Residence Inn (excellent hotel BTW, big rooms and very well located). No ferry reservation needed, there are machines to hand out the tickets. The Port Imperial terminal is a big, busy one with LOTS of ferries. If you are going over early, as we did, the ferry will not be very full. The last time we did it we went over around 9AM and there couldn't have been more than 10 people on the whole ship. Ferry ride is about 8-9 minutes, and the walk is an easy 15 minutes up the very flat Hudson Greenway no-cars-allowed pedestrian walkway to the ship. Just watch out for the maniac cyclists ;o) We walked it with each of us lugging a large and a small rolling suitcase with no issues whatsoever. If you are in any way healthy and mobile, an Uber is definitely not necessary, and the driver probably won't be very happy taking you the few hundred yards from the ferry terminal to Pier 88. Have a great trip...

You're quite welcome. FYI, there are actually TWO parking areas at the 93 Fargo lot separated by a fence with a drive through. You can see them on Google Maps satellite view. When we arrived at the lot (admittedly pretty early, around 9:30AM), we parked in the first area, showed an attendant our payment receipt with our license plate listed, and she handed us the card to put on our dashboard. We were told after the fact that they really prefer cars to park in the other area behind the fence, as that is where the shuttle buses pick up and drop off. When we initially boarded the bus, it only stopped in our area of the lot because it was picking up a lady with special needs. When we returned to the car 7 days later the shuttle did drop us off in the second area and we had a short walk back to the car in the other lot. Have a great trip....

We used the 93 Fargo lot a few weeks ago. Honestly, I was impressed with how well the shuttle system worked, both to and from the parking lot. We were fully prepared to walk from the lot to the ship, but a shuttle was sitting there right where I parked already loading bags. The driver will handle your bags so no heavy lifting. They use small (20?) person vans and I doubt you will have to wait more than a few minutes. When we disembarked off the Emerald Princess, a small fleet of the buses were sitting there waiting for disembarking passengers. I wouldn't recommend driving to the terminal to drop off the bags, driving back to the lot then either walking or taking the shuttle back to the ship. There's no point when the shuttle system works so well. The road right in front of the terminal, Black Falcon Ave, is one way and VERY congested and you could be in long, tiring lines just to drop off the bags.

Fair enough, looks like the ferry service starts at 9:55AM on weekends. I had thought that I chose Port Imperial over Lincoln Harbor because of the schedule, but I think I am mistaken. Looking at the NY Waterways site, I am reminded that I probably chose Port Imperial/Residence Inn over the Lincoln Harbor/Sheraton because there is no parking lot for ferry passengers at LH, which we absolutely needed, whereas there are two big covered garages at Port Imperial, one of which is in the same building as the two hotels. We stayed in Weehawken specifically because we would park there at half the cost of parking in Manhattan.

Is the Lincoln Harbor ferry terminal the one next to the big Sheraton? We did look into the Sheraton as well, but if that's the ferry terminal you are thinking about, the reason why we left it out of consideration was because the ferry schedule out of Lincoln Harbor was MUCH less frequent and usable than from Weehawken. According to Google Street View the area around the Lincoln Harbor ferry terminal does look quite built up and modern, but I can't speak to parking, restaurants etc. As to luggage on the ferry, absolutely. The ferries we took between Weehawken and Manhattan were huge and very conducive to carrying luggage. Flat surfaces, easy gentle ramps, no steps, lots of seating etc. There are even some Youtube videos of the ferries showing passengers leaving with their suitcases. Very easy. When we took the ferries it was between 8 and 9AM on a Sunday to the ferries were empty.

On your first point, which port is your first US stop? In our case, it was Portland and yes, the interviews were held on the ship, you had to have a face to face with a CBP agent and have your picture taken before you could leave the ship, regardless of whether you actually planned to leave the ship or not. Non-US citizens were herded into one bar, US citizens into another. Sorry, can't say how it would be handled at other ports in the US NE. As to Quebec City, yes, it's my understanding that you WOULD have an overnight in Quebec City before the ship left. Odd, but not unheard of.

We were on the Emerald Princess out of Boston a few weeks ago, first Canadian stop Halifax. This was when the US Immigration fiasco caused some US citizens to not be able to leave the for 5 hours after the process started. The entry into Canada, after having left Boston, was seamless, unlike the US process. A day or two before you arrive in Canada, your Steward should leave a Canadian Customs and Immigration Declaration card in your cabin, to be accurately filled out for everyone in the cabin (one card per family). You then give it back to the Steward or hand it in to Guest Services. That's all there is to do, and when you arrive in Canada, you are pre-cleared and just walk off the ship as usual. If there is any issue with your Declaration card, they will let you know in plenty of time.

Actually, on the Emerald a few weeks ago, Skywatchers was being used for a while by a "private event" and music most definitely was being played, and loudly. We evacuated pretty quickly. Still, in general, it is certainly in one of the very best venues for peace and quiet on ships so equipped, and you can't beat that view....

We're just off the Emerald, and Skywatcher's and Adagio are still the go-to venues for peace and quiet. Adagio's bar was supposed to open at 4:30, but because there were rarely any people in there at that time, the two crew members always took their time in setting up, and usually didn't have it open until 4:45. Didn't help us much when we had reservations for 5PM at Sabatini's next door ;o)

Just off a week on the Emerald, after having been sailing the Sky, Enchanted and Discovery for the past few years. We too are very sensitive to the noise levels in the Piazza but were somewhat pleased to find the sound levels on the Emerald were not as obnoxious as they have been on the bigger ships. While still loud, we had no issues talking to the waiters in Crooners for example. Shouting, as we had to do on the big ships, was never necessary. Maybe the much smaller size of the Piazza had something to do with it?

Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I guess they amend their website. As it is shown today, the the available 2024 dates only started at April 1.

According to the VT site, for THIS year, 2024, they have the entire first three months of the year blacked out and only offered their pricing from April onwards. I would imagine that spring break 2025 will also fall into that time frame and will also be blacked out as well. AFAIK VT should be issuing their 2025 pricing in a few months, possibly December.

FWIW, we just did a 7 night round trip out of Boston on the Emerald Princess, though I am not sure how long they will continue to offer that particular itinerary, as it is a very new one for them. Stops were Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown and Portland. Excellent trip.

Discounts don't really apply to VT, their prices are so ridiculously low that they are pretty much ALWAYS discounted. The concern would be whether Spring Break is one of their very many blackout periods and whether you could even book them. Unfortunately, as you probably know, their rates for 2025 aren't out yet and may not be released for a few more months. Still, well worth using if you want to save $$$s, they and the Hyatt Place are very well regarded here on CC.

You're fortunate enough to be a resident of Canada, and as such don't have to deal with a unilingual French set of IDs. ;o) As a resident of Quebec, even in places like Toronto, Banff or Vancouver I've had to explain what "Date De Naissance" means more than enough times to wish I'd been carrying my passport with me ;o)

I'm a big fan of Marriott's Senior discount since I started to "qualify" for it a few years ago. They always require proof of age when checking in so I always use my passport for that. I find it easiest to use the Passport rather than a French-only Quebec drivers license as I don't have to translate a Canadian passport into English ;o). I suppose I could use my NEXUS card but it's not a very familiar piece of ID, particularly in the US, so passport it is.

We've done the upgrade pre-cruise twice, both times by phone, and each time it was handled differently. The first time I upgraded, the Travel Summary and the Personalizer details all changed to showed Premier. The second time I upgraded, it was handled as an upgrade, not a new purchase. The Personalizer Summary Page still has us as Plus, but, as others have stated, it also showed the upgrade as having been applied, on the Extras tab as well as on the TS. Yes, the main page on the Personalizer still does show us as Plus, so we will be taking copies of the paperwork with us JIC.

Based on our experience last week, you should be OK assuming no major changes on how they run things. Princess had discovered that they have a major issue with their itineraries that have Portland as the first US stop after coming from Canada. We were originally scheduled to dock in Portland at 10AM, but the captain gunned it and we arrived at 8AM because of problems on the previous cruise. The USCBP agents boarded and split themselves into two almost identical teams, one to handle the few hundred non-US citizens, and the other to handle the thousands of US citizens. Incomprehensible, but that what they did. As Canadians, we were through the process and off the ship by about 9:30 and IIRC they had pretty much finished all non-US citizens by about 10AM. The last US citizens weren't out until after 2PM. As an Australian citizen(?) you should go through quickly as we did, but exactly how long it will take depends on the Group# ticket Princess will give you the day before. On our trip the interviews started around 9AM, we had Group 5, and they were calling out the specific Group #s over the PA. We actually hung around at the start of where the line was to be, and by the time they got to Group 4 non-US, things had opened up so much that the senior ship officer guarding the line let us through to the interview location early, as things were proceeding so quickly. Sadly, the US citizens didn't have it so easy.

Sorry for being so pedantic, but keep in mind that your ability to track someone is somewhat dependent on exactly where they are and and how they move around the ship. You probably won't have any issue with a 91 year young person (LOVE that they are cruising at that age BTW ;o), but two things come into play: 1) if they are mobile and not sedentary, you are tracking a moving target who could be gone by the time you reach their last reported position and 2) the tracking is not absolutely real-time, it takes time for the system to refresh and display their position. On the Emerald just last week, I kept track of SWMBO as she move around the ship on one of her shopping expeditions. Her exact position was sometimes a few minutes off what was portrayed on the app and had I needed to locate her EXACT position, it could have been challenging. Still, the system does work and as others have said you should be able to track your uncle just fine. Just be prepared to look around a bit ;o)

We were on the first Magic Castle cruise last year, so-identified long after we had booked the trip. It was interesting, and IIRC Carbonara's show was in the main theater open to all, but there was nothing about the trip we would have paid extra for. We did see a few folks with the special name tags around the ship. Unless you are a VERY big magic fan I wouldn't advise spending the hundreds of extra $$$s for the few extra perqs that come with it.

G'day. Re your stop in Portland, exactly when and how are you stopping there? Which cruise line, and when in the itinerary are you there? There's an issue with Portland and US Immigration clearance that definitely may affect excursions depending on the point in your itinerary that you arrive there.

You're quite welcome. Yes, the whole Portland immigration exercise was a nightmare, especially for US citizens. There were the same number of CBP agents processing the few hundred of us non-US citizens as there were handling the THOUSANDS of US citizens. We were on shore in Portland by 9:30AM while the last of the US citizens didn't get cleared until almost 2PM.

We sailed on the Emerald out of Boston on July 14 and yes, embarkation was the worst we had ever encountered anywhere. We prefer to arrive (and therefore check in) as early as possible but it did us no good this time. We arrived at the parking lot on Fargo, took a shuttle and were at the terminal by about 9:30. About 75-100 people already in line ahead of us. We then stood in line for at east an hour before the line started moving. I can't say for sure, but my impression was that the initial delay in starting check in was due to the security people not being ready earlier. Actual Princess check in was normal once we got past security and had checked in, we sat in the waiting room for only about 10-15 minutes before boarding started. FYI, there was no PES "lounge" set up, everybody sat in the same area and boarded according to where you sat in the waiting room. Re the question about how they handled folks with wheelchairs etc, we did notice that there was an area set aside with a few folks who needed boarding assistance. It was well positioned right in front of the elevator that led from ground floor where we stood in the huge line, up to the second floor where security, check-in and the waiting area was set up. One final comment, if you are sailing on the Canada/New England itinerary on Emerald and, like we did, have a stop in Portland as the first US stop before arriving back in Boston, do yourself a favor and review some of the postings here on CC about the US Immigration process you will have to go through in Portland the day before arriving back in Boston. This is particularly important if you have an excursion arranged in Portland. We docked in Portland around 8AM and some US citizens were only cleared to leave the ship around 1PM.