Safety at San Pedro and General advice

Hello,

My husband and I will be driving from phoenix to San Pedro for a 4 day coastal cruise. We are trying to think of the best way to handle parking and would appreciate the advice of those who are more experienced.

We have a couple of options. We can do the park and cruise option at the local hotels. We've identified best western and doubletree as options. They seem ok but it's kind of vague how the park and cruise works. Has anyone done either?

Another option we were thinking of was staying at a place we love in yucca valley the night before and driving and parking at the terminal. Is San Pedro's parking safe? Any concerns with breaking or vandalism? Also, it looks like it's 2.5 hours from yucca to San Pedro. We are concerned about timing. I've hear traffic in California can be insane. Could it be enough to turn a 2.5 hour drive into a four hour one?

Please share your thoughts.

Best

Nicole p

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I take it you'll be cruising out of San Pedro and not Long Beach. If you'll be leaving from San Pedro, it will be from the World Cruise Ship Terminal. We've done this dozens of time because we live in Los Angeles and drive to the port when we cruise L.A./L.A. Parking is right there at the Terminal, an easy walk from your car to the ship, maybe a 1/4 of a block. The cost per day is $12. It's uncovered parking but it is monitored. It's so easy to park there. We've never had a problem, except our car needs a car wash when we arrive back at the Terminal. The USS Iowa is nearby and open daily for tours, so the parking lot is being used every day.

We've left our car for almost two weeks in the lot at the pier with no problems.

LA traffic is always a crapshoot but we've had no problem getting to port when we leave our house around 10am. We're near ONT.

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it!

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So, we would be staying in yucca valley which is about 2.5 hours from port (according to the google map). If the ship boards my group at 2, I'm thinking if we leave by 9am...we should be ok?

As far as the progressive boarding, does Princess pretty much stick to that?

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Can't vouch to whether Princess wavers from progressive boarding but it might be worth a try to get there sooner. When passengers arrive, they're given a group boarding #. When that group is called, that group boards.

Near as we can figure out the progressive boarding is more of a suggestion than a requirement.

Boarding usually starts around noon. Suites/Elites/Platinums and weddings go on first. Then everyone else, in order of when they checked-in.

To anyone's knowledge has the lot ever been full?

I've parked in the lot several times and never had an issue of not finding a space...however I'm usually at the ship around 12 so I don't know how bad the lot gets after a few hours. It is huge though and can't imagine it ever being an issue.