Flight Home from SD is 4 p.m.-Any suggestions on what to do after disembarking ship?

[cruisin'sz]

Does anyone have any great ideas as to what we can do from the time we disembark the ship (early morning, hopefully), until our plane takes off from San Diego at 4 -

 

Thought about doing a ship tour, thought about renting a car on our own for the day, thought about dropping luggage off at airport and heading out via taxi, but can't decide the best way to go and which way is most feasible.

 

San Diego seems pretty small and therefore manageable, but I wanted some expert help.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[yogi2929]

The airlines won't let you check in luggage more than 2 hours ahead of time (if I'm wrong, someone please correct me).

 

What hotel are you staying at pre-cruise? Maybe you could arrange to store the luggage there (tipping the bellboy, of course).

 

The way I see it you have about 6 hours to fill.

 

There are 4 ships next door the the San Diego pier. To the north is the San Diego Mairitme museum. It has three ships, a Tall ship, a ferry and a presidential yacht. To the south is the USS Midway. All are within walking distance of the pier.

 

If you have little kids the San Diego Children's museum is first rate. It is located behind Horton Plaza.

[Jiffymom]

go to theMidway. Or take the trolley that tours all round the city. You can buy tickets and catch it just outside the ship terminal.

[Splinter]

You can check bags in San Diego 4 hours prior to your flight.

 

I would walk across the street to the Holiday Inn on the Bay and given the bell hop a nice tip to check your bags. You don't even need to pretend you are checking into the hotel to do this. Then walk back across the street and buy a ticket for the San Diego Maritime Museum. You can pay for one ticket and go aboard 5 different boats or ships there, and have a good time. Then eat lunch at Anthony's and walk south about a block to the Midway and take their tour. Go back to the HI, get your luggage (another tip) and get transportation to the airport no later than 2PM. TSA Security at SAN is notoriously slow.

[Jen1000]

The ship tour is the easiest option because then you don't have to deal with the luggage.

 

If you can leave your bags at the HI then you have a lot of options on your own close by. The one that has not been mentioned yet is Seaport Village. It is a nice walk or a short pedicab/regular cab ride away. Lots of shops and restaurants. Very cute, we went there Saturday after getting off our cruise. We had a couple of hours to kill before family had flights out of the airport. We had two cars with us already so we left it all in the cars.

 

Normally I find the SD airport to be pretty quick and easy. Saturday, it was packed at Southwest. We normally get to the SD airport 1 hour to 1.5 hours early and are fine. Not sure when things slow down on cruise days and if the other airlines were as crowded. I have also heard SW can be more crowded and slower so it depends on who you fly as to when you should get to airport.

 

You can check bags 4 hours before flight time.

 

Jen in SoCal

 

QUOTE=cruisin'sz;22842917]Does anyone have any great ideas as to what we can do from the time we disembark the ship (early morning, hopefully), until our plane takes off from San Diego at 4 -

 

Thought about doing a ship tour, thought about renting a car on our own for the day, thought about dropping luggage off at airport and heading out via taxi, but can't decide the best way to go and which way is most feasible.

 

San Diego seems pretty small and therefore manageable, but I wanted some expert help.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.