Longterm Parking in LA for 31 Day Cruise

[jrcooper]

We will be flying out of LAX to Sydney in April to embark on a 31 day cruise on the Sapphire Princess that ends up in Los Angelos. We are driving to LA and need to find a place that is safe and (hopefully) reasonable to leave our car while we are gone. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

jan

[melika091900]

where the ship leaves from is fine,

you are leaving from san pedro right?

we have parked there many times. its not covered parking but it is secured and lit up , its 12$/day and you pay when you leave, you just pull in and park and you can walk to the ship its right there,

or they have a shuttle that goes around the lot looking for people to pick up.

 

heres a link to some info

http://www.sanpedro.com/

[sultan_sfo]

Wonder whether 2 one-way rentals would be cheaper? See you on board!

[RSWBADGER]

We will be flying out of LAX to Sydney in April to embark on a 31 day cruise on the Sapphire Princess that ends up in Los Angelos. We are driving to LA and need to find a place that is safe and (hopefully) reasonable to leave our car while we are gone. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

jan

 

With the long term parking rates, gas, motel on the way (there and back), it might be cheaper to fly to LAX and shuttle to San Pedro.

[jrcooper]

We know that it would be cheaper to fly, but we want to make it a "road trip" from Texas to California as my husband has never been there before, and I haven't been since I was a child. We really enjoy the road trips to and from cruise ports stopping to see some of the sights along the way. We have done road trips before when we have departed from Miami and New York City.

 

I know that most people probably think that we are crazy for doing this, but we enjoy it--and that's all that matters, right?:)

 

Thanks for the suggestions about the cruise port and one-way rentals. Anyone have any more ideas that may help us?

 

jan

[Maryandi]

My DH drove from South Florida to Vancouver (4th time !) so I understand about wanting to see the sights. However the sights are not as exciting on the way back :D

 

We rented a car - one-way from Avis-and it worked out great. Then you get off the ship and do it again. Much less hassle.

 

We have done it 3 more times after that - with the same great results.

 

Check around for the best prices but we had no problem w/ Avis.

 

MaryAnn

[scampi]

Hi Jan, I'm scampi (Santa) from your 2009 Asia Diamond Princess rollcall. We live in S. California. We just found this website with quite reasonable rates for long term parking for LAX. We will be trying this group out (AirPark LAX) on Dec. 31st for a trip we are taking. I'll let you know how it works out. The website is: www.parkrideflyusa.com We selected AirPark LAX as I said. The rates for 32 days came to $139 - $209 depending on roof top or inside parking. They also offer a military & a Spring discount. The only thing that would bother me about leaving my car for over a month, is would the car start? Park Ride Fly has a toll-free reservation help line, 1-866-922-7275 where maybe you could ask that & other questions.

Santa

[beachtravel]

We've done one-way rentals from CA to Texas when we cruised out of Galveston and then again to go back to CA (DH doesn't like to fly). Just be careful of "drop off" fees. Hertz was the cheapest when we did it. You can drop it off/pick up at the Long Beach airport, which is about a $20 cab ride from the pier.

 

Enjoy your road trip. We had a lot of fun on ours.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Hmm, I see that you're going to LAX, not from San Pedro. You may want to check out the rental car rates that would allow for driving interstate (some don't allow this) and for one-way (some don't allow this). Four years ago when we were going to take the train up to Seattle for an Alaskan cruise, we rented a minivan so we could take all of our luggage (we have two sedans, which is nice because of the high gas prices, but not good if you have more than a couple of suitcases) from near us to Oxnard where we were catching the train, after a night in a hotel. We returned the van after dropping off our luggage at the train station. We reversed it on our trip south. We didn't have to worry about paying parking for a couple of weeks...and we kept a car on our driveway to look like someone was at home.

[suziehmkr]

Have you considered having your cake & eating it too? :) How about renting a car and driving out... exploring, seeing the sights, etc.

 

Do a one way and drop off the car at the airport. And then after your cruise you can fly right home instead of back to CA! We always drive to port and the drive home is always the worst for me.

 

Just a tought. :D

 

And I don't think you are crazy. We planned the same thing when we were booked to sail out of Vancouver. We ended up not going, but it was going to be a road trip up there & back. I was looking forward to it, so we will eventually do it. :)

[Keith1010]

I think driving there is a great idea but as some have said have you considered renting a car. You would avoid all of the miles on your car and avoid paying for parking. It's at least something to consider.

 

Keith

[jrcooper]

Thanks for all the advice. We will look into the one way rental car ideas as well as the website Scampi mentioned. Keep the advice coming!

 

jan

[Cuizer2]

Thanks for all the advice. We will look into the one way rental car ideas as well as the website Scampi mentioned. Keep the advice coming!

 

jan

Well, here is my thought. You are leaving from LAX but arriving in San Pedro (which is opposite from me - I'll be leaving from San Pedro and arriving back at LAX). So either way you have to find a way to cover the distance between LAX and San Pedro, either by leaving the car in San Pedro and getting a shuttle back to LAX, or leaving the car at LAX and getting a shuttle back to LAX from San Pedro.

 

Where all this is leading up to is, it cost $4 per day less to park at LAX than it does to park at the dock in San Pedro. As to where would I rather leave my car, I don't think one place has an advantage over the other. However, there are private covered parking lots around LAX. The only thing is, they are going to charge $12 per day or more (unless you can find a monthly rate for less).

 

Which leaves us with the obvious question, what am I planning to do? Well, I live in Los Angles, and after careful consideration, I am taking a taxi to the port, flying back to Burbank, and taking a taxi back home, where my car will be parked for free in the garage.

 

So, my recommendation is fly to LAX and then onto Sydney. Take your cruise. Then get a one way rental car from Long Beach to Texas. That way you don't have to worry about staying too long some place during the drive and missing your flight. Also, I would rather fly, cruise and drive then drive fly and cruise. Basically what I am saying is, driving and flying are not as much fun as cruising, so I would rather stick the cruise between the two.