bobolz

Thanks, I did call and they double checked and they do have a location in San Pedro and that is the only place they will pick up and drop off passengers, not Long Beach. The price was very reasonable even to drop off at LAX location. I’m just waiting to see the confirmation as to what is included and what’s not. As well as make sure the addresses for pick up and drop off are accurate ( there was some validation required by agent I spoke to) . So if this works out I would definitely recommend Enterprise ( which seems to be the agency with best reviews in this area.

I’m curious if anyone has ever disembarked in San Pedro port and rented a car from rental agency in San Pedro to drive to LA and drop off at LAX ? Looks like enterprise has a location in SP, possibly Hertz. Just wondering if they offer pick up service at port OR has anyone taken Uber or taxi from port to SP agency, im wondering if it would be less crowded at rental agency in San Pedro vs taking Uber to LAX rental agency and picking up car there? The opening hours for San Pedro agencies is 9 am , just wondering if a other cruisers would be considering this option to transfer back to LA. thanks in advance

We used Dublin Chauffer. The driver and vehicle were wry nice and had room in the back for my dads foldable wheelchair that we rented from Scootaround. Scootaround delivered the wheelchair to my dads room in Southampton and picked it up from the ship when we disembarked in Southampton. It worked out seamlessly. good luck and enjoy!

Thanks milhouse, sorry I totally missed the time and day you traveled from LAX to Long Beach, obviously I was not paying attention. 😳 knowing that leaving the LAX area before noon is probably better than afternoon rush hour, we may just stay the night at LAX hotel the night before and use their free shuttle service from lax and then Uber the next day to the port in San Pedro. I’ll keep googling to see if late morning is still ideal as well as reserve in advance an Uber back to lax on our return to avoid potential waiting at the port for same day Uber request. thanks again for sharing your experience.

Hi milhouse what day and time of day did you travel from LAX? We are getting in at afternoon rush hour it shows about an hour ride at that time. anyone experienced cruise port back to lax via Uber in morning rush hour.? Curious what time you left the ship? TIA

The only disruptive noise we heard on deck 5, rm 511, was the side thrusters or side impellers or whatever they are called, when we were docking. However, I seem to recall some other strange noise that I couldn’t identify, didn’t know if it was a toilet flush in adjacent room or something else, but didn’t affect my sleep that I can remember, it was occasional.

That 250 day mark seems about when they reserved our flights as well.

FYI I am returning on a Wednesday . I really hope it will not be a problem if we leave early like 7 am otherwise I may have to change my flight . I would be interested on any others who may have done this transfer from cruise port in SP to LAX during a weekday. FYI, my flight is domestic. thanks

Thanks Scott that’s what we were going to do , but some people suggested just bite the bullet and head down to SP for next day convenience. I thought it would be easier getting a hotel shuttle from LAX to LAX hotel and then going out to eat in maybe Marina del Ray or Santa Monica area that night. BTW we are coming in on a Tuesday afternoon, not Friday , will that make a big difference? From the few times I looked on google maps the ride was about an hour at that time of day, but non rush hour was less. If we head to the port the next day around 11:30 , I assume that will be better traffic wise. Heading back to airport from SP port , what time do you suggest we reserve the Uber for a 10:40 flight out of LAX? thanks again for your help

We are flying in the day before our cruise, but we arrive at rush hour about 5 pmby the time we get our luggage. How much do you think it will cost to get to San Pedro or Long Beach hotel from LAX at that time? I’m seeing about an hour ride versus without traffic of about 35 min. I believe I read LB is possibly better place to stay to explore and find restaurants near the hotel vs SP ? Curious opinions on that. Thanks for advice on arranging Uber in advance. I assume the advance cost I would receive would account for traffic during rush hour ? thanks in advance for the help

We were just in Belfast and there was a visitor center set up at the port with information. There was also a phone in the visitor center tent that had direct access to the Value cab company mentioned earlier that do tours same day. There were 2 cabs lined up and we grabbed one and he took us to the neighborhoods most associated with “The Troubles “ period which included the crumlin street Gaol( we did not go in due to time, but he definitely recommended we do) , the various murals, the peace wall , one of the gates, and took us to this little hidden museum that other small group tours apparently take visitors to, that had a number of artifacts and displays about the Troubles period. It was actually quite interesting and free. enjoy your cruise

Yep here it is. https://www.foodandwinetrails.com/cruises/duckhorn2024/ well it looks like a nice tour operator, looks like they would not have us deviating from our current itinerary. Now it’s just a matter of will this cause Us problems with gaining access to certain venues and tours, I guess a lot will depend on how many people sign up with them to take this cruise and will that limit the # of buses and excursions if they get priority. It looks like a TA that specializes in wine tours and partner with various cruises traveling to those regions. Wondering If most of their clients select their own tours independently or if they all go on same tour with their host . I only saw a couple of organized tours for the group. anyone have any opinions or experience with this company or similar tour company reserving rooms for their clients? thanks in advance

Thanks for the info. I’ll check it out.

Hi Dolce how do you know about the block of rooms for this wine tour co and them scheduling private events? Did you actually speak with someone? I noticed the prices increased since I booked on board almost a year ago. I’m wondering if this group would pose a problem with availability on certain tours or difficulty getting into certain dining venues . I noticed that some of the excursions changed as well. Including our stop in Saint Malo(sp?)

So I’m on the one that leaves Lisbon on May 2 to Southampton, so that appears it will be back in service? Any thoughts on what that could mean. Someone on FB mentioned some wine group charter for our cruise(they have not responded to my request for further clarification, but it would probably be reasonable since we have 3 days in Bordeaux region) . I assume it is a partial charter, at least I hope. guess will wait to see if this “charter” or “dry dock iS extended to our cruise.

I definitely recommend Carmel

Flyer the risk with doing it on your own is having to pay out of pocket for the BC ticket 220 + days in advance (a non refundable ticket ) versus SS booking it 220 days in advance for sometimes $1000-$1500 less for BC and refundable up to 60 days out(or whenever they ticket it) which provides flexibility if there are any changes to itinerary or I decide to make a change due to unforeseen circumstances.

As stated earlier and on another thread, my SS air experience was very good. I got non stop BC seats, including seat assignments, and reasonable departure times, but also flew out of a major US hub that had daily flights to LHR, I think that makes a big differences where you fly to/from as to whether your experience is satisfactory or not. I thought I would share my recent experience with Oceania’s air options just for a comparison . They don’t book the air until 75 days before the cruise, although you can pay a fee of about $200 per person for them to reserve the air ~225 days out and per your desired route/times. I believe you don’t have to pay the fee if you don’t accept their selected flights, at which point you can remove the air from your booking. For this particular cruise I selected and since it is traveling within the US, the air credit for economy would be approx the price if I purchased on my own. However, if I wanted them to book it now, I would have had to pay them an additional $200 pp, or wait until 75 days out and hope they booked my desired flight. If this were an overseas trip, I would have to pay the additional $200 pp to have them book in advance on top of a price that would have been much higher than SS ‘s BC upgrade charge. So I see SS air options/policy, especially for BC upgrade, far superior to Oceania’s . I can’t say what the other luxury lines offer for air booking policies/options, but I would prefer the cruise line booking my air 220+ days out versus me booking that far out and incurring the cost and the risk … just my thoughts.

I’m sorry to hear about the OPs experience, but happy to hear about others recent positive comments. We are traveling on the regatta in late Sept for the California coast itinerary. For those that have traveled during this time and this 7 day itinerary (LA to LA) , I was curious how the seas were , ie were they rough during this time of year? . How were they around Santa Barbara since that is the only tender port. I prefer the O classships Versus the R class oships like regatta, but looks like regatta has been upgraded since last time I was on board which was 8+ years ago. Also is the port in LA always San Pedro? Is that very far from LAX ? thanks in advance for any feedback

Boccenana- If you can great, I didn’t know how. Thanks!

He charged us for about 2 hours 20 pounds per person, there were 4 of us so about $80 , but we gave him a big tip,

All worked out for me as well. You can’t beat the BC add on by doing it on your own. See my comments on the post SS air screws up again….they didn’t . At least for me

We just got back and when we arrived at Belfast there was a welcome tent that had an information desk and they were very helpful. There is a phone in the tent that has a direct line to a cab company that offers various tours, but since we were limited on time, we just grabbed one of the 2 cabs that were waiting near the tent and the driver took us around to the murals, the neighborhoods , the Peace wall, and showed us the Crumlin Gaol (he recommended we go next time we were there) showed us pictures and gave us some history of what it was like growing up during “The Troubles”. He also took us to a small museum that was free that had historical information and artifacts. It was a hidden away, but there were other guides that took their clients there. It was very interesting. Our driver was quite a character . It was actually our favorite part of the trip.

That would be wonderful to start a new thread. Can you copy my comments here? I tried , but must be doing something wrong or maybe it’s not easy to do on my tablet. I would like to avoid typing my comments all over again. thanks

Possibly I should start a new thread, but I just finished my cruise and booked the air through SS. I was extremely satisfied with the air option ( although I would have preferred American over BA’s business class seating, since our flight had the old BC configuration which is the worst design ever) . Regardless, we were able to select our seats in advance which you can not normally do on BA until 24 hours before unless you have preferred status or pay a fee. The flights went off on time and both non stop, so overall no issues with SS booking it for us ( in fact was a benefit to us since could select our seats). I think your experience will depend on the city you live in, the airport you use as well as the destination. We were flying PHL to LHR and there are 3 nonstop flights a day, so our options are much better than other airports. I will wait to see what happens with our 2024 trip to Lisbon next year. There is only 1 flight a day from PHL on American, but it’s expensive, possible they may connect us through London . Will wait and see. However, I’m sure my experience would be very different if we were flying to other regions with less options. So my experience so far has been very good and you will have to weigh the benefits and cons of having SS book your air or do it on your own. I prefer they do it , since Covid, there are too many unknowns and would rather not fork out the money almost a year in advance for the flight and potentially lose it if changes are required a year later. good luck to everyone.