repositioning cruise Sept 23-29

[mandrews2u]

Is it San Pedro Port that the Golden Princess docks at in LA? Is there a rental car place right there? Also do we go through customs theree prior to be let of ship? Any help would be grateful.

[spingal]

Is it San Pedro Port that the Golden Princess docks at in LA? Is there a rental car place right there? Also do we go through customs theree prior to be let of ship? Any help would be grateful.

 

Yes it docks in San Pedro. There is an Enterprise Rental car office right down the street from the pier. And you do go through customs after you disembark. Hope this helps! :D

[sueandkent]

And pre-book a rental. They are often out of cars.

[FredS]

Just FYI, we use Avis and pick up a car in Long Beach, but not at the airport as they add concession charges, etc. We use the office downtown,it opens at 8AM. It is about a $25 taxi ride and about 20 mins.

[West Coast]

You are doing the repo from Vancouver to San Pedro, right?

 

In Vancouver you will 'pre-clear' US Immigration. You will meet with a US Border Officer and present your Passport (other ID). After that point, you will "technically" be in the US (even though you are still in Vancouver). Upon arrival in LA you will be given a customs card to complete which you will turn in after you collect your luggage.

 

For more information on the pre-clearance process, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance

[Pam in CA]

Be careful renting a car from Enterprise in San Pedro. They have limited hours, closing at something like 6PM and, I believe, close at Noon on Saturdays and aren't open on Sundays. Double-check their hours before renting and plan accordingly.

[lssg]

I will never rent from enterprise again in san pedro...we did the repositioning cruise and once in LA we waited for about 3 to 4 hours at enterprise to get a car...people were getting the wrong prices....we were mischarged and wrote a letter of complaint once we got home because when I tried to discuss it at enterprise they wouldn't even listen and they had run out of cars after us...the worst experience ever with a car rental company...

[TravelnAl]

You are doing the repo from Vancouver to San Pedro, right?

 

In Vancouver you will 'pre-clear' US Immigration. You will meet with a US Border Officer and present your Passport (other ID). After that point, you will "technically" be in the US (even though you are still in Vancouver). Upon arrival in LA you will be given a customs card to complete which you will turn in after you collect your luggage.

 

For more information on the pre-clearance process, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance

 

I don't think that will happen on this cruise because you stop in Victoria, BC after you leave Vancouver.

[mandrews2u]

Thanks, I am still just trying to figure out what time we might get off the ship after it docks and how to get a car and hit the road. We were going to fly up to San Jose then take the next two days to drive back down the coastal area before we fly home from Lax, but it appears that too much time will be spent getting to lax airport and then getting a car in San Jose before we even hit the road toward Monterey so we decided we highway road to Monterey ( hopefully get there by 3pm, have a few hours to enjoy Moneterey area,spend teh night, then use Sunday to drive south to Santa Barbara then drive to Lax Monday early am to catch our Monday Noon flight.I will call enterprise no, hope they will let me drop off at LAX on the return.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I will never rent from enterprise again in san pedro...we did the repositioning cruise and once in LA we waited for about 3 to 4 hours at enterprise to get a car...people were getting the wrong prices....we were mischarged and wrote a letter of complaint once we got home because when I tried to discuss it at enterprise they wouldn't even listen and they had run out of cars after us...the worst experience ever with a car rental company...

 

Sounds like our experience with Alamo in Miami in 2001.

[mandrews2u]

Wow, Guess I will call and see if there are any OTHER car rental Companies there at San Pedro, is it a big port?

[mississauga]

I will never rent from enterprise again in san pedro...we did the repositioning cruise and once in LA we waited for about 3 to 4 hours at enterprise to get a car...people were getting the wrong prices....we were mischarged and wrote a letter of complaint once we got home because when I tried to discuss it at enterprise they wouldn't even listen and they had run out of cars after us...the worst experience ever with a car rental company...

 

 

We had a similar experience. The office at San Pedro is very small and cannot handle all of the requests from cruise passengers. Although our wait was closer to 1 hour, it was a very frustrating experience. They are very good about picking passengers up at the pier to take you down the street to their office but once there, there are so many people waiting. They only have 2 agents for the 30+ waiting customers and even once they process your rental, you have to wait for them to bring cars there. They are in a small plaza and have no parking facilities for so many cars. The only reason we had an hour wait and not longer was because we had pre-booked and DH insisted that those who pre-booked get served before those just showing up to rent.

 

 

Wow, Guess I will call and see if there are any OTHER car rental Companies there at San Pedro, is it a big port?

 

 

Unfortunately, Enterprise is the only one there. There are other car rentals in Long Beach but they also now have a one way fee surcharge ( they each call it something different but the bottom line is you are paying $40+ surcharge to rent there and drop the car off at the airport. )

 

The next time we disembark in San Pedro, we are going to try this method: take a Supershuttle ($17 pp) to the airport, hop on a shuttle to the rental company we have pre-booked with and rent the car from an airport site. This way there is no one way rental surcharge. Now this may sound like a roundabout way and an extra expense for taking the shuttle but it is still less expensive than paying the surcharge and waiting the 1-4 hours at Enterpise to get your car. To go to the Long Beach car rentals, it is a $20 cab ride plus the surcharge. In past years, we have done the Long Beach route, but that was before they also added on the one way surcharge.

 

Be careful renting a car from Enterprise in San Pedro. They have limited hours, closing at something like 6PM and, I believe, close at Noon on Saturdays and aren't open on Sundays. Double-check their hours before renting and plan accor

 

Heed Pam in MA's warning. If you book using the 800 #, they will not have this info and book your rental regardless.

[mississauga]

You are doing the repo from Vancouver to San Pedro, right?

 

In Vancouver you will 'pre-clear' US Immigration. You will meet with a US Border Officer and present your Passport (other ID). After that point, you will "technically" be in the US (even though you are still in Vancouver). Upon arrival in LA you will be given a customs card to complete which you will turn in after you collect your luggage.

 

For more information on the pre-clearance process, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance

 

 

I think you only pre-clear US Immigration if you are flying out of Vancouver on a flight to the US. We have embarked in Vancouver twice on a cruise to LA and have cleared customs and immigration in LA.

 

I don't think that will happen on this cruise because you stop in Victoria' date=' BC after you leave Vancouver.[/quote']

 

Somehow, that may not make a difference. We were on a cruise from LA to Vancouver this past May, with a stop in Victoria. I expected to have to go through immigration and/or customs in Victoria as it was the first non US port. Lo and behold, we didn't go through immigration until we disembarked in Vancouver. Does anyone know why? Didn't know who to ask on the ship.:confused:

[mandrews2u]

Doesn't sound like we want to mess with Enterprise, we do not have the patience to deal with that nonsense, I did make a reservation, but if we still have an hours wait with a reservation, than I'd rather pay for a shuttle to the airport and get a rental there, must not be a very big port if Eneterprise is the ONLY rental car around ha? I have never been to any Calif Port so I am clueless, ha,ha

[TravelnAl]

Got off of the Coral on May 14. Disembarked at 9:15, got the Enterprise shuttle and left the rental place before 10:00 with our car. Our only gkitch was an attempt to add a one-way surcharge to our rental, but I had the printout from the 1-800 reservation that did not show it. They took it off of the rental right away. Sounds like I was one of the lucky ones.

[spingal]

Doesn't sound like we want to mess with Enterprise, we do not have the patience to deal with that nonsense, I did make a reservation, but if we still have an hours wait with a reservation, than I'd rather pay for a shuttle to the airport and get a rental there, must not be a very big port if Eneterprise is the ONLY rental car around ha? I have never been to any Calif Port so I am clueless, ha,ha

 

San Pedro is a huge commerical port. Just not as big with cruise ships as the Florida ports. I would go with the recommendation to take a Super Shuttle to LAX. :)

[mandrews2u]

thanks everyone for the imput, that is what is so nice about these boards