Need help from the West Coasters!

[hardingk]

We just put a cabin on hold for the Vision of the Seas Mexican Riviera cruise in May. I have a few questions if anyone could help!

 

1. How far is LAX from the pier?

2. What is the best way to get around? Taxi, rental car?

3. Are there any good hotels by the pier?

4. What time do they start diembarking? How much time should one allow to get back to the airport for their flight?

5. Any feed back from this cruise you could give?

 

Thanks!

[springtxbill]

The port is about a 40 minute ride from LAX. The best way is to check out http://www.supershuttle.com or http://www.primetimeshuttle.com, both of which are shared vans and will cost about $32 or so to get to the port and about $3 more to go back to the airport.

 

There are no rental car places in San Pedro except Enterprise which is only open until noon on Saturday and closed Sunday.

 

I believe in San Pedro there is a Holiday Inn, Sheraton, and a Hilton.

 

They start disembarking pretty much at their scheduled arrival time and traffic to LAX on Sunday morning is not bad at all. I would probably not get a flight before about 11:30 as LAX can be a mess.

 

You will really like the cruise as the ship and crew are great.

 

The last day at sea on the way back to the port will be very cool on the deck with the wind chill, so be prepared. :)

[Happy ks]

If you are just staying one night prior, don't bother renting a car, there are plenty of shuttles right outside of baggage claim. I would not recommend staying in San Pedro, which is closest to the San Pedro Port (Port of Los Angeles) rather, stay in Long Beach. It might cost a few more bucks to take a taxi to the port, but the area and hotels are much nicer. My favorite is Queen Mary, but there are other choices, too. San Pedro and Long Beach are right next to each other, so you would be 5 - 7 miles away from your port if you stayed in Long Beach. Check out Expedia to see your choices.

 

LAX is 20 miles from the port, anywhere from 30 - 45 minutes, depending on traffic. If your cruise ends on a Sunday, don't worry too much about an early flight, but don't book much before noon if you can help it, that gives you a little lee-way if the ship has any customs problems. You may want to consider flying into Long Beach airport, it's a bit closer than LAX (13 miles) and a much more pleasant airport overall.

[hardingk]

THanks for the tips. Depending on if we fly into LAX (american) or Long Beach (Jet Blue) we determine what we do. If do LAX, we are thinking about flying in late Friday night and going to Disney on Saturday, then going to the pier Sunday morning. If we fly into Long Beach, we will fly in Saturday morning and just hang out and see LA.

 

Do you have any other thoughts on the ship and the ports? Things to do and see?

[hardingk]

Anyone, Anyone?

[wireman180]

If you are planning to stop at Disneyland you will be disappinted with only one day. We spent 3 days there after our Vision Cruise last year and that was just right with 3 kids. We drove down and stayed at a nice hotel near the pier but I don't remember which one.

 

Corky

[officeher]

We have done this cruise 4 times and have taken our kids on it twice. In Puerto Vallarta if your adventerous there is a great trip you can book where you zip line through the jungle. We loved it and the kids had a ball too. In Mazatlan we have been to El Cid hotel where you just laze around the beach and pool and eat then shopped and also one time we took the horseback riding trip on the beach. Both were great.

In Cabo, my suggestion is just go to the beach or go snorkeliing at Lovers Beach. You don't get to spend to much time in this port, although we think it is the most beautiful. If you get a chance you might want to go on whale watching trip, they birth their young in these waters and it is awesome to see these huge beautiful creatures.

Have a fabulous time. Also just a side note all of the trips we have taken we booked with independant vendors. In our experience the cruise tours have so many people to deal it just isn't as productive and inexpensive as going it alone. All vendors were great to deal with and we will CERTAINLY be going back to them. This trip is great for us since we are in CA and we don't have to worry about adding air.

We leave for Orlando on Tues for several days before boarding Mariner on Sunday. 16 of us and can't wait.

Michelle:D

[PhoenixCruiser]

We too are taking a cruise out of San Pedro this August, you might want to check out this web site

 

Have fun planning :D :D

 

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[TahoeBob]

We just put a cabin on hold for the Vision of the Seas Mexican Riviera cruise in May. I have a few questions if anyone could help!

 

 

2. What is the best way to get around? Taxi, rental car?

 

3. Are there any good hotels by the pier?

4. What time do they start diembarking? How much time should one allow to get back to the airport for their flight?

5. Any feed back from this cruise you could give?

 

Thanks!

We took a taxi back to LAX after the cruise just because there were no shuttles there and it would have been about 15 minutes till they got there, the cost of a cab was $40.80. It only took us 25 minutes to get to LAX and it was the day after Christmas. We were one on the last groups off the ship and wew cleared customs by 11:45

 

On Hotels in San Pedro we flew down the day before and stayed at the Marina Hotel (the old Hilton) it was ok we got the room for $50.00 on priceline. the big problem was there are no restraunts nearby only the one at the hotel, and it was way overpriced. but we got in san Pedro at 6:30 P.M. overall there is not much to do in san Pedro without a car.

 

The cruise was great the ship is very clean and very nice. Out first sea day it was so nice no wind, no waves what a way to start a vacation.

 

 

 

Bob P.

[beachchick]

I agree that one day at Disney, especially since you will have to get there from where you are staying, isn't really worth it. You will be disappointed in all the things that you won't have time to do. Have you been before? Have you been to WDW? If you are thinking in terms of the size of the Magic Kingdom in WDW, you will need to revise your parameters. Let me put it this way, when we went to the WDW Magic Kingdom, every time I'd look at the map and say "Oh, fill-in-the-blank land is over this way," we'd realize we were already there. WDW Magic Kingdom is nice, but it's like they took Disneyland and shoved everything together in a compact version. It's unlikely you would be able to do Disneyland and California Adventure in one day. Both are worth visiting. It would be quite expensive for that one day.

 

I also have to chuckle over the comment to just "hang out and see LA." Think about trying to do that in New York with part of one day and bit of the next. I don't mean this to sound snotty or anything; it's not meant to be. I just had to LOL. :D You might want to get a guide book and see if there are things in the Long Beach area that sound good. My mother has been to the Aquarium of the Pacific and loved it.

 

If you can, try to stay on/at the Queen Mary. It will really get you in that cruise atmosphere. My DH stayed there years ago with our DD. They both loved it.

 

Long Beach is more convenient, IMO, but LAX has many more flight options. A taxi from LAX would be $$$. I agree to find a shuttle. If you come in a day early, you might consider renting and dropping off at Long Beach airport, then taking a shuttle from there to the pier.

 

My mom has taken this cruise and really enjoyed the ship and the ports. No details, sorry. She did go on a tequila tour (even though she doesn't drink) and said it was really fun and interesting. She also took a city tour that was quite nice, but she felt there was just too much shopping time. She's not much of a shopper (neither am I).

 

Have a great cruise.

 

beachchick