Boarding Zones and Long Beach Terminal?

[sanmarcosman]

5 hours ago, glrounds said:

 

The IMAGINATION and INSPIRATION being out to sea has always been the case, even when the SPLENDOR was there. I don't see that affecting the parking. I do think arriving so early that passengers debarking from the previous cruise, not off the ship yet, can affect parking availability.

Gary, The LB Port Authority has approved an adjacent parking structure to be built for an additional 600 parking spaces out of necessity. The last report said groundbreaking would be in 2020.

[jimbo5544]

6 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

Gary, The LB Port Authority has approved an adjacent parking structure to be built for an additional 600 parking spaces out of necessity. The last report said groundbreaking would be in 2020.

It is a unique homeport to be sure.  Did they add onto space inside the terminal?  I remember debarking was fairly unique as well but it has been a while.  

[CA_Cruzing]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

It is a unique homeport to be sure.  Did they add onto space inside the terminal?  I remember debarking was fairly unique as well but it has been a while.  

https://youtu.be/5IpvRCc9vwo

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, CA_Cruzing said:

https://youtu.be/5IpvRCc9vwo

Thanks

[glrounds]

10 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

Gary, The LB Port Authority has approved an adjacent parking structure to be built for an additional 600 parking spaces out of necessity. The last report said groundbreaking would be in 2020.

 

Yes, permits were finally approved (LB Building Department is brutal). Cruisers are asked to park at 50 6th St. East in LB temporarily and be bused to and from the port terminal FREE and save $56 over parking for a week at the terminal ! However, I had little difficulty finding a parking spot in the garage at the terminal the last three times on the SPLENDOR. But I didn't pull in until about 11:00 when all passengers from the previous cruise had departed the garage.

Edited November 10, 2019 by glrounds

[sanmarcosman]

36 minutes ago, glrounds said:

 

Yes, permits were finally approved (LB Building Department is brutal). Cruisers are asked to park at 50 6th St. East in LB temporarily and be bused to and from the port terminal FREE and save $56 over parking for a week at the terminal ! However, I had little difficulty finding a parking spot in the garage at the terminal the last three times on the SPLENDOR. But I didn't pull in until about 11:00 when all passengers from the previous cruise had departed the garage.

The last time I parked I thought I was very lucky to get a ground level space 30 feet from the booth where you pay when leaving. A week later there was a 3 inch thick pile of dried and hardened bird droppings on the car's roof. Looking at the overhead I saw an iron water pipe for the fire suppression system that was a perch for the resident pigeons. A word to the wise 😉

 

Five years ago it took me and many others 50 minutes to exit the lot while our cars were idling in the backed up lines at both ends of the building. People were escorting young children from their vehicles to use the rest room facilities and when returning both the car and dad behind the wheel hadn't moved three feet! It turns out that of the two booths at one of the exits only one booth was staffed because the other person was on their lunch hour during a peak time period in the garage! I wrote to the Port of my experience and they referred me to the Hotel Queen Mary. It seems the Port owns the structure and they lease it to the QM and at the time ( 2015 ) the QM was subleasing the structure to Carnival. The Port Facility Operations Manager for Carnival in Miami and the GM at the QM and I had a long email thread discussion in the matter. 

 

I suspected, and it was confirmed to me, that the people working in the parking structure are union employees and management did not have staffing coverage available to relieve parking attendants when on their required break times. Indeed this was the cause of the major back ups occurring in the lot which were common at that time. I suggested that management had the responsibility to bring on a relief person to cover for the breaks of others even if the union contract required they pay 8 hours to a person working perhaps only 4 hours.

 

Two months after that I was sailing again with Carnival from LB and after parking I stopped by the booth area to watch the cars paying and exiting the building. Both booths were staffed and the lines were moving steadily and efficiently. A gentleman with a photo i.d. on his jacket was walking toward me. The tag had the word parking typed on it. I stopped him and introduced myself and told him why I was looking at the booths and about my emails with the hotel GM and Carnival. He smiled and with surprise in his voice said " was that you?" I confirmed I was that guy and he said he was the lot supervisor and the hotel GM had a meeting with him and gave him a print out of my email thread wherein I had said it was management's job to staff for union breaks. The supervisor told me that after reading my email he looked up at the GM and said " This guy gets it! This is the situation and it can be corrected. "  

 

Now I haven't concerns about staffing but enough spaces to park. Until the new structure is open for business and running smoothly I'm going to try the 6th Ave. lot in February and see what I think. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by sanmarcosman

[glrounds]

Our country needs more people like you, Sanmarcosman. 🙂

[sanmarcosman]

2 minutes ago, glrounds said:

Our country needs more people like you, Sanmarcosman. 🙂

I was in hotel management in the northwest for 24 years. Happily retired yet still have an eye for detail that no amount of trying will stop. 

Edited November 10, 2019 by sanmarcosman

[1city@atime]

When we cruised Splendor we had traffic approaching parking structure. We easily found parking, as the debarking guests were leaving. We are concerned about the Dec. 11th Inaugural sailing because there will be no debarking guests, the ship arrives with crew only. Since Panorama is about 1,000 passengers bigger than Splendor, we anticipate parking and traffic chaos.