Same-day arrival at LAX?

Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire Princess
on May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on May 14). Is
a 1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship leaves at 5), or
would you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.
--
Stop the chop by deleting it from my address.

AGW wrote:

Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire Princess
on May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on May 14). Is
a 1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship leaves at 5), or
would you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.

Check that. It's the Diamond Princess on May 7, not the Sapphire.

--
Stop the chop by deleting it from my address.

On Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:48:17 GMT, AGW
wrote:

Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire Princess
on May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on May 14). Is
a 1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship leaves at 5), or
would you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.

Hi Arthur,

I would not recommend coming in the same afternoon as you and/or your
luggage could be delayed. It would be much less stressful to come in
the day before. Of course, I ALWAYS recommend coming in the day
before. I even take my own advice. :+)

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
--

AGW wrote:
AGW wrote:

Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire
Princess on May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on
May 14). Is a 1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship
leaves at 5), or would you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.

Check that. It's the Diamond Princess on May 7, not the Sapphire.

AGW wrote:
Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire
Princess on May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on
May 14). Is a 1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship
leaves at 5), or would you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.

I recommend arriving at least a day before.

For those that insist on flying the
same day I recommend...

--Choosing a commuter flight with an
airline that has at least a couple
of later flights that are scheduled
to arrive in time for boarding.

It's better to have a buffer of
a couple of hours and a couple of
flights.

--Monitor weather and flight times
with a plan for earlier arrival
should a delay be anticipated.

--Consider carry-on only to allow
flexibility with catching an alternate
flight and not having to wait to
claim baggage.

--Have a plan for what you want to
do with the time (and how to get
back home) should you miss the ship.

Whether I would risk a morning arrival
depends, in part, on the distance I am flying.
If I am flying to LAX from SFO, for example,
I may have the option of driving to the
port should problems with the flight be
anticipated the day before.

The question is really... how important
is it that I board the ship in time for
departure?

I'm more apt to risk it on a short cruise
when I am traveling alone. I won't risk
it when I'm traveling with family or a
group or when I might not have a plan
for getting to the port of disembarkation
for the flight home.

If the ship has a port of call on the
next day, catching a flight to the first
port is an option.

The fact that the cruise is a short one
will not change the departure time of
the ship.

1:30 is cutting it way too close.
The ship will likely have already
started boarding. You are avoiding
having to wait to board and for that
convenience you may miss the ship.

--

Michael Akana, MCC, LCS
www.mythictravel.com


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AGW wrote:

Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire
Princess on May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on
May 14). Is a 1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship
leaves at 5), or would you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.

Check that. It's the Diamond Princess on May 7, not the Sapphire.
Michael Akana wrote:

I recommend arriving at least a day before.
For those that insist on flying the
same day I recommend...

--Choosing a commuter flight with an
airline that has at least a couple
of later flights that are scheduled
to arrive in time for boarding.

It's better to have a buffer of
a couple of hours and a couple of
flights.

--Monitor weather and flight times
with a plan for earlier arrival
should a delay be anticipated.

--Consider carry-on only to allow
flexibility with catching an alternate
flight and not having to wait to
claim baggage.

--Have a plan for what you want to
do with the time (and how to get
back home) should you miss the ship.

Whether I would risk a morning arrival
depends, in part, on the distance I am flying.
If I am flying to LAX from SFO, for example,
I may have the option of driving to the
port should problems with the flight be
anticipated the day before.

The question is really... how important
is it that I board the ship in time for
departure?

I'm more apt to risk it on a short cruise
when I am traveling alone. I won't risk
it when I'm traveling with family or a
group or when I might not have a plan
for getting to the port of disembarkation
for the flight home.

If the ship has a port of call on the
next day, catching a flight to the first
port is an option.

The fact that the cruise is a short one
will not change the departure time of
the ship.
1:30 is cutting it way too close.
The ship will likely have already
started boarding. You are avoiding
having to wait to board and for that
convenience you may miss the ship.
Michael Akana, MCC, LCS
www.mythictravel.com


Also.....
Princess now requires early embarkation to be in compliance with US
Dept. of Homeland Security....
"The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has recently announced new
regulations which require cruise lines to provide final passenger
manifests 60 minutes prior to departure from U.S. ports. *To ensure
compliance, passengers are required to provide complete and accurate
passenger immigration details in advance of the embarkation date or risk
being denied boarding.* The easiest way to do this is to enter this
information using the Cruise Personalizer at princess.com *no later than
six (6) days prior to sailing*. Once complete, print the eTicket
Boarding Pass and present it at cruise check-in. Passengers who fail to
provide complete and accurate information prior to embarkation must
complete check-in *at least 90 minutes* prior to the ship’s scheduled
departure time or they will be *denied boarding*. "

--

Michael Akana, MCC, LCS
www.mythictravel.com


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I think the statistics are that 40% of the flights into LAX are late,
averaging about 40 minutes. When you add to that
the time to get through the terminal and pickup baggage (slow at LAX) that
puts you into ground transportation no earlier than 2:30 and possibly about
3:00. Then the drive to the cruise terminal could be a good 45 minutes,
depending on
traffic, and you are sailing on a weekday.
If you were arriving at Fort Lauderdale or San Diego, there would be no
problem. But with LAX, I think 1:30 is cutting
it too close. And as has been posted, the cruise line may get snippy if you
show up at 4:05 or so.



"AGW" wrote in message
news:lr0qj.45271$4w.45047@pd7urf2no...
Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire Princess on
May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on May 14). Is a
1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship leaves at 5), or would
you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.
--
Stop the chop by deleting it from my address.

Ray Goldenberg wrote:
On Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:48:17 GMT, AGW
wrote:


Hi, all. We're thinking of the 3-day LA to Vancouver Sapphire Princess
on May 7 (or Sapphire Princess between the same 2 towns on May 14). Is
a 1:30 PM arrival at LAX cutting it too close (ship leaves at 5), or
would you recommend a hotel for a night? TIA.


Hi Arthur,

I would not recommend coming in the same afternoon as you and/or your
luggage could be delayed. It would be much less stressful to come in
the day before. Of course, I ALWAYS recommend coming in the day
before. I even take my own advice. :+)

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
--
Anyone who has seen what traffic can be in Los
Angeles after even a minor fender bender on the
freeways would never consider coming into LA after
11:00 a.m. to catch a 5:00 p.m. sailing. There are
too many things that will or can go wrong to make
the situation anything but extremely stressful,
and you don't need that at the beginning of a cruise.
I would recommend coming in a day, or possibly
even two, and enjoying some pre-cruise relaxation
at either Anaheim or Long Beach.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (Been there, done that!)

On Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:05:16 GMT, J Carnaghie
wrote:

possibly
even two, and enjoying some pre-cruise relaxation
at either Anaheim or Long Beach.

Hi John,

I hear Santa Barbara is nice for pre-cruise relaxation. There is one
of those travel professionals that I hear is available for coffee or
lunch. :+)


Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
--