princeton123211

It is. It sounded worse than it was-- trains were only held for a short time. Ones that had already departed NYP or PHL were allowed to proceed, just more slowly than normal.

Assuming you are talking about the Dockyard (where the bigger ships dock) and not Hamilton (where smaller ships call), the nicer beach called Horseshoe Bay isn't far-- short shared minibus/taxi/excursion ride away. Give or take 20 minutes and well worth it. There is a small beach adjacent to the cruise ships in the Dockyard called Snorkel Beach which is manmade and generally awful.

As Bruce said-- this comes down to your preference as there is no real advantage each way. I've been to Athens on three occasions and the overwhelming thought is each time I'm there is "it's a nice enough city but I don't need much more than a day or two here to see the major sites". The first time we booked 3 nights (for 2 whole days) and saw everything day 1 and spend day 2 by the rooftop pool at the hotel relaxing. Rome on the other hand I could spend lots of time in and not get sick of it. Personally I would fly into Athens for a day or so, take my cruise, and have a few days in Rome afterwards. That's a personal preference through for me-- I hate getting off a nice cruise and flying home right away. I enjoy it more when I know I have something else to look forward to after.

A good rec-- it's called Sir Winston's-- but unfortunately is still closed from the start of covid with plans to reopen it shortly. If it's open by the time the OP is there, and as good as before, I would second this. The Chelsea Restaurant wouldn't be enough of a draw for me to go over there from San Pedro for dinner (unless your husband is a huge ocean liner buff) in which case a trip to the Observation Bar would also be in order to properly celebrate a birthday.

I would put it more stretching to be a half and half indoor/outdoor. Sure there is a bunch inside but some of the main aircraft displays are on the exposed flight deck and Concorde of course is outside which is a big draw.

Thats a big exaggeration. I take the Acela and Northeast Regional trains on the NE Corridor several times a week. Major delays are rare.

Amtrak owns the tracks between Boston and Washington DC-- in the Midwest, Amtrak runs their trains based on the freight line's schedule that own the track there. Outside of the Northeast Corridor Amtrak trains are always prioritized second to the freight trains that run there which is why delays outside of the Northeast Corridor are far more common.

How many people are we talking? It's literally a 5-6 minute ride (I've walked it in about 20 minutes several times). You would be best just splitting up into smaller groups and taking several Uber's or taxis. Any sort of bus or mini bus I would guess would be significantly more expensive by multiples than just splitting up for a very, very short distance.

Casinos on most ships that regularly dock overnight will be open I think after 9pm as well.

None that I've seen or heard of. It's a quick $25-30 Uber ride.

As Meadowlander said-- Bayonne is a hotel desert and don't stay at the Hudson Plaza. Personally I would do the Hyatt Jersey City-- there is also a Residence Inn and Canopy nearby that I haven't stayed at. All of them are modern hotels and will be accessible. Depending on where in Morris County you are coming, and if you wanted to leave the car at home due to the storm, you could also take NJ Transit to Newark Penn Station and spend the night at the attached Doubletree (there is a bridge on the second floor that connects the station to the hotel). From there it wouldn't be a terrible Uber to Cape Liberty in the morning. I'm in the aviation sector and from talks with our meteorologists things are not looking like it's going to be as bad as people are saying. Please do not make a travel decision based on this-- merely saying anecdotally as I think things will be easier for you than they might appear right now.

If you scroll down there are countless threads on this. It will depend on your budget and what amenities you want. My personal favorites are The Royal Hawaiian and Halekulani but they are at the higher end of the price range. If you give us more information there are a bunch of us here that can provide more pointed recs.

Hotel Ambos Mundos and Hotel Inglaterra were the two rooftops we were brought to on our tour and seemed quite popular at the time with tours-- neither of them had a pool through so I would double check that. The newer Kempinski Gran Hotel Manzana does have a nice rooftop pool. We went for drinks there on our own but you had to be a guest of the actual hotel to swim-- it was rather small. It's a fun town-- not sure what changes, if any, have occured since American tourism was curbed again a few years back. The food is adequate-- you aren't going for Michelin star dining. We had a very good meal at La Guarida which is one of the more popular finer dining restaurants. Keeping things simple from a dining perspective usually yielded better results. Cocktails on the back veranda of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba is very atmospheric (as is the main public areas of the hotel), although I would not recommend staying there as we did. It was expensive and the rooms VERY basic. They have a trio of strolling musicians in the late afternoon/early evening which is worth going over for. The two above I mentioned-- Ambos Mundos and Inglaterra-- were both Hemingway hangouts and are very nice for drinks (did not eat anything). La Floridita I feel like is sort of a must for a daiquiri. Sort of a hidden gem in the basement of the old Havana Hilton (now called the Habana Libre) is a completely intact late 1950s Trader Vics (now called El Polinesio). The whole hotel is a mid century throwback thats pretty much frozen in time from 1959.

Hamilton, along Front Street where you'll dock, is full of shops and restaurants. Some are more touristy than others. A short walk down form where your ship will be is the Hamilton Princess Hotel which is a local landmark and has several very good restaurants and bars as well as a nice afternoon tea. Hamilton is a small town but is fun to explore for a few hours. You can really do anything on the island-- you are pretty much in the middle. My suggestion, especially if it is your first time to Bermuda, would be to take a Blue Flag taxi tour (specially licensed drivers) for a 3-4 jaunt around the island so you can see a good portion of it. There is a LOT more to Bermuda than downtown Hamilton.

Here.

Not a major difference-- I would be more concerned about air fare than which airport. LaGuardia is closer to Manhattan but JFK isn't the end of the world (and JFK does have fixed rate taxis). Honestly I would just pick the one of the 3 that provides the best overall price for your air fare.

I'm in complete agreement-- I was responding to the other poster who was grouping Westchester and MacArthur in as NYC airports-- which they are not.

It's just to the North of the Meadowlands sports complex-- generally an easy, quick ride into Manhattan BUT you cant fly into it commercially. I was being tongue in cheek when I mentioned it. It's a leisurely 1.5-2 hour ride into Manhattan. MacArthur is a Long Island airport-- its not in New York City or really even close to it. The reason I'm belaboring the point here is that I wouldn't want to be from out of town and think that MacArthur is close to New York when you have Newark, LaGuardia, and JFK much closer. Which works well in some places-- but Hobby is only about 15 minutes from downtown and the main airport is about the same in Houston. I try and fly into Chicago Midway when I can to avoid O'Hare, but Midway is both smaller and closer to downtown which is why its great. MacArthur is not any of these-- its an airport that services Long Island that is a significant distance to Midtown Manhattan.

If we are getting technical then you are leaving out Teterboro Airport. In the realm of reality, with HPN being over an hour to Midtown and MacArthur being at very least an hour and a half (on a good day), I wouldn’t expect them to be viable options for a visitor coming in for a day or two the same as I didn’t make the assumption that flying into TEB privately was viable for them. If there are any savings they are easily wiped out by significant transportation costs (not to mention time wasted).

Personally I would choose an itinerary that provides the maximum amount of time on the islands. The important things you list-- bed quality, food, and entertainment are going to be virtually identical on two ships owned by the same company. Edge is a bit newer but Solstice has been regularly updated. Unless you really, really enjoy sea days cruising to/from Hawaii isn't a really great way to see the islands. You spend much more time aboard ship than you do in Hawaii. Would a land based vacation be off the table? May is at the very, very end of whale season so that might tip me more towards May than September so you might at least have an outside chance of seeing whales while you're there. Otherwise it wont make a huge difference weather wise between May and September.

Which I agree with and if I lived 20 miles from Liberty State Park I would feel the same. But for someone visiting New York City, staying in Midtown, and set on visiting Ellis Island for a good part of the day, a stop at the Statue of Liberty wouldn't be my top priority.

Remember: you are talking about folks travelling with a one year old and a three year old- if you have not done that personally, consult with someone who has. I have plenty of times. Children are to be seen and not heard. They adapt to the environments they are put in if given the right guidance.

I'll be the naysayer here and say that personally I think the Statue is best viewed from the water and that spending the time to visit, when you only have a few days in town, might not be the best use of that time. Ellis Island on the other hand needs to be visited and experienced to be appreciated.

$500-700 a night will put you firmly into 4 star hotel+ territory depending on the time of year. You are too far out to book for 2025 but some top hotels in this category I would look at are the Intercontinental The Barclay, The Sherry Netherland, The Iroquois, The Algonquin, Bryant Park Hotel, or The Pendry Manhattan West. At the high end of your budget (or if you were able to snag a deal) if you were going to look at 5 star hotels the St Regis and The Carlyle are my favorites (the St Regis can be had for free on Bonvoy points or in the $400-500 range if you combine points and cash). Le Bernadin (if you like seafood), Daniel, or Le Coucou would top my list for fine dining-- all would need reservations a couple months out. Gramercy Tavern, newly reopened Cafe Boulud, Harry Cipriani, or Raouls would be my favorite "fancy but comfortable" go to's. (While Raouls isnt a steakhouse per se, the famous dish there is a steak au poivre and its insanely good). If you want just a regular bagel with cream cheese there is an H&H Bagel in Moyinhan Train Hall at Penn Station or Liberty Bagels on 58th between 5th and Madison. If you want the whole lox and bagel show head to Russ & Daughters Cafe on the Lower East Side. Righ around the corner there is another New York institution thats well worth a visit: Katz's Deli. Empire State Building and the World Trade Center Memorial are easy enough-- depending on where you end of staying the ESB might be a brisk walk. The WTC Memorial will take you a bit of time to get downtown. Ellis Island requires a ferry and will take a good chunk of a day so just be forewarned. You might consider doing the WTC Memorial and Ellis Island on the same day as the ferry departs not far from the memorial.

Assuming they aren't at capacity. My point was really don't sign up for a Platinum Card JUST for this because of the variables and possible limited time to use it on such a long layover.