Trying to book a hotel from Princess

[dkkehler]

When we tried to book with Princess we were told we had to book with the TA we arranged the cruise with, ok so we go to the TA and they cant book it anywhere near the offered amount in the email sent from Princess

 

We liked the offer but we are now left to book it ourselves which is fine

 

Disappointed, any suggestions?

 

were on a coastal California on the 27th of April and back on the 4th of May and we have air arranged for the 6th of May

 

looking forward to any suggestions for our extended time in LA

[BettyCruiser]

I don't think it's close to any other attractions, but we had fun staying at the Queen Mary permanently docked as a hotel in Long Beach when we went on a Mexican Riviera cruise several years ago. I'm planning on staying there again when we do a CA coastal in 2014.

[Cruisin' Chick]

What area in Los Angeles do you want to stay in? It's a widespread area (bigger than some countries...well, almost;)).

 

What you should think about is what you want to do in Los Angeles: a city tour? museums? amusement parks? shopping? sightseeing on your own? some of the above?

 

Then think about whether you're going to rent a car or not? A word of advice from a native Angleno: the public transit is not really rapid and could be quite confusing for someone unfamiliar to the area (as well as the risk of getting on the wrong bus and seeing some not so good areas).

 

I suggest looking through a guide book (maybe your auto club has one for free -- I know the AAA one does for members, or go to a library). Then go to the western destinations area for this board

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=413

 

for some ideas. Particularly look for posts about hotels from Stevebruin.

 

Stay away from hotels in the LAX area (I would stay at one of those only if I had an early morning flight the next day). Stay away from hotels in the downtown Los Angeles area. There are also some other areas to stay away from, so I suggest asking the LA locals first before booking. If a price is really low, there could be a very good reason (the hotel is in a seedy, unsafe area and/or the hotel could be seedy itself). There are some nice areas, but often you can go just a couple of miles and find an area you don't want to stay in. I live in a pretty nice area and just a couple of miles away are some apartment complexes that have 24 hr video because of drug buys, but go a couple of miles in another direction from my house and you have multi-million dollar homes.

[Pam in CA]

A suggestion is to book something in Long Beach. The harbor area is very nice with lots of restaurants, the Queen Mary, the Aquarium of the Pacific, harbor cruises, whale watching, etc. You can take a taxi from the ship and it won't be too much since Long Beach is only a 10-15 minute drive. There are hotels near the Convention Center that aren't too expensive or perhaps, the Queen Mary. I'd rent a car to get around. There's an Enterprise car rental place near the ship in San Pedro that you can drop off at LAX.

 

You won't have a lot of time to go to Disneyland, north to Santa Monica or south to Newport Beach or Laguna Beach. :( If it were me, I'd rent a car and go to Long Beach.

[dkkehler]

our plan was to try the marriot at the airport and rent a car close to the pier and was to go to Santa Monica and bike for the saturday and go to disney on Sunday, we have been there before and only wanted a day there and then fly home on monday

 

we could stay near disney but i think we prefer to go biking and know we have a hotel booked closed to the airport and then just leave early for disney the next morning. The airport isnt far from Venice or Santa Monica

 

thanks for the ideas

[paul929207]

Make sure you are comparing like items. Princess hotels are per person double occupancy. Most others quote for the room.

[caribill]

When we tried to book with Princess we were told we had to book with the TA we arranged the cruise with, ok so we go to the TA and they cant book it anywhere near the offered amount in the email sent from Princess

 

 

Assuming you still would want this, check the e-mail you received and see if there is a special offer code you need your TA to use.

 

If there is no special offer code, call Princess again, tell them your TA was not able to locate the offer when talking with Princess, and ask what information you need the TA to give Princess so the TA can book that offer.

[CruzVinnieCruz]

Make sure you are comparing like items. Princess hotels are per person double occupancy. Most others quote for the room.

 

 

We have ran into this situation not only from Princess but through on line sites. Where the price quoted was terrific but the reading the fine print it was per person and required double occupancy so it turned out to be no deal at all.

 

Vinnie

[caribill]

We have ran into this situation not only from Princess but through on line sites. Where the price quoted was terrific but the reading the fine print it was per person and required double occupancy so it turned out to be no deal at all.

 

Vinnie

 

Part of the Princess pricing includes transportation from airport to hotel and from hotel to the ship.

 

Even so, it may cost more than booking it all yourself.

[Cruisin' Chick]

As I stated above, I wouldn't book with the LAX Marriott unless you have an early flight the next morning (which was what we did after we got married as we had an early morning flight to Honolulu). But if you're going to use a car rental place other than the airport (which is probably a good idea as some airport agencies charge more than their other offices), why not stay in that area (say, at a Santa Monica hotel)? Parking fees would probably be lower, you can bicycle by the beach and then be close to your hotel (I can't imagine biking by Century Blvd.) and you can walk over to the Third Street Promenade where there's restaurants, stores and entertainment in a pedestrians only outdoor mall.

 

Just because Princess uses that Marriott doesn't mean that you need to stay only there.

[dkkehler]

thanks i like the idea of the Santa Monica Hotel and totally agree that biking is part of the attraction to that area so I will check that hotel out on Trivago.com

 

:)