veggie59

Take super shuttle or prime time from the airport to San Pedro or Long Beach. In San Pedro there is a Double Tree which is about a mile or so south or the pier an a Crown Plaza which is just a few blocks from S. Harbor Blvd.There is also a Best Western Sunrise hotel right on S. Harbor Blvd. All have free shuttles to the ship. I know the Doubletree has a local shuttle to restaurants in San Pedro. The Battleship Iowa is right in San Pedro an is a nice self tour, but you have to be able to go up and down steep stairways to get around the ship. There is a maritime museum and a Catalina Island Ferry terminal is right there also. There is public bus service over to Long Beach.

 

Long Beach has lots of hotels, high end and medium priced. There are plenty of restaurants. Shoreline village is a nice place and there is a trolley that goes there from downtown.

 

I can't comment on Vegetarian Restaurants, have no idea.

Thanks..... It isn't as easy to plan trips as it used to be lol.

For stuff to do try looking at Long Beach to stay.

Lots of restaurants and hotels. Short cab ride to the pier. ;)

Is there a hotel that you could recommend that's decent and not overpriced. And any restaurants that may be vegan or have vegan food? Thanks

Close to the port in San Pedro are The Crown Plaza and The Hilton Doubletree. I believe both would provide transportation to the ship, however not sure if they airport transportation (you can take Prime Time or Super Shuttle otherwise). Hope this helps.

We are on the same sailing!

Thanks i will check them out!! We are possibly flying in 2 days early and might stay 2 days after. Wondering if there are more things to do closer to the airport or the cruise terminal?? Thanks.

We haven't sailed out of California before and I'm not sure what to do. Looks like we would fly into LAX? And the cruises out of San Pedro?. If we fly out a few days early is it better to stay closer to the airport or the cruise terminal? Does anyone know of any hotels that are OK and also provide shuttles? Any hotels that are in areas where there's things to do without extra transportation and are reasonably priced of course LOL thanks!

Most Cruise Critic groups Meet at Bimini Bar deck 14 starboard after the muster drill for sail-away . :)

 

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Yes we are meeting there. :)

Actually there was another ship that sailed in Hawaii. The Star originally sailed there. We sailed on her in 2002. Sometime after she was removed from Hawaii and retrofitted to add a casino and others venues in for other markets.

Yes, things changed around that time - in Mar 2009 we assembled (fwd cabin) in Stardust with our lifejackets but in Jan 2011 no lifejackets were required. If you have needed to go out on an NCL ship, your assembly station has been only there, ours was on Dawn (2014) as I told earlier in this thread.

Or last Dawn cruise was Sept 2011 and we had outside muster with life jackets. We have taken 13 or so cruises on many lines and have only had one muster not outside and without life jackets....and it wasn't NCL. Times have changed.

Things have changed then. Our last cruise to Bermuda on the Dawn in 2011 we had our drill outside WITH life jackets. It is good to learn how to actually put the life jackets on and to know where muster station is. However, most people walk around with the cords dangling from the life vests and an accident is waiting to happen. Maybe they should have anyone who hasn't sailed before go with the life vests to be shown how they are put on.

I noticed it still said $12 for us and we booked March 6 and i paid a few weeks ago. I got charged the $12.95 which I expected. Their website is obviously not up to date.

We are on the Dawn too and prices have gone up since we booked an inside cabin.

We book insides for cheaper rates. We are sailing next month and might get another fcc. I wonder how long this current promo is going as it is not a good deal for those booking insides as someone else mentioned.

Going on th Dawn next month. We sailed on the Dawn in 2011 and I don't recall the Java Cafe..oops. I hope they have decaf iced coffee. Do they have a coffee card like they do on Princess?? Anyone know?? Last 2 times we sailed Princess in 2010 and 2011 we had coffee cards. Thanks!!

Yeah we become gold technically during our next cruise too. Won't matter though till after it is completed.

That isn't for all latitude members just certain levels I believe.

Hello fellow traveler.....we are on that sailing as well. Check out the roll call we need some fellow members posting there lol.

I hope your passports arrive in time.,,,they should. :)

They had it on the Jewel last week. I think they upgraded during dry dock, whenever that was for the Jewel. They did not have it on the Jewel last year about the same week.

I believe drydock is May 2016 for the Dawn :(

I assume they won't since they are an older ship. However, I haven't really heard if there's talk about rolling this out on all the ships. I sure hope so. We will be on the Dawn in June and it sure would be nice to have.

We are sailing May 1st..

Let's see. $50 x 100 shares = $500 + brokerage commission. In return, you get $100OBC. Does it sound like a good deal to you?

Hmmm....$50 x 100 shares is $5,000 lol.

It also depends what you are eligible for. We booked an inside cabin and the only promo we were eligible for was $25 total OBC. We did get another small perk from a TA.

I asked for the shareholder credit when we had the ODP, so the dinner didn't really buy us anything, except for the bottle of wine. It was not very clear how to claim a free dinner when all dinners were already "free" from the ODP.

 

There is a form and instructions on the shareholder information page on NCL.com. You have to own100+ shares of NCLH, the holding company for NCL.

Thanks...shares seem to be just under $50 each at the moment.

How do you go about buying shares and how much are they?? Thanks!!

So I guess I would be correct in assuming that the Dawn will not have iconcierge??

If everything was so "horrible" why would you book it again??

Because we had a future cruise credit expiring this year. Also we haven't been able to go on vacation because of hubby's place of work going bankrupt, his dad's heart attack, hubby having cancer and chemo treatments, and now not having vacation time at a new job. We want to get away after a rough few years and this does not require extra days for air travel. He is using personal days and some sick time. Next year we are hopefully taking a longer cruise when he has vacation time. :).

What issues did you have in 2011?

The layout of the ship is horrible IMO. The food was horrible....even hubby said it was horrible and very salty. The service we got in the dining room was horrible.....our server and the matre'd never got my basic salad right (I am veggie) and would tell me they wanted it to be right. I would end up with whatever for dinner as they didn't listen. That doesn't sound like much of a problem but when you have limitations of what to eat for 7 days it is aggravating especially since I email NCL ahead of time about dietary issues. I am told to talk to them once onboard. I am hoping since it is 3 1/2 years later that we have a better experience.

We are sailing on the Dawn this May. We sailed on her in 2011 and we we not impressed. Only reason we are sailing on her again is because it is from a local port and cuts out having to fly to port. Hubby has limited time he can take off from work and we haven't been on a vacation since the last Dawn cruise. Our fingers are crossed that the May cruise is better. From what I have read I doubt it :(