Questions for my Dec 28th Panorama cruise to Mexico

[Abbabug]

Good day everyone,

 

Back in December 2018, I booked 3 cabins for the Dec 28, 2019 cruise.  We originally had 8 in our party (of which, 4 are seniors).  Fast forward a few months, my FIL is no longer with us.  As the final payment date is mid Oct, I was able to move people around and still retain my 3 cabins.  Here are my questions:

 

1) My current booking is with Carnival directly.  There are no deals that I’m aware of. No OBC.  Nothing.  Will I be able to transfer the reservation to a travel agent?  How do I do this?

2) We are planning on flying in the day before.  Direct flights are priced outrageously right now.  I called Carnival for their flights and the best they could offer was YEG YYZ LAX which is a 12 hour flight time.  Uhmmm fly east first?  Nope.  Lol.  Are we better off flying the same day?  Any experience on this anyone?

3) Moving 7 people with luggages around will not be easy.  Which shuttle company would you recommend to get us from LAX to Long Beach?  We prefer a private shuttle service (not shared). 

4) And lastly, hotel recommendations?  

 

Thank you everyone.  I look forward to your input.

[AHS123]

The Cruise Air forum here on Cruise Critic is a good resource to research your air options and the the West Coast Departures board has many threads on the Port of Long Beach for hotels and ground transportation. Scroll through the pages there and find the threads that pertain to your search. Good luck.

[Essiesmom]

Cruise Air forum:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/77-cruise-air/

 

West Coast Departures:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/

[SingBill]

Super Shuttle offers private shuttle options from LAX to Long Beach on their website.

[riffatsea]

Hi,

It is NEVER a good idea to fly in on the day of your cruise,especially in winter!Stuff happens!!

Airfare during the Christmas break period is always high. It is what it is so you just have to pay whichever price seems best to you.

I would prefer picking my own flights as opposed to letting Carnival pick flights for you!

I expect that hotels may be expensive at this time too right before NYE.

IF your flight gets in late the night before the cruise just stay at a hotel near LAX.

IF your flight comes in by afternoon then find a hotel in Long Beach. There are many of them at all price points.

[jdemps]

Yes, flights are going to be very high during the holidays so book as soon as you can.  If you find a cheaper place to stay, maybe fly out on Christmas day for a cheaper flight for everyone?    

Maybe try to find an AirBnb for all of you in one place the night before somewhere close in long beach? 

An uber/lyft or cab is not very expensive since it's only a few miles to the port. 

good luck.

[Sauer-kraut]

Late morning flights on Dec 25 are usually wide open, I'd book for that day and stay in LA for Christmas and then go down to Long Beach.  Perhaps a night on the Queen Mary for fun.

[Abbabug]

Thank you everyone.  I’ll be on the lookout for flights.  We can’t leave earlier than Dec 27th as “someone” has to work. Sigh.

 

We were also looking at possibly rescheduling the cruise but with the ages of a couple of the seniors, we felt it is best not to delay the trip.  We are looking at YEG to LAX direct for C$1100pp.  Ouch!

 

Thanks for the tip about staying near LAX if we arrive late.  We will keep that in mind.

[Fatcat604]

 

1 hour ago, Abbabug said:

Thank you everyone.  I’ll be on the lookout for flights.  We can’t leave earlier than Dec 27th as “someone” has to work. Sigh.

 

We were also looking at possibly rescheduling the cruise but with the ages of a couple of the seniors, we felt it is best not to delay the trip.  We are looking at YEG to LAX direct for C$1100pp.  Ouch!

 

Thanks for the tip about staying near LAX if we arrive late.  We will keep that in mind.

I'm hoping to help you to find cheaper flight. My flight  is from YVR to Lax , i searched Google flight, flight hub... daily.  I found justfly are cheaper than all of them, and they do charge in CAD so my credit card won't charge me extra. It's for  mid August. flighthub charge $365, but justfly only $313. Also if you can avoid air Canada , westjet, you won't have to pay for luggage fee, I understand it may be hard for you. On our way there , we will flight with air canada, so we do need to pay for check in luggage. But the return flight won't be any Canadian airline. So each of us allow 1 free check in luggage.  If you have any senior, you can ask airline for assistant during transfer, and contact carnival too. 

Our hotel near Lax , so we will use hotel shuttle, in the morning, we will need to shuttle back to airport to meet our supershuttle. They don't pick up at the hotel. I tried, but they won't. One Van, 8 or 7 people will be the same price, including tax about $76US from lax to cruise terminal. We refer to stay near LAX, so my sister can visit her inlaw. If you use app to reserve , 10% discount code is App10 (only work if you going to and from airport) our last 3 trip to LAX we used supershuttle, and found it more  convenience than carnival transfer. With carnival, you do need to wait for the bus to be full. 

Dont flight in the same day, you will be too tire to enjoy your 1st day. I did it in the past, and we won't be doing it again. I found a cheaper flight Saturday morning, we will land in Lax at 9:40am, We can save on both hotel and flight, but my husband refused it. 

Another though if you decide to flight in earlier and go Disneyland, they usually have ticket discount for Canadian starting sometime in sept or October and good until may. I'm not sure if it's good during holiday season. 

For hotel book early, the price increase when they have less room. I book in May, it was $129, but now is $239. Hotel near Lax is cheaper than long beach 

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by Fatcat604

[Abbabug]

The problem is on the return trip, there are no direct flights.  The existing flights either leave too early out of LAX or leaves too late which results in a very late arrival or +1 day arrival.  Sigh.