Back from the Pride

[nu2cruz]

Thanks, you all are so helpful!!

 

2 more questions:

Is there any self laundery on board?

How do we find the drink coupon books to charge ahead of time!

 

Thanks!

[suziehmkr]

Thanks, you all are so helpful!!

 

2 more questions:

Is there any self laundery on board?

How do we find the drink coupon books to charge ahead of time!

 

Thanks!

 

Yes to self laundry onboard... we haven't used it on the Pride, but it is there.

 

Deck 7 Mid

Deck 6 forward

Deck 5 Aft

Deck 4 Aft

Deck 1 Mid

 

Drink coupons can be purchased online thru the gifts. My TA sent us some... They were handy to have. One of my husbands drinks was more than the coupon allowed and she tried to get me to give her two. I think not! I just had her charge the difference on the Sea Pass.... nice try, I said. :D

[Jsme]

I can't help you with all.... but I can help with two...

 

Yes - you can bring water without smuggling it. I took a case, wrapped the edges in duct tape so the bottles wouldn't fall out.... taped a luggage tag to it and checked it with the rest of my bags. Arrived that evening with no problems. Left the extras for the cabin steward.

 

Extended balcony - the standard balconies are quite narrow... I like to stretch out and found it worth it. However, I also upgraded our balcony on a day when I could upgrade from a 7A to an 8I for only $60 total... watch your prices daily and free upgrades will usually pop up.

 

I have never thought to do your bottled water that way. Great idea.

 

We have an extended balcony. What are they like?

 

The buffet, I am assuming they have two lines. Do they serve different food in those lines. On the Fantasy they do but we did not notice this on the Celebration.

 

Are the sandwich/deli and pizza area in the buffet area?

[Jsme]

There are no silly questions shae! :) I saw some people playing volleyball and ping pong as well. There's really a lot to do onboard!

 

When you disembark you'll want to head back over to the same garage area to catch a taxi/shuttle. We were lucky enough to find a very reliable (and funny!) man that we hired to take us to the port on Sunday in a Lexus SUV.....so we hired him to pick us up after our cruise as well and he met us in the same spot where he dropped us off. There were shuttles & taxis in that same area.

 

nu2cruz, good choice! You'll love the Pride! As for your question about distance & taxi fares, I believe it's about a 40 minute drive (give or take....traffic and/or construction can make a big difference) from LAX to the port. If you can fly into Long Beach that's only about 15-20 minutes from the port. I have a post, with photos, about Long Beach airport if you're interested. As for fares, here's a photo I took while riding in the taxi on our way to the Hyatt for our pre-cruise stay. While it may not be 100% accurate it'll give you a general idea on taxi costs:

 

If I am reading this correctly it is $55 from the port to LAX. Is that correct? Is that per cab or per person?

[nu2cruz]

Quick question about early embarkation. Is this option open to everyone? We will be flying in early Sunday morning & this would be a great option to start the vacation right away!!

[qprrules]

Excellent review! Thanks:)

[suziehmkr]

For some reason, I am having a hard time posting - so I will see if this works.

 

I have never thought to do your bottled water that way. Great idea.

 

We have an extended balcony. What are they like?

 

The buffet, I am assuming they have two lines. Do they serve different food in those lines. On the Fantasy they do but we did not notice this on the Celebration.

 

Are the sandwich/deli and pizza area in the buffet area?

 

The bottled water worked like a dream. I had heard about it on here and figured it wouldn't hurt to try...

 

Extended balconies are just deeper than standard balconies. I like the space, so we always look for bigger balconies.

 

Mermaids (the buffet) is set up into stations.... There is an asian station, a pizza area, sandwish area, dessert area, salad area, carving station, etc. Very spread out and sometimes gets confusing. Each station is on the end... and they all look the same. :D They also offer stations out by the pools with burgers, dogs, etc.

 

Quick question about early embarkation. Is this option open to everyone? We will be flying in early Sunday morning & this would be a great option to start the vacation right away!!

 

The early check in is available to everyone... usually from 9am-11am or so. However, the embarkation still doesn't start until just before noon. It does get you into the first line that gets on the ship. We have done this both time, and felt it was worth it. When they open the doors to the building, you are staged inside in lines before boarding the ship (after going thru security) - those that didn't do early check in, will enter the building after Zone 1 has entered and they still have to go thru checkin, etc.

[Jsme]

Well I am glad our TA booked us the extended one then. We are actually doing a group cruise. Very excited to be with my cruise friends again.

 

Hey we might stay over a night after the cruise at an LAX hotel. Are any of the hilton brand hotels decent there? Normally Hilton brand hotels are nice. I am looking at paying $500 more if we fly home after the cruise or staying a night. More than likely I can get a hotel stay with hilton free with my points. Even if I do not a hotel stay surely will not be horrible, right? Or atleast more than the $500 for the air. I am hoping we can get off of work. I have not even asked off but I work in a school. I can not ask off until March for next year. Only that early due to some days I can work for CT.

[nu2cruz]

Did anyone purchase their take on water near the port? We're flying into LAX and obviously we will pass many places to stop for water, any recommendations right at the port?

 

Thanks again for all the wonderful insights into this great ship!!

[Jsme]

Hey guys can you tell me what time debarkment started? I read that they often hold up the Pride from debarking for customs to search the ship. We have a 12:35 flight home.

[gumballz]

Jsme, I'm not sure about Hilton......but we stayed at the Hyatt and it was very nice. If you post your question about the Hilton on the West Coast Departure board you might get an answer.

 

nu2cruz, there are a lot of places in downtown Long Beach to purchase items before sailing, but I can't recommend one in particular. The West Coast Departure board might get you an answer on this as well.

 

As far as disembarking goes......we weren't held up very long at all. We were group 2 and were off the ship and back at the hotel by 10. Your cruise might be different, but that was our experience. :)

[Kindkim]

Hey guys can you tell me what time debarkment started? I read that they often hold up the Pride from debarking for customs to search the ship. We have a 12:35 flight home.

Just off the Pride. If you have a flight before 2pm you will be the first to get off. Just make sure you attend the debarkment talk the day before to get specifics. We did not have a flight and we were off by 10:15.

[Marfa53]

We had a 1:00 p.m. flight out of LAX on the 20th of Jan. We asked for the early tags (go to the purser's desk and show them your fight info the day you get your luggage tags). Then waited and left after the crush of self-debarkation passengers was over (about 8:45). We were outside and waiting for our shuttle by 9 a.m. I had reserved a shuttle for 6 of us at 10:00 a.m. and it took about 15 minutes for it to pick us up, after advising them we were off the ship and ready to head to the airport. I think the shuttle was $16 per person and we paid $72 (plus the tip) for the private shuttle. We were at LAX by 9:45 and glad we were. Checking in was a zoo and we didn't get to our gate until 11:30.

[Jsme]

We had a 1:00 p.m. flight out of LAX on the 20th of Jan. We asked for the early tags (go to the purser's desk and show them your fight info the day you get your luggage tags). Then waited and left after the crush of self-debarkation passengers was over (about 8:45). We were outside and waiting for our shuttle by 9 a.m. I had reserved a shuttle for 6 of us at 10:00 a.m. and it took about 15 minutes for it to pick us up, after advising them we were off the ship and ready to head to the airport. I think the shuttle was $16 per person and we paid $72 (plus the tip) for the private shuttle. We were at LAX by 9:45 and glad we were. Checking in was a zoo and we didn't get to our gate until 11:30.

 

 

This is why if they offer the baggage option I am paying for it. Not only do they take your luggage to the airport they also print out your boarding passes. I refuse to wait in line for a boarding pass. If for some reason we do not do this, our airline offers free curb side I will print my boarding passes the last day of our cruise.

 

I figure security at LAX is going to be horrible. Not looking forward to it at all.