LAX to the port

[karenbeanpole]

We will be arriving at LAX the day before our cruise starts. Staying at the Marriott near the airport which I understand has a shuttle from LAX to the hotel. Can anyone tell me how much it might cost to get a taxi from the hotel (near LAX) to the port? Anyone done this before? Since I booked this through my TA, it does not include a port transfer unless I pay over the top price for it.

[bbrule7]

Which port, San Pedro or Long Beach?

[Cruisin' Chick]

Too bad your TA didn't suggest staying by the port (whether San Pedro or Long Beach). With the right hotel, you could have had a leisurely morning the day of your cruise, and jumped on a hotel's free shuttle to the port.

[Keith1010]

If you are arriving late the day before the Marriott is fine. I you are arriving early consider staying closer to the port.

 

I would do two things.

 

Call the hotel to ask what the cost of the cab is over to the port you are going.

 

At the same time check out a private car which often can be close to the price. We use execucar and their web site is http://www.execucar.com

 

You can get their phone number and then call to get a price or do it on line.

 

Keith

[karenbeanpole]

Thanks for your replies.

 

We are arriving late afternoon and the TA booked us into the Marriott. Will find out about the private car and ring the hotel too about taxis. Will also find out which port, which might help!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your replies.

 

We are arriving late afternoon and the TA booked us into the Marriott. Will find out about the private car and ring the hotel too about taxis. Will also find out which port, which might help!

 

I just looked it up for you.

 

I believe you are on the Queen Elizabeth and see that you will board at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro, California.

 

Keith

[karenbeanpole]

Thanks so much, Keith, wow you're efficient!:)

[Keith1010]

karenbeanpole, you are very welcome.

 

Keith

[Seamo]

Hi ,

 

We are arriving LAX on a Sat. about 11am and

going to Long Bch Port (Carnival). 5 pm departure.

 

Know about the different transportation that is

available -- but wanted to ask about this :

 

Some folks advocate just simply: "get your

luggage and go to the 'shuttle boarding area' ...

and ask who is available with opening for ride

to your Port and their price.

 

They claim (and we have seen this in a number of

airports) ... it is "faster" and same cost as reserving

ahead of time...

 

How do you feel about this kind of approach in LAX?

 

Thanks, ... :)Seamo:)

[nannylynn]

Too bad your TA didn't suggest staying by the port (whether San Pedro or Long Beach). With the right hotel' date=' you could have had a leisurely morning the day of your cruise, and jumped on a hotel's free shuttle to the port.[/quote']

how much would it cost to get to a hotel in san pedro. I think that will be expensive

[SadieN]

A taxi will be around $75 with tip.

 

taxifarefinder.com is a good resource

[Jimsgirl]

Assume that if you are at hotel, they would get the taxi for you.

 

If at LAX, you will have to go outside, and join a short line for a taxi.

 

The reason I use a private car and driver is that I can be met at the luggage collection point,get help with my cases, as I have to have a wheeelchair in order to get around the airport.

 

The hotel at San Pedro is 3 star not 5 star such as the Fairmont (used by Cunard) but then it is not Fairmont price either (about 50% less), which more than pays for the private car. I wake up in the morning , and there is the ship. The hotel provides a free shuttle to the terminal.

 

When I took the Cunard package, I found it difficult to find the rep at LAX (once I was not met at all! ) at Fairmont found the room had no means of making tea or coffee, restaurant was very expensive even for a burger for dinner, next morning breakfast also really expensive. I then had to find Cunard rep once more, and stand in line with my carryons in order to get on the Cunard shuttle to San Pedro.

 

Having gone to San Pedro last Panama cruise with Cunard, I much prefer that way of joining the ship.

[Cruisin' Chick]

how much would it cost to get to a hotel in san pedro. I think that will be expensive

 

You can probably find some reasonable rides to the port area and stay by there (and many have reported getting a reasonable rate via the bidding sites for the Doubletree and Crowne Plaza, and I think both of those have a free shuttle to the port nearby). If you stay in the airport area, you're basically stuck as you would need a taxi to go anywhere. The only time I would recommend staying in an airport hotel (especially at LAX, but also in some other cities) is if you have an early flight out the next morning. Even if you get into LAX around 10pm, you can probably be at your hotel in San Pedro by 11pm as there isn't that much traffic at that time. The major time consuming task will be collecting your baggage.

[Splinter]

Your TA obviously does not know the set up for LA cruises. It is much better to take a shared shuttle ($18/person) to either the Crown Plaza or Double Tree in San Pedro directly from LAX, then get a free shuttle or inexpensive cab from there to the cruise ship the next morning. There is little or no advantage to staying in the LAX area, where the hotels are NOT in a nice part of town, with no place to walk to or eat other than at the hotel, and nothing to see locally.

 

Ask your TA to change your reservations from the Marriott to one of the hotels above. You don't even need reservations for the shuttle if you take Prime Time or SuperShuttle.

[Pennipops]

I have read all these threads with interest. I am going to LA in April 14 to go on Star Princess. We will stop closer to LAX as we want to go on a LA trip the day before the cruise, its too far to travel for us we want to make the most of our trip.

[Bruin Steve]

I have read all these threads with interest. I am going to LA in April 14 to go on Star Princess. We will stop closer to LAX as we want to go on a LA trip the day before the cruise, its too far to travel for us we want to make the most of our trip.

 

When you say you want to do an "LA trip" the day before the cruise, I hope that means you have booked your flights--or will book your flights--to arrive at least TWO nights early...

 

Whatever day you arrive, you have to account for it taking a bit of time to get off the plane, collect your luggage, make it out of LAX and to a cab or shuttle and to your hotel...So a good portion of that day will pass before you actually get on to some sightseeing...

 

The next question is whether you plan on renting a car...or will depend on taxis or on a tour company...Beware, taxis in LA are very expensive and not easy to find...

 

Most tour companies will pick up at hotels at LAX or on the West Side (Santa Monica, Century City Beverly Hills, etc.) or in Hollywood...but those tours typically start early in the morning...There is also a HOHO bus...but you need to be sure to find a hotel somewhere close to the route...

 

The problem with "near LAX" is that it is not exactly a desirable area to be stuck as a tourist...not many restaurants to speak of, aside from the hotel restaurants, nothing worth walking to near your hotel...just big, institutional airport hotels in an otherwise industrial/office area...

 

For multiple days, I would highly recommend staying in Santa Monica (near Ocean Avenue up to Third Street), or, possibly, in Marina Del Rey...These areas have the most things to see or do in walking distance, are in very attractive, fun areas with lots of restaurant, shopping, nightlife...and are fairly accessable to the various sights of Los Angeles (with a car or a tour...the HOHO bus Yellow loop ends in Santa Monica)...

 

Plan your time carefully and be sure to allot enough of it...Los Angeles is a VERY big city, very spread out...It takes considerable time to travel between the main tourist sights in Universal, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Venice, etc.

 

Good luck...

[Jimsgirl]

Do the shuttles from LAX go as far out as San Pedro?

 

I agree that $18 per person is much less $ than paying for a whole private ride, but only if there is less than 4 passengers in the "family"

 

The only time I have taken a shuttle was to the Faimont in Santa Monica. I had booked through Cunard, but they failed to meet me with transport to Hotel. I had to join a wait in line outside the airport, (minus the wheelchair because of the length of the line/wait time I had to wait for 45 mins )

 

Once on the shuttle , it seemed to stop at every hotel between LAX and Santa Monica, journey took over 2 1/2 hours. Since I had been travelling for over 13 hours, I found this exhausting, even though I was sitting on a shuttle.

 

As I said in previous posting, the saving on the cost of the Hotel more than pays for the cost of a private ride.

 

The cost of the Crowne Plaza (solo occupancy $136 plus tax) was over 50% less than the Fairmont, so paying $75-$80 for my own private ride was a win situation.

 

Of course that is just my own private choice, it is a question of what suits you best.

[Bruin Steve]

Do the shuttles from LAX go as far out as San Pedro?

 

I agree that $18 per person is much less $ than paying for a whole private ride, but only if there is less than 4 passengers in the "family"

 

The only time I have taken a shuttle was to the Faimont in Santa Monica. I had booked through Cunard, but they failed to meet me with transport to Hotel. I had to join a wait in line outside the airport, (minus the wheelchair because of the length of the line/wait time I had to wait for 45 mins )

 

Once on the shuttle , it seemed to stop at every hotel between LAX and Santa Monica, journey took over 2 1/2 hours. Since I had been travelling for over 13 hours, I found this exhausting, even though I was sitting on a shuttle.

 

As I said in previous posting, the saving on the cost of the Hotel more than pays for the cost of a private ride.

 

The cost of the Crowne Plaza (solo occupancy $136 plus tax) was over 50% less than the Fairmont, so paying $75-$80 for my own private ride was a win situation.

 

Of course that is just my own private choice, it is a question of what suits you best.

 

Not only do the shuttles from LAX go to San Pedro (and farther), if there are cruise ships leaving that day or the next, they will typically fill up some shuttles with ONLY passengers heading to San Pedro, so you may make far fewer stops to let people off...

 

It should be an oddity that any shuttle from LAX to Santa Monica take two and a half hours...It's only a 10 mile trip...There are only so many passengers and it doesn't take that long to drop people off...and, even if the passengers are going to different hotels, there are so many hotels in Santa Monica that, typically, a shuttle from LAX to Santa Monica will be dropping everyone off within a few blocks of each other...

 

With a wheel chair, I would have made it a point to RESERVE a shuttle...which would have minimized that wait at LAX...

 

But, obviously, a dedicated ride will always be more convenient than a shared shuttle...it just depends on what you are willing to pay or whether or not time is a premium...

 

We take shared shuttles to the airport and home from the airport all the time (and we live over 30 miles from LAX)...We use Roadrunner Shuttle (as we will be doing when we fly out Saturday morning to go meet the Mariner of the Seas in Galveston)...and never have any unreasonable delays...

 

As to Cunard booking you at the Fairmont Miramar, it is a great hotel in a great location...There are lots of restaurants, shops, nightlife and things to see and do within short, easy walking distance...It is an outstanding choice of hotels--provided you are staying in the LA area multiple days...

 

It does make little sense if you are just there for one night, not doing any touring, sightseeing or nights out and only sleeping and getting up the next morning to go catch a ship in San Pedro...for that, it is clearly better to just go directly to San Pedro and stay at the Crowne Plaza or Doubletree...As to the difference in cost, Santa Monica is the "high rent district", San Pedro is not...Most tourists to LA want to be in Santa Monica...Only cruise passengers, for the most part, want to stay in San Pedro...Santa Monica is convenient to most of the major tourist attractions of Los Angeles, San Pedro is pretty much out of the way, convenient to just the harbor, the Cruise Terminal and a few relatively minor attractions...

 

But, especially for a short one night of for those not wanting to do a lot of sightseeing of the LA area, San Pedro is perfect...While the Crowne Plaza and Doubletree won't meet the luxury standards of the top hotels in Santa Monica or Beverly Hills, they are still very nice hotels...For only a day or so, San Pedro has a more than sufficient number of good restaurants (all at a much more reasonable price and easier to get a table than most of those trendier eateries on the West Side)...and there are enough interesting attractions to keep you occupied if you have a few extra hours to kill...

 

For those doing the one night thing, I recommend heading DIRECTLY to San Pedro after your flight, no matter what time your flight gets in...Get the drive out of the way while traffic is light...Already being in San Pedro, you can even "sleep in" in the morning...The short hop over to the cruise terminal will be extremely quick and easy--if you are at the CP, you are really only about six blocks away...and these hotels have free shuttles...

[Cruisin' Chick]

If you book a shuttle or car service (even if it has "airport" in its name), you can usually have it take you anywhere in the Los Angeles area (the city, the suburbs, the county) and even beyond. Many of those you might not be able to book a non-airport/hotel type of pickup/drop off through their online booking engine, but you can certainly contact them for a point-to-point booking, and many times request a private vehicle.

 

As I said in my post above, there are better places to stay pre-cruise than at an airport hotel. Even if you get into LAX in the evening or at night, by the time you get your luggage, the traffic going south should be lighter and it won't take you long to get to a San Pedro hotel. At check in, ask about the shuttle to the port the next day and get signed up for a spot. Then sleep in, knowing that you're just minutes away from the ship. If you're staying near the airport, you'll undoubtedly get caught in rush hour traffic.

[Pennipops]

Sorry my post didn't really make sense. I am cruising on the friday, we will arrive at LAX on wednesday evening after an 11hr flight from UK. We will do an organised tour on the thursday then get a shuttle down to the harbour on the friday. I'm sure the hotels near the airport arn't as nice, but for what we want to do I'm hoping it will be ok. We don't mind not eating out at fancy places, going on the cruise is the deal for us :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Sorry my post didn't really make sense. I am cruising on the friday, we will arrive at LAX on wednesday evening after an 11hr flight from UK. We will do an organised tour on the thursday then get a shuttle down to the harbour on the friday. I'm sure the hotels near the airport arn't as nice, but for what we want to do I'm hoping it will be ok. We don't mind not eating out at fancy places, going on the cruise is the deal for us :)

 

Are you being picked up from the hotel on Thursday? If not, you'll end up paying for a taxi to get to your pick up spot (seriously, don't try to walk around the neighborhood by the airport). And if you want something to eat Wednesday night, you'll be hoping room service will have food (when we stayed at the LAX Marriott after getting married as we had an early flight out to Honolulu the next morning, we called room service and was told they ran out of food, except for buffalo wings, which I can't eat...thank goodness the hotel had gifted us with a Newlywed fruit basket and champagne).

 

And if you aren't getting an arranged shuttle from your cruiseline, you'll be paying for transportation to the port anyway (while a couple of the San Pedro hotels will shuttle you for free).

[SadieN]

The area around LAX is very industrial and has strip malls, in the truest sense of the word.:eek: For years there was a sign proclaiming something like '100 beautiful girls & 1 ugly one'.

 

For the most part only places to eat are in the hotels, although there is an In n Out nearby. Classic LA Hamburger chain.

[karenbeanpole]

Just rang up TA and changed our LAX Marriott hotel to Doubletree San Pedro (nominal charge). The Crowne Plaza was full. I think we should have a better time there like you all have suggested. More convenient as well for the port.

[karenbeanpole]

"Ask your TA to change your reservations from the Marriott to one of the hotels above. You don't even need reservations for the shuttle if you take Prime Time or SuperShuttle."

 

Do we just come out with our bags and find a counter for these shuttles? Do they run quite frequently? Is it better to prebook?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Cruisin' Chick]

The area around LAX is very industrial and has strip malls, in the truest sense of the word.:eek: For years there was a sign proclaiming something like '100 beautiful girls & 1 ugly one'.

 

For the most part only places to eat are in the hotels, although there is an In n Out nearby. Classic LA Hamburger chain.

 

Have they counted the girls?:eek: I just checked the In and Out website and there is one in San Pedro: 1090 N. WESTERN AVE.

SAN PEDRO, CA 90732. Here's the website so that you can check out the menu: http://www.in-n-out.com/ Unfortunately, I'm off of beef, and I think that's the only type of burger they have (no chicken burgers). During my father's last couple of months, I would bring him I-N-O burgers as there was one near the VA hospital.

 

"Ask your TA to change your reservations from the Marriott to one of the hotels above. You don't even need reservations for the shuttle if you take Prime Time or SuperShuttle."

 

Do we just come out with our bags and find a counter for these shuttles? Do they run quite frequently? Is it better to prebook?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Glad you were able to change it. I would ask about the hotel staff about any shuttles they may have while checking it so that there's not any unpleasant surprises. Maybe there's a sign up list.