Disembarkation in Los Angeles

[Retired 07]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but I figure somebody here will be able to answer it.

 

We get off the Diamond Princess in L.A. in Sept. We live just north of downtown L.A. and want to schedule a shuttle (supershuttle) to get us home. Since you don't really know how long it will take, or exactly when you can get off of the ship, how can you schedule anything?

 

We would really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

[Alessandrina]

Yes, I agree it is hard to schedule a shuttle when you do not know when you will be getting off the ship. That said, suppose you are one of the last to disembark, perhaps 10:30 am or 10:45 am is a good time to book the ride... You can go to the purser's desk a few days before and ask what time the last colour tags are called at or try to get off the ship just after 10:00 am.

Happy Sailing!

[KLLund]

Lots of people were calling after they got their luggage to confirm that they were ready to meet the shuttle for trips other than to the airport ..

 

We used a car service .. and they seemed to have a fair Idea of when to be in the area .. we called and they were there within 5 minutes.

[FredS]

depending on how much luggage you have and if you feel capable of handling it all, you could request self-disembarkation. You keep your luggage with you, do not set it out the night before you dock, and usually you are the first group to get off. We have done that twice in LA and been getting in a taxi about 8:15 AM for the ride to Long Beach.

 

If you do this you have to handle all your luggage yourself. Ships crew will not help you; by requesting self-disembarkation you are telling the ship staff you can handle all your luggage yourself and do not need help. There is no help available.

 

OR, you can plan on being the last off, regardless of what color you have, just wait until some time late in the morning. Tell your ride you expect to be off between such and such a time and give them your cell phone number so they can call you if they do not find you. Usually the first off is about 8AM although we were once delayed until 9AM due to a surprise Coast Guard inspection. Figure two hours to get almost everyone off the ship.

[funny1]

When we got off the ship there was a line for shuttle service. We actually had reserved space that we paid for in advance but there were people in our van that didn't. The down side is they group you with people going in the same general direction. We live about 60 miles north and had to detour several times before we got home safe and sound.

[mikjr]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but I figure somebody here will be able to answer it.

 

We get off the Diamond Princess in L.A. in Sept. We live just north of downtown L.A. and want to schedule a shuttle (supershuttle) to get us home. Since you don't really know how long it will take, or exactly when you can get off of the ship, how can you schedule anything?

 

We would really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

 

We live in OC... and the last time we needed a shuttle from the LA Port, I called when we docked that morning. They took down the information that there would be two of us for OC... and said just look for the "BLUE AND YELLOW" (I think they were blue & yellow) shuttles when we got off.

 

So, we got in line for the shuttle service, where there is usually a guy that works for the shuttle company onsite. If a shuttle is not onsite, he will call one for you... maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait. The issue is... they like to fill the shuttles... once you get on board, they may wait until they find someone else going to your area. We had to wait about 20 minutes, which was very annoying.. and then they finally realized, no one else was going to OC... so they finally took off.

 

So, don't believe them when they tell you they are going to RESERVE a shuttle for you... that's bull... it won't make any difference one way or another... All in all... it worked pretty well

[Cruisin' Chick]

We had decided to book a car service (coolrides.com) for going to and returning from our cruise in 2005/06. When making arrangements, it was decided that our driver will pick us up at 10am. If there was a change, I should call in.

 

As I strongly believe that it's not fair for us locals to do disembarkation (let those who have flights to catch get first crack at getting off the ship), we just waited until our color was called. The disembarkation process started late, despite only one other ship in port the same day (check cruisecal.com for that info). When it looked like we wouldn't be off by 10, I called the company and was told "no problem, the driver will just drive around and wait for us to call when we get our luggage and are at the shuttle pickup point. I was able to use my cell phone in our cabin.

 

We left the ship at 11:10am and were on our way home a short time later.

 

My suggestion is to have a copy of your email confirmation as well as have the shuttle phone number handy and ready.

[skandls]

We live in Ventura County and usually just drive and park at the pier. We did a repositioning from Vancouver so we had to arrange transport from the pier to home. We called the van service when we were finally disembarked. We waited about 25 minutes for a shuttle that was dispatched from LAX. We did a private van so we did not have to make any stops between the pier and home. We might have done a car service but there were three of us with luggage and a regular car would have been too small.

[Retired 07]

depending on how much luggage you have and if you feel capable of handling it all, you could request self-disembarkation. You keep your luggage with you, do not set it out the night before you dock, and usually you are the first group to get off. We have done that twice in LA and been getting in a taxi about 8:15 AM for the ride to Long Beach.

 

If you do this you have to handle all your luggage yourself. Ships crew will not help you; by requesting self-disembarkation you are telling the ship staff you can handle all your luggage yourself and do not need help. There is no help available.

 

OR, you can plan on being the last off, regardless of what color you have, just wait until some time late in the morning. Tell your ride you expect to be off between such and such a time and give them your cell phone number so they can call you if they do not find you. Usually the first off is about 8AM although we were once delayed until 9AM due to a surprise Coast Guard inspection. Figure two hours to get almost everyone off the ship.

Does anybody know, if you do self-disembarkation, do you HAVE to be the first group off the ship? Do they serve breakfast that day? Since we live in the L.A. area, and don't have a flight to catch, we thought we could have a leisurely breakfast, and disembark when we wanted to?

[skandls]

If you do not get off with the first 'self disembark' group you will have to wait in line to get off the ship. We had 'priority white tags' but stopped for breakfast on one of our Mexican Reviera cruises. We were in line for about an hour to get off the ship. Customs and Immigration was the big hold up not the cruise line.

 

If you are driving home from the ship - why get up at the crack of dawn? Have a last breakfast and then get off the ship. This is especially true if you are doing a 4 day Monarch. Who wants to fight rush hour traffic on a Friday morning.

[Retired 07]

If you do not get off with the first 'self disembark' group you will have to wait in line to get off the ship. We had 'priority white tags' but stopped for breakfast on one of our Mexican Reviera cruises. We were in line for about an hour to get off the ship. Customs and Immigration was the big hold up not the cruise line.

 

If you are driving home from the ship - why get up at the crack of dawn? Have a last breakfast and then get off the ship. This is especially true if you are doing a 4 day Monarch. Who wants to fight rush hour traffic on a Friday morning.

 

 

Thanks, skandis....We are doing a 4 day repositioning cruise from Vancouver on Princess. It gets in on a Wednesday. If you do not get off with the 1st self-disembark group, when do you get into line? Does Princess work the same way as RC?

[skandls]

If you are trying to time your departure from the ship to catch your shuttle - that is not easy to do. So much of disembarkation time and lines depends on how well staffed customs and immigration happens to be at the time. Call the shuttle or car company you are using and ask about their normal procedures are for cruise ship passenger.

 

As I said we used a Ventura County shuttle service and we had to wait for them to be dispatched from the airport (LAX). We have been off RCCL ships at San Pedro in 20 mins up to 90 mins.

 

Since you are coming in on a Wednesday - as for a 'late' time off the ship - have breakfast and appreciate that you aren't stuck in traffic back to the Valley. When you get to immigration call the shuttle service - if you get off late your luggage will be easy to find - everyone has already taken theirs.