Disembarkation Tours in LA?

[Tatra603]

I'm a cruise virgin who will be doing the California Coastal at the end of April.

I have been able to glean lots of valuable tips by lurking on this forum but I can't find any up to date information on whether Princess (or anyone else, for that matter), provide any tours/excursions for those of us whose flight home isn't until the late afternoon.

There are a few vague references on Cruise Critic to disembarkation tours which pick you up at the cruise terminal and drop you off at LAX, but nothing concrete or recent.

Princess' website seems to contradict those that mention these tours by saying on their website "Los Angeles is a port of embarkation and disembarkation for some cruises. Organized shore excursions for Los Angeles are not available through the onboard Tour Office on these voyages".

So do they exist?

Can anyone who has recently finished a cruise at San Pedro tell me whether Princess do provide details of any 'disembarkation tours' whilst on board and what they were?

The alternatives are either to spend a few hours at San Pedro, which would be great, if we didn't have to haul all our luggage around with us, or to head towards the airport and spend all day mooching around there getting bored.

My flight back to the UK isn't until 5.30pm.

Any help would be appreciated.

[jasper19]

Hi

 

We returned to San Pedro on a cruise on the Golden in November. I too did some research into this and here is what I discovered:

 

Princess does not offer disembarkation tours in LA (our at least they did not last November). I could not find anything for sure before boarding, so we booked a private tour just to be sure we were covered.

 

I asked at the excursions desk when I was on board and was told that US immigration can be very difficult there and was causing them alot of problems with these tours (having to wait for people to clear customs), so they stopped offering tours. That is what I was told in November 2011.

 

We booked a private tour with Sun Seekers. I would recommend them. Search the West Coast board...you will find more details there. They will drop you off at the airport when the tour is finished.

[dorisis]

We have been to San pedro several times and there really isn't a lot to see there. there is a small area near the pier with shops and restaurants and a trolley that can take you to a nice aquarium.

 

 

If you plan to stay there for a few hours you might consider the luggage delivery system Princess offers; for $20 you can have your bag checked directly from the ship to your home airport. I don't know if this would work for someone in the UK. But it can work verywell for a USA traveller.

 

~Doris~