lx200gps

It's been a number of years since I last flew through YYZ, but I can guarantee that YUL is absolutely dreadful in that regard. We have waited every bit as long for our bags here as you do. More annoying is the fact that the baggage handlers here do not recognize the bright orange PRIORITY tags that AC put on luggage and our bags often come out much later than those without priority. Most airports in the US do seem to try and get our bags out to the carousel first, but not here in Montreal.

NEXUS is a huge no-brainer and the best freebie I can think of, we can only hope that it doesn't get so popular that the usually empty NEXUS lines start to get crowded ;o) We just renewed my wife's card and the full refund to the charge was automatically credited back to her credit card within two days.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I too have never seen this popup when signed on to CC

Interesting idea, and theoretically possible but probably unlikely. In October and again last month, we Uber'd from our hotels in Torrance and LAX to San Pedro, and both times, our driver already had a confirmed booking from passengers getting off the Princess ship were arriving to. I suspect it would be tough to find an Uber driver just sitting there trying to bag a fare on speculation. That being said, one other option if you don't want to use your cell phone data, would be to use the ship's wifi before arrival, even the day before, and pre-book the Uber to have them arrive at the pickup area at a certain time. I can't speak to pre-booking Ubers but I know people do it all the time. The only problem with that is that without an active data line/cell phone, i don't know how you would know which Uber is yours, so finding your specific vehicle may be tough. One of the things I love about using the system is the ability to track, in detail, the arrival of your ride and to know in advance the specific details of the vehicle, its color and license plate, the name and photo of the driver etc. I don't know how that would work without a cell phone. Perhaps some real Uber experts can chime in...

We're with Bell and US roaming is a hefty $13/day. That being said, I still regard it as worthwhile for no other reason than Ubering between LAX and San Pedro. The $13CAD plus the much lower Uber cost still works out a lot less than the taxi from San Pedro all the way up to LAX. Also, an elevated Uber, like XL or Comfort usually means a higher rated driver, and we've had some maniac taxi drivers before we started using Uber. For our other usual port, Port Everglades, it's not worth it since FLL is about 30 feet from PE and so taxis are cheap, so I don't usually use the cell phone there.

We departed SP for LAX in October and again last month. Tons of taxis and Ubers available. Wasn't looking for shuttles.

If a problem arises, why would I want to talk directly to the cruise line, sitting on hold for hours for the privilege of being disconnected in the middle of the call? I would much rather our excellent Travel Agent handle that for us ;o) Yes, if you have a bad TA, the ability to deal with the cruise line is important, but for those of us with excellent TAs, I don't understand the driving need to deal with a cruise line directly.

G'day.. The Doubletree in San Pedro gets a lot of great reviews here on CC, though we've never stayed there. We have sailed past it many times leaving the port though ;o) It's pretty remote, in a nice marina area with little to do, and in our experience, can be a bit pricey. You'd probably need to taxi or Uber if you wanted to explore. The Crowne Plaza is the closest hotel to the port but I gather you need to stay with Hilton so that's out. We have taken Torrance as our usual pre-cruise area, as it's very well situated. It's on almost a direct line from LAX to San Pedro, so no diverting to get there. It offers a lot of hotels, shopping and restaurants and is quite residential/suburban so no real issues with danger, at least as far as we could see. Hotel pricing tends to be quite stable relative to the fluctuating pricing for the San Pedro or Long Beach hotels. The hotel we usually stay at, the Doubletree Torrance, is right at the corner of Torrance and Hawthorne, right across the street from the Del Amo mall, apparently one of the largest shopping malls in the US. The other area to consider is Long Beach, not too far from San Pedro, though a bit more of a diversion than Torrance. Lots of hotels, restaurants etc, but pricing can be high in peak seasons relative to Torrance. Lovely area though, the harbour and marina have a lot of places to stay and things to do. Should you stay in Long Beach, I can highly recommend visiting the Queen Mary. An amazing way to see what cruising was like in the good old days. Have a great trip

Technically, the article is misleading. What they are calling "Embarkation" is really the new Medallion check-in procedure, before actual boarding, and has been mentioned, is now many months old. The priority boarding, for Elites, suites etc, is still in operation in most ports, no change there. We used it in San Pedro for priority boarding the Discovery a few weeks ago.

Agree. I made the mistake of saying here on CC once that I had asked the steward to make the swap and got soundly shouted down. It really is the Room Service number you have to call when you get into your cabin, please leave Stewart alone to do his/her job as turnover day is hellish for them without passengers asking them to do someone else's job. The changeover will happen within a few hours.

First question is whether or not the "official" booking actually allows that connection. If the airline says it's OK, then theoretically/technically it is possible. Second question, are you sure you won't have to go back through security again? Probably not, but you are going transborder. Third question, do you have both NEXUS AND airline or credit card priority security access? Having both of these can often massively help avoid the long lines. We always seem to breeze through checkin, security and US entry here in Canada with these perqs. Our last half-dozen flights, we've gone from check-in to sitting in the lounge in as little as 15 minutes, though that is heavily dependent on time of day of course. NEXUS is tremendous. Without them, I wouldn't ever consider a short connection like that. One thing in your favor, assuming it's Air Canada, is that AC will often station staff in the security and US areas calling out the connecting flights and escorting connecting passengers to a shorter line so they can make the connection.

We found that out the hard way as well. We will be staying near PE for our Oct 19 sailing on Princess, and every one of our usual 17th St hotels (Hilton, Hyatt Place, Renaissance etc) were astronomically overpriced, worse than I've ever seen them, thanks to that concert. The sky high pricing extended out to hotels in Dania, even distant Plantation. Amazingly, the Riverside, at that point, hadn't raised their prices and we grabbed a great deal on it. We've never stayed there before, looking forward to it, even though we arrive into FLL quite late and won't get to enjoy the local area.

Assuming we're talking about Montreal airport, if you'd like to avoid even needing to take a shuttle, there is an excellent and hugely convenient Marriott physically attached to the International/Transborder terminal at YUL. The Sheraton is a great hotel and quite close (even walkable in a pinch) but the Marriott can't be beaten for convenience. You don't even go outside when walking to your check-in.

Not stupid at all, I'm a (semi) regular Uber user in the US especially and I don't know how you would voice "call" them to hail a ride, if that's what we are talking about. They do provide customer support over the phone, but AFAIK to use the service, i.e. get a ride etc, it's all done via the app. Certainly for the benefits of the system compared to taxi, like contacting the driver, monitoring his approach so you can find him, tipping etc, you need the app. For that you would need either wifi or a data connection when outside wifi coverage. Since I am always away from wifi when I need to hail a ride, I use my cell phone. Bell Roaming isn't cheap, but it works.

Brace yourselves. ;o( That was around the time we arrived at T6, and it was absolute pandemonium. A huge number of people all waiting for hotel buses, but of course the hotel buses have to work around all the other vehicles arriving and leaving, so their progress is slow. All you can do is stand there and watch the buses arrive one at a time. The drivers know what they're doing and will pull up to each terminal to load their hotel's passengers, but it will be very noisy. When we were there a few weeks ago there was a giant fire engine parked across two of the lanes blocking everyone's view of the arriving vehicles, so we didn't spot our bus until it was almost on top of us. But it all worked out in the end.

No LAX-It needed, as mentioned the hotel shuttle pickup areas are clearly marked on the upper/departure level. Hopefully your hotel shuttle service is better than the LAX Sheraton's. A few weeks ago we waited over 30 minutes in the pandemonium of the shuttle pickup area at Terminal 6 for our Sheraton bus to arrive. While we waited, FIVE LAX Hyatt buses drove by. Guess where we'll be staying next time we have to stay at LAX ;o) Note also that the shuttle buses can be VERY packed with bags and passengers. When our bus arrived, we barely fit on board.

Looks like there's an adapter after all. That model takes a "Lavazza Blue" cartridge, and Amazon sells this fancy adapter: https://www.amazon.ca/Coffee-Filter-Refillable-Stainless-Lavazza/dp/B0CFK58D4Q/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3UH883AJPGEH3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XEq3L55DhL_nylN90dgPEI1vWRYItuTerK_y7mXhdc_7N0CccQveMS_7KkaRL05rw0nDMY2_5WCkWAfW3tT3SjET19Mp7PjAP8tNGp_BdrqG6x1aUHIZx1xb7gTNyEnRhDKyIBCyj3Ea5QPWqntedOCSwfy2KL-xLNMOquPVFFvsAP7yT8rHFz9KqJhQ5Wemr6yhFYct1f344bQmT79t0xmAn8tBmvVkKYjavoLde-5YH89ibwbA3DN1b7cqdsijx_iK_RPxARkQROgWNVYn4biM2xfYK3TgKQ40CD12DL8.toBk9AoyJYTDfKeW-VeA7BhEmzI4kvLRsRk1a-zYFOI&dib_tag=se&keywords=lavazza+blue+capsules&qid=1709757468&sprefix=lavazza+blue%2Caps%2C124&sr=8-8 Presumably there's a cheaper plastic option somewhere

We did exactly that a few weeks ago at SP. The Uber from our LAX hotel was a lot faster than I expected and we arrived at Pier 92 around 8:30 as well. We waited in a small "holding" tent with the 100 or so who had arrived even earlier than us until check-in started around 9:30AM and check-in was very fast. We sat in the Elite lounge until boarding started around 10:30 and for the first time ever, we were actually the very first to reach the Sanctuary. We, too, love to maximize our time on board.

Are these Lavazza refills the usual standard K cup format, IOW can we bring other refills if we prefer to bring our own? They do appear to be the same size...

I guess that's what I meant to say. He advised do not use Arrivecan when using NEXUS to enter Canada.

I had a related conversation once with a Canadian border agent when we returned off a cruise from the US, flying home into YUL. We are long time NEXUS holders, but I casually mentioned to him that we had also filled out Arrivecan. He was very clear and adamant that we are NOT supposed to use Arrivecan if we are also NEXUS card holders.

There's quite a bit of bizarre behavior going right now for sure. In addition to not being able to see pricing, as soon as the the "We apologize..." banner appears, I'm instantly logged out at the same time. Also, When viewing our three existing bookings, and when I click on the huge "Upgrade Now" button, it no longer shows the available upgrade with the option to select the Plus-to-Premier upgrade at $20/pp, instead it simply shows me what we have booked but does not allow the upgrade as it used to. Looks like they're doing some re-works to the site but using us customers as beta testers in the live environment instead of making these changes off line.

You should be perfectly fine, as they seem to have a LOT of built-in leeway on the use of the old card while your application is processed. Even though my latest card only expires in August 2025, I was looking at the USCBP website on renewals, (to confirm the one year rule for renewals) and regarding the use of the old card, they say: If you submit a renewal application before your membership expires, you will be able to continue to use benefits up to 24 months after your membership expiration date

The PE schedule now confirms that the Enchanted Princess, as expected, will be at Terminal 2 on that date. Have a great cruise.....

As soon as you board the ship there will be employees standing by to do the processing and upgrade you. They will be very hard to miss, no need to go to guest services. The upgrade goes in to effect immediately and you're on your way. Have a great cruise ;o)