I have a Few Question about Boston Airport and Post Cruise

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Now that we are getting excited about another cruise I need to do some planning. First I am flying in on United to use mile and the best connection and actual flight time gets us into Boston at 5:34 in the morning the day of the cruise. Does the Boston airport have any place open early to actually sit down and have breakfest. That is one of the things I thought was bad about FLL at least the terminal we were in. I realize that I will have to wait till at least 10:30 to leave for the Pier. But then I am sure we will have to pick up our luggage :confused: ugh Also, how far from the pier is the airport in Boston? Can I just take a taxi or should I pay for transfers?

My next questions has to do with Post Cruise. DH and I have never been to the Boston area and figured we really should see a little of the area. I am considering the the post tour of Historic Salem and Seafaring Marblehead that is 7 1/2 hours long. Would this be good? If so could we make a flight that leaves at 7 PM or should we get a hotel? The other thought was to find some other type of tour and have a nice dinner and get a hotel and leave the next morning. Although the leaving at 7 pm on Saturday get us back to Las Vegas at midnight I can still get home to bed and have the next day to recover before work on Monday. I am just really confused but I will need to get the air tickets fairly soon to make sure I get them on the saver rate for miles.

Any suggestions I would really appreciate. Thanks for anyones help.

[RuthC]

A red-eye landing at 5:30 in the morning! Yikes! :eek: O.K.

It's been a long time since I was at Logan early in the morning; when I was there the food courts opened at 6:00 A.M. or so. If you'd be landing at 5:30 that should be o.k. Claim your luggage then grab your food. And coffee! You'll need lots of coffee by then!

It's not far from Logan to the pier; from the ship's deck you'll watch the planes as they land. If I were you I'd take a cab rather than try to meet up with a HAL representative after breakfast.

The trip to Salem will make for a very long day, even if there's time to make a 7:00 P.M. flight. I'd want to be at Logan by 5:00, so there should be time, but you'll be very tired.
I like to get home with a day or two (or five!) before I return to work. You might want to consider seeing Boston then fly out that night.

[sail7seas]

A taxi from Logan Airport to Black Falcon will cost about $15 and is the easiest transportation. There are plenty of cabs but they are costly. The minute you set foot in one leaving the airport, you pay a "use fee" (it is something like $5 and you have gone nowhere) but it probably is still lower than HAL's transers.


As to Marblehead and Salem, I live in that area. I would not recommend your doing a seven hour tour after disembarking before flying home. You would have enough time although for a 7:00 flight, you absolutely should be a Logan by 5:00. If you decide to fly home same day, I would recommend doing a tour in Boston. There are so many to choose from and so much to see in our very historical city. If you have not yet seen Boston, I would suggest you do that before seeing the suburbs.

[Lisa63]

I agree with both of the above. Is there a specific reason that Marblehead and/or Salem appeals? If so, perhaps we can recommend an alternative to the 7 1/2 hour tour.

The use fee from Logan Airport is now up to a whopping $6.25. I travel a lot for business and am constantly explaining it to our travel reimbursement department (located in another state) as the cost of my trips from the airport always exceed my trips to the airport.

There should be something available for breakfast at that hour, certainly by 6:00 as RuthC mentioned. I'm not too sure about sit-down, though. (I usually grab just a cup of tea before my flights.) A full list of restaurants, food and beverage stands, etc. is available on Logan Airport's Web site (although the times of operation are not listed): http://www.massport.com/logan/insid_resta.html

[LAFFNVEGAS]

The Salem tour it self did not appeal to us as much as the time it consumed if we did take the 7 pm flight or stayed for the day and left the next morning. We once took a tour of the Everglades after getting off a ship and then had a 7 pm flight out of FLL the problem was the tour ended about 1 or 2 and we were stuck at the airport for hours and could not check in any before 2 hours before the flight. That was terrible and we could not even get to any of the food courts because we had not checked in. Plus those chairs are so uncomfortable
Can anyone suggest a tour with HAL or even another tour/ tour company that would pick us up at the Pier? We have really never been to the East Coast other than in and out of FLL for 2 cruises and I was once in NY city for 3 days in 1974. This will really be different for this Iowa cornfed converts to Desert Rats.:D

[sail7seas]

The difficulty is what to do with your luggage while you are touring.



If you had a place to store it, I would suggest walking the Freedom Trail of the Historic Sights in the North End of Boston and nearby. And a visit to "Old Ironsides"....the USS Constitution. JFK Library; Quincy Market and Fanueil Hall. Even over to Cambridge to Harvard and a fun lunch nearby. A Duck Tour....great fun. Isabella Steward Gardner Museum is fantastic. It is built as an Italian Palaza. Very beautiful. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is fantastic.

These things are all relatively nearby and a short taxi ride to Logan Airport when you are ready to go there. Boston is not a huge city and there are many things located in a fairly compact area.

It might be worth an inexpensive 'day room' as a place to store luggage and to clean up before you go to the airport. Perhaps you could check into a low cost room to book for the day.

[Peggy Sue]

another option..rent a car for the day...gives you a place to store your luggage..don't recommend driving around Boston, as our fair city is still torn up with the big dig project...but..if you want to go to the north shore, see salem, marblehead on your own..it's an easy drive from the airport.

what time of the year are you sailing from Boston?

Agree with S7S..if you want to tour Boston, rent an inexpensive room, store your luggage and set off exploring. Boston is a wonderful city, full of great historical sites. The north end is filled with great aromas of italian food, and great treasures like Paul Revere's house, Old North Church, etc.