lx200gps

That sums it up perfectly. FLL would be much more convenient for a sailing out of Port Evergladesm unless airline ticket costs into MIA were much cheaper. As to hotels when arriving the day before, start with the hotel strip on 17th Street, which is pretty much adjacent to one of the Port Everglades entrances. A short cab ride from the airport and enough hotel and restaurants to choose from. Popular hotels here on Cruise Critic include the Hyatt Place, Hilton Marina, Embassy Suites and our favorite, the Renaissance. We like the Renaissance as it's so close to PE that depending on our room orientation, we can throw open the blinds in the morning of Embarkation Day and see the flotilla of cruise ships in port. Princess's Terminal 2 is only a few hundred yards away.

Thanks for the insider tips. The total walking distance isn't much of an issue for us though obviously a one hour walk each way is two hours less spent in the Zoo when a cab ride is a few minutes. We haven't been to SD in at least twenty years, so a bit of walking through downtown is something we look forward to. Exercise is good ;o). We're not overly worried about homeless folks, tents and transients, we aren't planning to spend any time with them, just passing through. As one example, Google Maps shows a simple route due east from the ship down A Street to Park Blvd, then north over the I5 to Balboa Park and the Zoo, an easy 60 minute walk. Is there some part of that route that causes concern?

Thanks for the info, I think I found it on the map. No wonder I missed it, the official Zoo map is oriented North to the right instead of up (!?!), so the Zoo entrance looks like it is at the south end, when it's actually at the east side near the parking lot. ;o) No need for public transport, assuming that's what the Rapid 215 is, if we can't walk it due to weather, we'll just Uber or taxi to and from the ship. Princess wants almost $C150 for the bus ride part of their excursion for the two of us, so Uber or taxi would be best if we're weathered out from walking.

We're going to be in SD on a Thursday from 8AM to 10PM in mid-October off the Discovery Princess, and we would also like to visit the Zoo for the day. I note that it is quite close to where I assume we will dock and from there is only about a one hour walk each way, which for us is a non-issue as we love the exercise. Weather permitting, would you anticipate any problems with walking to and/or from the Zoo? Also, if we do walk it, exactly where is the main entrance? The official Zoo map on their web site is horribly cluttered and confusing and I can't even find the location of the main entrance. Thanks for any advice.

The closest Marriott property to PE is definitely the Renaissance on 17th. If you get a high floor AND have the right room orientation, the views of the port and the ships are quite nice. It's also pretty much the closest hotel to the port. Only issue with the Renaissance is the construction of the new convention center going on right across from the hotel, but when we were there a few months ago, the views weren't blocked from our higher room. Slightly better views are seen from the Hilton Marina across the causeway/bridge, but it's obviously not a Marriott

As well as $30/pp/day if booked for an entire week.

We have Bell roaming and have ordered Ubers many times in Fort Lauderdale and LA. No issues at all. Just make sure your credit card info is in order and you should have no problems.

Who is "it" Are you referring to the CC newbie who made the faux-pas. Referring to a person as "it" is pretty much, isn't it? And of course, every one of us CC veterans have long since read and memorized the Ts and Cs, but I don't have an issue with cutting a new member some slack. ;o)

No ouch necessary. You were being reminded that you had violated CCs Terms of Service by mentioning the name of a Travel Agency, as that is expressly forbidden . As you are clearly new here, you wouldn't have known that. Welcome to Cruise Critic.

We've seen the same thing on other ships and trips. CG seems to be much more popular and is often not available for pre-cruise bookings when Sabatini's, La Mer etc have availability. That being said, whenever we have been unsuccessful booking pre-cruise, we simply head to the CG immediately upon boarding and book our desired times then and there. AFAIK, the specialty restaurants always keep a certain number of tables open for Embarkation Day bookings.

Absolutely no issues logging on right now for me, works fine. Firefox under both Linux and Win 11. Sorry....

Once you log into your Cruise Personalizer on the Princess site, and access the specific trip, there is a tab on the far right called "Payments". Scroll down and you will find a section called "Credits" and the Shareholder OBC credit will show up there as "Shareholders Benefits*"

Excellent resource, thanks for posting it. I'd never heard of them. We drive from Montreal, right through Albany, to either the Manhattan CT or Brooklyn CT, so this would be an excellent idea. LOVE the idea of saving a ton on the heavy parking costs at the cruise terminals. I do note though that the round trip price from Albany is $120/PP.

FWIW, Post # 13 above states that both the CPB and CBSA are asking folks to begin their renewal process 364 days in advance. Don't know how current that it, or whether it is still the official gvt guidance on the subject

That's what I'm hearing as well, thanks for the confirmation. When I read up on it on the CBSA website, and it's VERY fuzzily worded, the "rule" is that if you are declaring anything that requires extra paperwork (and they don't define what that is), then you can't use the NEXUS line if you are over the limit. Technically, bringing anything back over your personal exemption would theoretically require extra paperwork, but clearly they don't consider it important enough if someone is only a bit over their limit and declares it. I'm only talking about declaring one or two extra bottles of booze, not a $50,000 watch, so I'm sure we'll be fine.

Nope, no crossing the street, everything is on the "Hudson" side. If Google shows crossing the street, it may be because it's showing car mode rather than what a pedestrian would have to do.

Quite right. Our last trip was on the Celebrity Equinox, where Somelliers can be found in pretty much every dining venue. While we never needed their "advice", the fact that there were dedicated wine handlers ensured that we never went dry or waited for a refill. He/she was always nearby ready with the bottle we were drinking. I would surely love Princess to implement such a system.

Fair enough. Those taxi estimators are only estimators after all ;o) I simply Googled "LA Taxi Estimator" and ran the first three that came up. One gave me $38 and the other two, which used the same engine, gave me $43, all pre-tip of course. LAX to 21333 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503, United States. Assuming the taxi stand at Terminal 7/8 is still there, that's how we will get down to the hotel. We'll definitely be Uber-ing it from the hotel to the pier the next morning. Now I have to figure the best way to get from SP back up to LAX on our return, in time to catch a 12:30 flight on a Saturday. We've had decent service from Supershuttle, but they're long gone. I remember that the last few times we returned back into San Pedro and did early walk-off, there were no taxis to be found even at 7AM. We'll be trying Uber this time I suspect. Looks like a Comfort will be about $50 + tip.

Yup, did that ;o( Luckily it appears to be seasonal and at some times of the year we can fly on "real" AC. It's amazing how a simple luxury like a real TV screen can make such a big difference.

Quite true, we flew Premium Rouge from YUL to FLL a few weeks ago. At certain times of the year, there is limited mainline AC service from here to Fort Lauderdale and we're stuck with Rouge. The "Premium" experience wasn't horrible by any means, though obviously if a decent direct AC flight had been available we would have taken it over Rouge.

Only those passengers with the coupon book gifted to them by their TA or Princess can get the free bottle of wine on Embarkation Night. And if you have one of the packages, Plus or Premier, there are better quality wines by the glass than what you would get in the free bottle.

Those coupon books are not universal, not all pax have them. Our TA gives us one each, but AFAIK some passengers do not have them, and so would not get the free bottle of plonk on embarkation night. We always sail with at least the Plus package, and the free bottle is usually not worth even bothering with, we stick to the better wines by the glass in the SDRs.

Already have been, thanks. I was aware that certain "flavors"of Uber are allowed to pick up at the terminal, though I didn't know which ones, so I did a quick and dirty search of options. Regular UberXs from LAX-It to our hotel in Torrance run about $32 without tip or any possible surge pricing. An LA taxi estimator say a taxi would be about the same. The Uber website says an Uber Black from our Terminal 6 would be about $100. Bizarrely, the Uber web site also allowed me to choose Terminal 6 as a pickup point for UberX, which is incorrect. Small differences in pricing between a taxi and an UberX don't bother us, so if there is an easily walked-to taxi stand at T7, right next to our T6, we'll drag our bags the short distance and grab a taxi. Sounds easier than using the LAX-It buses. It's been a few years since we were last in LA, can't wait to get back.

You are quite welcome, have a great trip.

That I didn't know. I assumed all taxis had to be picked up at the LAX-It lot, thanks for the heads up. I realize that LAX-It works OK, but I had been reading a lot of negative comments about issues with the bus service, difficulty in finding your Uber, etc. Rather than hoicking a ton of luggage on and off a bus (my wife doesn't travel light ;o), a short walk to a taxi stand at T7 seems pretty easy.