Princess Transfers from LAX

[Mary Ann 2]

Anyone know when the first bus leaves LAX? The note on the Personalizer says be there at noon, but then says not to be any later than 1-1:30. Surely they start sooner than noon and give themselves more than 90 minutes to put all the passengers to San Pedro in buses. We will be staying overnight in an airport hotel, so there won't be anyone meeting our plane and wanted to know how early we might be able to catch a bus?

[waltd]

Anyone know when the first bus leaves LAX? The note on the Personalizer says be there at noon, but then says not to be any later than 1-1:30. Surely they start sooner than noon and give themselves more than 90 minutes to put all the passengers to San Pedro in buses. We will be staying overnight in an airport hotel, so there won't be anyone meeting our plane and wanted to know how early we might be able to catch a bus?

 

Any reason why you would not want to stay in San Pedro instead of the airport hotel. You could take a Super Shuttle to San Pedro. There are two hotels in San Pedro that everyone uses and the hotel has hotel to ship transportation. You would not have to worry about the bus pickup time and could go to the ship any time you are ready.

[hpeabody]

Any reason why you would not want to stay in San Pedro instead of the airport hotel. You could take a Super Shuttle to San Pedro. There are two hotels in San Pedro that everyone uses and the hotel has hotel to ship transportation. You would not have to worry about the bus pickup time and could go to the ship any time you are ready.

 

I second Waltd's idea, unless you had a reason for staying near LAX. It is about a half an hour in good traffic to San Pedro. There is also Prime Time shuttle. They are basically the same as far as service. Just try to find the best discount :) It will be less costly than Princess's transfer.

Edited February 26, 2014 by hpeabody

[FoghornLeghorn]

Did you book the airport hotel on your own and then purchase Princess Transfers from the airport?

or

did you purchase a package through Princess for the LAX Marriott and transfers?

[Kamloops50]

We have used Princess Transfers every time we sailed from San Pedro. We arrived at LAX , the bus by 10AM and where on board by 1 PM

From the hotel the buses started leaving around. 9AM.

 

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[DrivesLikeMario]

The buses leave whenever the Princess people decide for them to leave. There's no set schedule. You could end up sitting on it for 90 mins. waiting for another flight to come in or you could leave within 10 mins. of getting onboard. There's just no rhyme or reason to them. I've had it happen both ways.

 

If I were you, I'd take a taxi to the San Pedro or Long Beach area and stay there. I know it's $57 for the taxi from the port to LAX, so I would assume it'd be about that much going there. Definitely worth it vs. the slow transfer bus where you're at their mercy for leaving and then once you arrive at the port, you arrive with a hoard of other people.

[Kamloops50]

The buses leave whenever the Princess people decide for them to leave. There's no set schedule. You could end up sitting on it for 90 mins. waiting for another flight to come in or you could leave within 10 mins. of getting onboard. There's just no rhyme or reason to them. I've had it happen both ways.

 

If I were you, I'd take a taxi to the San Pedro or Long Beach area and stay there. I know it's $57 for the taxi from the port to LAX, so I would assume it'd be about that much going there. Definitely worth it vs. the slow transfer bus where you're at their mercy for leaving and then once you arrive at the port, you arrive with a hoard of other people.

 

When it leaves from the hotel the bus is full. From LAX they had a list of the passengers from each terminal. When all accounted for the bus left even only half full.

 

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[Mary Ann 2]

Thanks for some hints. We looked at a hotel in San Pedro, but we bought this cruise last minute, so they were way more than the hotels near LAX where I got a great deal on Priceline.

 

We've had taxis in Ft. Lauderdale where our cruise luggage just barely fit and we are bringing one more bag for a 15 day cruise, so we ruled taxis out. Looked at some other shuttle services and just decided it was easier to go with Princess. The hotel has free shuttle back to the airport. Transfers are already bought, so too late now to change with only a week to go.

 

We will just show up and try to find them and go when we go I guess. Just had wanted to know if it was silly to show up at 10 when there wasn't a chance of leaving before noon.

[FoghornLeghorn]

Mary Ann,

 

I normally do the Princess pre-cruise hotel package and transfer (leaving from the hotel). Once, we did like you and booked our own and then jumped on the shuttle and headed back to the airport to catch the Princess shuttle to the port.

 

We got to the airport around 10:00ish and got on the first bus. Seemed like it was about 10:30 that we left as the bus was about 3/4 full.

 

The only problem we had was not being on the "Princess List" with the representative in the baggage claim area.

 

Since we didn't fly in that morning, she couldn't seem to find us. I had printed everything and had it in my cruise folder. I had to pull it out and show her that is showed pre-cruise transfers to the pier. Once I showed her that she just told us to board the bus.

 

She originally asked for a "ticket" showing we had paid.

 

It kind of threw her off that we weren't on her list with our flight number from that morning. So, to be safe, you might want to print something showing you purchased those and have it with you....just in case :)

[Mary Ann 2]

Mary Ann,

 

I normally do the Princess pre-cruise hotel package and transfer (leaving from the hotel). Once, we did like you and booked our own and then jumped on the shuttle and headed back to the airport to catch the Princess shuttle to the port.

 

We got to the airport around 10:00ish and got on the first bus. Seemed like it was about 10:30 that we left as the bus was about 3/4 full.

 

The only problem we had was not being on the "Princess List" with the representative in the baggage claim area.

 

Since we didn't fly in that morning, she couldn't seem to find us. I had printed everything and had it in my cruise folder. I had to pull it out and show her that is showed pre-cruise transfers to the pier. Once I showed her that she just told us to board the bus.

 

She originally asked for a "ticket" showing we had paid.

 

It kind of threw her off that we weren't on her list with our flight number from that morning. So, to be safe, you might want to print something showing you purchased those and have it with you....just in case :)

 

Thanks! A 10 am bus sounds great. You mentioned not being on the list and I wondered about that. I do already have it printed off just for that reason. How did you find the right place at LAX? It's got to be a big area and I've wondered how to find the Princess people.

[FoghornLeghorn]

Thanks! A 10 am bus sounds great. You mentioned not being on the list and I wondered about that. I do already have it printed off just for that reason. How did you find the right place at LAX? It's got to be a big area and I've wondered how to find the Princess people.

 

There will actually be a Princess rep there in baggage claim if you fly in the day before.

 

When we flew in the day before, I saw the Princess rep greeting all the people who had purchased the hotel/transfer package thru Princess. I asked her where we were to meet for the transfers the next day as we had bought the transfers only. She advised at the same place. Which was the baggage claim area.

 

You will need to find her/him when you get your luggage and ask where to be the next morning.

It should be outside of the baggage claim where all the transportation buses are.

[Mary Ann 2]

FoghornLeghorn,

Great idea! Thanks! I will look the night before to see if they are still there when we fly in (it's pretty late at about 10).

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thanks for some hints. We looked at a hotel in San Pedro, but we bought this cruise last minute, so they were way more than the hotels near LAX where I got a great deal on Priceline.

 

We've had taxis in Ft. Lauderdale where our cruise luggage just barely fit and we are bringing one more bag for a 15 day cruise, so we ruled taxis out. Looked at some other shuttle services and just decided it was easier to go with Princess. The hotel has free shuttle back to the airport. Transfers are already bought, so too late now to change with only a week to go.

 

We will just show up and try to find them and go when we go I guess. Just had wanted to know if it was silly to show up at 10 when there wasn't a chance of leaving before noon.

 

Many times airport hotels tend to be cheaper, but for some good reasons. With LAX, think of strip malls (yes, literally:eek:). So you won't want to go walking about. That's why many of us locals will recommend on the "western destinations" board of Cruise Critic to stay closer to the port in San Pedro (the Doubletree or Crowne Plaza) or even Long Beach (but you need to make sure to tell your driver to take you to the Port of Los Angeles when going to your ship, as the Port of Long Beach just services Carnival Cruises).

 

Now if you have an early morning flight out of LAX, then it's something to consider. We stayed at the Marriott there after our wedding as we had an early flight to Honolulu the next morning. But we were stuck for food -- when we finally;) called room service, there was little food left so we ended up devouring the fruit/champagne basket the hotel gifted us.

 

We had also stayed pre-flight in Miami at an airport area hotel, but we weren't happy with that experience.

[RickEk]

Thanks! A 10 am bus sounds great. You mentioned not being on the list and I wondered about that. I do already have it printed off just for that reason. How did you find the right place at LAX? It's got to be a big area and I've wondered how to find the Princess people.

 

To be on the list, you can put your flight itinerary into the Cruise Personalizer or call Princess to have them do it... When you're in their system, your name will be added to the "list".

[Mary Ann 2]

To be on the list, you can put your flight itinerary into the Cruise Personalizer or call Princess to have them do it... When you're in their system, your name will be added to the "list".

 

Thought of changing our actual flight itinerary that is there to one coming in the next morning yesterday, but the info that I got with the transfers said that the flights had to be on the Personalizer no later than 2 weeks ahead and we leave in 6 days.

[Mary Ann 2]

Just wanted to update this. We took a shuttle from our hotel to LAX and arrived around 10am. The shuttle driver from the hotel knew where the Princess reps hang out and dropped us off at the Delta terminal. We were quickly ushered to a bus, but once onboard, we were informed that we were being taken to the Sheraton hotel to wait because the ship was not ready to board but there would be a lounge with coffee and tea and some pastries so we would have a nicer place to wait.

 

It all sounded okay, until we got to the hotel and found out that they were not going to put us back on buses until 12:30-1. So we sat and waited, knowing that other people would be boarding before we ever even got to leave the hotel! They "checked us in" for the cruise at the hotel, and we got to go to a special line to just get our room cards and then went directly to the front of the boarding line.

 

I also found out that there was a store just a block away where I walked and picked up a couple of bottles of wine. However, we were not happy campers! Next time, we would definitely arrange our own transportation to the cruise terminal.