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Self Excursions Santa Barbara, Catalina & L.A. Need help!

Colfireman

By Colfireman,
in Princess Cruises

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Colfireman

Colfireman

Posted
Posted (edited)

Travelling on the Grand in April and I am not really excited with the cruise lines excursions available. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do in these ports? We mostly like tour or sightseeing things.

 

So far,

Santa Barbara - Fig tree, Reagan Ranch Centre...

 

Catalina Island - Casino tour, Golf cart rental...

 

L.A. - USS Iowa tour?... anything else close to the port? not really interested in bussing it into Beverly Hills or Orange County.

 

Greg

Edited by Colfireman
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waltd

waltd

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Posted
Travelling on the Grand in April and I am not really excited with the cruise lines excursions available. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do in these ports? We mostly like tour or sightseeing things.

 

So far,

Santa Barbara - Fig tree, Ronald Regan Museum...

 

Catalina Island - Casino tour, Golf cart rental...

 

L.A. - USS Iowa tour?... anything else close to the port? not really interested in bussing it into Beverly Hills or Orange County.

 

Greg

 

I really don't think you will have enough time to get to the Ronald Regan Museum from Santa Barbara. It is a rather long ride.

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Kamloops50

Kamloops50

Posted
Posted
Travelling on the Grand in April and I am not really excited with the cruise lines excursions available. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do in these ports? We mostly like tour or sightseeing things.

 

So far,

Santa Barbara - Fig tree, Reagan Ranch Centre...

 

Catalina Island - Casino tour, Golf cart rental...

 

L.A. - USS Iowa tour?... anything else close to the port? not really interested in bussing it into Beverly Hills or Orange County.

 

Greg

 

 

The fig tree and Ronald Regan museum are about a 30 minute walk from the tender pier in Santa Barbara.

 

In LA you could take a taxi and go over to Long Beach or the Queen Mary exhibit.

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cpcanuck

cpcanuck

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Posted
No I haven't as I thought i would get more traffic and responses in this board.

 

You are absolutely right to come here - I've been tracking the pacific/coastal port board - and it has very limited info and very little conversation happening.

 

I think we are on the same sailing. Have you checked out our roll call yet - although there is limited conversation so far on this topic.

 

In Santa Barbara - I'm looking at the Urban Wine Trail and Art show that runs on Sundays (the day we are there) - both in walking distance of the pier. I may do the Trolley and check out the Mission, Court House (apparently the view is quite good) and mostly stroll around town.

 

I'm with you on the LA/Long Beach port - struggling with what to actually do because of travel time/traffic and distances.

 

 

 

Catalina - I'm just going to walk around town, maybe rent a golf cart to tour the island a bit. Nothing has really caught my eye so far.

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Bruin Steve

Bruin Steve

Posted
Posted
Travelling on the Grand in April and I am not really excited with the cruise lines excursions available. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do in these ports? We mostly like tour or sightseeing things.

 

So far,

Santa Barbara - Fig tree, Reagan Ranch Centre...

 

Catalina Island - Casino tour, Golf cart rental...

 

L.A. - USS Iowa tour?... anything else close to the port? not really interested in bussing it into Beverly Hills or Orange County.

 

Greg

 

In Santa Barbara, there are several tour companies who can arrange a full day excursion up to the Santa Ynez Valley...

 

Check them out here:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g33045-Activities-c25-Santa_Barbara_California.html

 

The Santa Ynez Valley has several wineries with wine tasting tours and the lovely little Danish tourist town of Solvang...the scenery heading up there through the San Marcos Pass is pretty nice too...Other interesting sites in Santa Barbara include the old Spanish mission...

 

Near San Pedro, you could also head across the harbor to Long Beach...where you can tour the Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific...

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Cruisin' Chick

Cruisin' Chick

Posted
Posted

You might also want to double check re the LA stop. Is it in San Pedro or Long Beach? If you want to stay close by the port, you'll want to make sure where the ship will be docked. I understand that Princess sometimes will dock during a cruise in Long Beach at the Carnival port on some sailings.

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Cruisin' Chick

Cruisin' Chick

Posted
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You might also try googling each port and find the tourism sights. Maybe also add "sightseeing tours." But be aware that Los Angeles is pretty widespread so you might want to contact directly any sightseeing companies (I think Sunseekers is on, but there could be others: do a search on the western destinations board -- there is info listed on various threads) and see if any can pick you up near the port or nearby hotel -- again, double check as to where you're docking.

 

Catalina isn't very big -- the one town is Avalon.

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IECalCruiser

IECalCruiser

Posted
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In Catalina we took the Wildlands Express to the Airport in the Sky. You get pretty goods views of the Island. Round trip is $32/person. We went back down when the shuttle was ready for the return trip. You could stay up there for an hour and hike around. Some people just took the one way trip up to the airport and walked back. I wouldn't do that unless you were in good shape.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

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USNUZULOOSE

USNUZULOOSE

Posted
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It does depend on what you like to do. Me and DH lived in Orange county so we know there's. We took the the bus or trolly to state st and we walked and shopped.

 

Catalina we did the golf cart around the island. We also saw the home that was made out of two ship wrecks. Private home could not go in.

 

Long beach you have the aquarium. You can take a tour on the queen Mary. There is the submarine next to it also. That was really interesting. They have a free trolley to get around town. You catch them out of the parking lot near the port. . DH and I rented a car as we knew what we wanted to do. We have friends their and had dinner with them..

 

There is the pier that the trolley goes to.

 

If you have a car you visit solvange, very nice little town. Hope this helps a little

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lois1112

lois1112

Posted
Posted
You are absolutely right to come here - I've been tracking the pacific/coastal port board - and it has very limited info and very little conversation happening.

 

I think we are on the same sailing. Have you checked out our roll call yet - although there is limited conversation so far on this topic.

 

In Santa Barbara - I'm looking at the Urban Wine Trail and Art show that runs on Sundays (the day we are there) - both in walking distance of the pier. I may do the Trolley and check out the Mission, Court House (apparently the view is quite good) and mostly stroll around town.

 

I'm with you on the LA/Long Beach port - struggling with what to actually do because of travel time/traffic and distances.

 

I

 

 

Catalina - I'm just going to walk around town, maybe rent a golf cart to tour the island a bit. Nothing has really caught my eye so far.

 

did the urban wine trail (or parts of it) on my last costal cruise

They (Santa Barbara) will have a bus that will take you up state street for 25 cents........I rode up and walked back

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Buck Turgidson

Buck Turgidson

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For great Mexican food, a short drive from L.A. port, is Diana's La Bonita at 300 E. Sepulveda. Not a fancy place and I have not been there in years, but when I lived in So. Cal I would eat there whenever possible. I used to buy a quart of chile verde and their tortilla's (made there) to take home. :)

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nsw104

nsw104

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When I was on the Star Princess on a 7-day coastal out of SF, it stopped in Long Beach(Carnival Pier).Check your itinerary/excursions to see which port your going to.At Long Beach, the Queen Mary was allowing ship passengers to visit the Queen Mary if they showed their Princess cruise card.There is also a free shuttle that takes you into Long Beach.

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Colfireman

Colfireman

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i'll look on the link for the aquarium stuff.

 

As for the Reagan Ranch tour it's a no go as they only open Mon-Thur 11-4. I sent a e-mail off to see if their hours change for cruise ships but they don't. Sounds like a nice walk in the town and to the courthouse. (We are non drinkers so the wine tour is not for us.)

 

Greg

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