lx200gps

Fair enough. Rather than calling the hotel, I'll probably start by calling Hyatt directly and having them put the booking into their system so it shows up in my account.

How were you able to find it in your Hyatt account? The only reference number I have is the one supplied by VT, and it does not register with the Hyatt site, it yields an error message.

Why? I have the confirmation number, why would I waste my time calling them?

There is indeed a covered parking garage immediately north of the terminal one block away, easily seen on Google Maps. . A few folks on CC have commented that us cruise passengers are not supposed to use it, but the comment in that thread posted above disagrees. These folks parked in the covered garage, and actually asked the staff if it was OK to park there for a cruise. The response was "...no problem, please park on the upper floor" We will be parking there on our next visit in July.

It tends to vary ship to ship, itinerary to itinerary etc. In general, the early shows are 7 or 7:30PM and the late shows 9 or 9:30PM. Around North America, it's usually 7:30 and 9:30. If you're not too far out from your trip, the ship's Daily Schedule should show all shows and times.

They have an interesting way of managing these VT bookings. I have a reservation for mid-October, confirmed by my VT Email. When I access my Hyatt account, there is no sign of that booking, and when I do a search using the confirmation number, there is still no sign of the booking.

We've used them before, and have another stay at the HP booked for this October. Lots of folks here on CC have used them quite successfully. Do a search here on CC, particularly in the Florida Departures sub-forum and you'll find entire threads on Valuetrips. Two such threads:

No worries. In addition to monitoring the ADM Parking site for availability, I forgot to mention that they do occasionally offer discounts at certain times of the year. We usually park for 8 days in the big covered garage next to the Terminals. Normal rate is $C320, but a few times I've managed to get it for 20% off. I got that discount on our trip last October, but for our trip in a few weeks, I had to pay full price. As to traffic and accessing the airport in peak times, I would suggest you start to monitor Google Maps with traffic turned on. The red lines indicating traffic jams leading in to the airport late in the afternoon when all the big aircraft are coming and going to Europe can be very scary, often leading way out on to the two access highways, the 20 and 520. On particularly bad days, passengers have been known to abandon their taxis or Ubers and walk the remaining distance to the terminal. For our next trip, to LA in early Feb, we are stuck with a 17:45 flight, right in the bad period, so we will arrive at the airport before 2PM and sit in the lounge, rather than put up with the traffic. Best of luck.

The Hyatt Place near the cruise port is hugely popular here on CC. If you can get a room for free with points, it's a no-brainer. If you have to pay for a room, check out a site called Valuetrips.com. They have a mysterious special relationship with that specific Hyatt Place and, depending on the time of year, can offer massive savings. I just booked a room for next October at the HP. The Hyatt site was quoting over $500 for the night, Valuetrips cost us $129. No idea how they do it, but it works.

Montrealer here. Your neighbor is only partly correct. There are serious issues accessing the airport proper at certain times of the day, particularly in the afternoon up to dinner time, with sometimes kilometers long traffic jams to get near the terminal and parking lots, but parking is not typically a problem. Since you are flying to Europe, that probably means a late afternoon departure, which right now is the problem time. As to actually parking, there are no issues with getting parking spaces. The ADM website lets you see exactly what the status of each parking lot is at any given time and you will see that there will almost certainly be parking spots available. If you are OK with off-airport parking, then things are even easier. Note also that the Montreal airport is about to open a massive new covered parking garage, to be called P4, not far from the Marriott hotel and it should greatly alleviate any parking problems once it opens in the next month or two. https://www.admtl.com/en/access/parking

Yup, they started sometime in October. Our shipping notification came on Jan 10. I even figured out how to track the shipment. Ours is leaving Singapore and Canada Post naively claims it will be delivered here on Jan 16.

G'day... We always fly into LAX the day before (doing it again in a few weeks ;o) The area around LAX is an industrial wasteland and would not be the best choice for a two day stay unless your flight lands VERY late. Personally, I also find San Pedro to be quite poor as well. One possible option for you would be Long Beach, not too far from San Pedro but much more "alive" than SP though LB can be pricey depending on time of year. Another good option, for pricing as well as variety, is our favorite pre-cruise LA hotel zone, Torrance. It's exactly half way between LAX and San Pedro, so not out of your way at all, and has lots of well-priced hotels and restaurants. We stay at one of the hotels right next to the massive Del Amo mall. Since you're concerned about sight-seeing etc,Torrance might be a good option.

A few sections of theater seats will be covered with blue and are scattered around the theater in a variety of areas (lower down, in the balconies etc). All quite well located. On the Discovery last October there was absolutely no governance of the reserved seats by staff, it was all on the honor system. My wife overheard folks next to us admitting they were not on the Premier Package but sat there anyway. The reserved seats are supposed to be held until 10 minutes before the show starts and for the two production shows they are used for, there were still a few available at that time. Still, the big shows are very popular so I wouldn't wait until the last minute....

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Log on to the Princess website and go into your cruise. On the "Check In" tab, look for "Print Travel Summary". In the Travel Summary there will be a section called "Special Services" and that's where the package will show up, along with all the other perqs that come with the Premier Package. This is what mine looks like:

I suspect that the answer will depend on which ship/pier you are leaving from, as there are at least two very different entrances. We almost always leave from Terminal 2, off 17th St at Eisenhower Blvd, and there is a huge Publix grocery store (as well as a Walgreen's) not far from the northern Port entrance. The other entrance is off Eller drive at the south end of the port, and IIRC there aren't as many options for stopping as there are on 17th St/Eisenhower entrance. Keep in mind also that FLL is very close to Port Everglades, so there may not be as many options.

Thanks. According to reports on other threads, I don't expect it to actually work until the package arrives here in Canada and falls under the "care" of Canada Post. Even then, it probably won't show as it does for US residents. The 10 or 11 days sounds about right for Canada based on other reports and we sail Feb 3, so we should get it in plenty of time. I use a website called Parcelsapp.com which usually does a good job of tracking packages worldwide, but even that one doesn't show it yet.

Just yesterday we received the official shipping notification, with USPS tracking number, though the tracking number doesn't actually work. Our trip leaves San Pedro on Feb 3.

No sweat. Look out for an Email titled "Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Reservation from ValueTrips.com"

I've never had an issue with them, my latest booking for this October went through quickly and is on the Hyatt website safe and sound. The general consensus here on CC seems to be that VT is quite legit and, depending on the date, can save huge amounts.

When I first used this new system a few weeks ago, I only gave them the name of my brokerage firm (TD Waterhouse) and nothing more. I then uploaded a highly redacted PDF of the section of my statement showing the 100 CCL shares, with all other info blacked out. Had the OBC for out July trip in my Princess account within hours.

Montrealer here. Given your choices of either a late night or early morning flight, I would also side with John and suggest the later flight at 6:45PM, if only to avoid having to get up VERY early in the morning to make a 7AM flight. Either way you will have two nights in a hotel pre-cruise, so you might as well maximize your time in Miami. Technically, you probably would not have two nights in Miami as you would be arriving after 11PM, so not much time to explore Miami the day you arrive anyway. If you do opt for the 7AM flight, I would suggest that you stay at the airport Marriott, which is physically attached to the Transborder terminal here at YUL, so your walk to the check-in counter will be extremely short. Remember you will also be clearing US customs and immigration here in Montreal before leaving. As to weather delays, they aren't as common as people think up here, and we never worry about them at all. We are flying in a few weeks to get on a Princess ship in Los Angeles. Flying three or four times a year, (and before I retired, dozens of times a year), I can't remember the last time I had a flight disrupted by weather. Aircraft mechanical issues however..... And if you haven't been to Tremblant before, you'll love it. We've skied there for decades and know the hill and village very well.

I simply copied the first Amazon links that showed a Medallion holder for a cell phone. Amazon had LOTS of other options.

Clearly they changed their available slots. As it stands today, per their web site, the months of Jan, Feb and March 2024 are blacked out. I booked for one of our upcoming trips, in October 2024, and the VT rate was 1/3 of the Hyatt direct rate.

Apologies, that link was for Amazon Canada. Cheaper options on Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Princess-Medallion-Accessories-Android-Black-Blue/dp/B0CGB2L9CC/ref=sr_1_40?keywords=princess%2Bmedallion&qid=1704648286&sr=8-40&th=1