lx200gps

8 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

You are correct! It is now a non- refundable deposit. This puts it in the “no thanks” camp for me…

That's interesting. I was under the impression that, irrespective of a "Sale", any booking with a Plus or Premium Package automatically came with a refundable deposit as one of the perqs of the Package. Are we saying that for this 3 Day Sale ALL deposits would be non-refundable, even with a Package? Granted, the deposits with the Packages are usually only $US100/pp, but non-refundability would be a concern for us as well.

For the last few years, the OBC on this 3 Day Sale has been $US200/pp for our usual 7 day trips, so $400. Add to this the TA's little $50 OBC and the Shareholder OBC, it adds up to $US550 for a 7 Dayer. We have that on most of our current trips and our TA with the Agency will be checking all our other trips to see if re-booking them under the Sale makes sense. Assuming the price is the same as the Princess price, re-booking will add $400 in extra OBC.

4 hours ago, North Vancouver Cruiser said:

Who do we contact in BC to complain about not allowing HAL to sell Platinum Insurance?  I understand in October 2023, HAL could no longer offer Platinum Insurance for cruisers.  If I lived in Alberta or Sask or Ontario, I could buy it, but not in BC.  What department or organization do I complain to to reverse this decision.  I was able to purchase it for our last Grand 94 day cruise as we paid for it 6 months in advance.  We hope to go on a Grand or World cruise in the near future and it is nice to have that piece of mind when you are paying over $50,000 each for the cruise. We used the platinum insurance when we had to cancel a 45 day one due to covid. 

Best of luck with that. We haven't been able to buy Princess's insurance, with their 100% CFAR coverage, here in Quebec for years. The state of New York also recently stopped allowing such insurance as well. Local insurance laws can be strange....

47 minutes ago, liamur14 said:

Any news on the  Princess 3 day sale coming up?

Assuming you're referring to the big agency's 3 Day Sale on Princess trips, our TA with that agency tells us it's coming June 6-8

8 hours ago, Teechur said:

I can't imagine watching a movie while onboard a cruise ship. There are too many other things to do.

I wait literally an hour or more every cruise day waiting for my wife to get ready to leave the room, go to dinner etc. What else would I do but watch a movie?  I usually get through two or three each cruise just waiting..... ;o)

7 hours ago, mnocket said:

This sale used to be pretty good several years ago.  However, I've been disappointed in it the past few years.  Still, worth taking a look. Details to be released May 30th in an online presentation. 

Agree, the Sale is not what it was years ago. In our experience, in the last few years, the Sale price has been pretty much just the going Princess rate, but bundled with decent OBC. For our usual Mini, for a 7 day sailing, the OBC is usually $US200/pp. Still, we always add two or three new trips each Sale.

On 5/7/2024 at 3:54 PM, luvflorida said:

We will be arriving late in the evening the day before our cruise. Any tips for a reasonably priced hotel will be appreciated

Montrealer here. The two best areas to stay in the night before your cruise would be the downtown core or the area known as "Old Montreal", which is where the cruise terminal is located. Old Montreal is not very far from the downtown core anyway. Just grab a taxi or an Uber from the airport direct to the hotel.  Further to the previous post, our preferred site when searching for hotels pre-cruise is Tripadvisor, their map view view option is a huge help in pricing hotels for specific dates by geographical location. If you can find a hotel that meets your pricing criteria, then staying in Old Montreal would be my preference. Depending on the hotel it could literally be a few minute walk to the ship on Embarkation morning, though the cobblestone streets can be tough on luggage ;o).

12 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

A limited number of taxi's can also be found at these two locations inside the Central Terminal Area and Inside Parking Structure 3 between Tom Bradley International Terminal and Terminal 3 (Delta and AeroMexico). 

 

Beside this you will need to go to LAXIT - shuttle busses run about every 10 minutes

 

We used the taxi stand near Terminal 3 a while ago. There were no taxis actually waiting at the "stand" so we had to wait with a growing crowd until the taxis trickled in one at a time. The phone number posted on the sign was useless, the person at the other end knew nothing about that stand. Took us over 30 minutes to finally get a ride out.  Next time, the LAX-It bus....

1 hour ago, Grumpy8 said:

So Black Falcon is the ship terminal for Princess and others?

Yup. the official Boston Cruise Ship terminal is called the Flynn Black Falcon Cruiseport Terminal, 1 Black Falcon Ave, Boston, MA, just off the I90 and across the channel from Logan airport.  Our last Princess trip used it, as will our next Princess trip this July.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/FLYNN+cruiseport+boston+Black+Falcon+Terminal/@42.3433781,-71.033504,17.33z/data=!4m10!1m2!2m1!1sboston+cruise+port!3m6!1s0x89e370825815a031:0x4c3e54cd24fc9f76!8m2!3d42.3435791!4d-71.0335127!15sChJib3N0b24gY3J1aXNlIHBvcnSSAQ9jcnVpc2VfdGVybWluYWzgAQA!16s%2Fg%2F1tgp1tk5?hl=en&entry=ttu

2 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

I am starting to think it is a feature used by very few cardholders - but maybe the people that do use it, use it regularly.

 

+1.  We've had concierge access for many years and have never, ever considered using it.  I do know that some very high status Aeroplan users will use AC/Aeroplan concierge services such as being escorted to the head of the boarding line for special boarding privileges before all other passengers, but that is Aeroplan related, not credit card.

2 hours ago, Grumpy8 said:

We are taking a back-to-back cruise out of Boston in Aug/Sept. So, we need a place to park our van for the 20 days.Are there any places we can park for that long time?

Parking at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal is a popular subject over on the Easy Coast Departures board. The closest parking lots to the Terminal all run $30/day, which is decent when compared to Manhattan and Brooklyn's $45/day. Given the length of your stay, maybe look into a Logan Park 'n Fly package to save a few $$$s per day? Don't know if that will help or not though.

For our 7 day in mid-July, we are simply showing up and trying each of the three closest lots and will park at the first one with availability.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/317-east-coast-departures/

1 hour ago, warthog2608 said:

Yes, I'm thinking of a rather tall fellow...

 

BTW, what is the rule about not naming TA's?  Is that a CC rule?

Yup, that's him all right. And yes, it's a very big rule here on CC that Travel Agents cannot be named. Not sure why, many other business entities can be named and discussed ad nauseam, just not TAs.

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We went through this process and that is why we now have 3 TD Infinite Visa cards and 1 TD Infinite Privilege card.  4 cards total.

 

The first year bonus Aeroplan points, other benefits and the Companion Ticket from the Privilege card make it all worth while.

 

We also have banking plans that for the 3 TD Infinite cards, the annual fee of $139.00 is waived for all 3 cards.  Sweet.

Hands down the Buddy pass for us easily pays for the card, and the eUpgrades into Business are nice when they occasionally pay off.

2 hours ago, davy jones said:

Use the search function to search for the ship you want to see.  You will get a list of videos.  Some are useful, others are purely click bait.  There are great differences in Vlogger quality and agendas, but you can find useful stuff.

 

There are some TAs who post videos that are more video tours and less opinion pieces.

I actually started a post about one TA who we use quire often, but had to delete it when I realized that, as a TA, he can't be named. His videos cover many cruise lines including Princess, and his comprehensive ship walkthroughs and particularly his cabin reviews are quite valuable.

Deleted

15 hours ago, kahliasmom said:

Oh my goodness! You are the best. Thank you for finding this!

No problem, glad to help. If you do use the C1 lot, please report back and let us know how it went.  The C1 lot is clearly the most convenient, so we would prefer to use it over the alternatives.

40 minutes ago, kahliasmom said:

So it does say it only has an attendant on fridays. But someone else said that is just for the Bermuda cruises that leave on Fridays in the summer. But in any event, if I reserve this lot and there is no one there, I can call a number or even just go to the C2 lot and ask someone to come over to assist me? Do you or anyone know the phone number to call if no one is there? 

I checked the lot on Google Street View. here's a blow up of the C1 lot sign. Hard to read but the number agrees with the ABM phone number for the C1 lot, 617-482-2487

https://www.parkwithabm.com/c1-parking-lot

1 hour ago, 555 said:

We listen to him quite often but he doesn't like to show to much video of the actual ship as a few others do.

All he does is talk, talk, talk.

...and roll his eyes a lot and laugh at his own "jokes"

48 minutes ago, kahliasmom said:

Hi, I am sailing out of Boston on RCCL's Jewel of the Seas on September 7th. It is a 15 night cruise. There doesn't seem to be any good park and stay options. My friend and I have a hotel booked just outside of Boston. We plan to drive in the next morning, which is a Saturday. When I go on the official cruise port parking site, I see my cruise listed. When I select my cruise, the price for parking is $450! 😱  😱 Holy cow that is a lot of money. Surely there must be other parking options that are more affordable?

For a 15 day cruise, $450 is right on. For our 7 dayer in July I was quoted $210, so the rate is $30/day. Look on the bright side, at least it's not Manhattan at $45/day ;o(

Here is the rate schedule for the ABM garage one block north of the cruise terminal. Price is the same $30/day

On 5/9/2024 at 11:11 AM, newcruzer2 said:

What a nightmare, sorry hope you are able to get something  else at a reasonable price. Makes me question dealing with vt

Despite the HUGE increase in hotel prices in the area for that October period, we lucked out. As soon as I found out we didn't have a valid reservation at the HP, I was able to grab the much-admired Riverside for a "normal" price before they also raised their prices. Sadly we arrive into FLL quite late so we won't be able to take advantage of the local sites and amenities, and will be heading to PE bright and early the next morning. For our following trip, in Feb, we are back at our regular Renaissance, 10 feet from Princess Terminal 2 at PE.

3 hours ago, alsobob said:

Hi, I am looking for the easiest way to get from the LA port to LAX after a Royal Caribbean cruise.   I have 5 people total.  Someone suggested a taxi but was wondering what would be the best, most cost effective route?  Thanks so much.

Welcome to Cruise Critic ;o) If you are absolutely set on traveling in the same vehicle, then a pre-arranged shuttle service would probably be the best option. If you are OK with traveling separately, then the cheapest and simplest would be to hire a pair of Ubers. We used Uber from SP to LAX as recently as last Feb and it was a no-brainer.  Taxis are also a good option, there were plenty of them when we climbed into our Uber, but will be a bit more $$$. LA traffic can be rough but if you are leaving SP on a weekend morning heading to LAX, then the traffic should be OK. Weekday you would be traveling north during the morning rush hour, so be ready......

As pcur pointed out above, if you can fly into LGB it's a lot closer and easier than LAX

9 hours ago, Not_enough_travel said:

@lx200gps after your cruise, would you please let us know if you were able to use  the C1 lot?  I’m cruising in August and would really like to use that lot. 
 

Thanks!

Welcome to Cruise Critic ;o) I will attempt to remember to do so. FWIW, Boston is a "seasonal" cruise port, so the season is only just starting off for 2024 so there wouldn't have been much discussion recently on this subject. I am quite sure there will be a lot of posts and threads here in this forum over the next few weeks and months about the parking situation and I will be following them closely myself.

While I still plan to use either the C1 lot or the covered garage, my third fallback is the "official" Boston Cruise Port parking lot at 93 Fargo Street. Unfortunately the Cruise Port website clearly states "Parking arrangements must be made online prior to arrival" and I'm not a fan of booking online (what if plans change?). Interestingly, when I select the online booking, it actually shows our July 14 sailing on the Emerald Princess and shows a rate of $US210 for the cruise.

20 hours ago, stoddaj1 said:

We just booked a cruise leaving from Brooklyn and have started the hotel hunt.  I'm wondering if it might be less expensive to stay in New Jersey and if we did so, best way to get to the cruise port in Brooklyn?  Ideas for hotels, routes etc. are welcomed.  Ideas about staying in Brooklyn area would be great as well.  Thanks in advance.

How are you getting from here to the US, are you driving or flying? We did trips from both Manhattan and Brooklyn two years ago, driving down, and stayed in NJ both times as hotels and long term parking are significantly cheaper than either Manhattan or Brooklyn (especially given our weak Canadian dollar). For the Brooklyn trip, we stayed in Teaneck just off the GW Bridge, then drove to the BCT. Fortunately for us, it was just before the parking rates at the BCT almost doubled to their current ($US45/day?). Unfortunately, while the ferry system from NJ to NY is fantastic, it's not conducive to staying in NJ and getting to Brooklyn as there is no convenient direct ferry between the two.  Though convoluted, one way would be to stay in Weehawken, take the ferry across to 43rd St, Uber down to the Pier 11 ferry terminal at the foot of Manhattan then take the ferry across to Brooklyn. The ferry terminal is literally next to the cruise pier. The easiest way, though at higher cost might be to stay in NJ near one of the Tunnels for the  cheaper hotel and long term parking then Uber directly from the hotel to the BCT. Hoboken or Jersey City are near the Holland Tunnel which would probably be the shortest route. In future when we sail from Brooklyn, that's probably what we will do.

3 hours ago, latebuyer said:

Lots of choices  A lot of people have suggested aloft el segundo which is apparently across from an in n out burger. Presumably you'd still be stuck in traffic going to torrance?

Torrance is pretty much on a direct line between LAX and the port, so you won't be going very far out of your way and you will be stuck in traffic either way. If we arrive very late into LAX (as we did last Feb), we will stay at an LAX hotel and Uber the next morning, which is usually a Saturday or Sunday so little traffic. If we arrive into LAX on a mid-day flight, we will Uber down to Torrance for the area infrastructure and so as to already be half way to San Pedro. Then it is a simple, relatively short Uber to the port on Embarkation morning (short for LA anyway ;o). We have had decent luck with the traffic from LAX to Torrance on a weekday afternoon, though always before the evening rush hour. I wouldn't want to consider driving to Torrance at 5PM on a Friday night.

7 hours ago, MAXII said:

You might like to take a look at the Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach. 

Excellent choice. Torrance has become our go-to area for pre-cruise hotels as well. Half way between LAX and San Pedro, and situated right next to the huge Del Amo mall, with lots of shopping and restaurants next door. For those times of year when the Crowne Plaza and Doubletree are to expensive, Torrance is a great option.