LAX logistics problem

[jennbill]

Have booked Carnival Pride 1/15. Doing our own air and want to go out a day early to go to Disneyland. Help with suggestions on how to do rent a car, hotel and transfers to the pier. Normally I'm really good at this kind of thing but struggling with it now. BTW, want to do everything as reasonable as possible.

[JimandPamm]

We are crusing in March and have the same problem. We are thinking about booking roundtrip airport-port transfers through the cruise company, renting a car at the airport, driving to the hotel for one or two nights, returning the car to the airport, and taking the booked transfer to the port. I haven't worked out all the details yet. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

[jennbill]

Kinda what we're thinking of. We sail from Long Beach so looking into renting car at airport and returning to a Long Beach location. Hertz and Thrifty both allow this, don't know about other agencies.

[cliffy97]

JennBill me and my partner will be on the same cruise cabin 8175... Maybe we can meet up....

 

dan

[Kviolasr]

We sailed on the Vision this past March and also flew into LAX a day early. We rented a car (Avis because I get a corporate rate) at LAX and dropped it in downtown Long Beach (Avis has an office there) the next morning. Prior to dropping off the cat, we swung through the Port of Los Angeles and dropped of the DWs and luggage. Then took a taxi from the Avis office back to the Port. This worked out excellent, had the use of the car for the day before and morning of the cruise. There is no drop charge for picking up most cars at LAX and dropping in Long Beach.

 

I believe your cruise sails from the Port of Long Beach which is very close to both the downtown Long Beach Avis office or Budget office. Car rental (for me ) was approx. $40 and taxi back to Port was approx. $18 -this shared by 2 couples. This was the most cost effective strategy I could come up with. Shuttle fare from LAX to almost anywhere is approx. $25-35 PP.

[Happy ks]

Would it be too difficult to fly into Orange County (SNA) instead? It's much closer to the Disneyland area and the drive back to Long Beach is about the same as if you flew into LAX. If you are staying real close to Disneyland, you might even consider using shuttle service instead of a rental car. I like to keep things simpler when travelling, even if it costs a bit more. I am the type that always gets lost when driving in unfamiliar territory, though :rolleyes:, you may enjoy that type of adventure.

 

Another option would be to fly into Long Beach, that is a wonderful little airport.

 

Finally (I promise) you may want to consider 2 days at Disneyland, one day, especially after travelling, is just not enough.

 

Whatever your plans end up being, have a wonderful time on your cruise and Disney visit!

[jennbill]

Cliffy97, sailing in 7300. Kinda addicted to those aft cabins. No reason we can't start up a meet and mingle.

 

Kathy, pretty much know our way around Disneyland like the back of our hands so should be able to hit the highlights in just one day. Waiting for Southwest to let us book beyond 12/12 because John Wayne International would be my first choice for flying into the Orange County area. Thanks for the feedback.

[Happy ks]

Not knowing how long it has been since you visited Disneyland, it is ALWAYS crowded now. We had annual passes for years up until last year. We just did not enjoy going as much, because we could never find a non-crowded day. Not even in the middle of winter, on a Monday or Tuesday. Not even in the rain and that used to be our favorite time to go, since everyone else would leave.

 

I do miss it, DH and I are big Disney fans. His first day there was day 3 after the park first opened. When our kids got older and could stay home alone a few hours, we would go by ourselves, getting there 15 minutes prior to opening and only staying until 11am or so, after that the crowds are too thick. But, there's nothing like walking down Main Street first thing in the morning, when the street is clear and you can smell the cinnamon buns :).

[dressagegal]

The disney hotel and disneyland run a transfer somewhere between 20-40 dollars at last count. My parents have used it. Look at their hotel site

[jennbill]

Is that a transfer from the hotel to the Long Beach pier? Hmmmmm...

[ARRTrain]

We spent 3 days at Disney before sailing. 3 days was not enough time at Disney. We are thinking about going back to Disney without the cruise next time.

[merela]

Disneyland has 2 themed parks side by side. One is the Disneyland that we all know about and the other one is Disney's California Adventure. I think you need 2 days at each park to do it justice.

 

If you decide to go to Disneyland/CA Adventure, do not pick a weekend day. You will see wall to wall strollers and it's just soooooo crowded. But if you have never been to Disneyland before, it won't matter. Everyday is a good day.

 

It will be a 45min-1 hour drive from LAX to Disneyland. But I don't there are any hotel shuttles between hotels near Disneyland to the ports (San Pedro or Long Beach), but the hotel you are staying in can call either Supershuttle or Primetime Shuttle to transport you between the hotel and the ports. You can go to Supershuttle or Primetime Shuttle websites to get the pricing on different points of travel.

 

Checkout http://www.disboards.com/ for all the information you need about Disneyland. It's a message boards discussing all things Disney. I'm sure people on those boards will be able to answer your questions about Disneyland better than I can -- such as hotels nearby, restaurants, transportation between LAX and Disneyland, etc....

 

Also, the disneyland website will have admission fees listed (and all kinds of tickets you can purchase ahead of time). The Disneyland website will also help you plan which rides to do so it'll save you time once you get there. You can plan out what you want to see and do while you are there.

 

 

HTH.

[misterchatter]

Me (Mike) and my wife (Angie) are also on the Pride Jan. 15th. As strange as it is, we have cabin 7298, wrap around balcony. It will be Angie's 55th birthday on the 16th. Angie's mom lives in Fullerton so we are flying in on the 13th and staying with her. Angie's 2 sisters and 2 aunt's are in our group also. We have rented a 14 passenger van from Karmel's in Fullerton. The total cost to Long Beach from Fullerton is $110.92, not a bad price divided 7 ways. Talk to you later, Cliffy has a thread started, (Roll Calls) but it is buried back a few pages.

 

Later

Mike

[jennbill]

Hey Mike. Have never been to Waterloo but have been to Des Moines, Pella and Knoxville many times for the Knoxville sprint car nationals. We're from Norman, OK. We're intrigued by those wrap-around balconys. Our TA sailed in one on a Liberty cruise this month. We'll try to be good neighbors on the cruise. No wild parties or anything like that. Not that we don't mind the occasional cocktail or two now and then. We're really looking forward to this cruise and the new ports of call. Having just returned from an Alaskan cruise and our first whale watching experience, we can't wait for Cabo and PV. I'm 42 and Jennifer will be celebrating her 38th birthday on the cruise (actual date is 1/28). We look forward to keeping track of the roll call.

 

Bill

 

Disney Magic (Bahamas) 1/99

Dawn Princess (S. Car.) 1/00

Triumph (W. Car.) 1/01

Spirit (S. Car.) 1/02

Norwegian Sun (W. Car.) 9/02

Pride (W. Car.) 1/03

Explorer of the Seas (E. Car) 9/03

Golden Princess (S. Car.) 9/04

Summit (Alaska) 9/05

Pride (Mexico) 1/06

[misterchatter]

Hey Bill. We had some friends on our cruise last April who had a wraparound, very nice. It has a 220 sq.ft. balcony. We did the 14 day Pacific Coastal/Alaska cruise in May 2004 on the Summit. We did the whale watch, Whitepass RR, the heli/dogsled and jet boat excursions. We plan on going back. Have also booked the April 15 2007 CC group cruise to Hawaii.

 

Catch ya on the Roll Call thread, I just bumped it back up to the top this morning. So far I see only 3 of us that have responded.

 

 

Mike

[bubbachief]

We did the Pride cruise a few years ago. Rented a car I think from either Thrifty or Budget. They had an office in Long Beach and ran a shuttle from there to the cruise ship terminal.It worked out fine and other than a tip to the driver, cost us nothing. I suggest you call your car rental company and ask them. We usually call the local office direct rather than the national 1-800 number.