lx200gps

What's the current status of the taxi stands that are still operating AT LAX, rather than at the LAX-It lot? IIRC there is one (not useful for the OP unfortunately) near Terminal 7, but was there not one closer to the OP's Terminal 3, or is the T7 stand the only one? We are flying in to Terminal 6 at LAX in a few weeks and plan to make the short walk to take a taxi from curbside to our hotel in Torrance.

My comment was specific to FLL. There have been numerous discussions here on the Florida departures forum about the apparently illegal practice by a few taxi drivers at FLL who will not activate their meters and instead charge a "flat rate". From what I understand this is definitely illegal if done from the airport, all taxis are required to use the meter. No idea about other departure points like hotels, PE etc., though I do know that I once asked one of the Sheriff's Deputies who man traffic control at Port Everglades about this as I was waiting for a taxi to FLL. He confirmed that yes, taxis are required by law to use meters at all times from there as well. No idea if we was right or not, but that's what he told me. So that's why we don't like flat rate taxis.

The comment in Post #5 refers to a known problem at the airport, not so much at PE, where taxi drivers sometimes do not not activate their meters and instead charge a slightly elevated flat rate to take customers to their hotels or to PE. This has been discussed a number of times here on CC. It happened to us once, but I simply didn't tip the driver and the charge worked out to the same amount as a metered fare plus tip.

There are some very nice hotels in Long Beach, right on or near the water. The Hyatt, Hilton and Westin come to mind. We stayed at the Hyatt many years ago, but tend to stay in Torrance now pre-cruise as it's generally much cheaper. Not an option for you, I realize, as you're flying in to LGB and not LAX as we do. Restaurant-wise, there are lot of options on Shoreline Drive near the big outlet mall and the Hyatt, all circling the marina/harbor. All budgets and tastes, Google Maps will show you the options. Some great options if you love dining on the water as we do. Tequila Jack's was a great place, right on the marina, but VERY busy when we ate there. A long shot, and I do strongly suggest doing your due diligence, is the Queen Mary. Even if you don't stay overnight, it's a very neat visit, very historical and interesting. We won't ever again stay there overnight, even after its recent renovation, but it did have a few very neat bars and restaurants, very Art Deco. They were excellent, much better than the room we had ;o) Worth looking in to. Have a great trip.

You probably meant this type. ;o) https://www.amazon.com/Princess-Cruise-Ship-Luggage-Holders/dp/B07XPDM4B1/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1PR03S1SJTGN&keywords=princess+luggage+tags&qid=1695409406&sprefix=princess+luggage+tags%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-5 The steel wire and grommet are a nice feature, making them almost unbreakable.

Thanks VERY much for posting this. I checked our 5 upcoming cruises and we actually missed this group by one week on one of our trips. We disembark from the Sun in Port Everglades just as they are boarding in October 2024. That being said, we may have B2Bers to contend with, but time will tell.

Great news, thanks Rob. The absolute pandemonium we see at PE every time we leave to head to FLL (we always take taxis) had me worried, but now we will definitely be Ubering back to LAX. We'll be using it from our hotel in Torrance on embarkation day as well, but we will probably use a taxi from LAX to Torrance after landing the day before. I can't be bothered to use the LAX-It lot and there is supposed to be a taxi stand just a bit down from Terminal 6, near Terminal 7.

Good thing you specified "...in the UK" as CFAR insurance is widely available here in North America. Princess's offering stands out as it gives 100% back as an FCC if, say, you elect to cancel because your cat fired off a particularly big hairball the day before sailing, but other insurers routinely offer up to 75-80% back

We're going to be sailing out of SP in a few weeks as well, first time in about 5 years. We are also heading for AC at Terminal 6. How busy was the ride share pickup area when you ordered your ride at 9AM, were there a ton of other folks? I'm always nervous about ordering an Uber from a cruise port when I see how many people all congregate in the small, incredibly crowded rideshare pickup space at Terminal 2 in Port Everglades. Knowing the layout at SP, I expect it will be a lot less frenetic than PE. We always do self-walkoff so I plan to be outside ordering our Uber NLT 8AM.

We've been on the Sky three times in the last 18 months, and yes, they sure do close entire venues for groups. Take 5 is one they use quite regularly, and we've had it closed of from us a number of times, usually for a few hours at a time. Take 5 is popular for group functions as it is usually quite empty during the day.

Unless something has changed recently, Carnival sails from Long Beach, not San Pedro, so you should be fine. The San Pedro port schedule still shows only a maximum of two ships there at any one time for all of April 2024, so you will be at either Berth 92 or 93, an easy walk from the CP https://www.portsamerica.com/operations/cruise-los-angeles-terminal-schedule

The medallions are small disks about 30mm in diameter and about 7mm thick. As posted above, there are tons of way to carry them, and there are also lots of non-Princess accessories as well. Mine fits in a small plastic holder the size of a credit card and stays in my pocket at all times.

Again. I can't speak to the official max capacity, that was just my guesstimate, but it will be whatever the Sanctuary management says it is. Yes, 8 would be stretching it, though those Cabanas are pretty big and include the area outside the Cabana, where the two loungers are located as well as the inside area with the sofa, TV, bar etc. There would not be 8 loungers, only the seating that comes with the Cabana. As to noise, the rule in the Sanctuary is QUIET PLEASE, so no externally audible noise allowed, no music, no TV sound, only headphones etc. If some partiers wanted to make a scene, they would presumably be shut down pretty quick.

It's my understanding that if the "owners" of a Sanctuary Cabana want to have guests, they are allowed up to a maximum of ? people (sorry, don't know how many more but would SWAG maybe a total of maybe 8 people per Cabana, if that; they are pretty spacious) The guests would then pay the standard rate for a lounger for the day, $40, to be a guest in the Cabana. At least that's how I understand it

Credit Card travel insurance probably varies with the card issuer, the "level" of card and doubtless other factors as well. I am actually waiting right now for a call back from the folks who run the TD travel insurance, to answer my questions re the coverage on my TD Visa Infinite Privilege card. According to the Product Summary, it appears that the only difference in coverage for this card once one hits 65 is the number of days it covers for each trip. Once over 65 you are limited to only the first four days coverage per trip, but all their documentation happily states that extra coverage is available at additional cost. Once they call me back I'll find out just how expensive the added coverage will be.

You probably DID receive them but just didn't know it. The Coupon books we receive from our TA are "electronic" and we don't ever get them in physical form (beyond maybe an Email). The Princess "system' knows there are there and against your account, even if you don't. Yes, not a great way to run a business, they should have told you about them since, as a newbie, you wouldn't have known about them.

Sorry, but that's an incorrect generalization, certainly as regards medical coverage. My Visa Infinite Privilege card definitely does cover medical, but has different conditions and shorter coverage periods if you're over 65 requiring supplemental coverage at extra $$$s for longer periods. I'm a bit north of 65 now ;o( and I do have to buy the extra coverage at slightly extra cost if I want to be covered for an entire trip.

Agreed, the only way I could see a trip out of NY being cancelled was if the storm was actually too close to the port to prevent the ship from leaving, and Lee is not going to be anywhere near New York. Logically, the best bet would be revised itineraries that stay close to the US East Coast but far enough away from the storm, visiting places like Boston, Newport, Norfolk, etc as we were supposed to have on our CNE trip last year. The only issue I could see was whether the ship would be allowed to bypass Canada entirely due to the storm and stay up and down the US East Coast for the duration, technically violating the PVSA. I believe there are provisions for that, so time will tell whether it is necessary. Please all report back after your trip to let us know what the ship's crew decided to do re your itinerary. Also, FWIW, when our trip lost 3 of the 5 port stops due to bad weather last year, Princess comped up all some OBC while we were still on board, then gave us all a 35% refund in the form of an FCC.

That's a tough one to call. Current models show it heading straight north, cutting you off from Bermuda where it will be just off the west coast of Bermuda next weekend and continuing northward toward our Maritimes heading straight for Halifax sometime during the week of the 18th. So a complete re-think of the itinerary to head southwards and/or to Bermuda is possible, the PVSA notwithstanding. NOAA shows this as at this morning I can tell you that last year our Canada/New England trip on the Enchanted was completely disrupted by the old remnants of a hurricane (we barely saw any bad weather) but we simply sailed around instead of diverting to another port. Instead of 5 port days, we only had two, with THREE extra sea days

Way more than that actually. I flew the planet in Business on Air Canada for decades. You get 2 free bags, each up to 70 lbs, when the Economy class limit is 50 lbs each Also, Aeroplan or credit card elevated statuses can also confer free bags (my credit card gives us priority everything and two free bags each for example)

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Although we are regular AC flyers we had never heard of or seen these new sizers. As a suggestion, if you want more and better info on this, you might want to consider posting questions over on the Canadian Cruisers sub-forum where you will probably find more, and more recent, Air Canada customers who have experienced these sizers. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2510-canadian-cruisers/

Very interesting. We last flew out of YUL in June and never saw such a thing, nor were we asked to verify our bag's compliance. We will be more careful next time and be sure to bring our smaller carry-ons. Thanks for the correction. Do you know if EVERYONE is required to put ALL their their carry-ons through this, or is only used when the AC rep thinks the bags may be oversized?

Montrealer here, and I've been flying worldwide out of YUL for over half a century ;o( By "automatic sizer", I guess you are referring to the steel frames at the check-in counters and gates that only very occasionally you are asked to manually insert your carry-on into? We have multiple carry-on bags, and I just measured my biggest and fattest one. It's 22.5" x 14.5" x 11" empty, and I can assure you that I have made it fit into Air Canada's steel frames (though IIRC it was usually flying AC out of other airports like Fort Lauderdale returning home where I had to use the sizer frame) Obviously if your new bag is a hard-shell case and not soft, it could be problematic, but it's always been my experience that those soft carry-ons can usually be "persuaded" to fit. You also mention you are flying AC Rouge in Business Class. It's generally been my experience that when flying up front, the rules for things like this can tend to be a bit more relaxed as the check-in staff are not as concerned about overhead bin space as they are for cattle class Thinking outside the box, if you are flying (home?) into Dulles, can you head over to the airport sometime before your trip and try the new bag into one of AC's sizer frames there?

It's not just Princess. Our last cruise, back in June, was on X. In the weeks preceding our sailing I kept an eye on pricing for our exact cabin type. We had booked our cabin for about $CAD4K. When I researched the pricing I found numbers, for our specific, sailing ranging up as high as $CAD9200, well more than twice what we paid. Dynamic pricing at its best, but I'm nor sure I could justify almost 10grand for a balcony cabin for two.

Hopefully, if the requirement even does return to prove testing for shorter cruises like ours, the requirement would be as simple as taking a photo of the test indicator. That we can live with ;o)