Phee wrote: Doesn’t even have to be a bean, even if it’s just a case of Hook fashioning the JR into a portal because enchanted wood, that’s still worth a table flip, because the others knew that that ship was enchanted wood. They instantly decided there was no other way to get to Emma, and no matter what method Hook used, if there WAS another way, that means the whole hot mess of Snow casting the Curse was avoidable.
There must have been another way to reach Emma, because Hook (1) ended up in NYC and (2) remained untouched by the curse. He was the only one besides Zelena to have his memories in tact. Unless he drank part of the potion intended for Emma, it stands to reason Hook somehow escaped the dark curse and came by some other way to A Land Without Magic.
ETA: David confirmed in 3×13 that Hook left the EF before the curse hit. (i.e. there was indeed another way to cross realms other than the curse)
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy