Worried

[Rea]

I would appreciate anyone who has traveled on the Golden Princess giving me some advice about transportation from the ship to LAX. Our plane leaves a little after 11, and I'm afraid we will miss it if the debarkation is long. Are there cabs waiting? What will be best for us to do...buy transportation from the ship, collect our baggage and look for a cab, etc.?

 

Thanks,

Rea

[drummondcreek]

Your best option would be to pre arrange transportation from the ship to the airport. More expensive but the fastest way. It is hit or miss with cabs and you can't really depend on the cruise transportation for time.

LA has more limos than anywhere in the world. Thousands to choose from. It is a nice way to end the cruise, to have a driver waiting for you and wisking you off to the airport. Better than crowding into a bus or van in a panic because you might miss your flight.

 

Get an early dieembarkment time and go. The 405 will be slow to the airport but your drive will be 30 - 40 minutes on the slow side.

[bhopal21]

We had a 1020 flight three weeks ago and made it with time to spare.

 

However, we did the self-disembarkation which requires you to carry all of your luggage without any assistance at all. If your party is able to do that just mark your disembarkation forms (which will be sent to your cabin around mid-week) appropiately and you will have no problems. We were in the first wave off the ship and through customs by 0740.

 

After you leave the terminal, just cross the first couple of lanes of traffic and go the the center island where you will find a transportation person and ask for a cab to LAX, she called one up, it was there in 2 mins and we were at the airport and at the gate before 0930.

 

Mike:)

[5:00_Somewhere]

Several good suggestions above. We've sailed with Princess 7 times and just returned from the Mexican Riviera cruise on the Golden, so thought I'd share some thoughts.

 

First, after you board the ship you can talk with the Passenger Services Desk and request early disembarkation due to an early flight. We did this on a previous cruise, and they didn't even ask for verification of the early flight. I believe we were among the first off the ship that time.

 

Also, the Golden has instituted the "new" disembarkation process which was incredibly fast and efficient. Shortly after they began disembarkation the came over the loudspeaker to announce that they were ahead of schedule and, therefore, everyone's disembarkation time was moved up by 15 minutes. When we arrived at our disembarkation station 15 minutes ahead of our originally scheduled time, the last of our group was already heading out the door!

 

So, with the combination, I don't think you'll have any trouble getting off the ship in a timely manner.

 

And, as mentioned above, there did seem to be plenty of cabs, but we didn't know about that for certain beforehand, so we did arrange a private car service ahead of time, just for the peace of mind factor.

 

I'm sure you won't have any problem, and hope you have a wonderful cruise! :D

[flamomo]

Another thing you can do is fill out and fax or mail to Princess, the form that is available online for air arrangements that were not made by Princess. They then have documentation of what time your post-cruise flight is scheduled to depart. That should help you get in an early disembarkment group.

The disembarkment procedure that the Golden in using is MUCH more efficient than the "old way". We sailed on her in November abd this was the first time we had experienced the new procedure. It worked great,

[Colo Cruiser]

I would appreciate anyone who has traveled on the Golden Princess giving me some advice about transportation from the ship to LAX. Our plane leaves a little after 11, and I'm afraid we will miss it if the debarkation is long. Are there cabs waiting? What will be best for us to do...buy transportation from the ship, collect our baggage and look for a cab, etc.?

 

Thanks,

Rea

 

We regularly take a 10:40 flight and have never had a problem.

A cab would be the fastest way, and there are plenty of them, I have never seen a shortage of cabs available in San Pedro. Around $55. :)

[Pam in CA]

You could also pre-arrange transportation from the pier to the airport using either PrimeTime Shuttle (http://www.primetimeshuttle.com/SoCal.htm) or SuperShuttle (http://www.supershuttle.com/default.aspx?content=LosAngeles) Both shuttle services leave right from the pier and have dispatchers there to assist you. When you start to walk out of the terminal, just turn left before going out the doors, down a short hallway to the other exit. The shuttles are there. These are much less-expensive for a shared van and they fill up quickly and leave every few minutes.

[luv2c00k]

On our Panama Canal cruise in January we were able to pay $15/per person to have our luggage picked up at the pier and we didn't see it again until we reached our final destination. This was so worth the cost! You do have to pick your luggage up at disembarkation but you just walk it to the check luggage area and forget about it. This will save time at the airport - plus you are given your boarding passes prior to leaving the ship. If you do this - and request an early disembarkation time due to flights you should have no problem. Really makes your last morning a lot easier.