Late departure on Crown this Saturday

[susan bt]

We have been informed that the Crown will not start boarding until 3pm this Saturday. We arrive at LAX at 10 and have Princess transfers to the ship. Does anyone know how Princess handles this? Will we be able to check our luggage upon arrival? If we arrive at the pier early, do you have any suggestions as to places to eat or something to do before boarding?

[skynight]

We have been informed that the Crown will not start boarding until 3pm this Saturday. We arrive at LAX at 10 and have Princess transfers to the ship. Does anyone know how Princess handles this? Will we be able to check our luggage upon arrival? If we arrive at the pier early, do you have any suggestions as to places to eat or something to do before boarding?

Even though boarding will be delayed the sailing time will not be delayed very much. There will be lots of passengers waiting in the terminal to board once it begins around 3pm. Princess may hold you for some time at the airport, or they may shuttle you down to San Pedro to wait. Once at the pier luggage will be accepted.

 

If you have a few hours to spare, you can:

Take a walk down S. Harbor Blvd. to Ports of Call Market Place. The walk is a easy half mile or so. Ports of Call isn't much but it is something. Also, right next to the Princess terminal is the Battleship USS Iowa museum. It will take about two hours to do the self tour. You must be able to go up and down very steep ship's stairways to get around the USS Iowa. The L.A. Maritime Museum is next to the Battleship Iowa on S. Harbor Blvd. It is an easy walk from the Princess terminal.

 

Grinder, a diner type place and Acapulco, Mexican, are right along S. Harbor Blvd, a short walk from the pier. There are also some other places to eat in Ports of Call.

Edited April 13, 2016 by sknight

[elliair]

There's another thread here about the Crown, and this is what I posted. If I were you I'd cancel that transfer and get Super Shuttle. It's cheaper and you won't be held hostage like we were. Here's my story:

 

I don't know what it is about the Crowne and noro virus. We were delayed as well and it may as well have been the cruise to *ell. We got a Princess transfer - never again. We were picked up at LAX and boarded a big white bus along with others. We were taken to the Sheraton hotel and sat there for hours - at least 4 hours. About 1:00 pm people started complaining so they got us all on the bus and we headed to the port. There were 6 buses ahead of us. We were told we couldn't leave the bus and had to wait until they were given the okay to take us to the passenger unloading area. There was no bathroom on board as the driver didn't have the key to the restroom. We had no water on board. We had handicapped people on board and they were pleading to let them off so they could find a restroom. We sat on the bus for another 3 hours until I had had it. I got off the bus with my cell phone in hand and told the bus driver she had 2 choices. Either take us to the passenger unloading area or I call 911 and tell them you are holding us hostage. Pick your poison lady. She hopped on that bus and wheeled over to the unloading area. We got off the bus, walked to the front of the line as we had already checked in at the hotel. Got our S&S cards and was on the ship in 15 minutes.

 

Why am I telling you this story? Because if you have a Princess transfer, this is what is going to happen to you. It's doubtful that we will cruise on the Crowne again, as the only memorable thing about the cruise was the bad experience in the beginning.:eek:

 

P.S. Do a search here at CC and see how many Crowne noro virus threads there are.

[pspehar]

Walk, Uber, Lyft, or cab over to the Crafted indoor market. It is like Esty in person.

 

We walked to the San Pedro Brewery, and then walked from there to Crafted. There was also a brewery and food trucks at Crafted.

 

After all of that, we walked back to the boat.

 

Crafted: http://craftedportla.com/

 

San Pedro Brewery: http://www.sanpedrobrewing.com/

 

Brouwerij West Brewery at Crafted: http://www.brouwerijwest.com/

[susan bt]

Thank you for these suggestions.....I am sure we will find something to do as we wait.

We are experienced cruisers and certainly won't let this ruin our cruise.

[Astro Flyer]

We have been informed that the Crown will not start boarding until 3pm this Saturday. We arrive at LAX at 10 and have Princess transfers to the ship. Does anyone know how Princess handles this? Will we be able to check our luggage upon arrival? If we arrive at the pier early, do you have any suggestions as to places to eat or something to do before boarding?

If you go to the roll call for our cruise we're discussing our experiences with such delays: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2216123&page=11

 

This is more than a delay from the normal official progressive check-in time of 12:30 and the big difference is that the terminal is scheduled to be closed until 3:00 to sanitize it. We regularly sail from LA and arrive at 10:30 and board by noon despite the statement about check-in beginning at 12:30.

 

With the doors being closed until 3:00 there are sure to be longer lines just to get into the terminal. One passenger on our cruise's roll call previously experienced the same closed terminal until 3:00 but they accepted luggage earlier.

 

All aboard is 5:30 with sailing currently scheduled to be about 7:00 which is a 3 hour delay. I seem to recall with other delayed sailings from LA that sometimes dinner becomes open seating only.

 

There's no telling how Princess will handle their transfer for our cruise but hopefully someone will post their experiences. I've read about taking passengers to LB to walk around for a couple of hours before being taken to the cruise terminal. I'd suggest calling Princess to ask if they know how your transfer may be affected.

 

'sknight' provided some excellent suggestions & to me the USS Iowa would be great unless you're dragging carryon bags. Although I seem to recall reading a post that the Iowa does have a carryon bag check service for such situations which you could confirm by going to their website or by calling them.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[notentirelynormal]

There's another thread here about the Crown, and this is what I posted. If I were you I'd cancel that transfer and get Super Shuttle. It's cheaper and you won't be held hostage like we were.

 

I agree 100% with this comment. We live local. The cruise was one way from San Pedro with us returning to LAX so we thought we'd be clever and park at LAX. WRONG! I won't go into the story but trust me - this was the biggest mistake we've ever made getting to a cruise. Our friends that live local went directly to San Pedro. They were on board for almost 4 hours before we boarded.

 

As far as Noro on the Crown. We got off this past Saturday and didn't have an issue. This ship is no different than any other venue that holds 1000s of people. It can happen on a plane, train or automobile, school, restaurant etc. Let's face it. If people get sick on a plane and they all go there different ways, do you really think they all call the airline and say - hey you got me sick?

[2fer_cruisin]

If you go to the roll call for our cruise we're discussing our experiences with such delays: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2216123&page=11

 

This is more than a delay from the normal official progressive check-in time of 12:30 and the big difference is that the terminal is scheduled to be closed until 3:00 to sanitize it. We regularly sail from LA and arrive at 10:30 and board by noon despite the statement about check-in beginning at 12:30.

 

With the doors being closed until 3:00 there are sure to be longer lines just to get into the terminal. One passenger on our cruise's roll call previously experienced the same closed terminal until 3:00 but they accepted luggage earlier.

 

All aboard is 5:30 with sailing currently scheduled to be about 7:00 which is a 3 hour delay. I seem to recall with other delayed sailings from LA that sometimes dinner becomes open seating only.

 

There's no telling how Princess will handle their transfer for our cruise but hopefully someone will post their experiences. I've read about taking passengers to LB to walk around for a couple of hours before being taken to the cruise terminal. I'd suggest calling Princess to ask if they know how your transfer may be affected.

 

'sknight' provided some excellent suggestions & to me the USS Iowa would be great unless you're dragging carryon bags. Although I seem to recall reading a post that the Iowa does have a carryon bag check service for such situations which you could confirm by going to their website or by calling them.

 

 

In 2006 I was on a Princess cruise to Alaska, departing from Vancouver with a Princess transfer from the airport. We had flown in the day of and were told there was a delay. No specific time was given as to when we would depart. I remember everyone got on buses and we were taken to a hotel for lunch. After lunch we were driven around Vancouver for what seemed like hours. Finally we got to the port and waited around for another few hours. I don't think we left port until 11pm that night. Still they took care of us and we ended up having a wonderful time.

[CU64]

We have been informed that the Crown will not start boarding until 3pm this Saturday. We arrive at LAX at 10 and have Princess transfers to the ship. Does anyone know how Princess handles this? Will we be able to check our luggage upon arrival? If we arrive at the pier early, do you have any suggestions as to places to eat or something to do before boarding?

 

this is why I never buy cruise line transfers to or from ship at any port/not any cheaper than taxi or shuttle/ big bus/loading and unloading slow/smell of gas fumes.........

[SANDRAMARTINEZ]

'sknight' provided some excellent suggestions & to me the USS Iowa would be great unless you're dragging carryon bags. Although I seem to recall reading a post that the Iowa does have a carryon bag check service for such situations which you could confirm by going to their website or by calling them.

 

FYI--Actually spoke to Iowa staff today and they confirmed that they will hold your luggage while you tour--however would prefer to drop off at cruise terminal if this is in fact an option

[caribill]

We have been informed that the Crown will not start boarding until 3pm this Saturday. We arrive at LAX at 10 and have Princess transfers to the ship. Does anyone know how Princess handles this? Will we be able to check our luggage upon arrival? If we arrive at the pier early, do you have any suggestions as to places to eat or something to do before boarding?

 

With a Princess xfer, you hand over your luggage to Princess at the airport and you next see it in your cabin. It does not matter how much embarkation is delayed or how long you wait somewhere before checking in at the pier.

 

As others have posted, it is likely that once you have given your luggage to Princess at the airport they will take you somewhere until it is time to take you to the ship for the late check-in and boarding.

[peety3]

Next time you should happen to create a post like this, PLEASE put an actual, complete date in the subject line. People often dredge up very old threads, and now all of a sudden there's a panic about the XYZ ship having a late departure "this Saturday"...

[Astro Flyer]

I just received this update from Princess for the cruise on 4/16:

 

"We are pleased to report that the number of guests reporting illness declined significantly from the peak on day two of the cruise. As an additional precaution, we have arranged for the ship to undergo a prolonged disinfection in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 16, 2016".