Bruin Steve

Yeah...There are lots of available cabins in several categories...But, part of the equation is that my TA had availability on a "group" rate at 4D...and that rate saves us, at a minimum, about $500 per cabin. And when you're paying for three cabins, that amounts to a decent bit of savings...If the price differential had been less consequential, we would have just booked three of those shown as available. The "kids" are in their 30s...so it's not exactly like we need to be nearby. In fact, they'll probably prefer not worrying about us hearing them through the thin walls. I just think it would be nice if we all weren't at opposite ends of the ship.

I've dealt with guarantee rates before...and it's been a wide range of experiences-- We've had cabin assignments within a few days of booking...and we've had cabin assignments only a couple of weeks before sailing. We've gotten assigned the absolute worst cabin on the ship in the guarantee category...and we've been slightly upgraded (though never to a suite...more like from a lowest level balcony guarantee to a higher category balcony). But, in the past, whenever we've booked a guarantee, it has just been us. And we've only booked guarantees because either the category was completely sold out or because we got such an incredible savings for booking that way. Typically, I'd rather choose my location. We just booked an Alaska Quantum cruise for August 2023...and we're taking our grown kids, so we booked three cabins. And the best our TA could do was to put us in three 4D guarantees. As I understand it, 4Ds are, basically, unobstructed balconies on virtually every residential deck and at both the forward and aft sides of the ship. So, hypothetically, we could all end up on different decks and in different parts of the ship. Wouldn't be the worst thing, but it would probably be easier if we were all near to each other. Now, I fully expect RCCL to treat all three reservations as completely separate and to assign cabins in a completely random manner. But, I am hoping I am wrong. Does anyone have experience with multiple guarantee bookings? Do they, in any way, take into consideration that the three reservations are connected? Once assigned, how easy is it to switch them around? If they do upgrade any of the three, is it random...or do they take into any consideration that, we, the parents, are paying for all this? Thanks...

Okay, so my wife likes the idea of taking the family on a cruise (This means GROWN kids--not like when we took them with us when they were little and lived at home)... Here's the deal: We have two grown daughters...both live in Portland, OR. One has an irrational fear of flying--so it pretty much makes sense to do an Alaska cruise--probably out of Seattle (3 hour drive from Portland)...maybe Vancouver (5 hours but also an international border crossing each way)...So, likely Quantum of the Seas out of Seattle...likely August 2023. Also saves us $$ on airfare--it would just be my wife and I flying RT LAX to PDX... Easy so far, huh? It gets complicated past there. One daughter is married, the other single... The single daughter has had a few serious relationships over the years...but none for more than a couple of years...She has a current boyfriend...but, if we're planning for a cruise a year from now, we have no idea if they'll still be together by then. Never had to deal with this issue before. Do we book the cruise for the two of them? What happens if they break up between now and then? If we book it under his name, can we later substitute someone else if things work out differently? Or change it to a "Solo" booking if necessary? If changed to solo, how does that affect the price? Or if we book it as a solo now, can we later add him--or someone else? Next question: Crown & Anchor--My wife and I are Diamond Plus. Both daughters are Diamond. The son-in-law has never cruised on Royal Caribbean before. I have no idea about the other daughter's boyfriend. I know the rules for this have changed over the years. Does the son-in-law get bumped to Diamond status since he is married to someone Diamond? If so, do they require a copy of the marriage license or something? How about the boyfriend? Assuming he has no C&A status, does he NOT get any benefits (like an invite to the reception, for example?). Any other issues I haven't yet thought about? Thanks...

Thanks all... That bag of laundry will come in handy on our Symphony cruise in April. Were flying into Rio de Janeiro for three nights, then 12 nights on Celebrity Infinity to Lisbon...three nights in Lisbon, then fly to Barcelona for one night, then board Symphony for 7 and one more night in Barcelona...With our Celebrity Elite Plus status, we get 2 free bags of laundry each on that first cruise...and it will be nice to get one more each on Symphony. We can probably plan well to stretch those out on the two cruises to be able to comfortably pack enough for the trip... Those "gifts" sound nice but reatively useless since most are bottles of wine and we get 5 drinks each per day anyway...only so much we can drink! 2 days each of internet is nice...We'll pick up free internet in port and use those on at sea days--we really only use it to check and send emails...

So...with our last RCCL cruise, we finally made it to Diamond Plus... And, over the years, especially during the pandemic years, a lot has changed... And, to add to the confusion, I am pretty certain that the C&A chart on the RCCL website is not exactly complete (for example, no mention of the internet credit...oh, does that increase at D+?) https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf All it does show as real benefits of moving from Diamond to Diamond Plus are 1) Going from 4 daily drink vouchers to 5...2) Getting "early entrance" to show venues and 3) Access to "Concierge Louge"... Of course, assuming we book an upcoming January cruise on Navigator (something we're currently considering), there is no "Concierge Lounge" (Of course we have the Diamond Club anyway)...and, sure, if they let us in to the showroom early we might find better seats--but do we really want to hurry through dinner to get to the showroom 4 minutes before a show and sit around doing nothing? So, really all getting to Diamond Plus gets us is an additional free drink a night, correct? Or are there other hidden benefits not on the chart? Anything more we get from the status whenn we get to our Symphony of the Seas cruise in April? Thanks...

Thanks, everyone. We ended up booking the Hilton for three nights. We’re in Reykjavik right now, boarding the Summit tomorrow… We’ll start blanking the Rio visit when we get home in a couple of weeks.

I've never cruised out of Seattle,,,and my only NCL cruise was a LONG time ago...but, in general: I would disregard that noon boarding. Most cruise lines, for most ships in most ports start boarding before that. Think about it like this: Ships have their scheduled "arrival time"...which is meaningless. the ship usually has to handle some things on the business/immigration/customs end before they start unloading passengers. Most ship, no matter when in the early morning they arrived, start letting people off around 7:30ish...and try to get everyone to clear out of their cabins by 8:00-8:30 so they can start cleaning cabins. Then they move everyone off in groups and try to have the last group off some time between 9-10. Most ships then start loading people some time between 11:00 and 12:00. When we were on the RCCL Navigator OTS three weeks ago, we were among the first to actually board--and were on the ship at 10:20--the earliest I have ever boarded a ship. 9:30 seems way too early. NCL is probably anticipating the check-in process to take longer than usual and there is probably a small holding period between check-in and boarding...but I doubt it's 2.5 hours. Were it me, I'd keep that early time. Bring something to read or do...but I would expect you'll be on well before noon. Cabins won't be ready but there will be places on the ship to go. When we boarded Navigator that early, not even the buffet was open yet (Opened 11:30)...but there were a couple of open places to get munchies up on the pool deck...and some bars. I like to get there as early as possible--to start my vacatrion ASAP...And there likely won't be lines or crowds that early...a little later they migh tbe still backlogged plus have a lot of people there ahead of their time slots...Get it over with...start relaxing sooner...

When it comes to Uber costs, it's a little complicated...There is only about 4 miles difference on the routes from those two airports...and the portion of the fare based on mileage won't really differ by much. Then there are special airport fees...which I believe both airports have. But the real difference is based on availability, traffic, supply and demand... Uber has what they call "Surge Pricing" for ties when the demand is WAY up....Often, when you fly into an airport, if you arrive at precisely the wrong tie--like when multiple flights have landed and it's a high demand time anyway, the fare will be quite high. Often, but not always, if the price seems high, you can wait a few ninutes ad try again. Of course, sometimes that price goes UP instead of down. LAX ALWAYS has higher demand...OTOH, it also has way more Uber drivers in the vicinity--so supply is higher as well. LGB has less demand...but also far fewer Uber drivers servicing it... So, on the average, you can probably expect the Uber fares to be about the same from either airport, it's always a little bit of a gamble....But, generally, the length of the rides, in terms of both miles and time, are actually fairly similar.

You've got to be doing something wrong with the Uber app...Maybe you input the wrong locations... I just input LGB to the Crowne Plaza San Pedro...just now (and it's a Friday night at 10:30) and it came out to about $45...and even that seems a bit high--may be because its a Friday night. We took an Uber back and forth from home (about 50 miles and over an hour away) to our last cruise a couple of weeks ago...and it was $58... Time before that we paid $55... Uber is fairly inexpensive--blows away taxi fares...

From January 2020 to today, we have cruised out of San Pedro 5 times...Twice, we Ubered from LAX to the port because it was a one way cruise--leaving our car parked at LAX...and one time, we just Ubered from home and back...That last time, the combined price of the two Uber trips--Calabasas to San Pedro AND the return TOTALED LESS THAN $150--including generous tips! The other two cruises, we did Park and Cruise stays at BOTH the Doubletree and the Crowne Plaza. When we stayed at the CP, we took their shuttle TO the pier--making sure to reserve our spots with the front desk at check-in...NO problem. I walked back after the cruise, got the car and picked up my wife and luggage at the pier. Easy. When we stayed at the Doubletree, we merely made sure to reserve our spot at check-in and the transfer to the pier was EASY. For the return, they told us to call when we were ready...which we did...There was a short wait--around 20 minutes--since the shuttle was already heading back to the hotel with another group when we got there. Either time, we were prepared to call Uber as well, if necessary. UberX between the Doubletree and the pier runs LESS THAN $10!!! As to the Doubletree itself, we stay in a lot of Hilton products...and we found NOTHING "substandard" about it at all. In fact, we were quite impressed with our accomodations...Here is our room at the Doubetree and the view from the room:

Normally, I use Noon as a rough estimate of the earliest one should book a flight out... However, if you do EVERYTHING right and don't run into anything totally out of the ordinary, 11:40 should be doable... Carry-on luggage, TSA Pre-check, rolling your own luggage off the ship, Uber to LAX, online flight check-in...and I think you're okay. When we were on Navigator a couple of weeks ago, earliest self-disembark was around 7:25...If you're among the first in that group (and there will be many among that group since it's a short cruise with a lot of locals with carry-on sized luggage anyway), you should not have a longer line for Customs (as we did disembarking around 9:00). So, you call an Uber right away and you are in your Uber and on your way by, say 8:00. It's 20 miles to LAX...and Monday, being a "work day", there is some traffic...But it's only 20 miles, so, even with bad rush hour traffic, it's maybe an hour at the most (barring anything unforeseen--like a MAJOR accident), you are at LAX by 9:00 am...Uber can drop you right at the curb...Plenty of time... Let's say EVERYTHING goes wrong...They're a little later clearing the ship...Your Uber takes a little extra time to get to you...There's an accident en route, LAX traffic is congested...Still, with TSA Pre-screening and no bags to check and self-printed boarding pass in hand, you can probably get there as late as 10:40 and still not sweat the timing (My daughter flies all the time for business and claims she never gets there more than an hour before her flight and has never missed a flight. Personally, if the flight is perfect for you, I would book it...It sounds like you knoe what you need to do to take all the precautions.

I guess the best way to explain it is that "Los Angeles" is a BIG place. Most of the typical tourist sites are on the West Side, in Hollywood and points in between. All of that is fairly spread out...and all of it is about 30 miles or more north of the harbor. And, in Los Angeles, going 30 miles from the Harbor to Hollywood...and then zig-zagging from Hollywood to Santa Monica to get in the sights...and then returning you to LAX...is a LOT of driving...and takes a LOT of time...8 hours is really not that long...a lot of it is in the vehicle... And, the expenses to take you to thse places includes a lot of $6 per gallon gas. Most LA tour companies are headquartered in Hollywood--or somewhere on the West Side. It's easier and cheaper for them to pick people up in Hollywood or Santa Monica and do various length tours. They don't have to make extra 30 mile trips in both directions (Yes, even if Sunseeker drops you at LAX, they have to get home to Long Beach). Sunseeker fills a niche...but it is a limited niche--it's Cruisers and the few people who find themselves staying in the Harbor area--usually for some other reason--like they're attending a convention (Long Beach Convention Center hosts a lot of them) and have a spare day. Most people visiting Southern California for the express purpose of sightseeing don't stay in Long Beach or San Pedro--they stay in Santa Monica or Hollywood--or Beverly Hills, Westwood, Century City... Now, if you contacted Sunseeker and asked for a CUSTOM tour--something like 5 hours--they would probably do it...but you would pay MORE...and you wouldn't see much. Taking off driving time between the pier and the sights and LAX, you'd maybe be left with only a couple of hours in stops at tourist sites...

A few notes for you... The $5.50 pp is probably worth it because it's easier thn walking...however, you CAN even walk from the CP to the pier...It's about three long flat blocks. We've walked it a few times. AND, if you don't want to deal with the shuttle, it even makes sens just using an Uber from the CP to the port or vice versa...probably cost about the same as the CP shuttle and you can do it on your schedule. As to restaurants, yes, there are SEVERAL within about two blocks of the CP...Many within just steps. We seem to always end up eating at the same two nowadays: The Green Onion...very reasonably priced GOOD Mexican cuisine pretty much across the street from the CP...and the San Pedro Brewing Co., a brew pub with a very eclectic menu (I love the Tri-tip Sandwich) half a block to the west of the CP... http://www.greenonionmexicanrestaurant.com/menu.html https://sanpedrobrewing.com/menu If you don't like those, there are others really close...Downtown San Pedro has a lot of locally owned, reasonably priced casual eateries...

The real question is one of what you want to do with your time. You will have whatever is left of the 11th (a Friday) and all day Saturday before you need to get to the pier Sunday morning. If you just want to hang around at your hotel, read and nap and maybe see some local sights, you could just stay in San Pedro (Only two hotels there I've stayed in or would stay in are the Crowne Plaza and the Doubletree). You could go tour the USS Iowa and there are a few good restaurants...but that might still leave you with a lot of empty time on your hands. You could grab an Uber over to Downtown Long Beach--where you could see the Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific...or, alternatively, you could stay in Long Beach (Hyatt Centric at the Pike, Hyatt Regency, Renaissance, Westin would be my choices, in that order, to get you a nice hotel and close to sites and restaurants)...then you'd Uber from there to the pier in Pedro Sunday morning. But, if you really want to see more of the major sites of LA during that day to day and a half you have...and be near a lot of nightlife and places to stroll around and enjoy day and night...and be on the HOHO bus route if you want to do that...Stay in Santa Monica--10 miles north of LAX and 30 miles north of San Pedro...but the best place to be--especially if you are a tourist without a car. Lots to do and see and stroll around at the Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica Pier, Palisades Park...and a short ride to the Venice Boardwalk, the Getty Center, the Getty Villa, Rodeo Drive-Beverly Hills or anything else you might want to do and see while here. Get a hotel near the Third Street Promenade/Ocean Blvd./Pier. If you find it a bit pricy, my first alternate would be Marina Del Rey/Venice...near Washingron Blvd./Beach to be near the Veniuce Boardwalk and a short Uber or public bus to Downtown Santa Monica. Good luck...

Naahhh... We prefer a balcony...just for fresh air, clear photos when arriving in port early morning and a little more space...and we only paid $135 pp more for the balcony. On an 8 night cruise, that's just another $33.75 per day. we usually book a balcony unless we can save over $400-500 moving down to an OV. When we originally booked, that number was around $1000, so we booked the OV...

We will be on Vision of the Seas August 5 for an 8-night Western Mediterranean cruise (Barcelona--Sete--Toulon--Corsica--Ibiza--Mallorca--Cartegena--Valencia--Barcelona). We were last on Vision of the Seas back in July 2008. Have been on a lot of newer, bigger ships since. We originally booked an OV cabin to save a few $$. Looked at the RCCL website and realized the OVs are a mere 126 square feet (Really?). So, we are now in a balcony--supposedly 195 sf--#7110. Looking at the deck plans, I realize there aren't many balcony cabins on the ship--by my count, only 196 of them, almost all on Deck 7. And another 96 suites --on Deck 8...So, less than half of the staterooms have balconies--and only on two decks? They've learned a lot on ship design since 1998! I feel fortunate to have gotten one of those balcony cabins... I've also read some of the recent reviews--mixed, some particularly bad... OTH, we are not expecting one of the big, modern ships. We'll be back in the Western Med on Symphony in April. And we just, a couple of weeks ago, got off Navigator. This itinerary, of course, is EXTREMELY port intensive. We are looking at the ship as a place to sleep and eat and , hopefully, see a show every night (Yes, a couple problems with that on the Navigator cruise we just got off...and I've read some reviews stating entertainment was underwhelming on Vision). We're not doing a drink package because, as Diamond C&A, we get those four nightly vouchers--Hopefully, we don't have the same problem with vouchers magically disappearing as they did on Navigator! A few questions: --For pre-dinner drinks, even with the voucher thing, we like to go to the Diamond Club--which is hopefully less crowded. How is the Diamond Club on Vision? --Aside from the production show(s), what other etertainment has been onboard lately? --How dressed have people been getting for Formal Nights? On Navigator, it seemed almost no one dressed and we saw more Shorts/T-shirts at dinner than we've ever seen before. --Anything else "new" we should be aware of? Any improvements of late? Thanks...

We'll be onboard Vision fairly soon--August 5. I'm hoping some shows are decent, we difinitely like to have a little entertainment in the evenings. We just got off Navigator a couple of weeks ago and entertainment was a little disappointing--one comedian plus production show plus ice show (at least that's a bigger ship with an ice rink). The main theater was DARK a couple of nights. We were told they were having trouble booking acts due to the pandemic (How long will that excuse be used?). As to "physical" acts, I'm a little worried. My sister was once on a Costa cruise in the Med--and one of their shows was a guy doing "shadow puppets"...Yeah, seriously! We'll find out soon...

Why is this on the West Coast ports board? Last I checked, the Toronto and Montreal Airports are a little removed from the Pacific Ocean....

It was a 7-night Mexican Riviera cruise...but also an unusual situation. We didn't actually book a Park & Cruise for that one...because we had a lot of Hilton points...and, with the points, they only offered a per night points rate. So, I called the hotel directly and asked about the parking...and they told me "no problem". I think the "rules" come from somewhere in corporate--and they are thinking of the chain as a whole...and probably have locstions where parking is at a premium...or where there are entry and exit gates and cards required. The parking at this loction is an ample open lot. I am guessing that no one really monitors the cars to see who's parked there or how long they've been there. Or maybe they were just fine with me doing it because of my Hilton points status. Don't want to tick off a long-time good customer. But I did make it a point when checking in to remind them of the prior conversation...and, again, was told "no problem". So, I would recommend, when booking your room or package, to contact the hotel directly and tell them you have a 15 day cruise and ask if it will be okay to park there for that entire time. You may find them very relaxed on the issue. If they say okay, just make sure you get it in writing via an email or otherwise. If, for some reason, they say no, I'm assuming they can quote you a rate for additional days.

We've done park and cruise deals at both the Doubletree and the Crowne Plaza. I'd recommend either. I find the Doubletree a slighter nicer hotel...and in a more serene setting. The CP is still pretty nice...in a more urban setting. The Doubletree shuttles us for free to the port and back, The Crowne Plaza now charges $5.50 pp each way...but you can also just walk it--it's only about three blocks... Not many restaurants near the DT--save the 22nd Street Landing...but you have your car so can go anywhere. LOTS of good restaurants within 2-3 blocks of the CP. Doubletree parking is a large open lot. CP parking is underground, under the hotel and has an entry/exit gate. With the CP, we were able to park in a spot which was not only covered but also between a wall and a pillar--so NOBODY could even park next to us--so safe from door dings.

Okay...so, I'm checking on my August 5 Vision cruise (Western Med from Barcelona), trying to access the worthiness of a MoveUp bid...I figure there are just three weeks left... and I'm in an OV...but, if there are a lot of balconies open??? First, the site shows Insides and OVs as sold out...but allows you to click on Suites and Balconies. But, trying to look at suites brings up a message that they are sold out...okay... However, when I first clicked on baclconies (and when I've looked the last few days), it showed Deck 7 midship with "only 1 left" and aft with "only 2 left"...But, then clicking and looking at the map view and list view, it showed 23 different balcony cabins available... Then, I went away awhile...and now it's showing 22 available... Sould I infer that it was just screwed up and they've finally figured it out? And, so, there really are 22 balconies still available three weeks from sailing? If so, worth making a small bid on MoveUp? The prices showing now are WAY higher than back when I booked. If they didn't sell these cabins back when prices were reasonably low, what are they odds they move 22 balcony cabins in 3 weeks at really high prices?...or, might they rather squeeze an extra $300 or so out of me (Minimum bid is $100 pp)?

I think they even turn off the water spigot at La Bufadora!!! 😁 Seriously, I don't know for sure about wineries being open...You might try contacting the wineries. We were on a cruise there last week and did a winery shore excursion. They used to bring us to LA Cetto and Domeq, but now they were doing La Casa del Dona Lupe and Matilde/Finca Tre. Dona Lupe's website says "Open Every Day", but who knows if "every day" includes Christmas. Once we were on a cruise that was in Cabo on Christmas day...and took a shorex to Todos Santos...and virtually everything was closed. Our tour guide called a couple of shop owners and they hurried down and unlocked their shops for a short time so people on the shorex could buy sovenirs. So, I'm wary of being in port in a very Catholic countryt on Christmas!

I would prefer they mail it...We usually take B2B cruises and more ...like next month, we're doing 2 nights in Barcelona, 8 nights on Vision of the Seas, 3 more nights in Barcelona, 3 nights in Reykjavik, 12 nights on Celebrity Summit and a night in Boston...Gone for 30 days...and the airline only allows us 50 lbs. of luggage each. No room to pack a freebie towel. We don't even have enough space to pack enough clothes without doing laundry 2 or 3 times. We'll use THEIR towels on the trip...and just ship me the souvenir ones to my home!!! In fact, with the freebie drinks, we get enough to drink onboard...so just ship the freebie bottles of wine to my home as well! Actually, we usually end up carrying freebie wines off the ship and drinking them at our post-cruise hotel--especially when they're redundant to having a drink package (though with the good anytime vouchers, we don't buy a drink package on Royal Caribbean...)

Whenever we cruise out of San Pedro and stay a night pre-cruise, we always get there before lunch so we can eat lunch and dinner...and ALWAYS eat in two places: Green Onion and San Pedro Brewing Company--in one direction or the other. Love the Tri-tip sandwich at San Pedro Brewing Co...and some form of combo plate at Green Onion...My wife thinks Green Onion is the best Mexican food she's ever had...and, heck, we live in SoCal so we eat a lot of Mexican food!

Should be fine...