San diego arrival, luggage drops, hotels

[yorkshire born sailor]

Hello everybody, this is my first post so forgive me if I ramble.

Myself, My wife and her (84 years old) Father are sailing Radiance of the Seas September 2010. we will be disembarking in San Diego and are trying to decide what to do.

We will have to fly back to the UK, probably within two to three days of landing.

So,

Do we stay in SD, if so we can't check into a hotel until afternoon so what about our bags? I'm fine with things to do as per previous posts.

Or,

Do we stop off in Las Vegas or New York or Washington etc. There is no direct flight from SD home so we will have to change somewhere.

Any suggestions?

 

Alan & Claire

Princess to Alaska, New England, Baltic & Norway

Royal Caribbean, the Med

Celebrity The Med

[jasmith52]

The ship should let you off around 9:00 AM (or so). If you want to stay in San Diego you can leave your bags at the hotel in the morning with the porter/staff. then you could look around San Diego, get some lunch and then go back to the hotel for your room. You can then either fly out of San Diego and connect somewhere to get home.

 

Other options are, like you post, fly out of San Diego and connect in Las vegas, New York etc.. . perhaps you might want to break up the trip by flying to New York or Washington (DC), stay overnight, and then fly on home.

 

Alternately you could rent a car and drive up to Los Angeles and fly home (probably direct) from LAX. To get the car catch a taxi (maybe $10 plus tip) at the San Diego dock to the airport where you can rent a car. The drive is maybe 2.5 hours (or faster if you drive like me). Add 2 hours to that drive time during weekday rush hour (commute) periods. Much of the drive is very beautiful along the pacific coast however once you get in towards Los Angeles it becomes very urban. If you are traveling on a weekend you can probably be at LAX by noon or so. That would allow you to catch a late afternoon or evening direct flight back home.

 

There are also some train options (AMTRAK) to Los Angeles, but the connections on the LA side are difficult. I suppose you could take a taxi from the (Los Angeles) Union Station to the airport (LAX) if that's the way you want to go. If I recall correctly the trains go every hour or so. here's a link to the AMTRAK website http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/HomePage