RJGallagher1955

October is normally quite pleasant still. Days will still be warm with cooler evenings. Weather will become cooler in November with possibility of some rain, but our rainy season in Southern California is usually in January/February. It can be a bit windy during this time of year as well, so not sure how that affects life on board.

May I suggest, rather than staying at LAX, consider Torrance. There is both a Marriott there and a DoubleTree. The Marriott is just across from what used to be the largest mall in the world, Del Amo Fashion Center.

LAX is fine if you simply need a night at a hotel, but it is far from the shopping areas.

You could also consider Downtown Long Beach, for example the Hyatt. There are shops around the area and on Pine Avenue, but no mall.

Or as suggested you could do Beverly Hills or Santa Monica, but they are further from the Port.

Both Torrance and Long Beach are close to the Port, since they are considered South Bay Cities.

And yes, January can be the rainy season in LA.

Enjoy.

In a perfect world, Pacific Coastal would be next. I'm a Californian since birth and have never been to Santa Barbara or San Francisco. Blasphemy! It hits Astoria and I think Victoria or Vancouver. ;)

HUH?

You live in Santa Clarita and have never been to Santa Barbara or San Francisco? :eek:

OK, I can almost forgive you for missing San Francisco since it's up north, but you are only about 2 hours from Santa Barbara.

Yup, you need to do the California Coastal, just to visit your own home state!!! ;):D

EDIT: I just realized this review is a few years old now (I got so interested in your story, I totally missed the 2012 reference at the beginning).

I hope that by now you've done the CA Coastal or at least made it to SB or San Francisco! :)

BTW,

Your review is GREAT! Thanks for all the work. It's a great read. :)

Our first cruise was on the Marguerite in July 1979, also Seattle to Victoria. We had a day cabin (waste of money) for the 4 hour sailing. It was our first cruise (unless you count the trips we took on the Staten Island ferry). We continued north to Port Hardy (north end of Vancouver Island) where we took the BC ferry overnight to Prince Rupert. That was our first overnight cruise in a cabin.

Mine coincided with the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. I guess I was 7 instead of age 5, that I initially posted..

We too had a cabin, since my grandparents were with us. I remember having to rest in the cabin with my grandpa and grandma. :)

I remember the Princess Patricia was berthed next to us because my Aunt's name was Patty. So, the adults had hoped that we could have been on the Princess Patricia.

I vaguely remember the teak decks, the white coat of paint, the smokestack and the sound of the horn.

It was a fun family day, as I remember and my introduction to cruising and Princess!!! ;)

At age 5, (now age 60) I did my first "cruise".

It was on the SS Princess Marguerite, sailing from downtown Seattle to the inner harbor in Victoria, BC.

I find it fun to note that now I have come full circle as someone who sails on Princess Cruises, since the original Princess ship was the sister ship of the SS Princess Marguerite, the SS Princess Patricia, which also sailed from Seattle to Victoria back in the day.

Both were part of the Canadian Pacific Steamships Princess fleet.

I chose Princess for two reasons.

First, our friend who was a veteran cruiser recommended Princess to us.

Second, Princess sails from Los Angeles and we live very close to the port.

We have done one cruise in so far, and have one booked for December 2016 and another for September 2017, this time on the Grand to Alaska out of San Francisco, which is still relatively close to us.

We could choose Carnival, which is also super close in Long Beach, but I've always considered them more of a party boat for a younger crowd. I may be wrong. So far we are pleased with Princess.

I booked this sale out of Los Angeles for 3 days on the Crown December 1, 2016.

Since I am a real novice at this, I never even wondered if it really was a sale or just a come on like some have implied.

I too was surprised when the rep informed me of the non-refundable $100 deposit.

I will submit to longer term experts than I if this really is a sale or not. But 3 days at $841 for two, didn't seem like a bad deal to me. Plus, cruising from LA is super simple for us, since we live so close to the Port of Los Angeles.

LOL. I think you missed my reason for saying that. You put down

 

We just booked our second ever cruise for September 2107 to Alaska on the Grand from San Francisco.

 

I just think booking a cruise 90 years out is a long time. You are very optimistic about still being able to cruise then LOL.

OOOPS! LOL!

I couldn't figure out why you needed to reply to my thank you, till I saw the big red highlight! :) :D

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Thank you. :)

As a "newbie" I was happy to see this cruise come up, since we live in Long Beach area.

We just booked our second ever cruise for September 2107 to Alaska on the Grand from San Francisco.

But I am sorely tempted to switch over to this cruise. Yes, we'd have to wait a bit longer, but going in and out of LA is so easy for us compared to getting up to San Francisco.

My only thing is that we unknowingly snagged one of the cool and sought after Window Suites on the Grand so we'd miss out on that experience with the extra perks etc.

But saving the flying or driving up to San Francisco would be a real plus for me, since I have some mobility issues.

A nice thing about this cruise is we'd have a day in Vancouver where we used to live and our son currently lives. That would be an added plus.

Guess I better contact our Princess travel person and talk it over with her.

Saturday should be about as good as it gets for traffic in LA (but you never know).

Last time I drove from Long Beach to Phoenix it was about 6 hours, as I remember. So if you arrive early enough, you'll have some free time.

I'd suggest a simple drive down Atlantic to Downtown Long Beach, Pine Avenue has lots of restaurants and plenty of parking.

Shoreline Village is nice, there's a nice Yard House there that we like, sitting right on the water.

If you head downtown, the neighborhood is fine, it's just if you go north on Atlantic and directly around the hotel that's kind of worn around the edges.

Enjoy!

I just drove from Long Beach to Las Vegas and I thought about this thread.

If I were you, I'd simply take the 10 all the way to the 710 go south and go right into downtown LBC on the 710. It's easy and the 710 is sometimes lighter since it's primarily a truck route from the port of LBC & LA.

I have emailed Sunseeker Tour but have yet to hear back (3 days)

Give them a call. When I knew the fellow it was a one man operation. Him and his Mercedes Sprinter. :)

I am glad to see people recommend Sunseeker.

When I worked in tourism in LA a number of years ago, Sunseeker was just starting out.

I'm sorry I don't remember the guy's name, but the owner/operator struck me at the time as a decent, good fellow. I am glad he is having success after all this time. :)

I'd do as Google maps suggests. Just expect traffic 24/7 once you hit LA metro. If you don't hit traffic consider yourself highly blessed!

One note, the neighborhood around the Holiday Inn on Atlantic could be considered "sketchy" by some. So, if this bothers you, I just wanted to give you a heads up.

LGB is a small compact airport that is very easy to navigate in and through.

Long Beach is a wonderful little airport. If you can get a reasonable flight in and out from there, I'd suggest it. But budget wise I am sure that LAX will be more reasonable.