ATSEAMYLIFE

We have done it a few times at the Embassy Suites south of SFO, but only for 3-4 days extra. I recall we paid about the going rate for parking near SFO.

We have a private driver we have used several times the last 2-3 years to take friends/family to/from San Diego airport and he took six of us on an all day tour to the Villa. Alberto Fierro has a few employees with different types of vehicles. I usually FB message him but he does WhatsApp (as do most people in MX) +52 664 386 6119 Tell him Jim from La Jolla Excellence sent you.

We live in TX and have flown from San Antonio a few times to LAX and if it were me I would stay near LAX and Uber to the port the next day. You will be a little later that weekday commute, but Friday night commute in LA can be horrible with everybody fleeing town for the weekend, especially if it rains as nobody in LA knows how to drive in the rain. We are Hilton people and always stay at the LAX Hilton so I can't speak to any HI properties. Yes Uber black can be RSVP at LAX and also to the cruise port, we did it. In fact if you're going to Uber after the cruise definitely RSVP. We walked right out to our Uber Black while others had been waiting at the curb for 20-30 minutes and still hadn't gotten a confirmed driver.

No, we only did a five day. But I recall people there who just had to pay for the extra days over seven. But it might be easier to just park at the cruise terminal. It's a large lot and just a short walk to the terminal. I recall it was cheap and made a mental to park there next time.

You should be fine there.

Truer words were never spoken. One block can make a huge difference let alone one mile.

There was one on the Pacific Hwy side of the ES. I don't use taxis so can't say for sure. Looks like there might be another at Pacific Landing, which would be closer. But there's a review stating how disorganized they were.

I would suck it up and use Uber both ways. As a tip don't try to catch it in front of the pier. Walk across the street and down a block or so and then catch it. I have seen taxis just down the street in front of the Embassy Suites that would get you to the car rental center, but no sure about getting back to the port. You could probably take the rental car shuttle back to the airport and then catch a taxi there. In some cities I have seen an option on the Uber app to call a taxi.

You won't find any free shuttles to the port. There are several nice hotels within walking distance if you're able or plenty of taxis and Ubers for the very short distance to the port. You can Google Maps for the port and see all the hotels nearby in various price ranges. We like the Hilton Gaslamp when we visit. It's not walkable to the port but still a cheap cab ride. I'm not sure what the Padre's schedule might be in October 2025 but if they are playing in town then Gaslamp isn't where you want to be. San Diego isn't a huge/active cruise port so it's not a major thing for the city.

"noon-ish" closer to "one-ish" rather than "11-ish" would make me more comfortable.

No, Saturday would be a great day to get to the port. Depending on time of the year you might want to rent an AWD due to snow in parts of AZ and NM.

Some of the best skyline photos of SF would be from Treasure Island at sunset. Plus, the museum there is pretty interesting.

If time is limited I would skip Angel Island.

What a great holiday that will be. I think anyone of those plans would be workable. My question would be where are you coming from the day of coming back into the LA area and how long of a drive will that be? The earlier you get into LA area the more options. Also, returning a rental at another location than the original rental location can add to the overall cost. Realistically, no matter where you drop the car and stay the night before you will have plenty of time to get to the port morning of embarkation. If you want to share your road trip thoughts I'm sure you will get plenty of input.

or a good Swisher Sweet with a tumbler of Boone's Farm.

First, don't rent a car it's just not cost effective; use Uber. Second, don't stay by the airport it's out in the boondocks. I would look for hotels near the Union Square, Port, or Financial District in that order. Cost will be very dependent on time of year, day of week, and events in The City. I'm Hilton brand loyal we had lived just 90 minutes from The City. When prices were reasonable we would do a long weekend (FRI-SUN). At times, we could get Hilton Union Square (killer top floor bar) for $250 a night. Another time I got the St Francis for $180 a night. Generally, weekends are cheaper as there's no business travelers with expense accounts in town. I would look for a tour to the wine country one of your days there. Also, book an Alcatraz tour another day. Maybe look to see if there's a walking tour of Chinatown that might work for you. Years ago we did a great walking tour using Wild SF Tours, but I think they went out of business during Covid and never came back. They also had a walking tour of the Haight we wanted to do but never got to. The Foreign Cinema is a fun place for dinner and a movie. https://foreigncinema.com/ One of our go to spots for dinner has always been Le Colonial https://www.lecolonialsf.com/

Interesting about the pre-embargo tobacco. I totally agree with you there are much better cigars than those from Cuba. My personal fav is a Monte Cristo. We haven't done a European ocean cruise in a long time so you're probably correct about that. Our last cruise in Europe was a river cruise in south of France and I can't recall seeing any cigars for sale.

Wow, I haven't seen Cuban cigars for sale onboard in about 20 years. I do recall doing a Med cruise on a RCL ship in 1996 where the ship had the best cigar bar ever; all dark wood and leather, great whisky, with a fake fireplace. The waitress even lit our cigars for us using a cedar skewer. Now days it seems cigar bars are relegated to a windy deck that you can't find. I did find a cigar shop in Vancouver, BC that will ship Cuban cigars to you in the US. Apparently, they drive them across to the US and mail them to avoid CBP.

"Miss-steak" Thanks too many beers....

There are several and they are incredibly expensive. CAN highly "sin" taxes to pay for their universal healthcare. IMO Cuban cigars are highly overrated and sell for the high price only due to the "mystic."

We borrowed the bell captain's luggage cart and rolled our own over. Of course that was +25 years ago when they would let you do stuff like that.

Correct, we don't have one but our neighbors use their Costco card all the time. We have used both USAA and Well Fargo debit cards loaded into our Apple wallet with no issue. AMEX only seems to be taken at major hotels.

Don't overlook taking the ferry from the port across to Coronado.

If you can afford it either the Fairmont or Pan Pacific would be my choice. Good thing about your flight is the time change is very favorable going west. I would track flights on one of the search sites and just keep checking. I have been tracking our planned flights to Europe for 2025 over the last four months and find schedules and prices change constantly. I have seen the fares vary as much as $500 each for business class and as much as $200 just by booking on a different day of the week.

As you should...