Can anyone give me info on VIP checkin at San Diego?

We like to get on early.  What is the earliest we can show up at the pier?

SeqUonboard,

   Don't know anything about the VIP buy any other questions on SD I would be glad to answer for you.

We lived in SD for 5 years but that was 18 years ago. 

We are staying at the hotel driectly across from the ship (Holiday Inn).  We are coming in the day before and renting a car.  I didn't notice until after I booked the room that they charge $22 for parking.  Here's my thoughts - tell me if you think it will work.

We get in around 11:00 - we want to head to the navy base and pick up supplies (as we are traveling light - carry ons only).  Then we plan to head to Coronado to show our son the hospital he was born in (we moved when he was 6 months old).  Then we are going to check out some other areas of interest.  At some point we are going to check in to the hotel. I'm hoping there will be street parking or some way to get the luggage out and get checked in without paying the $22.  Then off we go for some more sightseeing.  I read at we can park at Seaport Village for like 3 hours free with purchase.  So I'm thinking we use their parking lot for a little while. Seaport Village doesn't look that far from the hotel??  We plan to go back into Coronado for dinner. From this point I have to different thoughts.  I hear you can park in the Gaslamp district for free with purchase at some point in some places.  Do you know anything about this?  This will be a Wednesday.  My other thought is to just take the car back to the airport - since we won't need it the next day - and take the hotel shuttle back.  The car would be turned in and we wouldn't have to worry about parking.

What do you suggest?

SeaUonboard:

We lived in SD for 5 years but that was 18 years ago. 

We are staying at the hotel driectly across from the ship (Holiday Inn).  We are coming in the day before and renting a car.  I didn't notice until after I booked the room that they charge $22 for parking.  Here's my thoughts - tell me if you think it will work.

We get in around 11:00 - we want to head to the navy base and pick up supplies (as we are traveling light - carry ons only). 

Are you shopping at NI or at 32nd street? Traffic starts to pick up around 2:30 or 3:00 in the area.  

 Then we plan to head to Coronado to show our son the hospital he was born in (we moved when he was 6 months old).  Then we are going to check out some other areas of interest. 

We work at the base on Coronado. I was born on base before dirt was discovered. What areas are you thinking of to visit?  

At some point we are going to check in to the hotel. I'm hoping there will be street parking or some way to get the luggage out and get checked in without paying the $22. 

 Well, you could drop off the luggage, check-in, and then drive over to Coronado for dinner. What type of food are you looking for? There is an area by the water called the ferry landing that has street parking and then you can take the ferry back. Get into the spirit of things.

Then off we go for some more sightseeing.  I read at we can park at Seaport Village for like 3 hours free with purchase.  So I'm thinking we use their parking lot for a little while. Seaport Village doesn't look that far from the hotel?? 

I don't think it is too far to walk but I walk all day long. There is some free parking buy I will have to ask my co-worker where it is. He parks there on the weekends. 

We plan to go back into Coronado for dinner. From this point I have to different thoughts.  I hear you can park in the Gaslamp district for free with purchase at some point in some places.  Do you know anything about this? 

You have to buy something from the Horton Plaza Mall and have your ticket validated. There are certain areas I wouldn't want to park in the evening. 

This will be a Wednesday.  My other thought is to just take the car back to the airport - since we won't need it the next day - and take the hotel shuttle back.  The car would be turned in and we wouldn't have to worry about parking.

Do they charge extra for returning early? If you wanted to you could park in coronado and leave the car, take the ferry back, get the car, and return it to the rental place. Opps, my email is cedarfire1026@yahoo.com   I can't access it at work but will check later before going to bed.

diane

 

 

What do you suggest?

See my answers in blue below. 

SeaUonboard:

We lived in SD for 5 years but that was 18 years ago. 

We are staying at the hotel driectly across from the ship (Holiday Inn).  We are coming in the day before and renting a car.  I didn't notice until after I booked the room that they charge $22 for parking.  Here's my thoughts - tell me if you think it will work.

We get in around 11:00 - we want to head to the navy base and pick up supplies (as we are traveling light - carry ons only).  Then we plan to head to Coronado to show our son the hospital he was born in (we moved when he was 6 months old).  Then we are going to check out some other areas of interest.  At some point we are going to check in to the hotel. I'm hoping there will be street parking or some way to get the luggage out and get checked in without paying the $22.  (There is some meter parking near the hotel and across the street from the cruise ship pier.  There is also a parking lot and the cost is pretty reasonable.)  Then off we go for some more sightseeing.  I read at we can park at Seaport Village for like 3 hours free with purchase.  (Yes you can park at at Seaport Village with purchase.  You can also park at Horton Plaza for free with purchase. Horton Plaza is the outdoor Mall in the Gaslamp area.)  So I'm thinking we use their parking lot for a little while. Seaport Village doesn't look that far from the hotel??  (Seaport Villiage is a pretty good hike from the Holiday Inn on the Bay.)  We plan to go back into Coronado for dinner. From this point I have to different thoughts.  I hear you can park in the Gaslamp district for free with purchase at some point in some places.  (You can park on the street at a meter after 6 pm for free in downtown/Gaslamp.) Do you know anything about this?  This will be a Wednesday.  My other thought is to just take the car back to the airport - since we won't need it the next day - and take the hotel shuttle back.  (You can also take the car back to the airport and take the petty cabs -bike cabs - around the downtown/gaslamp area).  The car would be turned in and we wouldn't have to worry about parking. (Parking in downtown is a real pain.  I work down there and am so glad to have parking in our building.  Otherwise public transportation is the way to go.  Also, walking around in the Gaslamp is not out of the question either. There are homeless down there, but most of them are relatively tame and the city does a pretty good job keeping them out of touristy areas.)

What do you suggest?

Good Luck,

Regina

Thank you both for your responses.

We loved to go to Mexican Village when we lived there.  Not sure how the food is now.  Been there lately?  Anyplace else you might suggest if it is not up to par?

I checked the pricing on the car to see if we would get penalized if we returned it early and it's the same.  Strange though, when I first looked at this cruise I booked a car at 3 in the afternoon.  We decided to come in earlier in the day (same day) and the rate jumped $30.  Finally booked through Hotwire and got a good rate.

Not sure parking in Coronado would work.  We would still have to pay for the ferry each way - but I guess if we wanted to enjoy the ferry ride we would have to do that anyway - so it might be an option.

I just can't see spending $22 on parking when the balk of the time the car will be there is when we are sleeping.  Since we don't paln to use the day the day we leave there really is no sense in keeping it over night - PLUS we can get the free shuttle back through the hotel. 

Do there still have a class 6 (liquor store) on North Island?  That's probably where we will go to stock up.  We want to go to the beach in Coronado.  Not sure if we will go down the strand or not.  Heard Imperial Beach is a dump now.  What do you suggest in Coronado?

SeaUonboard:

Thank you both for your responses.

We loved to go to Mexican Village when we lived there.  Not sure how the food is now.  Been there lately?  Anyplace else you might suggest if it is not up to par?

We have going away parties there all the time. The food is still good and the price is not outrageous. We like sitting on the patio and the weather will be very nice then. Find their website and sign up. I receive email coupons once in awhile. And bring quarters.

I checked the pricing on the car to see if we would get penalized if we returned it early and it's the same.  Strange though, when I first looked at this cruise I booked a car at 3 in the afternoon.  We decided to come in earlier in the day (same day) and the rate jumped $30.  Finally booked through Hotwire and got a good rate.

I would do what you suggested before. Do the early check-in of your luggage and room. When we are staying downtown we stay here or at the embassy suites and most of time get to check in early or at least leave our bags. Then go off sight seeing and when done return the car and shuttle it over. I love the bay at night. Even the walk to sea port villiage.

 Not sure if we will go down the strand or not.  Heard Imperial Beach is a dump now.  What do you suggest in Coronado?

Having lived in SD all of my 53 years, IB has always had that reputation. I only drive through there if the bridge is closed. They do have a long pier with a fish resturant that our engineers eat at. Pretty long walk to get there. If on a short time frame, I would skip it.

Of course in Coronado there is the beach and gets crowded early in the summer. On NI we have a very nice beach and that is where we go. Not really crowded and clean. Are you planning on just staying around Coronado or venturing out further into SD. The meters are 25 cents every 15 minutes with a pretty good meter person patrolling.

There is the ferry landing that has lots of shops for tourists and has a good pizza place you can look out at the ferry, an expensive resturant by the water front next to the pizza place, porkys BBQ that isn't as good as another one we go to, burger king, peohes, and more. There is also an Albertsons grocery store across the street on 1st avenue.

The exchange has hard alcohol and wine, champagne and beer etc.. There isn't a very good choice of red wine but there are some that would be good. I would recommend the Vons off orange for wine. They are considered a "wine store" and the prices are many times better than the exchange. There also is a small package on base but I haven't been in there. If you want I will locate a map of coronado and scan it for you.

If driving a rental car onto the base you should only need your military ID and the rental agreement. If the guard decides you need more for "admissioin" let him tell you to get a pass. The base now is a straight drive once you get off the bridge and the exchange is off to the left. Just ask the guard when you come through.

any more questions I'll be happy to help. We leave for Frisco on the 2nd for 5 days.

Thank you so much for the info. 

I went out to the Mex Village website but counldn't find any place to sign up for coupons.  Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong spot.

We lived a block from the beach in IB for about a year - when it was nice - and really enjoyed going to the beach there - but I hear it is pretty bad now.  Maybe just do a drive by.

I didn't think about the beach on NI - we will have to check that out.

I'll go by Mex village on wednesday and see what they have to sign up for.

I am sure there are areas that are fine, Like all beaches they draw a variety of crowds and even coronado has their problems. We live in the east county (35 miles away) and generally keep to either NI or the other beach communities where there is more to occupy us. and with NI we don't have to worry about security.

I will be out of my office tomorrow ( I hope) and will scan the map for NI and coronado for you. can I post it on your website?

That would be great!  I will have to put together a San Diego page.

do you want websites, places that offer military discounts, directions to the base for tickets for people who are military, etc..? I could try to call some of the hotels to see who has parking with stay.

That would be great!  Thanks!

Cheryl,

We were VIP on the Elation in Nov 08, out of San Diego.  We arrived there around 1030 - 1045 AM on embarkation day.  We began boarding at 1130 AM, right after a wedding party boarded for their pre-sailaway ceremony (handicapped were also allowed to board before us as well).  It only took us about 10 minutes to get processed in the VIP line as there was no one in front of us. Unless things have changed, there is not a "private" VIP processing area at the Port of San Diego. It is just a separate line, located next to the Handicapped and Platinum lines. That is one thing the Port of San Diego needs to do is renovate the processing area.  It can get confusing/frustrating, especially when there are two vessels in port.  But all in all....if you get there early and you are VIP and there are no ship delays, you should get on between 1130 - 1200

Zingy,

   San Diego has that as a project. Who knows when it will be started.

Cheryl,

   I screwed up. Mex Village is just a spot on what it use to be. It split into 2 areas. I actually was thinking of Miguels to eat at.

4bolts:

Cheryl,

   I screwed up. Mex Village is just a spot on what it use to be. It split into 2 areas. I actually was thinking of Miguels to eat at.