cruise form la?

[missmad]

we are doing the once in a lifetime family holiday with the children 16, 12 and 8 at the time of holiday. we are doing a week in anaheim (disneyland) a week in downtown la and then i want to finish off with a 7 day cruise, but cant find anyone that does anything decent or more than a few days from la, any suggestions without having to spend thousands more on flights (and the stress!) to go to florida to get a decent cruise, also i would love a ship with water slides and skating rink etc as it will be a one and only trip for them and that was a huge wow factor of the cruise ship....

[SadieN]

Which holiday and when?

 

The only ships that are sailing regularly from the LA area are the Carnival Inspiration and the Carnival Splendor. The Splendor will soon be replaced by the Miracle. I believe she has a huge water slide.

Princess and HAL will be having some West Coast cruises soon but they are less 'exciting' than Carnival.

Carnival doesn't have skating rinks, bowling alleys or flowriders. (A few years ago the RCL Mariner was on the West Coast.)

If you want that then you will have to go to Florida and go to Disney World, etc. Need to figure out what is most important - Disneyland or a ship with tonnes of bells and whistles.

 

You do not want to stay in downtown LA. It is not anything like Manhatten. Downtown LA is mainly highrise buildings and closes up on the weekends. We are always on guard when we go downtown. It is being redeveloped but it is taking a long time. The LA area is very spread out. Driving it can take one hour (without traffic) to get from one side to the other. There are no real viable public transportation options.

 

Check on the West Coast Departure board for more info.

[Cruisin' Chick]

It sounds like you need to talk to a good travel agent who can help you arrange this.

 

But I have some questions. Are you talking about going first to Southern California for a couple of weeks and then flying to Florida for your cruise? And (as a native Angeleno) I am wondering why you want to spend an entire week in Anaheim and an entire week in downtown LA? I can see if you've never been here, spending a day at Disneyland, and perhaps a day at the California Adventure next day (I'm guessing you're a die hard Disney fan). There's also Knott's Berry Farm nearby (if you're big on amusement parks). But a whole week?

 

Then the matter of downtown LA. What do you intend to do there? If you're big on historic buildings, maybe take a city of Los Angeles tour that goes to downtown (Olivera Street, Japanese town, a drive by of the Disney hall/Staples Center) but then on to Hollywood (Farmers Market, Cantors Deli, Walk of Fame). That would take all of one day.

 

Another matter is, other than doing an all day tour, are you going to rent a car? Los Angeles is very widespread. So if you're spending a week here to see the sights, you'll need to figure out what exactly you want to see, and then decide if you want to drive all over the place or concentrate on a couple of areas. But downtown LA is really nothing (my hubby has worked there over 30 years and I'm sure he'll agree with me...he even dropped off my daughter and me a couple of years ago in the Japanese area and after a few hours of walking around, we were bored. You won't want to take the bus here as it's not like the bus system in other cities.

 

Us locals on this board will try to help you come up with a better plan if you can give us more details on what you are interested in seeing.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Sadie got her reply in first, but we seem to be on the same wavelength.:)

[Keith1010]

If you could let us know month and which year that would be a big help.

 

Keith

[6rugrats]

OP - not sure I totally understand your post, but agree that a week in Anaheim and a week in downtown LA is way too much. I am not sure what you are planning to do that entire time.

You'd have to also post when you want to visit, as that would affect what cruises are available, even if you had to leave from another city on the west coast, instead of LA. I suggest you find a good TA to discuss your options.

[Kerry's Girls]

Another LA native here. I will say that we spent four nights at Disney this summer with visiting family and it was a nice way to do Disney/California Adventure. We would hit the parks first thing in the morning, go back to the hotel to swim/rest during the heat & crowds of the day, then go back in the evening. Usually I would rather stick needles in my eyes than go to Disneyland, but this was a great way to do it, so I can see spending a chunk of time there - especially if this is a big trip.

 

As for ships - my girls have been on 8 cruises and haven't had a skating rink or rock climbing wall yet and they are always blown away by whatever ship we're on. We were on the Splendor - water slide, water play area, mini-golf - they had a blast.

 

Best,

Mia

[missmad]

we are looking around april for the cruise...maybe we should just go to florida instead? the reason we wanted to do la is the tickets are a bit cheaper to fly and not as far for the kids...i would love to do new york again, hubby and i just done a trip to new york and a cruise form florida by ourselves. i need to keep the plane travel to a minimum and need to have an awesome disneyland to go to (know there is one in the florida area somewhere), so would i be better going to florida for the few weeks instead, not sure what there is to do there? oh and we wont drive, the wrong side of the road scares the witts outta me

[6rugrats]

A few weeks in Florida is a lot, IMO. Sounds like you want to plan a 2-3 week vacation? Have you considered an east coast trip? There is a lot to do there, and a good public transportation system, and trains you can use to get down the coast. You could fly to any major city on the east coast and start there.

 

Disneyworld and Epcot Center are in Orlando, FL, and there's also Universal Studios, Nickelodeon, etc. in the area. You could then take a cruise from a Florida port.

 

I think a good travel agent could help you, or start researching on tripadvisor.com, or get some guidebooks, etc. and see what you are interested in.