peninsula_2014

Folks, thanks much for the information. It is helpful.

I will take the 405 route. Good to know about the carpool lane. If it rains, I will hit the road a day earlier. If weather permits, I will drive on Monday with extra time buffer for un-expected traffic conditions.

Will be driving from Bay Area to San Pedro's cruise terminal on a MONDAY in late January 2016. Plan to be around SANTA CLARITA around NOON time. I will then have two options to go to the cruise terminal.

1. I-5 south, then 405 south, then 110 south to arrive at San Pedro

2. I-5 south, pass Glendale, then 110 south, then all the way to San Pedro

Traffic is impossible to predict but on a NORMAL Monday around noon time, which route will be better? I understand 110 has a toll express lane(s) while 405 has none. Does it mean that 110 has more heavy traffic in general?

I have a Bay Area fastrak transponder which does not have a switch like the ones in Los Angeles. I have two people in the car but without a switchable transponder, I am not sure how & if I can use the express lane.

Any thoughts will be welcome.

No machines at the GGB building. (voice of experience). 511 does NOT address this issue.

You are right. No machines near the bridge. Their website shows a map of payment locations. They are pretty far from the bridge. For rental cars, it is probably easier to use the car rental option to pay. Or, like what the other poster is doing, avoid going Southbound on the GGB and one can save $$ and/or the anxiety of waiting (whether payment goes through, whether rental car company will add a surcharge etc.).

Merry Christmas ....

There are two issues on bridge tolls in the Bay Area. If you are driving your own vehicle, you should be fine either way. Even for GGB which has no cash lanes, you can just drive through it and wait for an invoice to pay. However, for car rentals, it is a different story. Most rental cars are equipped with transponders (similar to GPS, most rental cars have the equipment as options) but you have to activate them when you rent the car. Last time I rented a car, I was asked whether I needed this option or not, for a fee of course.

Bottom line is, if you are renting a car, it is best to take care of the toll yourself. I believe for GGB, you can pay the toll BEFORE you cross the bridge. There should be machines around (not cash booths with human beings, but machines).

Thanks again folks. All the information provided is great. I look forward to the cruise in a few weeks. HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all ....

We had rented a car. When we returned it' date=' I offered to give the owner (he was working the counter) of the Budget office, copies of my receipts and he waved me off, saying it would be the head office that would get any invoices. But I still don't want to risk to get a bill from them if they get charged with a penalty. We plan to rent another car (our ancient cars would probably not be too happy with a RT to SF) but can't prepay any tolls without the license plate number.[/quote']

 

If you plan to rent a vehicle, please be sure to pay the toll with CASH. Do not go through the Fastrak lanes and wait for an invoice to come. Such invoice will be sent to the car rental company. This company will likely charge you a handling fee to process the invoice.

 

Also, FYI, FasTrak transponders from other parts of California will work in Bay Area. If you have a transponder, you can use it for the Bay Bridge & GG Bridge.

Hello, Slomo

Thank you for the quick reply. The attached image is very helpful. Now I can plan the driving logistics accordingly.

Just booked a cruise with Crown Princess to sail in January 2016. Plan to drive to the cruise terminal (San Pedro) and park the vehicle there for the length of the cruise. Question: Where can we park so that we can WALK to the Princess gate for boarding? If taking a shuttle to the ship is a must, does anyone know the schedule and time needed, etc.?

Would anyone know which deck (is it deck 5 or deck 6) is for embark and disembark?

We have a tour group and would like to meet on the deck to disembark.

ATM is the best ..

@we're sailing away

Yes, ATM is the way to go. By the way, I look at your sailing schedule for 2015 as listed. Did I calculate it correctly? You are going to spend 1/3 of your time on various cruises!

What do you do? Take different cruises to go around the world, or take similar cruises just to enjoy on-board living?

This topic is discussed extensively on the European boards. The "best", in terms of less expensive, best exchange rates, lowest fees, is ATMs in Europe. Have done this every year for the last 6 years.

Okay, thanks for the lead. I looked it up and found the thread (I think that's the one). Looks like ATM is the way to go.

As you have done it many times before, would you know if there are Citibank ATM's at the Rome FCO Airport?

I need about $750 of Euro cash for a cruise in September. The alternatives are: 1. getting all the Euro in the U.S. from a bank prior to departure, or 2. getting all the Euro in Europe from bank ATM's when I get there, or 3. combination of above.

I will be visiting Italy (Rome, then Florence), France (Cannes) and Spain (Barcelona). Does anyone have any updated advice on this topic? What is the normal daily withdrawal limit of Europe ATM's these days? Is safety an issue when taking this amount of cash from ATM's in Rome's Airport? Service fee of ATM vs. U.S. banks etc.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you all for the feedback and advice. Will definitely pay attention to their luggage allowance and fees, etc. Ciao.

My cruise ends at the Civitavecchia port. Need to go to Prague after that. The best air ticket is available from Vueling Airlines (the discount arm of Iberia, I believe). Has anyone used Vueling recently? Was the experience okay?

The trip is still months away but if Vueling is acceptable (financially stable?), I may as well purchase the air ticket sooner rather than later.

We visited Livorno last May on RCI, who were running shuttles only to the town centre & not the rail station (we took a taxi).

 

On our return, we noticed a group of cruisers on the station forecourt & asked if anyone wanted to share a taxi back to the port.

No. They were all waiting for their NCL shuttle bus.

 

Bad news or us, good news for you :)

 

JB :)

John, thanks for confirming the NCL train station shuttle for me. I am planning to go with a mini-van transfer from ship => Florence => Pisa => ship. Looks like the cost is about 60 Euro per person. The train station shuttle will be my Plan B, in case the van transfer does not work out.

Again, thanks.

I have looked through the forums. Appears NCL (& others) were running shuttle buses to the Livorno city center but started to have shuttles going all the way to the train station in 2013. If anyone has actually gone on the new train station shuttle, I would like to share your experience. Many thanks.