ruready

Forgot to mention there is an antique car museum in El Segundo, which is near the airport. I have been there several times for meetings and school galas. It is called Zimmerman.

Since you will have a car, staying in the Marina is fine. You can also rent bikes in the Marina and bike down to Venice Beach or Santa Monica. We have done this with visitors.

I saw that news too (channel 11 news - GDLA - reported on it on Monday). Previously, I would visit the Queen Mary every year and would have the Sunday brunch every other year. Love the nostalgia of it!

Hopefully someone will report back after the first cruise ship goes there. My cruise is scheduled to be there April 29th (only ship there that day), and I have not seen any alerts from the cruise line (although I only booked a bit over a month ago).

It rains a lot in Ketchikan. Last I went to Alaska, that was the only stop where it rained considerably. We walked around town but I had on waterproof boots. While I have never tried it, I hear there is some product you can put on your shoes to make them waterproof or at least repellent.

Are you sure it is the exact same thing? For the cruise I am booked on, it was only about $8 difference. I think you are fine booking independently. I think the operator is just letting you know that you are on your own to getting to the station on time, particularly if you choose an early time. In my experience, typically cruise lines give preference to debarking at ports to those who purchased excursions through the cruise lines.

Maybe Battleship Iowa, if you are into those types of things. Long Beach aquarium?Your flight leaves too early for my first thought which would have been Medieval Times. I am not that familiar with the OC (born’n’raised in LA), so hopefully others from that area will chime in as I assume you want to do things that are headed more in that direction.

I live in LA and there will be no issues getting an Uber or Lyft ride. It is typically cheaper to request when you get there than ahead of time. There will also be cabs waiting as well.

My mom is 79 years and has no physical limitations, but she is 79 🙂 For anyone that has done this excursion, do you think she would be ok on this excursion?

Soft-sided for me. I hate the look of dented hard sided suitcases for these newer versions. I remember my parents had hard sided in the 70s that never dented (understanding they were heavier and thus why they did not dent as easily as the ones today).

Per cruise. We did a 2 week cruise and it was $5.

Sounds like you got a bit of unlucky weather. We did the Hawaii trip from LA last Nov-Dec and we were okay. It did rock a bit, particularly on our way out to Hawaii but we never had issues going onto the balcony. The Pacific Ocean is not the calmest, but I was born and raised out here, going in the ocean often as my father passionately loved the sea. So I know it can be a bit rough.

Hmmm… I never had issues for food on any cruise line when my kid was young and he was picky. However, I also did not just cook things my son liked, so he had to sometimes “figure it out”, lol. He never went hungry 🙂

I stayed in the Havana area last August on the Panorama and it was never busy near any of the cabins. Pretty low key. Very quiet except for a few hours in the evening when a band played at the indoor bar.

I think Scottca075 gave great advice. I would add that imo Universal is more doable amusement park than some of the others in SoCal as you will be able to do most everything you want to do within the day (without the need to stay until it closes). So if you did not get there right when they opened you would be okay.

Overall I think you should be okay. I would just double check the actual day and see if any major events are happening in or near DTLA. Beyond a bad accident (which you cannot predict), a major event in the middle of a Saturday can cause havoc to the freeway(s) that take you to Union station. However a cab can take the tollway for one of the routes that should help a bit.

Interesting. I never knew this. I am currently booked in a 4 person cabin but there are only 2 of us booked. Guessing we got it because there was limited amount of cabins left when we booked (none now).

I forgot to say for me, whether it was a land or sea vacation, I have not been on an “excursion” that I did not enjoy, even though some are more memorable than others. I am just thankful that I have been able to take as many trips as I have.

I am not sure how anyone can tell you to like something. If you are evening posting the question, I think you already know the answer for YOU. I say look at something that excites you and hope for the best.

New Crystal Cruises to launch with bigger staterooms, familiar faces (seatrade-cruise.com)

Wow… you have been loyal. Personally I have cruises at all price points and my expectations alter based on that. However I do not fault Carnival or any cruise line for price increases (whether in the form of a cutback or direct cruise price increase) as we are having tremendous inflation right now. I spend an average of at least $75 more per week at the grocery stores. If you can compare today cruise prices to those of the late 70s or even early 80s, you will see why they need to cut back or dramatically increase pricing. However, as you have elegantly stated, you can chose where you want to spend your dollars. We are fortunate that we have choices for this discretionary item.

When I cruised in August, there were no extra spots available for classes that were previously sold out. However, not all classes were sold out prior to embarkation. I booked classes about 90 days out or so.

Between 4 to 7. I think I took 5 or so on last cruise (August). I may take 8 pair on an upcoming two week cruise, lol. I like options and I tend to change clothing for dinner each evening. I typically take slippers for cabin, workout shoe, black flat sandals, brown flat sandals, black heels and a silver or gold open toe heel. Also I may take a second pair of sports shoe for casual wear. Fortunately I will not need to fly for the upcoming cruise (live 30 minutes from the port).

I went on that ship in August. Embarkation was pretty easy and did not take long. There was also plenty of seating in waiting area as well, if needed. Someone in our party required wheelchair assistance, and it was readily available. We had an early boarding time.

I thought the original poster was looking at a holiday weekend. Maybe that weekend requires a minimum # of days?