Last Minute Golden Princess Questions - LAX transport/Port Suggestions

[OrlEngr]

A couple of last minute questions before our cruise next Saturday on Golden Princess:

 

1. Are there Video input on the TVin the Mini-suites ... or a DVD?

 

2. We are renting a car to drive around from LAX on Thur and need to return it back to LAX on Saturday before getting on the cruise. What is the best way for me to get from LAX back to port. Are there shuttle or something instead of paying a cab? Any clue on cab fare?

 

3. Last minute port suggestions or suggestion on the boat ... we are frequent cruisers and will utilize speciality dining, etc .. but some boats have hidden decks, etc ... What's special about this one?

[tmitchell82]

A couple of last minute questions before our cruise next Saturday on Golden Princess:

 

1. Are there Video input on the TVin the Mini-suites ... or a DVD?

 

2. We are renting a car to drive around from LAX on Thur and need to return it back to LAX on Saturday before getting on the cruise. What is the best way for me to get from LAX back to port. Are there shuttle or something instead of paying a cab? Any clue on cab fare?

 

3. Last minute port suggestions or suggestion on the boat ... we are frequent cruisers and will utilize speciality dining, etc .. but some boats have hidden decks, etc ... What's special about this one?

 

We just got off the Golden Princess on Saturday. We were in a balcony cabin on Baja and there were no video inputs on the TV in the front. Did not check the back, but the TV appeared to be a standard 19 inch TV. Might be video ports in the back, but not very easy to get at.

 

As for getting to the port, a cab is about $55. We had 6 people in our group and arranged for an exclusive shuttle thought super shuttle from LAX to San Pedro. Cost $99 with tip, but cheaper than trying to get 2 cabs for 6 of us plus luggage. The exclusive shuttle was nice since the van was just us and had no one else to drop off in the area. If you get the regular super shuttle for $17 a person, it may drop others off in the area and can be slow.

 

Can not tell you much about hidden decks or things like that. Never found anything. We had anytime dining and at in the Bernini dinning room at table 35 with Migel who was an excellent waiter and I would recommend him. Overall dinning service was slow, but when we said we had to be someplace and told the staff the time we needed to be done with dinner, they were very accomodating.

 

Enjoy the cruse. We had a blast..

[Cruisin' Chick]

A couple of last minute questions before our cruise next Saturday on Golden Princess:

 

1. Are there Video input on the TVin the Mini-suites ... or a DVD?

 

2. We are renting a car to drive around from LAX on Thur and need to return it back to LAX on Saturday before getting on the cruise. What is the best way for me to get from LAX back to port. Are there shuttle or something instead of paying a cab? Any clue on cab fare?

 

3. Last minute port suggestions or suggestion on the boat ... we are frequent cruisers and will utilize speciality dining, etc .. but some boats have hidden decks, etc ... What's special about this one?

 

Where are you staying? If you're not staying at LAX (which is probably best to stay at IF you're about to board a flight early the next day, but not for staying in the area for a few days), why not get to your hotel and then rent a car from a agency close to your hotel. It may be cheaper.

[DanJ]

A search of the west coast board might come up with info on car rental. There is a rental company located right near San Pedro pier (Enterprise comes to mind). A call to them to inquire about dropping the car off there instead of all the way back at LAX might be preferable.

[OrlEngr]

Since we are coming on Thanksgiving day ... many of the off-airport rentals are closed

[newmexicoNita]

Since we are coming on Thanksgiving day ... many of the off-airport rentals are closed

you are right and enterprise is one of them. i do think they have a drop off fee policy or used to, but are not open on holidays. maybe you could rent from them at the airport and drop the car off in San Pedro. Have you tried that? we are trying to decide pretty much the same thing. We cruise in Jan and are still unsure as to how we are getting to LA and if we should rent a car, come the day before, like we always do or just come in the day of and use Princess' transportation. We have even thought about taking the train from Albuquerque.

 

Nita

[dlp252]

Just confirming that our cabin TV also did not have the jacks in the front and we also didn't look in the back because for what we needed them for it wouldn't have worked well anyway.

[DanJ]

Since we are coming on Thanksgiving day ... many of the off-airport rentals are closed

 

What I was thinking was renting at LAX, which would be open on Thanksgiving, and dropping at San Pedro before your cruise.

[crewsn]

Below is my post to a similar question asked earlier. We did rent from Enterprise at LAX and then dropped it off at San Pedro which is right across from the cruise terminal. The rental was roughly $54.00 for a full size car for a day.

 

After the cruise Enterprise picked us up at the cruise terminal. We rented a car for a day and returned it to LAX. They do grab you for a $40.00 drop off fee when returning a car to LAX from San Pedro. Both ways worked out great as we had the convienance of a car + didn't need shuttles or taxis.

 

We stayed pre- + post cruise in Long Beach at the Westin on Ocean Blvd for our cruise on the Diamond Princess last month out of San Pedro. Rented a car from Enterprise at LAX which can be dropped of / picked up right near the San Pedro Cruise Terminal. Enterpirse will drop you off + pick you up at the ship. You will pay a little more using E but it certainly was convienient + eliminated using a shuttle service + taxis. We drove back to LAX on a Saturday morning from LB which took us about a 1/2 hour at 5:30 as we had a 7:15 AM flight. The route is fairly direct use Rt 405.

 

There is a free bus service in the Long Beach area called The Passport that has several lines which take you to the various areas. The lines all cross each other at a central depot not far from the hotel. There are many places to see, some which are within walking distance such as restaurants and shopping malls that are located near a park area along the waterfront. We used the bus to see the Queen Mary and take in some of the area.

 

We really enjoyed the area both pre- + post cruise and were only a short drive to the cruise terminal