posted
Chris G or others who are familiar with these two stations. Is there any reason to chose one or the other to board a Surfliner to San Diego on the weekend? Will need to check bags as we are going on a long cruise. Southbound will be on a Sunday in March, northbound on a Saturday five weeks later.
I assume any long term parking has a fee at these stations?
chrisg Member # 2488
posted
Anaheim has plenty of free parking close to the station and they don't care about long term parking there. Ramps are easy to use to get up to track level.
Chris
HopefulRailUser Member # 4513
posted
Chris, when you say they don't care about long term parking do you mean there is no charge? I need to park for 34 days.
PaulB Member # 4258
posted
In that case I would pick Fullerton. Get a permit from Amtrak and park in the parking structure across the street. At least your car will be protected from the sun and other elements.
smitty195 Member # 5102
posted
Ditto on the Fullerton recommendation because of your car being safer in the garage.
chrisg Member # 2488
posted
Anaheim has no problems at all with long term parking. Fullerton will not let you park for thirty four days!
Chris
smitty195 Member # 5102
posted
I didn't know that about the garage at Fullerton. I take back my "ditto".
HopefulRailUser Member # 4513
posted
Thanks for the info. I need to decide if I want my car out in the open that long.
sojourner Member # 3134
posted
It's nice to have your car waiting by the station when you get back, but for 34 days I think I'd leave the car safely at home & get a friend, relative, or neighbor to drop you off, or even a taxi if it's not too far. The car might not even want to work properly after not being used for 34 days--I don't know. When I've gone away for 3 weeks, which I did a couple of times, my husband was here to run the car for me--but maybe running the car is not necessary in southern California the way it is in this climate with an older car, I don't know. But if you think sitting at home without running for such a long time could be a problem, you might want to arrange for a relative or neighbor to run the car a little for you at least once while you are gone.
Have a wonderful trip, Vicki. Are you going to the South Pacific and Australia?
HopefulRailUser Member # 4513
posted
Sojourner - we don't have to run the car while we are gone here. Unfortunately the stations are not near our home, Union Station is about an hour drive and so are the Orange County stations. But the friend who is taking care of the cat at her place in Anaheim is willing to come get us and take us to the station. I just wanted to avoid her making such a long trip.
As for the cruise, we will be going to Hawaii, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea and few other stops. This is on the Rotterdam, round trip San Diego. We do have a deposit down on a 69 day trip that includes the Pacific Rim all the way from Seattle to China and down to Australia and back to San Diego. Of course a train to Seattle and one back from San Diego will be involved as well.
I am trying to outdo Frank but that may not be possible. We chose not to fly so that limits our trips to rail and auto accessible.
sbalax Member # 2801
posted
Come on, Vicki! We only had 55 nights at sea this year!!
I have to look at that 69 day one. It sounds like a great itinerary and a good way to see parts of the world again that we enjoy without the jet lag.
Frank in overcast and cool SBA
dmwnc1959 Member # 2803
posted
quote:Originally posted by HopefulRailUser: As for the cruise, we will be going to Hawaii, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea and few other stops. This is on the Rotterdam, round trip San Diego.
I did a 12-nt NYC-Montreal on her and she was lovely. By the way, Rotterdam VI just came out of a month long refit and overhaul as of Dec. 18th:
HopefulRailUser Member # 4513
posted
Yep. She's coming through the canal to San Diego to do the first South Seas trip, then South America and then us. We figured they will have worked all the kinks out of the new aft end by then.
smitty195 Member # 5102
posted
69 day trip??? Wow! I'm very jealous.
RRRICH Member # 1418
posted
Vicki -- 69 days on a ship??????????? I think that might be a bit much for guys like me, but have a great trip!!!! It sounds like you are going to some exotic places that I too would LOVE to go to sometime!!!
For me, 14 or 15 consecutive nights aboard AMTRAK are quite enough!!!!
HopefulRailUser Member # 4513
posted
Rich and Smitty - the 69 day trip is on deposit but not for sure. The trip in March is 33 days. We will see how that goes before we make a final decision on the longer trip.
dmwnc1959 Member # 2803
posted
Rotterdam VI comes through the Panama Canal on Thursday. If you are available you can catch her here approximately between 2-3pm? EST as she enters/exits the Miraflores Locks on the Pacific Ocean side:
posted
PS...from the angle of the camera on the above linked webcam you will see it coming from the direction of the big bridge, through the Pedro Miguel Locks up ahead, then across the small Miraflores 'lake' you see in the frame. This would be typical of ships listed on the schedule as 'Westbound', going from the Caribbean to the Pacific. I have seen ships come through as late as 5pm EST depending on if it is DST or not.
Ships listed as going 'Eastbound' (Pacific to Caribbean) come in from behind the camera and enter the lock, cross the pond then head towards the bridge. This usually occurs around 8-9am EST +/- an hour.
posted
It's approx 1:30pm EST as I type this and the Azamara Journey is coming into view on the far side of the webcam image linked above. Transit time from there to the Miraflores Locks is about 60-90min depending on vessel traffic.
posted ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
