Bruin Steve

Other options? Well, last time we cruised on Navigator (June), we just skipped the drive altogether...Took an Uber from home (Calabasas) directly to the port...and back upon the return, Shockingly, the Uber ride (50+ miles each way) cost us LESS than the 30+ mile trip home to LAX!...About a $100 (plus tips) round trip--less than the parking fees at San Pedro...And we didn't have to spend money on gas, no wear and tear on our cars...and we didn't have to leave a car exposed in the lot for a week... We'll do the same in January when we cruise on Navigator again!

We just got home from LAX. Took Uber. Got to the LAX-it lot at 10:02 pm. Yes, there were a lot of people waiting for Ubers. Logged in and summoned an Uber...and it was there in exactly FIVE MINUTES. Price (compared to our many prior Uber and Lyft rides) was right there with past fares between LAX and our home (less than $50)...and it's just over one and a half times the distance as LAX to the Cruise terminal in San Pedro! And, of course, the OP in this thread would NOT be dealing with the LAX-it shuttle or the LAX-it lot or the crowds of de-planing passengers or airport surcharges...BECAUSE they would be going from their hotel, NOT LAX. Simpler. Uber or Lyft could pick them up right at the hotel front door.

Personally, I'd just use Uber or Lyft...It would be less than a taxi...maybe, with tip, about the same as the Princess transfer...but you are on Royal Caribbean, right? Probably a little more for that--so you may beat it with Lyft or Uber... Whatever, to me it's worth it to avoid the extra step of dealing with a shuttle back to LAX and with locating the cruise line rep at LAX and then waiting for them to fill the bus... The convenience of door-to-door service on your own time is worth quite a bit in my book...

I am by no means an expert on Seattle...and, though I've visited Seattle often enough in the past (for other reasons), next August we're cruising out of Seattle for the first time (Quantum of the Seas). After seeing the extremely high hotel rates in Downtown...and considering we're only flying in the afternoon before the cruise and have no real time to, nor interest in, doing any sightseeing, we've opted to book a room at an Airport hotel (Wingate). Figure, we'll save about $200 on the room, get free breakfast and be able to take the hotel shuttle from the airport...maybe Uber to the pier the next morning. We'll just relax arund the hotel that afternoon and evening, maybe find one of the scarce airport area eateries for dinner...and get a good night's sleep... Unless anyone sees any major problem with this, that's the plan as of now...

I've NEVER had a problem. I'd guess the day you were in as a port stop, there was no ship there begining or ending a cruise. Remember, every time a ship pulls in at the end of a cruise, a lot of folks get off and drive off in those parked cars...So, arriving between 9-10 means there are spots opening all over the lot--enough to accommodate the same number of cars for the next cruise. There are also employees leaving the lot as their shifts end. That said, even though we live in reasonable driving distance, we've often booked hotel park & cruise nights at the CP or Doubletree...Booking early or using Hilton points, it's made sense. One recent cruise, that Cruise and Park rate at the CP was within about $10 of what parking at the pier would have cost.

We are on this cruise as well...and, yes, it is January 20 (Friday). I assume that if you are spending just the night before, you are arriving January 19 (Thursday). Yes, there are lots of nicer hotels in the Greater Los Angeles area... HOWEVER, for us, when arriving in port just the day or night before a cruise, the major reason for choosing a hotel is CONVENIENCE. When doing this, we like to be very close to the cruise port...and close to restaurants...since all we usually plan on doing is geting to the hotel, relaxing, having a nice dinner and very little stress in the morning checking out of the hotel and getting to the pier. If someone is staying multiple days in Southern California pre-cruise, I wholeheartedly recommend staying somewhere else (First choice: Santa Monica). But, for just the day before a cruise out of San Pedro, it is really hard to beat the Crowne Plaza. It is not a five-star luxury hotel, but, OTOH, it is plenty nice for a one night pre-cruise stay. I typically book 4 nd 5 star hotels, for the most part...but have no problem with either the Crowne Plaza or the Doubletree. The reason I recommend the CP first is for the location. It is only about a three block walk to the cruise terminal. The hotel now charges $5.50 pp for their shuttle...but, if you don't care to walk it, an Uber is only a few dollars as well. There are several good, comfortable, casual and reasonably priced restaurants within a couple of blocks walk. My favorites are the Green Onion (Mexican) and the San Pedro Brewing Company (brew pub/ecclectic) both within a half a block of the hotel.. The Doubletree is a couple of miles from the cruise terminal, perhaps a small bit nicer and in a more serene and scenic location at the yacht marina...but with few restaurants nearby, though the hotel will shuttle you to restaurants in Downtown San Pedro. For those with cars, parking at the Doubletree is in an open lot adjacent to the hotel front entrance. Parking at the Crowne Plaza is in an underground structure below the hotel. We were able to park in a spot between a pillar and the side wall where no other car could park next to us.

50 days...

Seriously? I really didn't expect anything... But as long as Royal Caribbean wants to compensate people for this (which I believe is a smart PR move), they should take the TOTAL cruise fare (yes, they can deduct the fees and taxes), divide it by two (number of passengers) and divide that by 8 (number of cruise nights)...then multiply that per diem per person fare by the number of nights missed in isolation (in this case, three). In this case, that would have come to approximately $388. Still a fraction of the total cruise price, but based on actual days in isolation for an even distribution of the total cruise fare paid to the line.

During our recent 8-night Vision of the Seas cruise in the Mediterranean (Early afternoon of Day 5 while docked in Ibiza), my wife self-reported to the medical office with a sore throat and a positive self-test for Covid. She was re-tested, then sent to an "Isolation" area on Deck 3 and restricted to an OV cabin, by herself, for the remainder of the cruise. She missed the final three nights of the cruise...and was released at disembarkation. I really didn't think too much of this until they told me we would receive a credit for the time in isolation. I thought "great". Well. some time later, we recieved a credit for a whopping $110!!! I guess something is better than nothing, but, why only $110??? Well, here's the story: 1) Somehow, since my wife didn't get sent to isolation until early afternoon on Day 5, they didn't count that night...not a "full 24 hours", I guess. 2) They didn't count taxes and fees, just "cruise fare". Fair enough, I guess. 3) We purchased the cruise during some sort of sale promotion--where it was "Second passenger 75% off"...and, unfortunately, I was designated as the first passenger, my wife as second passenger, so MY cruise fare accounted for the overwhelming majority of the fare and hers only $440...even though we all know that pricing is a fiction. Had we designated the passenger numbers the other way around, we'd be getting three times the credit...and 4) We originally booked an OV cabin at a low price, then used a well above minimum bid on Royal Up to upgrade to a premium balcony. Apparently, that doesn't count.

Are you flying in....or driving? If you are flying and will be staying, say for just the night before in San Pedro, then you'll want something walking distance. If you have a car, OTOH, you can go and buy wine anywhere. There is a liquor store...called Ocean Market...directly across Harbor Blvd. from the cruise port. There are several other random liquor stores in the downtown San Pedro area. Otherwise, in California, note that just about every supermarket and drug store sells wine...

There are reasons hotels in this area, incuding that one, are charging relatively low prices. It is not a great area...sort of blue collar/industrial. There is a Denny's next door...and not much else. You probably won't be comfortable walking anywhere from there--especially at night. If you must stay there, consider taking an Uber back and forth to San Pedro for dinner. Hopefuly, you are there just for the night?

My two favorites in San Pedro are the San Pedro Brewing Company and the Green Onion...both are reasonably priced and casual and serve really good food. Both are in Downtown Pedro--on 6th, to either side of the Crowne Plaza...but since you have a car, very easy to drive to from the Doubletree... https://sanpedrobrewing.com/menu http://www.greenonionmexicanrestaurant.com/menu.html

With three nights prior, the real question is to what extent you are focusing on Universal...versus how much is a more generalized sightseeing in the larger LA area... If you really just want to focus on Universal (which is really, at this point, just a large movie-themed amusement park--for which I wouldn't devote more to than one day...or part of one day) and other movie/TV studios...then go head and stay right at Universal (Hilton or Sheraton) or somewhere at the center of Hollywood ---Loews Hollyeood, Hollywood Roosevelt, Magic Castle...But, be aware--most of Hollywood can be a bit scuzzy...and stay away from any bargain hotels you find in this area...PLEASE.... My best recommendation is, with multiple pre-cruise nights, to stay in Santa Monica--near the SM Pier/Third Street Promenade/Palisades Park...Fairmont Miramar, Loews, Marriott LeMarigot, Shutters at the Beach, Huntley, Georgian, Casa Del Mar, Hampton Inn, Marriott Courtyard, Wyndham, Ocean View. Lots to do within walking distance...and easy to get to Universal/Hollywood via organized tour, HOHO bus or even the Metro. For one night after with early flight, the one time I'd say to stay near LAX...either one of the large chain LAX adjacent hotels along Century Blvd. west of the 405...or down in El Segundo just South of LAX--most have free airport shuttles...

I live a little over an hour from San Pedro but often stay there the night before a cruise for the convenience and low stress. I've stayed in both the Crowne Plaza and the Doubletree and like both...Neither are "low end hotel types". Both are nice. I think Doubletree is a little nicer but Crowne Plaza has an ib=ncredibly convenient location. Lots of really good restaurant choices withi a block or two of the CP...and the pier is walking distance...though a shuttle or Uber is cheap and very convenient.

Anyone ever stayed there? Looking for a hotel for one night pre-cruise next August. Looks to be a newer "standard" chain airport hotel. Hotels.com has it at "8.8/Excellent". On Google, 53% of the reviews were 5 star, another 27% were 4 star. TripAdvisor has it at sort of a middling level, but, reading through the 53 reviews, over half gave it 5 stars...the 10 "Terrible" reviews all seemed to have something sort of irrelevant to complain about (one-off issues like their car was vandalized in the lot, they didn't have a room for early check-in, the person who forgot their eyeglasses at the hotel and the hotel didn't find the glasses for them, their airport shuttle was late...or the ones complaining that the free buffet breakfast was more like continental breakfast)...I can live with those. I'd rather stay closer to the port for the next morning convenience, but Downtown area hotels seem to be running around double...and, since we're only getting in the afternoon before, it's not like we're sightseeing in Seattle. I assume there are easy options for transportation to the pier and back to SeaTac after the cruise? Thanks...

Flying in to Athens in four weeks for Apex B2B cruises, staying pre-cruise 4 nights and post-cruise one night at the Hilton. Need to figure out ground transportation. I read somewhere that there are fixed taxi prices for Airport to Central Athens hotels, however I'm seeing some greatly varying quotes. Also heard Uber works, but really only as a conduit to taxis...which, again, makes me uncomfortable as to possible rates. Benefit to Uber might be going direct to credit card...but it also looks like I could pre-arrange taxis and charge to card as well. But thinking it may make sense to have the rides pre-arranged. I am a little concerned that they tend to ask for time of arrival...and, who knows, with possible flight delays, time to retrieve luggage and time to make it through customs, what time to ask for. I don't want someone charging me, not waiting and leaving...or charging me a large amount of money for "waiting time"... Any suggestions? Is a taxi the way to go? Should I pre-arrange one or wait and take my chances? Or is there a better way to get from the airport to the Hilton? And how about the Hilton to the ship in Pireus? Basically, the same for the return at end of B2B cruises. Thanks.

I just switched cabins on my back-to-back Infinity booking to #8098--a C2 Concierge cabin... In researching the cabin after that, I came across some old threads regarding this section of the Infinity...which included the following photograph: This thread and photo are actually over 10 years old. What you see on that photo is a window washing platform...whose location can move around the ship...but, the discussion in this ten-year old thread included that the platform, when not in use, is permanently in that specific location. The woman standing on the balcony in that photo is in 9100...9098 would be the next balcony to the left. The big question is whether that platform is still there...or if Celebrity has since removed it from the ship (I saw one note somewhere that said it was no longer "in use"). If the platform IS still there, it looks like a good cabin TO RUN FROM... If the platform has been removed, it looks like a great cabin--near midship, a deck down from the view-damaging poles and two decks up from the dreaded lifeboats...with other cabins above and below (rather than noisemakers like pool deck, buffet, dance floors, etc.)...and, unlike the prior cabin we had been booked in, it has no connecting doors to an adjoining cabin... Of course, the cruise line does NOT refer to this as an obstructed view cabin, Who knows for certain?